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


Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Update for Wednesday, January 25, 2017

U.S. "president" Trump's bizarre comment at CIA headquarters about seizing Iraqi oil gets a response from Iraqis. In case you haven't been paying attention, Trump said during the campaign that the U.S. should have "taken" Iraq's oil resource to pay for the 2003 invasion, and repeated before CIA staff that "Maybe you'll have another chance." As The Independent notes:

Taking the oil would require a permanent U.S. occupation, or at least until Iraq's 140 billion barrels of crude run out, and a large presence of American soldiers to guard sometimes isolated oil fields and infrastructure. Such a mission would be highly unpopular with Iraqis, whose hearts and minds the U.S. is still try to win to defeat groups such as IS and al-Qaida.
It would also be a war crime.

Iraqi military now says it controls all of Mosul east of the Tigris.

However, fears are growing for the estimated 750,000 civilians still trapped in west Mosul where shortages are said to be worsening and the battle is likely to risk substantial civilian casualties.

Muqtada al-Sadr denounces plan to move U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Al-Sadr said the Cairo-based Arab League as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world’s main pan-Islamic body, should take a decisive stand on the issue or dissolve themselves. The Najaf-based cleric also called “for the immediate closure of the US Embassy in Iraq” should Washington go ahead with its promised embassy transfer in Israel.

UN says U.S.-led coalition air strikes in the Mosul campaign have killed civilians, but can't estimate the numbers.



Posted by Cervantes at 6:34 AM

1 comments:

JoePrivate said...

Great post. Keep up the good work.

January 26, 2017 at 3:36 PM

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