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


Saturday, October 13, 2007

War News for Saturday, October 13, 2007



Photo: Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the U.S. military commander in Iraq is shown in this 2003 file photo in Baghdad. Sanchez said the U.S. mission in Iraq is a "nightmare with no end in sight" because of political misjudgments after the fall of Saddam Hussein. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic, FILE) Photo Credit: Associated Press Photo.

Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who commanded coalition troops for a year beginning June 2003, cast a wide net of blame for both political and military shortcomings in Iraq that helped open the way for the insurgency _ such as disbanding the Saddam-era military and failing to cement ties with tribal leaders and quickly establish civilian government after Saddam was toppled. He called current strategies _ including the deployment of 30,000 additional forces earlier this year _ a "desperate attempt" to make up for years of misguided policies in Iraq. "There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight," Sanchez told a group of journalists covering military affairs.



The DoD has announced a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM. Army Staff Sergeant Donald L. Munn II, 25, of Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, died Thursday, October 11th, in Baghdad of wounds he received when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit. According to a Detroit News interview with his grandmother, he and his platoon were clearing houses in Baghdad when Munn sensed something was wrong. He focused on getting his men out of the house they were searching, but as the last to leave, was himself caught in the bomb blast that followed. Munn had graduated from Lakeshore High School in 2000, and had attended a year of college at Western Michigan University before enlisting in the army. He was currently on his second deployment to Iraq. Recently he had married a fellow army soldier from California whom he had met in Germany and with whom he had had a 17-month-old daughter.

Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Two 15th Sustainment Brigade Soldiers were killed and five others were wounded during a mortar attack in the vicinity of Baghdad Oct. 10.

#2: U.S. forces killed one suspected insurgent and detained three others in eastern Baghdad on Friday in a raid targeting groups moving roadside bombs, the U.S. military said.

#3: One person was killed and eight wounded, including four children, in a mortar attack in the southern Baghdad district of Doura on Friday, the U.S. military said.


Kirkuk:
#1: The deputy police chief in the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk escaped unharmed when a bomb exploded near his convoy Saturday in central Kirkuk, but one of his bodyguards was killed, police said. In addition, the blast wounded two of Gen. Torhan Sa'eed's bodyguards and a civilian. According to police, the attack took place shortly after noon.


Kurdistan:
#1: A Turkish soldier has reportedly been wounded after PKK guerillas opened fire with mortar and heavy machine guns from Northern Iraq on a military control point in Turkey. Turkish soldiers responded from the village in Sirnak province, on the Iraqi border with Turkey, reports said on Saturday. Military sources did not confirm the news of a soldier having been wounded in the attack.

Casualty Reports:

The DoD has confirmed the death of Army Sergeant Jason M. Lantieri, 25, of Killingworth, Connecticut, from injuries he received in a vehicle accident on October 9th. He died on the 10th in Iskandariyah, Babil Province. According to an Associated Press article, he was injured while performing late night vehicle maneuvers when he became pinned between two vehicles.

The DoD has identified the Multi-National Corps - Iraq soldier who died in an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, October 10th: Staff Sergeant Eric T. Duckworth, 26, of Plano, Texas. He was assigned to the 759th Military Police Battalion out of Fort Carson, CO.

The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch is reporting the death of a Piqua, Ohio, native in the indirect fire attack on Camp Victory in Baghdad on Thursday, October 11th: Army Reserve Specialist Samuel Pearson, 28. That attack on one of the largest U.S. bases in Iraq killed two and injured 40. Pearson was described by his sister-in-law as a "quiet guy, but a sweet guy". He graduated from high school in Piqua in 1998, and then went on to earn a degree in economics from Otterbein College in 2003. Pearson then went to work for several businesses in Columbus, but felt the need for something more in his life and signed up with the Army Reserve in September of 2006. His unit was deployed to Iraq last August. Pearson was serving with the army's Finance Corps at the time of his death. The oldest of five children, 4 boys and a girl, he is survived by his parents and his siblings.

