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, August 9, 2011

War News for Tuesday, August 09, 2011





Last diggers depart Iraq

Soldier amputations from Afghan IEDs up sharply

Green Beret shot in Afghanistan: - Former Angola man suffers from bullet lodged in brain

In Baghdad, Closing a 5-Star Retreat -- your tax dollars at work... whisker


Reported security incidents

Haswa:
#1: A bomb planted inside a policeman's house in Haswa, 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, wounded four of his family members, a police source said. The policeman was not around at the time of the blast.


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: A Kirkuk security source had informed Aswat al-Iraq on Tuesday that 5 policemen have been injured in 2 explosive charges blasts against their patrols south of Kirkuk. He said that “two explosive charges blew off on Tuesday against a police patrol in Tuz-Khurmato township, 80 kms to the south of Kirkuk,” giving no further details.


Kirkuk:
#1: “An explosive charge blew off against an American Army patrol in southern Kirkuk’s Industrial district, 10 kms to the south of the city,” Lt-Brigadier, Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said a Police patrol headed towards the venue of the attack, but found no material or moral damage.

#2: “Another U.S. Army patrol had been exposed for a bomb attack, close to a checkpoint, 25 km to the south of Kirkuk on Monday night, but there had been no reports about moral or material damage as well,” Qader said.


Mosul:
#1: A child was killed and a soldier wounded in a bomb blast west of Mosul, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol, west of the city. The child was accidentally near the site of the explosion, the source added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Some NATO troops suffered light injuries Monday when a helicopter made a “hard landing” in Afghanistan’s southeastern Paktia province, NATO officials said.

#2: Afghan forces killed four insurgents in the southern province of Kandahar, the Kandahar governor's media office said.

#3: Afghan and coalition forces killed one insurgent in the northwestern province of Faryab on Monday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement


DoD: Sgt. Daniel J. Patron

Posted by whisker at 3:28 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OBAMINATION WAR MELTDOWN

August 9, 2011 at 6:36 AM
Dancewater said...

the violence and rioting that we are seeing in the UK will come to the US one day - we taught our children well, that violence is the solution to problems, just like the Brits did.

August 9, 2011 at 2:11 PM

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