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, July 6, 2011

War News for Wednesday, July 06, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 5th.

NATO is reporting the death of another ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 5th.


Canadian forces leave Afghanistan as mission ends

Official: White House to lift ban on military suicide condolences


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: The Deputy Chairman of the Local Council of Abu-Muneisir area in north Baghdad’s Abu-Ghuraib township has escaped an assassination attempt, when an explosion blew up from beneath his car on Wednesday, a police source reported. “An explosive charge blew up from underneath the car of Deputy-Chairman of Abu-Muneisir’s local council in north Baghdad’s Abu-Ghuraib township, Muhsin al-Amiry, causing him some injuries,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Amarra:
#1: Two Katusha rockets fell on al-Buteira Military Airport north of Amara, the center of southern Iraq’s Missan Province on Tuesday night, causing no human or material losses, a Missan security source reported on Wednesday.


Kirkuk:
#1: A police General Sarhat Qadir said today that three members of the pro-government Al-Sahwa (Awakening) forces were killed by weapons equipped with silencers in southwest Kirkuk. Qadir informed Aswat al-Iraq that the three were killed near a checkpoint on the main road connecting Kirkuk with Hawija area.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Anbar police sources said that a soldier was killed and another wounded in an armed attack on a checkpoint south of Falluja today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that an armed gunmen attacked one of the checkpoints in Amiriyah area, south of Falluja.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A Russian-made Ilyushin-76 cargo plane chartered by the U.S. military crashed into a mountaintop in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, as fears rose for the fate of its nine-member Azerbaijani crew. The plane was hauling equipment from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku to Bagram Air Field in eastern Afghanistan, said Kabul airport official Yaqub Rasoliob. Afghan transport ministry spokesman Nangyalai Qalatwal said it was unknown whether any of the crew survived. Qalatwal said the plane belonged to Azerbaijan's government. No Americans were aboard the plane, said U.S. Army Maj. James Lowe, a spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Lowe said the cargo included four pallets of heavy equipment, describing the flight as a standard shipment into Bagram.

#2: It's emerged that four Afghan civilians were killed and two wounded when an RAF drone targetting insurgent leaders fired on two trucks in Helmand province. It is the first time civilians have died in an attack by an unmanned Reaper plane. The group was struck in March after forces tracking the enemy on the ground correctly identified members of the Taliban in two vehicles and signalled for the Reaper to attack.

#3: A base for South Korean reconstruction workers in Afghanistan came under another apparent rocket attack, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. Rocket-propelled grenades fell outside the base, located in the Afghanistan city of Charika, the 12th attack this year. No casualties have been reported.

#4: Hundreds of militants crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan on Wednesday and attacked two border villages, triggering a shootout with a local militia, police said.
There was no immediate word on casualties from the latest attack in the villages of Nusrat Darrah and Saro Kalley in the Upper Dir district. Paramilitary troops and police were sent to the area to help armed tribesmen trying to fend off the insurgents, local police official Gul Fazal Khan said.

#5: Unknown miscreants torched a Nato oil tanker in Chozagia area of Khyber Agency on Tuesday. According to details, unknown armed men attacked Nato oil tanker, supplying fuel to Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan. As a result of the attack, the oil tanker caught fire and gutted completely. However, the driver and cleaner remained unhurt in the incident. The law enforcement agencies arrived at spot soon after the incident and cordoned off the area but the tanker was gutted completely.

#6: Security forces backed by helicopter gunships killed three militants and wounded five in a clash which erupted after insurgents attacked troops in Miranshah, intelligence officials said. Five soldiers were also wounded in the firefight in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, a region considered a militant hotbed.

#7: At least 10 militants were killed and eight others injured on Wednesday during the Pakistani army's current operation against militants in the northwestern region of the country, local media reported. According to reports, the 10 militants were killed when a mortar shell fired by the Pakistani army hit a militants' bunker in Marghan area of the Kurram Agency, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The security forces were moving ahead in the Marghan area on Wednesday morning. He said the main aim of the move was to reopen the Parachinar road which had been closed by the militants for a long time.

#8: At least six people were killed and five others injured in a US drone strike launched late Tuesday night in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan, reported local TV channel Express. According to the local media reports, the strike took place at about 11:00 p.m. local time when US drones fired four missiles at a house suspected of hiding militants in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan.


MoD: Highlander Scott McLaren

DoD: Staff Sgt. Michael J. Garcia

0 comments: