The present-day U.S. military qualifies by any measure as highly professional, much more so than its Cold War predecessor. Yet the purpose of today’s professionals is not to preserve peace but to fight unending wars in distant places. Intoxicated by a post-Cold War belief in its own omnipotence, the United States allowed itself to be drawn into a long series of armed conflicts, almost all of them yielding unintended consequences and imposing greater than anticipated costs. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. forces have destroyed many targets and killed many people. Only rarely, however, have they succeeded in accomplishing their assigned political purposes. . . . [F]rom our present vantage point, it becomes apparent that the “Revolution of ‘89” did not initiate a new era of history. At most, the events of that year fostered various unhelpful illusions that impeded our capacity to recognize and respond to the forces of change that actually matter.

Andrew Bacevich


Monday, July 4, 2011

War News for Monday, July 04, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, July 1st.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1-2: An Iraqi civilian has been killed and 6 others, including 3 policemen, were injured in two explosive charges blasts west and southwest of Baghdad on Monday, a security source reported.

#1: “An explosive charge blew off against a police patrol in west Baghdad’s Abu-Jaafar al-Mansour district, injuring 5 persons, among them 3 policemen,” the security source said.

#2: He added that a sticking charge blew off under a taxi on the main road, passing through Abu-Dushear district, southwest of Baghdad, killing its driver and wounding a passerby.

#3: Iraq’s former Presidential Palace in north Baghdad’s Aathamiya district, now used by the Iraqi armed forces, has come under a mortar shell attack early on Monday, according to eyewitnesses. “A mortar shell fell on Iraq’s former Presidential Palace in northern Baghdad’s Aathamiya district on Monday morning,” the eyewitnesses said, but failed to define the losses caused by the attack.

#4: At least five civilians have been injured, when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive belt at al-Khulafa Street, close to central Baghdad’s Bab al-Muadham district on Monday, a security source reported. “A police force tried to foil an attack by a suicide bomber, wearing an explosive belt, opening fire on him in al-Khulafa Street, close to central Baghdad’s Bab al-Muadham district on Monday, who blew himself up, wounding 5 civilians,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: A sticky bomb attached to a civilian car went off, killing the two occupants and wounding two passers-by late on Sunday in the Bab al-Muadham district of north-central Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to a civilian car went off, wounding the driver and a passenger, in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: At least 4 persons have been injured, as a preliminary result, for a booby-trapped car explosion in Hit township, west of Iraq’s Anbar Province on Monday, a police source reported. “A booby-trapped car, parked on the roadside, blew off close to the post office of west Anbar’s Hit township, wounding 5 persons, as a preliminary result,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2-3: A booby-trapped car has blown up close to the headquarters of the Traffic Police Department in Ramadi city, the center of west Iraq’s Anbar Province, making it the third such explosion in the Province on Monday, a police source reported. “A booby-trapped car, parked on the roadside, blew up close to the headquarters of Anbar’s Traffic Police Department in Ramadi city, wounding two persons and causing damage to a number of civilian cars, parked close to its building,” the police source told Aswatr al-Iraq news agency. Anbar Province had witnessed two booby-trapped cars explosions, the first in Saqlawiya village, north of Falluja city and the second in Hit township, west of the Province.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A Marine was wounded early this morning and an Afghan national army soldier was killed in a shooting incident at a base guard post while the two were standing watch together. The shooting took place around 4:30 a.m. on one of the 10 guard posts that surround Camp Jackson, the headquarters base for 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. The Marine, who was not identified, was shot in the leg and medically evacuated to Camp Bastion about 25 miles away. His injuries are not believed to be life threatening. The ANA soldier was shot in the neck and face and was dead on arrival at the battalion aid station at Jackson. An investigation aims to determine whether the incident was deliberate or an accident.

#2: Dozens of suspected Taliban militants from Afghanistan on Monday crossed into Pakistan's tribal region to attack a border post, killing one soldier and injuring one more, security officials said. The raid took place in early morning hours in Bajaur, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's militancy-plagued tribal region. A local intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that around four dozen attackers entered from the Afghan province of Kunnar and attacked a border post in Kit Kot area of Bajaur district.

#3: Six Taliban insurgents were killed when their explosive device went off prematurely in Afghanistan's Helmand province, 555 km south of capital city of Kabul, provincial government said on Monday. "Six Taliban insurgents were busy in planting a mine on a road in Sangin district of Helmand province Sunday but their explosive device detonated prematurely, killing all rebels on the spot," a statement issued by Helmand provincial government here said.

#4: In another development two rockets landed in Kabul on Sunday night but caused no loss of life and property damages, according to police.

#5: Four Pakistanis including two children were wounded on Monday when a mortar shell fired from Afghanistan struck a village near the border, Pakistani security officials said. The officials said the shell hit Bangedar village in the Ghulam Khan district of North Waziristan. "The fire came from an Afghan border post in Khost province (in eastern Afghanistan) early this morning," said local government official Mohammed Khan.

#6: Afghan forces backed by NATO-led troops eliminated 16 insurgents in Nangarhar province 120 km east of capital city Kabul on Sunday night, a local official said Monday. "Afghan and NATO-led troops launched a joint operation against Taliban hideouts in Margi Khil village of Khogyani district Sunday night, as a result 16 rebels were killed," governor of Khogyani district Mohammad Hassan told Xinhua.

#7: The South Korean base in northern Afghanistan was attacked again last week, the eleventh hit against the camp this year. The Foreign Ministry on Sunday said two rocket shells landed on the ground near the Charika base at around 9:08 p.m. on Saturday local time but no casualties were reported.

#8: NATO in Afghanistan said Monday that a foreign soldier had gone missing in the restive south of the country and that troops had launched a search. "An International Security Assistance Force service member has been listed as duty status whereabouts unknown in southern Afghanistan. There is an active search effort in progress," it said. No details about the nationality of the soldier were provided.


DoD: Capt. David E. Van Camp

DoD: Spc. Robert G. Tenney Jr.

DoD: Pfc. James A. Waters

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