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, May 28, 2011

War News for Saturday, May 28, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier when a helicopter crashed in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, May 26th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of eight ISAF soldiers from an IED blast(s) in an undisclosed location(s) in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, May 26th. News reports that 2 ied attacks killed eight American soldiers.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, May 27th.

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of two British ISAF marines from an IED blast in the Loy Mandeh area of the Nad-e Ali (North) District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Friday, May 27th. Here's the ISAF release.

The DND/CF is reporting the death of a Canadian ISAF soldier from a non-combat related incident at FOB Zangabad 45 Kilometres southwest of Kandahar Airfield, Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Friday, May 27th. Here's the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, May 28th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, May 28th.

The Georgian MoD is reporting the death of a Georgian ISAF soldier from an IED blast in Helmand province, Afghanistan on an undisclosed date. At this time we are listing this as a new death without an ISAF release.

The MoD of Spain is reporting the death of a Spanish ISAF airman from apparently natural causes/illness at a FOB in Herat, Afghanistan on Thursday, May 26th.


Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: Anti-explosives unit forces disabled on Saturday morning a bomb placed near the old mosque of Al Mukhaimisa village, northeastern Baaquba.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: TWO Australian soldiers have been wounded after their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device while on patrol in southern Afghanistan.

#2: At least eight people were killed and 12 injured Saturday morning when Pakistani Taliban triggered a remote-controlled blast in the northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan, a media report said. The blast took place at a marketplace in Salarzai area of Bajaur Agency, Geo News reported. Citing local Urdu TV channel ARY, Xinhua reported that the blast took place at about 10.55 a.m. inside a tea shop where some anti-Taliban local tribal leaders were sitting together. It was a planted bomb, witnesses said, adding that seven shops near the blast site were also destroyed.

#3: The Taliban tried to crash the Canadian army’s party Friday by launching an attack on the ceremonial opening of a road in the heart of the perilous Panjwaii district. The speakers weren’t even finished and pieces of the ribbon had just been picked up when a pair of explosions rang out, followed by small-arms fire. Canadian and Afghan troops scrambled to reinforce the defences around the combat outpost where the ceremony took place. The soldiers returned fire, but everything went quiet when two American AH-64 Apache gunships swooped down and began circling the base, which was recently carved out of the hardscrabble farmland and scrub.

#4: ISAF troops killed several insurgents during a patrol in Musa Qala district of southern Helmand province on Friday, ISAF said.


DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Christopher R. Thibodeau

DoD: Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Hamski

DoD: Tech. Sgt. Kristoffer M. Solesbee

DND/CF: Bombardier Karl Manning

Geo/MoD: Junior Sergeant Lavrosi Ivaniadze

: Air Force lieutenant Pedro López MolinaSP/MOD

5 comments:

Cervantes said...

Glad to see you're back in business. For the information of our readers, Whisker had a problem logging in to Blogger, which accounts for the missed posts.

We'd apologize but it's not our fault.

Dancewater said...

MORE US TROOPS TO IRAQ THIS SUMMER

More than 7,170 soldiers will deploy to Iraq beginning in mid-summer — despite a security agreement that requires U.S. forces to depart the country by Dec. 31.

The deployments are part of the regular rotation of forces and will include a division headquarters of 775 soldiers and two brigade combat teams totaling 6,400 soldiers, according to a Defense Department announcement Tuesday.

The soldiers will begin deploying in mid-summer and continue through the fall.

The deploying units are:

• 3rd Infantry Division headquarters, Fort Stewart, Ga.

• 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

• 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Dancewater said...

AND SADR'S GUYS STAGE MASS RALLY AGAINST OCCUPATION

Tens of thousands of followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al Sadr staged a military-style parade Thursday in Baghdad to demand that U.S. troops leave the country as scheduled by Dec. 31, a show of force intended to intimidate Iraqi officials who favor asking that some American troops stay on.

Dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with Iraqi flags, the men marched in groups of 100, swinging their arms in a military fashion as they passed a reviewing stand filled with Shiite clerics in the impoverished Shiite Sadr City section of Baghdad, named after Sadr's father.

"No, no, America. No, no, Israel," they chanted. To set the tempo, they punctuated their march by calling out "Mahdi," a reference to the disbanded Mahdi Army militia, in what sounded like a warning that it could be reconstituted if U.S. forces remain after year's end.

Sadr is the first major political leader to stage a public demonstration in what's expected to be a heated national debate during the next two months over the American troop presence. Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said earlier this month that he'd decide by the end of July whether to seek a new agreement that would let U.S. troops stay longer.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/26/114850/iraqs-sadrists-stage-mass-rally.html#ixzz1NfuazfzQ

Dancewater said...

kinda cute that Maliki thinks he has some say in the matter - or maybe, that is just political pretense, usa-style.

Dancewater said...

glad you are back up and running here, whisker.