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


Wednesday, December 19, 2007

War News for Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Baghdad:
#1: An American media watchdog group said it was alarmed by the death of an Iraqi reporter for an Internet-based news site who was shot and killed in Baghdad - allegedly during a raid by Iraqi security forces. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement Tuesday that it was trying to determine if Ali Shafeya al-Moussawi was killed because of his work for the Web site Alive in Baghdad. Al-Moussawi was shot 31 times and found dead in his home in Sadr City early Saturday after Iraqi security forces raided the area and entered his home, Alive in Baghdad reported.

#2: The dean of a Baghdad University faculty was gunned down by assassins in front of his home in southern Baghdad, police reported Wednesday.Dr. Mohammad al-Miyahi, dean of the al-Maamoun faculty, was stepping out of his car when he was struck by bullets fired from a silencer-equipped gun Tuesday, police told Kuwait's KUNA news agency.

#3: Iraqi security forces killed a gunman, detained 15 suspected gunmen and defused 10 roadside bombs during the last 24 hours under Baghdad security plan Fardh al-Qanoon, the spokesman for the security plan said on Wednesday.

#4: One civilian was killed and three more were wounded on Wednesday when an improvised explosive device went off targeting a police vehicle patrol in eastern Baghdad, said a police source. "The bomb was detonated this afternoon targeting a police vehicle patrol near al-Baladiyat neighborhood bridge in eastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and injuring three," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#5: An unidentified body was found in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday, an Iraqi interior ministry source said.


Mosul:
#1: Three civilians were accidentally injured during clashes between police forces and unidentified gunmen in the city of Mosul, northern Iraq, a police source said."They were hit with indirect fire during clashes erupted between police forces and gunmen in al-Thawra neighborhood in western Mosul," the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#2: Meanwhile, the same source said police patrols found unknown body in Souq al-Maash region in the western section of the city.

Posted by whisker at 4:03 AM

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