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


Tuesday, July 21, 2009

War News for Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of four U.S. ISAF soldiers in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed province in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, July 20th.

CNN is reporting the death of a coalition service member in a vehicular accident in an undisclosed location north of Kabul in Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 21st. Two additional soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were injured in the incident.

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in an IED blast in an undisclosed location in central Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, July 20th.


Philippines says 10 Filipinos died in helicopter crash at NATO base in Afghanistan:

10 OFWs in Afghan crash identified: (The names are listed)

Nepalis killed in Afghan chopper crash identified: (The names are listed here)

Wisconsin Soldier Shot And Killed At Texas Army Post:

Soldier due in court on Iraq Army slaying charges:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A one-year-old baby and a girl of eight were among three people killed when a bomb exploded at a market in the capital's Shiite slum district of Sadr City, police and the defence ministry said. Fifteen others were wounded.

Earlier in the day, the police said that two bomb attacks occurred in Baghdad, one targeted a group of construction workers in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. According to latest police reports, the blasts killed three construction workers and wounded 25 others in Sadr City

#2: Another two people were killed and 30 wounded in an earlier twin bomb attack in Sadr City, a sprawling district in northeastern Baghdad.

#3: Also in the capital, Water Resources Minister Abdel Latif Jamal Rashid escaped a bomb attack as his convoy drove through the central district of Karrada, security sources said. His ministry denied Rashid was the target. Six passers-by were wounded when the bombs exploded near a bridge.

and up to12 people wounded in the minister's convoy incident. Earlier, the police put the toll of the minister's convoy incident at wounding three traffic policemen and three civilians.

#4: A car, parked outside a fuel station near the al-Rasheed wholesale vegetable market in Baghdad's southern district of Doura, detonated before midday, killing a civilian and wounding four others, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#5: In a separate incident, a roadside bomb went off near a Sunni mosque of Adelah Khatoon in Bab al-Muadham area in downtown Baghdad, wounding six people, the source added.

#6: Monday Around 7 p.m. Mortar shells slammed into the Iraqi military academy in Rustumiyah area in Baghdad. No casualties report.

#7: Monday Around 9 p.m. a sticky bomb exploded in a civilian car in Al Dora neighborhood injuring the driver and three other people were passing by.

#8: Twelve members of the same family were hurt when the minibus they were travelling in was struck by a roadside bomb in the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Baab al-Muadham.
They were taking the body of a dead relative from the morgue to his burial when the minibus was hit.


Hilla:
#1: Five Sahwa council members on Tuesday were wounded when an explosive device hit their vehicle near Hilla city, according to a local police source. “A roadside improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in al-Farsi area, al-Maseeb district (45 km north of Hilla) while a vehicle carrying Sahwa personnel was passing the location,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: An officer and a civilian were wounded when an explosive device went off in southwestern Mosul city, a local police source said on Tuesday. “On Monday (July 21) evening, an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted the car of a major in the information office in Raas al-Jada area, southwestern Mosul, wounding him along with a civilian who was in his company,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Monday Gunmen killed a traffic policeman in Al Risala neighborhood in Mosul. Few minutes later another traffic policeman was killed in Bab Al Tub area and a traffic police officer, 1st Lt, and a civilian were killed also near the northern bus station in Mosul by gunmen. Another traffic policeman was killed by an explosion as he was trying to check an object that turned out to be a roadside bomb. - One gunman was killed as he was trying to place a roadside bomb in central Mosul.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A suicide bomber in a moving car and a bomb in a parked car detonated near-simultaneously near a group of restaurants in Ramadi, capital of western Anbar province, killing three people and wounding 13 others, police said. Another police source said one person was killed, but 18 were wounded. “A state of emergency has been declared in Ramadi because of intelligence there is a third car filled with explosives in the city,” a police officer who declined to be named said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Three days of clashes between security forces and militants in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border left more than 56 militants and six soldiers dead, the military said Tuesday. There was no way to independently confirm the casualty figures because access to the affected regions was restricted for journalists. The vast majority of the deaths occurred during a two-day operation Sunday and Monday in the Maidan area of Lower Dir, a region bordering the Swat Valley where the army has been wrapping up an offensive against Taliban militants. More than 50 militants died in the clashes, said Maj. Fazlur Rahman, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps. The army also confirmed the toll.

#2: Eight Taliban militants attacked three government buildings and a U.S. base in two eastern cities Tuesday in near-simultaneous attacks. Using suicide bombings, gunfire and rockets, the militants attacked the governor's compound, the intelligence department and the police department in the eastern city of Gardez just before 11 a.m. (0630GMT; 2:30 a.m. EDT), officials said. A rocket fired into the intelligence department killed three officers, said Ghulam Dastagir, the province's deputy police chief, while a suicide bombing in front of a police station killed two police. A rocket was also fired at the governor's house, he said. A total of four attackers were shot and killed at the police station and the governor's compound, Dastagir said, including at least two bombers clothed in women's burqas, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary.

#3: Three militants, meanwhile, tried to attack a U.S. base in a second eastern city at nearly the same time. U.S. and Afghan forces killed two of the assailants at the base near the city of Jalalabad, said Mohammad Ayub Salangi, the provincial police chief. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr said a third attacker was captured.

#4: In other violence, 10 Taliban were killed and three other militants wounded while making bombs Monday in a house in Ghazni province, said Gen. Khail Buz Sherzai, the provincial police chief. A bomb detonated prematurely and killed them, he said.

#5: Taliban fighters kidnapped 13 workers from a construction firm in the Wazi Zadran district of Paktia, district chief Abdul Wali Zadran said.

#6: Four Afghan soldiers and 13 Taliban fighters were killed during an operation in northern Kunduz province, Afghan army General Murad Ali Murad said. Five Afghan troops and 12 Taliban were wounded.


Casualty Reports:

Matthew Katka, 20 suffered head injuries Sunday while patrolling in the southeastern area of the country (Afghanistan). Family spokesman Kevin Moody said his parents were told he was hit by a bullet or shrapnel and is in a coma.

British Captain Harry Parker, 26, is seriously ill in Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham after suffering multiple injuries in the explosion, according to The Sun. His father is Lieutenant General Sir Nick Parker, who is the Army's third most senior officer and will become Deputy Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan in September, the newspaper said. Capt Parker was injured by a bomb as he led a foot patrol of the 4th Battalion The Rifles in Helmand on Saturday, it was reported.

0 comments: