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, August 2, 2007

Security Incidents for Thursday, August 02, 2007

(1) The DoD is announcing a new death, one not previously reported by CENTCOM. Army Specialist Camy Florexil, 20, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was severly injured in a roadside bomb blast in Baghdad on July 23rd. He died of his wounds in a Baghdad medical facility on Tuesday, July 24th. Florexil was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment (1st Infantry Division) out of Fort Riley, Kansas. According to a very brief mention in an article from Wichita (Kansas) station KAKE, he had enlisted in the Army in September of 2005.

(2) MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of two Task Force Marne soldiers in an indirect fire attack, likely south of Baghdad, on Tuesday, July 31st. In addition, 10 other soldiers were wounded.

(3) Yesterday, the news media had reported on the death of Kansas Army National Guard Staff Sergeant Travis S. Bachman from a roadside bomb blast somewhere in Iraq on August 1st. Today, MNF-Iraq has released a statement describing the death of a 13th Sustainment Command soldier in a roadside bombing in the vicinity of Al Basrah on August 1st. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

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Baghdad:
#1: Two Task Force Marne Soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in an indirect fire attack Tuesday

#2: South of Baghdad, gunmen barged into the home of Hadi al-Mayahi, a Shiite civil servant at the local branch of the trade ministry in Al-Wahda, killing him and kidnapping four of his sons, said police Captain Muntadhar Mohammed.

#3: The Iraqi army killed 11 insurgents and arrested 35 in Iraq in the last 24 hours, the army said in a statement.

#4: Police patrols found on Wednesday 25 unidentified bodies dumped in different parts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a security source said.

#5: An Iraqi citizen was killed on Thursday by an unidentified sniper in al-Sink marketplace in central Baghdad, a police source said.

#6: Around 7 am, mortars hit Rustamiyah camp in Ristumiya neighborhood ( south east Baghdad) . No casualties reported.

#7: Around 10 am, a roadside bomb targeted an American convoy at Baladiyat neighborhood. No casualties reported.

#8: After finishing his job , an administrator( general manger) of the ministry of industry by gunmen at Al-Sadoun street .

#9: Around 5 pm, a roadside bomb exploded near the college of administration and economics at Adhamiya neighborhood ( north Baghdad) killing one resident and injuring another.

#10: Police found 24 dead bodies in Baghdad in the following neighborhoods : 13 were found in west Baghdad ( Karkh bank) ; 4 in Bayaa , 4 in Amil , 2 in Kadhimiyah , 1 in Ma’amoun , 1 in Qadisiya and 1 in Khadraa. While 11 were found in east Baghdad ( Risafa bank) ; 4 in Sleikh , 2 in Karrada, 1 in Qahira . 1 in Ur , 1 in Kasra Wa’atash , 1 in Rashad , 1 in Al-Ameen.


Diyala Prv:
#1: The Iraqi army killed a gunman called the defense minister of the self-named Islamic State of Iraq in Diala province, northeast of Baghdad, the state-run al-Iraqiya satellite television said on Thursday

Hibhib:
#1: A suicide bomber drove a car bomb into a police station on Thursday, killing 13 people and wounding 15 in the town of Hibhib, north of Baghdad near Baquba, police said. A police source said the attacker struck a queue of recruits lined up to join the police force in the town. The dead included six police and seven civilians.

#2: Before noon, police found 14 dead bodies near poultry field at Hibhib of Khalis ( 18 km north Baquba). All of them were tortured before being shot on heads and chests.


Kut:
#1: Further into the Shiite south, policeman Hisham Raheem who guarded electricity installations near the city of Kut, was shot dead in cold blood on his way to work, said police Lieutenant Ali Hussein.


Jbela:
#1: Three people were killed and two wounded in clashes between a tribe and insurgents in the town of Jbela 65 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad.

#2: An Iraqi army patrol responding to the incident was hit by a roadside bomb that wounded two soldiers, police said.


Basra:
#1: A 13th SC(E) Soldier was killed and two others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle while conducting a combat logistics patrol in the vicinity of Al Basrah, Iraq August 1

#2: An Australian soldier has suffered minor shrapnel wounds in an attack on his vehicle patrol in southern Iraq. The soldier - whose name won't be released - was expected to make a speedy and full recovery and return to duty after a short period of recovery in Iraq, defence said. Australian Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said a patrol had come under attack on Tuesday evening, possibly from a mortar or rocket. A Bushmaster armoured vehicle was slightly damaged.

