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, May 10, 2007

Security Incidents for 05/10/07


Baghdadf:
#1: Just after midnight, a joint U.S.-Iraqi force on a raid in the southern part of the Shiite slum of Sadr City, came under fire from two buildings, the military said in a statement. After a gunbattle, the soldiers called in an airstrike that killed three armed insurgents, it said.

Four civilians were killed and seven others were injured when U.S. aircraft shelled a number of neighborhoods in the Shiite Sadr city, local residents said on Thursday. "A joint force of Iraqi and U.S. troops raided 52 and 53 blocks in al-Daakhel street in Sadr city on Wednesday night, while U.S. choppers shelled a number of neighborhoods there, killing four civilians and injuring seven," an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#2: Meanwhile, residents were woken by the sounds of a battle near Haifa Street, a main city thoroughfare that was once notorious as a three-way battlefield between Sunni insurgents, Shiite militia and Iraqi security forces. For almost two hours explosions and automatic gunfire echoed among the restive district's tall concrete buildings, but officials were not immediately able to explain what was going on.

#3: The Iraqi army killed two insurgents and arrested six others during the past 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said

#4: A U.S. army base came under a mortar attack in southwestern Baghdad with no reports of casualties, a police source said on Thursday.

#5: Around mid-day , clashes took place between gunmen and the Iraqi army in Bab Al-Mua'adham without having casualties

#6: Around the afternoon mortar shelling hit Doura neighborhood twice injuring 2 of the first attack and killing 1 civilian of the second one.

#7: 20 dead bodies were found in all over Baghdad : 16 bodies were found in west Baghdad( Kharkh bank) ; 5 in Doura, 4 in Bayaa , 4 in Amil , 3 in Hurriya . While 4 bodies were found in east Baghdad( Rusafa bank) ; 1 in Tunis, 1 in Hussainiya , 1 in Qahira ( Cairo neighborhood) , 1 in Bab Al-Mua'adham .


Diyala Prv:
#1: In other news, a terrorist group under the name Islamic State Soldiers in Diyala announced they had seized Wednesday nine Iraqi policemen and a defence ministry employee, threatening to kill them if their request of releasing women in custody was not met within 72 hours

A militant group has posted a video showing the killing of nine abducted Iraqi police and army officers after an ultimatum it gave to the government expired. The footage posted on the Internet by the Islamic State in Iraq showed a militant shoot the victims in the head with a pistol as they kneeled in an open field.


Mahaweel:
#1: Iraqi police also discovered two bodies - bound, blindfolded and shot - floating in a river in Mahaweel, 35 miles south of Baghdad


Diwaniyah:
#1: In other violence, two gunmen on a motorcycle killed an Iraqi military intelligence officer as he drove through Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad


Basra:
#1: The Iranian Consul in Basra said on Thursday that British forces did not attack the consulate during their clashes with gunmen, while an eyewitness said that one of the consulate's guards might have opened fire against the British forces. "Clashes erupted between British forces and gunmen near to the Iranian consulate in al-Seraji region in central Basra on Wednesday night...during which shootout flared up between the two side," Iranian Consul Mohammad Reza Bagh told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) over the phone. "The Iranian Consulate was not a target for the British forces," the diplomat affirmed. Meanwhile, an eyewitness, living in the same area, said that "while returning back home at 8:00 pm, a gunman opened fire against a British patrol near the Iranian Consulate." "The British forces responded intensively, killing a passerby and injuring two civilians," he added, noting that the shooting destroyed his car completely. "The forces started a shootout with the attackers for 10 minutes, injuring a gunman," the statement added.

#2: Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that "the Iranian consulate came under a British patrol fire on Wednesday night," adding no further details on the damage inside the consulate. No word was so far available from the Iranian Consulate on the incident.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Around 5 pm, gunmen exploded Al-Falahi Building at Abu-Ghraib ( west of Baghdad) destroying the whole building without casualties recorded


Hawija:
#1: Gunmen killed a policeman while he was heading to work in the town of Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Two other bodies of police officers, one of them a colonel, were found in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A hospital received the bodies of three people, two women and a man, from one family in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said


Kirkuk:
#1: At least three civilians were wounded on Thursday when an explosive charge went off in Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad, while five suspected militants were detained during a security crackdown in the city, a security source said.

#2: A joint forces ( Iraqi army and police )during a raid in Hawija ( west of Kirkuk) had found a head cut off without the rest of the body discovering later that it belongs to a captain in the Iraqi army who was kidnapped two weeks ago by gunmen.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A Marine assigned to Multi National Force-West was killed May 9, while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province.

#2: U.S. forces killed one insurgent and detained two others during raids in Anbar Province while targeting a chemical bomb network and smuggling operations, the U.S. military said

#3: Mortar shells were fired Thursday onto an Iraqi army base in the western Iraqi city of Falluja, a security source said.

#4: Unknown gunmen on Thursday shot and killed a member of Falluja local council outside his house at al-Mualemin neighborhood in central Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, a source from the council said.



Afghanistan:
#1: A suicide bombing killed three civilians and injured seven others in Paktika province of eastern Afghanistan, local Outlook newspaper reported Thursday. The explosion occurred in Barmal district bordering Pakistan on Wednesday, Outlook quoted district chief Azizullah Hayayee as saying. The bomber detonated himself in a market after he failed to reach a base of the U.S.-led coalition forces, he said, adding three injured were in serious condition.

#2: (update) Residents say only two Taliban were sheltering in a village bombed by the US-led coalition that killed 21 civilians, an Afghan governor said Thursday.

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