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 30, 2007

Security Incidents for Monday, July 30, 2007

(1) An MNF-Iraq release and a release from the DoD are simultaneously announcing and identifying three new Army deaths from a roadside bombing in the vicinity of Saqlawiyah, just to the northwest of Fallujah, in Al Anbar Province, on Thursday, July 26th

(2) The British Ministry of Defense has issued a brief statement announcing the death of a British Royal Marine in combat operations in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, July 29th.

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Baghdad:
#1: At least six people have been killed and more than 30 others injured in a suspected bomb attack on a minibus in Baghdad today. The minibus was one of several waiting for passengers heading to predominantly Shiite areas in eastern Baghdad. It exploded near Tayaran Square at around 1pm local time, damaging several nearby cars and kiosks.

#2: The security forces killed a suicide bomber before detonating a car rigged with explosives in Saydiya district southwestern Baghdad, and defused another car bomb in Zayonah neighborhood, eastern Baghdad , the spokesman for the law-imposing security plan on Sunday.

#3: at least five people were killed and nearly 30 wounded by celebratory gunfire after the game.

#4: About two dozen masked gunmen also bombed a Shiite shrine that had a reputation for healing powers in a volatile Sunni area north of Baghdad late Sunday, police said. The attack flattened the building and destroyed the shrine. The shrine was guarded by Sunnis and visited by followers of both Islamic sects, residents said. The gunmen arrived in four vehicles and told people living nearby to leave to avoid being hurt.

#5: a roadside bomb that killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded three in a predominantly Sunni area in northwestern Baghdad

#6: A mortar barrage against a market south of Baghdad that killed one civilian and wounded three others.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Northeast of the capital, dozens of suspected Sunni insurgents attacked a Sunni village south of Baqouba, killing 20 civilians and kidnapping others for not cooperating with them, a local police official said. He declined to be identified because he feared becoming a target himself. The attack began late Sunday and lasted through Monday morning, the officer said. The report could not be independently confirmed


Iskandariya:
#1: Three people were killed and two wounded in a fight between two Shi'ite and Sunni tribes on Sunday in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Diwaniya:
#1: Gunmen killed two policemen in a drive-by shooting in Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Kut:
#1: A policeman was killed and another seriously wounded by unidentified gunmen fire in two separate incidents in northern Kut, a police source in Wassit province said on Monday.

#2: Four civilians were injured when their car collided with U.S. vehicle on Monday afternoon on the main road Kut-Baghdad, a police source said.


Basra:
#1: The Multi-National Force (MNF) in southern Iraq said it killed a gunman who was about to open fire at its base in the former presidential palaces in central Basra on Sunday night.

#2: The British base in the Basra International Airport came under indirect fire during the past 24 hours but caused no casualties or damage," the spokesman for the MNF told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Balad:
#1: A car bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded six others in Balad on Sunday, police said

#2: A suicide fuel truck bomb targeting an Iraqi army and police checkpoint killed four people and wounded six near the town of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, on Sunday, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A series of shootings also killed four people in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk and nearby Hawija. The victims included a female official with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which is pressing for oil-rich Kirkuk to be incorporated into the autonomous Kurdish region despite opposition by Arabs and Turkomen.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three Soldiers assigned to Multi National Force-West died July 26 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province.

Fallujah:
#1: One woman killed and both her children injured along with one man and a young boy also injured in mortar attack upon Nuab al-Dhubbat district, north Falluja.

#2: One policeman stabbed by unknown person and taken to hospital.


Sulaimaniyah:
#1: One person killed in Kafri district, 150 km south of Sulleimaniya and one woman injured in Bawa Khushen village 70 km south of Sulleimaniya by celebratory fire during celebrations for winning the Asia football cup, yesterday.



Afghanistan:
#1: three troopers of Pakistan's Frontier Corps paramilitary forces died in a roadside blast when they were switching checkpoints set up in North Waziristan's administrative capital of Miranshah, the military's chief spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said.

#2: Four more soldiers sustained gunshot wounds when suspected Islamic militants ambushed their convoy in the Datakhel area as they were moving towards Miranshah from the town of Bannu located some 60 km eastwards. Two civilian vehicles plying the road were also caught in the line of fire when the attackers positioned on higher grounds engaged the military personnel using heavy weapons. According to Arshad, there were reports of four civilians being killed in the ambush.

#3: In another incident, a remote-controlled bomb was detonated early morning when some army vehicles were moving between the far-flung village of Razmak and the town of Bannu. 'No major damage was done and just one soldier was slightly injured,' he said.

#4: Meanwhile, four soldiers were also wounded in an overnight rocket attack on an army camp in Miranshah. The rockets also caused minor damage to the infrastructure.

#5: Taliban insurgents ambushed and killed 10 Afghan employees of a private security company in the south of the country on Monday, the interior ministry said. Three other staff of the company were wounded in the pre-dawn raid on a highway in the southern province of Zabul, it said in a statement. The insurgents fled after the ambush, the ministry said. A provincial official said the victims worked for a US private security company.

#7: Taliban insurgents stormed a police post in the southwestern province of Nimroz, killing five police and abducting four others, a provincial official said.

#8: It is with deep regret that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the death of a member of the Royal Marines during operations in southern Afghanistan yesterday, Sunday 29 July 2007.

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