#3: A British helicopter destroyed a number of rockets on Thursday morning, north of the city of Basra. "A British chopper destroyed at dawn eight Katyusha rockers in al-Latief region, north of Basra," Major Matthew Bird told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#4: the joint coordination center came under light arms attack without any casualties arising, the media spokesman for the Multi-National Forces in Southern Iraq said. "The joint coordination center in al-Hakimiya region in central Basra was attacked by light arms on Wednesday night and early Thursday without human casualties," Major Bird added.

#5: the spokesman said that all British bases in Basra came under indirect fire during the past 24 hours without human or material damage resulting.

#6: Around 7 am, mortars hit the headquarter of Hakimiya joint forces injuring one policeman with two cars damaged.


Samarra:
#1: In another crackdown near the city of Samarra, a US air strike killed a foreigner who was poised to attack coalition forces during a raid on suspects accusing of helping foreign fighters, according to the US military.


Balad:
#1: Six mortar bombs killed one girl and wounded five other children in Balad 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, the local hospital said.


Sulaimaniyah city :
#1: After mid-night of Wednesday , police found two dead bodies of two students ( male and female ) at Bekhtiari neighborhood in downtown Sulaimaniyah city who were burned by unknown material for police . Police arrested one suspected at the scene while the people who told of the incident ran away.


Tikrit:
#1: Further north, a farmer was killed and two other people seriously wounded when a bomb exploded on a pavement as they drove through Rashad village between Kirkuk and the city of Tikrit, police Colonel Firas Abdullah said.


Baiji:
#1: Three mortar bombs killed three people in a residential area in Baiji 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: A militant known as Safi, touted as Al-Qaeda in Iraq's emir of Mosul, was killed in a shootout with Iraqi soldiers on Wednesday after he and two cohorts were spotted driving in the country's third largest city, the US military said. An Iraqi unit gave chase and halted the vehicle. Safi and his bodyguards jumped out and opened fire. Iraqi troops returned fire and the three members of the Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate were killed, the US Army said.

#2: A civilian was killed and four more were injured in a mortar attack on Thursday morning in western Mosul, while a car bomb exploded, targeting a U.S. convoy in southeastern Mosul with no reports of casualties, a police source said

#3: Meanwhile, the brigadier said that a booby-trapped car was detonated on Thursday morning, targeting a U.S. convoy in southeastern Mosul, with no reports of casualties.


Kirkuk:
#1: A bomb hidden in a rubbish bag near a restaurant in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, wounded four people, police said

#2: Around 10.50 am , an explosion took place inside a shop for making military uniforms near Al-Mahakim Al-Askaria in downtown Kirkuk city injuring three people .

#3: Police found the bodies of five brothers, all day labourers, who had been kidnapped near al-Rashaad district 40 km southwest of Kirkuk a day earlier. A sixth brother, six or seven years old, was found nearby unharmed.

#2: Around 12.15 pm, a roadside bomb targeted a police car which was on the way of Baghdad – Kirkuk . No casualties reported but some damage o the vehicle.

#3: Around 3.30 pm, a roadside bomb targeted an army patrol near Awashra village on the way of Kirkuk-Biji ( west of Kirkuk) killing one soldier .

#4: Around 5 pm, opened fire on a police officer at Qadisiya neighborhood near power station department downtown Kirkuk injuring him with two other people who where at the scene .


Tal Afar:
#1: At least two civilians were killed and 22 more wounded on Thursday evening as a car bomb exploded in Talafar, west of Mosul, a police source said.




Afghanistan:
#1: Senior Sergeant Berchetaru Ionel Sorinel from the 33rd Mountain Troops “POSADA” in mission in the theater of operations in Afghanistan suffered a superficial wound in the belly region, today, August 1, at 16.45 hours (Romania’s time0 during an indirect attack against the base.

#2: A Taliban attack killed one policeman and wounded three others in Afghanistan's central Ghazni province, the police said Thursday. Taliban militants ambushed a police van in Rashidan district on Wednesday evening and caused the casualties, Hajji Zaman, a local senior police officer, told Xinhua.

#3: AUSTRALIAN soldiers injured two young children when the troops opened fire on a car that did not stop at a checkpoint in southern Afhganistan. Defence spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said the patrol opened fire on the car at a checkpoint outside the city of Tarin Kowt. Two children, aged under 10, were injured in the incident.
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