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, April 29, 2013

War News for Monday, April 29, 2013


27-year-old Mumbai engineer goes missing in Pakistan

CIA delivers cash to Afghan president's office

Army deployment begins in Balochistan

Car bomb blasts kill 18 in Iraqi Shi'ite provinces


Reported security incidents
#1: Unknown gunmen attacked two NATO oil tankers in Pakistan's Northwestern tribal area of Khyber Agency. Officials and local sources told press tv that armed men opened fire on the oil tankers in the areas of Shahkas and Wazirdand of Jamrud Tehsil in Khyber on Sunday. The drivers of the vehicles were killed in the attack.

#2: Attack targeting official in northwestern city of Peshawar leaves eight people dead and dozens injured, police say. At least eight people, including the son of an influential Afghan cleric, have been killed and 45 others wounded after a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a bus in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, police say. Qari Hilal, the son of cleric Qazi Amin Waqad, died in Monday's suicide bombing which appeared to have targeted Sahibzada Anees, a senior official in the city administration.

#3: Insurgents killed three police officers in Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said, in an attack that the Taliban claimed marked the start of their annual "spring offensive".A roadside bomb blast in the restive central province of Ghazni targeted a police convoy that was travelling to the scene of a Taliban attack in Zana Khan district.

#4: Thirty-seven Taliban militants have been killed in deferent operations within the last 24 hours across Afghanistan, said the country's Interior Ministry on Monday morning. "The Afghan National Police (ANP) supported by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces conducted several cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Baghlan, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Ghazni and Paktika provinces, killing 37 armed Taliban over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement. Up to 13 militants were wounded and 11 were detained by ANP, the statement said, adding the ANP also found and seized weapons and explosive during the raids.

#5: Three Afghan policemen died overnight when Taliban militants launched attack on a checkpoint in northern Jawzjan province, a provincial police source said Monday. "Three Afghan National Police (ANP) cops were martyred and five ANP personnel were missing as Taliban raided a checkpoint in Qush Tipa district Sunday night," Abdul Manan Raoufi, a provincial police official, told Xinhua.


DoD: Capt. Brandon L. Cyr

DoD: Capt. Reid K. Nishizuka

DoD: Staff Sgt. Richard A. Dickson

DoD: Staff Sgt. Daniel N. Fannin

Posted by whisker at 4:20 AM

1 comments:

Cervantes said...

Fixed a link for you.

April 29, 2013 at 7:35 AM

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