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, June 4, 2007

Security Incidents for Monday, June 04, 07



In Country:
#1: U.S.-led forces have control of fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighborhoods despite thousands of extra troops nearly four months into a security crackdown, a newspaper reported Monday — an assessment that came as the U.S. casualty toll soared. The New York Times said an American assessment of the security plan through late May found that American and Iraqi forces were able to "protect the population" and "maintain physical influence over" only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods. Troops have either not begun operations aimed at rooting out insurgents or still face "resistance" in the remaining 311 neighborhoods, according to the report, which cited a one-page assessment along with summaries from brigade and battalion commanders in Baghdad.


Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb killed three people and wounded eight in Zaafaraniya district of southern Baghdad, police said.

#2: The Iraqi army killed seven insurgents and arrested 57 others during the past 24 hours in different areas of Baghdad, police said

#3: A bomb planted inside an ambulance killed one person and wounded three others in the Bab al-Muadham area of central Baghdad, police said.

#4: In a separate incident, one person was killed and five others wounded due to clashes between security forces and gunmen in Al Fadel region.

#5: On the other hand, police found in Al Fadel region five unidentified bodies with gunshot wounds and signs of torture, a source from Al Kanadi Hospital reported.

#6: Gunmen kidnapped an Iraqi senior official and his son in northern Baghdad on Monday, an Interior Ministry source said. "Unidentified gunmen riding three cars kidnapped Saad Majid Ali, director general in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and his son at around 3:00 p.m. (1100 GMT) in Waziyriah neighborhood, "the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Ali was driving his car with his son when the attack occurred, the source added.

#7: Eight U.S. soldiers were wounded in an attack using roadside bombs, small arms fire and mortar rounds at a patrol base southeast of Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said

#8: Mortars hit Nafaq Al-Shurta neighborhood ( west Baghdad ) injuring four people.

#9: Shooting was opened on a police patrol in Mehdiya neighborhood in Doura ( west Baghdad) injuring four policemen.

#10: Mortars hit the green zone without having casualties recorded.

#11: Mortars hit Al-Shurta Al-Rabia'a ( south west Baghdad) killing one civilian and injuring four others.

#12: mortars hit Amil neighborhood ( south west Baghdad) targeting the army headquarter there without injuries recorded .

#13: Twenty eight (28) dead bodies were found in Baghdad as the following :
19 dead bodies were in west Baghdad ( Kharkh bank ) ; 6 in Saidiya , 3 in Amil , 3 in Doura , 3 in Shulaa , 2 in Qadisiya , 2 in Abu Ghraib. While 9 bodies were found in east Baghdad ( Rusafa bank) ; 5 in Adhamiya , 2 in Sadr , 2 in Sha'ab .

Khaldiya:
#1: Five bodies were found around the town of Khaldiya, 80 km west of Baghdad, police said.


Yusufiya:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded three others near the town of Yusufiya, 15 km (10 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Iskandariya:
#1: One person was killed and another wounded in mortar rounds attacks between Al Janabat tribe and Al Massoud tribe, Lieutenant Haydar Al Shumari from Al Iskandariya Police reported


Basra:
#1: "A British vehicle patrol came under an explosive charge attack in central Basra during the early hours of Monday, lightly wounding a British soldier and causing damage to an armored vehicle," Capt. Katie Brown, the military spokeswoman for the Multi-National Force (MNF) in southern Iraq, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#2: Another British patrol was attacked by an explosive device and RPGs in al-Gaziza area, 10 km north of the city, damaging another vehicle, she added


Taji:
#1: A suicide car bomber killed three Iraqi soldiers and wounded three at a checkpoint near Taji, 20 km (9 miles) north of Baghdad, on Sunday, an Iraqi military source said.


Qaiyarra:
#1: A suicide truck bomber struck the house of police chief of a town in Iraq's northern Nineveh province Monday, wounding two policemen, a provincial police source said. "The suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden truck into the house of Brigadier Ali Attallah Mallouh, police chief of Qaiyarra town, 60 km south of Mosul, and blew it up, wounding two of his guards," the source from Nineveh police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The powerful blast damaged Mallouh's house and several nearby houses, the source added.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a Catholic priest and three of his assistants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Sunday, police said on Monday. Iraqi police said Chaldean Catholic priest Ragheed Aziz Kani and his assistants were killed near the church of Rouh al-Quds after leading Sunday prayers in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

#2: A roadside bomb exploded near a fuel truck, wounding the driver and setting the truck on fire in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said

#3: A suicide truck bomber wounded 11 people in an attack on the house of a local police brigadier near Mosul, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Sunday evening , gunmen kidnapped an officer of the Iraqi army (the brigadier general Muhammad Mehdi) at Ma'aridh area in downtown Kirkuk .

#2: Around 8 pm of Sunday evening , three gunmen opened fire on a resident of Tuz district Haraj suq near in Kirkuk city killing him and kidnapped his son during that time a police patrol came and arrested all of them finding out that one of them is a policeman.

#3: Around 9.45 pm of Sunday evening , a roadside bomb exploded in front of a house at Tariq Baghdad neighborhood near Uqba bin Nafi'a petrol station in the downtown of Kirkuk having some damage to the house only.

#4: Around 8 am , a roadside bomb exploded in the downtown of Kirkuk at the celebration field near Zamzam bakery injuring a cab driver .

#5: Sunday evening, abductors phoned a family in Suleimaniya telling them that their son with three other students are abducted demanding 70 thousand dollars as a ransom to release them. Those students disappeared last Friday on their way from Baghdad (as the college is there) to their home city in Suleimaniya .

#6: Three policemen were injured by a roadside bomb attack on their patrol in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said

#7: Around 2.15 pm, a roadside bomb exploded targeting a police patrol on Korneesh street in Kirkuk city injuring two policemen

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