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, June 30, 2016

Update for Thursday, June 30, 2016

Air strikes by U.S. and Iraqi forces on militants fleeing Fallujah said to kill hundreds. Specifically, Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool says that Iraqi forces destroyed more than 200 vehicles and killed at least 150 militants, while U.S. air strikes destroyed an additional 60 vehicles. He did not say how the casualties were determined. While he said that commandos captured large quantities of weapons and ammunition, he did not say anything about survivors or prisoners. AP quotes a different official saying that Iraqi helicopters destroyed 138 vehicles, and a U.S. spokesperson saying that coalition air strikes destroyed 175. Other sources give yet other numbers.

The UK will send an additonal 250 troops to a base in Anbar. They are said to be on a training mission, although the number of troops dedicated to force protection greatly exceeds the number of trainers.

UNICEF raises the alarm on the dire circumstances of Iraqi children. Among their observations:

  • 4.7 million children need humanitarian aid – a third of all Iraqi children
  • Some 3.6 million children in Iraq – one in five in the country – are at serious risk of death, injury, sexual violence, abduction and recruitment into armed groups
  • A total of 1,496 children have been abducted in the country over the past two and a half years. That translates to 50 children abducted each month, with many forced into fighting or sexually abused.
  • Almost ten percent of Iraqi children – more than 1.5 million – have been forced to flee their homes because of violence since the beginning of 2014, often multiple times.  
U.S will loan Iraqi military $2.7 billion, with $200 million going directly to the peshmerga.

In Afghanistantwo suicide bombers kill at least 30 people and injure dozens in an attack on buses carrying recent police academy graduates near Kabul. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid takes responsibility.







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