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, June 28, 2010

War News for Monday, June 28, 2010

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 28th. News reports the attack was in Almar, Faryab province.

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from small arms fire in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on on Sunday, June 28th. Here's NATO's release.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in a small-arms fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, June 27th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, June 26th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, June 26th.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier in a vehicle accident south of Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq on Friday, June 25th.


Robert Byrd, Longest Serving U.S. Senator, Dies at 92

CIA chief defends Blackwater contract

Pakistan’s Plan on Afghan Peace Leaves U.S. Wary


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: At least two police officers were killed and four others wounded in a double bombing in central Baghdad on Monday, the Interior Ministry said. The police were in Sheikh Omar area of Baghdad defusing a roadside bomb near a restaurant when a second one detonated, the official said.

#2: In another attack Monday, gunmen stormed a house in southern Baghdad and killed two women. Two men and two more women were wounded in the attack. The motive behind the killings was not clear.

#3: Another two people were wounded when a magnetic bomb exploded in Karrada, a busy commercial district in the capital.

One policeman and two civilians were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car went of in southern Baghdad. “The blast occurred late last night at the al-Sayyediya neighborhood, southern Baghdad,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Monday.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb hit on Monday a U.S. patrol by southwest of Kirkuk city, leaving no casualties. “The blast occurred near the al-Nassir Village, 45 km southwest of Kirkuk,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Iraqi gunmen killed two civilians in the main northern city of Mosul on Sunday. Machine gun fire felled one civilian outside his home in the overwhelmingly Sunni Arab west of the city, police said, without giving further details on the victim's identity.

#2: A second civilian was killed when gunmen stormed a home appliances store in the ethnically mixed east of the city, close to the ruins of ancient Nineveh, they added.

#3: The army engineer was killed and a second wounded as they tried to make safe an improvised bomb planted by insurgents in the Sahaba neighbourhood in the west of the city.

#4: A car bomb went off near an Iraqi army checkpoint, wounding a soldier, in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#5: A U.S. Apache military helicopter fired a Hellfire missile at three men suspected of planting a bomb, killing all three on Saturday evening, on a main road southeast of Mosul,



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Afghan police official said on Monday that eight civilians were killed in a NATO raid in the southern province of Kandahar, but the alliance claimed the victims were Taliban fighters. The military attacked two houses early Monday morning in Bagh—e—Pul area of Kandahar City, Mohammad Shah Farooqi, the deputy provincial police chief, said. Mr. Farooqi said there was no evidence to show that the men inside were involved in any “anti—government activities.” But NATO said its troops assisted by Afghan forces killed “a Taliban commander and several armed individuals” during the raid. "The Afghan—led security force went to a compound outside Kandahar City to search the area and was immediately engaged by hostile fire,” it said. “Afghan and coalition forces returned fire in self defence and killed several armed individuals including Khan.” One suspect allegedly involved in transporting bombs to Kabul was arrested, NATO added.

#2: Four civilians were killed and four injured when their minivan was struck by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan Monday, a police official said. The vehicle was en route to the capital of Ghanzi province from Andar district Monday morning when it was blown up by the mine, Khial Baz Sherzai, the provincial police chief, said. The four wounded were evacuated to a provincial hospital, he said. Their condition was critical.

#3: At least two NATO oil tankers were torched near Chaman in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan on Monday morning, reported local media. The incident happened at around 8 a.m. (local time) Monday at the border area of Spin Boldak near Chaman, a city in the northern part of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan, when some unknown gunmen attacked the NATO oil tankers and set them on fire. Police sources said they had arrived at the scene shortly after the attack was reported and firemen were still trying to extinguish the fire. No people were killed in the attack as the drivers ran out of the trucks carrying oil tanks, said police, adding the attackers had run away.

#4: A US drone fired two missiles into a militant compound in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt on Sunday killing at least five militants, Geo News reported Sunday. The missiles targeted a militant compound on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan area.

#5: Afghan and ISAF forces clashed with Taliban insurgents on Monday in an area of eastern Kunar province where both sides suffered some casualties a day earlier, officials said.

#6: At least a dozen of militants were killed and six others injured Monday in retaliatory actions when they attacked a security check post in northwest Pakistan's Orakzai tribal area, local sources said. The incident took place when a group of militants early in the morning attacked a check post in Dabori area of Upper Orakzai, leaving at least six security personnel injured.

#7: On Sunday eight militants were killed in the area. In Orakzai Agency, adjacent to Pakistani settled districts but not to Afghanistan, Pakistan army has announced victory several weeks ago but clashes between the security forces and terrorists frequently took place in the area.


MoD: Bombardier Stephen Gilbert

DND/CF: Master Corporal Kristal Giesebrecht

DND/CF: Private Andrew Miller

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