The DoD has identified the two army reservists who died in a rocket attack on Camp Victory in Baghdad on Wednesday, October 10th:

Staff Sergeant Lillian Clamens, 35, of Lawton, Oklahoma
Specialist Samuel F. Pearson, 28, of Westerville, Ohio

Omaha (Nebraska) station Action 3 News quotes Clamen's relatives as saying that it was the hard work, structure and athletic lifestyle that drew her to the military. There was nothing else they could picture her doing. "She'd wake you up at four o'clock in the morning and then if you didn't make your bed right she'd make you do it again until the quarter bounced off it," said her sister. Clamens grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, according to the article, graduating from Omaha Central High School in 1990. She had served in the Army Reserve for more than 15 years, currently with a postal company ... and had just re-enlisted for another 6 years. Most recently, Clamens, her husband, two daughters and a son called Florida home. She died just days away from her scheduled return home.

Wounded soldier Edward "E.J." Trautner, of Valparaiso, has endured so many surgeries that he's lost count. Trautner, who was shot in the head by a sniper while manning an Iraqi checkpoint on Aug. 24, 2006. Trautner, who still has a few more surgeries on the horizon, plans to retire from the Army in the near future and hopes to attend law school at Valparaiso University with the goal of becoming a district attorney. He gave up his original plan to be a police officer because he lost his right eye in the sniper attack in Iraq.

.U.S. Army Spc. Saul Martinez, 22. who lost both legs in the Iraq war. Martinez, who wore prosthetics and uses a cane to walk. gt. Blake C. Stephens and Spc. Kyle Little who were killed by the explosion that wounded Martinez.

Jacob Castro, 22, While on patrol in Tikrit, Iraq an explosion tore through his legs. It nearly killed him. Though he left the battlefield for a military hospital in Germany, the fight was far from over for the soldier. He battled for the next nine months to stay alive, receiving a bone transplant to save his legs.

Eric Edmundson, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, was injured two years ago in Iraq. Edmundson was injured Oct. 2, 2005. A roadside bomb hit the assault vehicle he was driving. He suffered injuries to his abdomen, right leg, vertebrae and spleen. He has not been able to walk since the explosion. He cannot talk.

Pvt. Adrian Garcia was injured in March while serving in Iraq. He was hurt when the Humvee he was riding in came under insurgent fire. The vehicle blew up when a rocket-propelled grenade struck it, and doctors were forced to amputate both of Garcia's legs just above the knee.

Steven Keyes returned home Sept. 28 after six months of service to recover from injuries he sustained during an incident that occurred on Sept. 10 near Baghdad. As he and his squadron were returning from a late-night raid in the Baghdad suburb of Shula at around 5 a.m., one of their transport truck's tires blew out as they were crossing an overpass, Keyes said. The driver lost control and the truck went off the bridge into a type of junkyard. "It was probably a 30- to 40-foot drop when the truck landed on its roof with nothing to break our fall," said Keyes. Keyes, who is recovering from extensive injuries, including a broken femur, two broken ribs, two collapsed lungs, a broken radius and ulna in one arm, as well as having to have his spleen removed.

Andrew Pike a U.S. Army specialist -returned home paralyzed from the waist down and eager to build a wheelchair accessible home in his hometown of Kimberly. Pike, who is receiving some financial support from the Veterans Affairs, will still need help making his new home completely wheelchair accessible. Since he needs specific kinds of assistance, the goal has crystallized for friends and family to encourage help from the public. Without knowing whether Andrew Pike's condition would improve - if he would even live - after a sniper shot him in March in Iraq, Pike's aunt, cousin and his father's boss, the Twin Falls chief of police, did everything they could without knowing what could be done.

Kyle Anderson', 22, suffered severe injuries during a bomb explosion in Iraq in 2004: He has considerable loss of movement on his right side, and his speech is affected, too. He can use about 28 words, and his intense therapy continues.

Ben Parkinson, 23, was blown up by a land mine on the Afghan front line last year, he lost both legs, was left paralysed, suffered severe fractures and brain damage that meant he was unable to speak and had severe memory loss.

19-year-old Marine from Clarkston is on his way to recovery, after being injured by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Iraq. Lance Corporal Michael Stilson, a 2006 graduate of Clarkston High School, was serving with the United States Marine Corps when he was injured on Sept. 3 while on foot patrol. His mother, Tricia Stilson, said he arrived at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on Sept 7 and spent three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. Tricia Stilson said her son has gone through multiple surgeries to his left arm and right leg and has more to go, but that his prognosis is good, despite having a long road of physical therapy ahead of him.

U.S. Army Specialist Bryan Castro is showing signs of improvement, after having been shot in the head during a routine village check in Iraq. transferred to a military hospital in Germany after receiving emergency surgery in Iraq.

0 comments: