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


Friday, May 17, 2013

War News for Friday, May 17, 2013


New issue of al Qaeda magazine may have been hacked -

I never even imagined there was such a thing as an Al Qaeda magazine but with the digital age it doesn’t surprise me. – whisker


Reported security incidents
#1: update: Two NATO drivers were killed when gunmen opened fire on supply trucks passing through northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, local officials said. The News quoted local official Asmatullah Wazir as saying, that the first driver was killed in the Jamrud area of Khyber by two motorcycle-borne gunmen.

#2: In a separate attack, gunmen opened fire on another NATO supply truck in a suburb of Peshawar, killing its driver, senior police official Muhammad Faysal Murad said. Murad said the truck was empty and had returned from Afghanistan after delivering supplies.

#3: Eleven insurgents have been killed in military operations in eastern Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) on Friday morning. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed 11 insurgents, detained three suspected insurgents, discovered one weapons cache and found and safely cleared seven improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release. The operations were conducted in Ghazni, Laghman, Nangarhar, Paktika and Wardak provinces, the release added.

#4: At least twelve persons were killed and dozens other injured when two blasts hit two mosques in Malakand before the Friday prayers, FP News desk reported. According to Levies sources, twin blasts hit mosques in Bazdara Bala area of Malakand Agency where 12 persons were killed and 25 others wounded.

#5: About four people were killed in blast which ripped through the weapons market of Mir Ali Bazaar, North Waziristan. According to officials, the security forces rushed to the scene soon after explosion took place in morning and the blast could be result of stored explosive material in weapon market. They also added that investigations were undergoing to find nature of blast. A fire broke out in the market because of the explosion.

Posted by whisker at 4:12 AM

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