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


Thursday, July 21, 2011

War News for Thursday, July 21, 2011

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In a separate incident, a roadside bomb ripped through Amriyah district in western Baghdad wounded three people, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Unidentified gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by members of a local Awakening Council group in Abu Ghraib area, some 20 km west of Baghdad, sparking a clash between the attackers and the group members, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The attack resulted in the killing of a gunman and the capture of another, while a group member was also wounded by the clash, the source said.


Baaj:
#1: An Iraqi army patrol killed a militant during a raid at his home in the town of Baaj, 375 km (233 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: He said that an explosive charge blew off against a police patrol, when an al-Riyadh police patrol arrived at the venue of the house attack, killing a civilian and wounding 2 others, but none of the police patrol men was injured.

#2: “A rocket was launched on the house of Police Officer, Colonel Imad Murshid in a village close to al-Riyadh township, 45 km to the southwest of Kirkuk, causing severe damage to the house, but no human casualties,” Lt-Brigadier, Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A child was hurt in bomb blast targeted against the Iraqi army east of Mosul, security sources told Aswat al-Iraq here today.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Taliban-linked militants in northwestern Pakistan have blown up a NATO oil truck carrying fuel for US-led foreign troops in Afghanistan, security officials say. In a fresh militant attack on the NATO containers heading from Pakistan to neighboring Afghanistan, the militants destroyed a NATO fuel truck on Thursday, Reuters reported.

#2: At least four people were killed Wednesday when a U.S. drone targeted the North Waziristan tribal area in northwest Pakistan, local sources said. The pilotless aircraft fired two missiles at a house in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan which borders Afghanistan, they said.

#3: A suicide bomber on foot attacked a vehicle carrying soldiers from the military-run construction company, The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), in South Waziristan's tribal region on the Afghan border, wounding at least two, intelligence officials said.

#4: A remote-controlled bomb strapped to a motor-bike destroyed a state-owned oil and gas company vehicle in Jaffarabad district of southwestern Baluchistan province, killing three men and wounding four, police said. There was no claim of responsibility.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Kenneth R. Vangiesen

DoD: Sgt. Edward W. Koehler

DoD: Sgt. Brian K. Mowery

DoD: Cpl. Raphael R. Arruda

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