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 22, 2013

War News for Monday, July 22, 2013


Unexploded Nato ordnance killing Afghan civilians

Suicide bomber attacks Iraq army convoy, killing 25

Gunmen attack two Iraq prisons

Pakistan Battles Polio, and Its People’s Mistrust


Reported security incidents
#1: A man was killed and 10 others injured when two blast rocked Chaman near Pak-Afghan border on Monday, local tv reported. Levies sources confirmed that several people were injured in the blast after which vehicular traffic to Afghanistan was suspended. They said a blast went off near Border Custom Office at the Bab-e-Dosti in Chaman. The second blast took place near Levies Line. A mosque was partially damage in the explosion.

#2: A spate of separate attacks has left at least five civilians and 16 Taliban insurgents dead in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, officials said Sunday. The militants died while fighting Afghan Special Forces and national police in Panjwai district, provincial spokesman Javed Faisal told dpa.
 
#3: At least two Afghan Local Policemen were killed in a Taliban ambush in southern province of Paktika, where an official said Sunday the incident took place last evening. The incident took place in Matta Khan district of the province, where the government armed oppositions killed two local policemen on a patrol convoy ambush, said Daulat Zadran, the provincial police spokesman.

#4: Four Afghan army soldiers were killed and one was wounded Monday when their vehicle was hit by a Taliban roadside bombing in the country's southern province of Zabul, the provincial police chief said. "One Afghan National Army vehicle ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Shahjoy district at around 10 a.m. local time. Four ANA personnel were martyred and one was wounded," Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewani told Xinhua.

#5: Earlier on Monday, two Taliban militants were killed when their IED went off prematurely in neighboring Helmand province, officials said.

#6: According to local authorities in eastern Khost province of Afghanistan, at least six people were killed after unknown gunmen attacked the residential house of Spera district early Sunday morning.

Head of the provincial media department Mohammad Mubarez Zadran confirming the report said at least six people including brother of Spera district chief and his five bodyguards were killed.
 

3 comments:

Cervantes said...

The excrement appears to be hurtling toward the ventilator in Iraq. 500 militants busted out of Abu Ghraib in elaborate attack. It takes all night before military choppers show up and gain control of the scene. Countdown to chaos.

whisker said...

Man it sounds like a continuation of the same old stuff bake in 07-11. I hope it doesn't keep escalation like it appears to have over the past year or so. It also appears to me that our nation building experimentation is gone wrong in every country in the middle east so far as our expected results are concerned. I even hear that much the oil prospectors community aren't as happy as what was intended for the price we have paid as a society. But who cares, in another year I’m finished with my research.
Peace;
E

Dancewater said...

oh, I think it is going according to their plan.