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


Thursday, November 24, 2011

War News for Thursday, November 24, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Cpl. Zachary C. Reiff died in a hospital in Germany on Monday, November 21st. He was wounded in a roadside bombing in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, November 18th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: At least 3 persons have been injured in an explosive charge blast against an Army patol in front of the Sunni Waqf (Endowment) Office northwest of Baghdad on Thursday, whilst an attempt to assassinate a traffic police officer failed in northwest Baghdad's Amiriya district and a woman was killed in central Baghdad's Karrada district, all on Thursday morning, a security source reported.

#2: In another security incident, a Security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency said that "a group of unknown gunmen tried to assassinate Major Ali Abdul-Saheb with guns, fixed with silencers, in al-Amal al-Shaabi Street in northwest Baghdad's Amiriya district, who was driven to a nearby hospital for treatment.

#3: Meanwhile, west Baghdad had witnessed a group of armed men, disguised behind police uniform, attacked a flat in an apartment building, killing a woman and wounding another woman, followed by robbing all the valuables of their flat.


Hawija:
#1: Militants attacked with car bombs and mortars near the police headquarters and government buildings in the town of Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, wounding nine people including two soldiers and a policeman, police and hospital sources said. Two suicide car bombers died in the explosions and two insurgents were killed by police when they tried to attack the police headquarters, the sources said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Taliban fighters have attacked a NATO convoy in western Afghanistan, killing at least 10 private security guards and injuring several, officials say. A government spokesman told Al Jazeera that the NATO logistics convoy came under attack in Farah province on Thursday. At least ten vehicles were set on fire.

#2: A bomb attack in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Agency has destroyed one NATO oil tanker carrying fuel for US-led foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan, Press TV reports. Officials told Press TV that a NATO oil tanker hit a planted explosive device near Michni check post area on Peshawar-Torkham road of Landi Kotal tehsil late Wednesday. The oil tanker was completely damaged. However, no human losses were reported in the attack.

#3: A group of Taliban insurgents attacked a security firm in western Farah province on Thursday, killing 12 people of the company and injuring nine others, police said.


DoD: Cpl. Zachary C. Reiff

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