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, July 2, 2011

War News for Saturday, July 02, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, June 1st.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in western Afghanistan on Saturday, June 2nd. News reports this is an Italian soldier.


Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: Gunmen opened fire from their assault rifles on four people from one family in the al-Ja'ar area, some 40 km northeast of Diyala's capital city of Baquba, killing one of them and wounding the other three, a source from the provincial operations command said on condition of anonymity.

#2: In a separate incident, gunmen wounded a man near his house in western the city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source added.


Kirkuk:
#1: In another development, Kirkuk’s Miqdad Police’s Assistant Director, Kamel Ahmed, told Aswat al-Iraq on Saturday that a group of unknown gunmen opened fire on the house of a doctor in Kirkuk’s Adan district, causing damage to the house and fleeing to an unknown destination.

#2: Gunmen in a speeding car shot at two people and wounded them late on Friday in southeastern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: On Saturday morning, a car bomb detonated near an Iraqi army patrol in al-Faisaliyah district in eastern Mosul, damaging a military vehicle and wounding two soldiers aboard, the source said. The powerful blast also wounded seven bystanders and caused severe damages to several nearby buildings and civilian cars, the source added.

#2: A civilian was wounded today by a bomb blast west Mosul, security sources said. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb was not directed against security forces.

#3: Gunmen opened fire at a police checkpoint, killing one policeman in central Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: An Iraqi policeman has been killed in an armed attack by a group of unknown gunmen in west Iraq’s Ramadi city on Saturday, an Anbar police source reported. “A group of armed men opened fire from a civilian car on a policeman, driving his car in east Ramadi’s Huseiba township, killing him on the spot,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Gunmen in a speeding car shot dead a government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia member in Khaldiya, 83 km (50 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Thirteen Afghan civilians, including four women and two children, were killed Saturday when a roadside bomb ripped through their van in the country's south, the government said. The Ministry of Interior said the morning explosion occurred in Shamulzayi district of Zabul province.

#2: Also in the south on Saturday, two gunmen on a motorcycle killed Wakil Mohammad Khan, a member of the local council in Nahri Sarraj district of Helmand province, the interior ministry said.


DoD: Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider

DoD: Sgt. Chad D. Frokjer

Posted by whisker at 3:41 AM

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