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


Monday, July 9, 2012

War News for Monday, July 09, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, July 7th.
 
NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, July 8th.
 
NATO is reporting the deaths of six ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, July 8th. News reports that a roadside bombing in Wardak province killed six American soldiers.


Work begins to speed NATO supply transit

Mysterious fatal crash offers rare look at U.S. commando presence in Mali


Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen killed eight people in an attack on a Pakistani army camp today in a city where thousands of hardline Islamists spent the night on their way to the capital to protest over the government's recent decision to reopen the Nato supply line to Afghanistan, police said. The camp on the outskirts of Gujrat was attacked at around 5.20am local time. The roughly half a dozen gunmen who attacked the camp were riding in a car and on motorcycles. They killed seven soldiers at the camp and a policeman who tried to intercept them as they were escaping, said police chief Mr Mahmood. Four policemen and at least three soldiers were injured, he added.

#2: Nine Afghan soldiers were killed Monday when the truck carrying them overturned in the north of the country, injuring 21 others, dpa reported referring to police. The truck fell from a narrow mountain road into a creek in Hazrat Sultan, a district in Samangan province, the province's police chief Khalil Andarabi told dpa, adding that he suspected the accident was due to careless driving.

#3: Unknown gunmen have attacked a group of United Nations child protection agency workers in northern Afghanistan, injuring one officer, local news agency Pajhwok reported on Monday. The attack took place on Sunday in the town of Karam Qol, in Faryab province. The UN officers were on a field trip to vaccinate children against poliomyelitis, the report said. A car carrying the UN staff, including the head of the UNICEF mission in Faryab, Fazil Ahmad, caught fire as a result of the attack and was burnt out. The officers managed to escape, but one of them has been hospitalized with injuries.

#4: Also in the east, authorities said gunmen assassinated a chief prosecutor in Ghazni province Monday morning as he drove to work. Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy provincial governor, said Sahar Gul was shot twice _ once in the head and once in the chest.

#5: Three civilians and two local police officers were killed and 15 other people injured by a bomb in southern Afghanistan, dpa reported Monday referring to an official. "The blast took place Sunday night close to a local police checkpoint in Gereshk district of Helmand province," said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor.

#6: A station house officer (SHO) was killed and three other policemen injured when a proclaimed offender opened fire on a police party at Germa intersection on Indus Highway, police said on Sunday. According to details, the assailant, Noman, opened fire on police when they intercepted his car at the Zero Point checkpost. The firing critically injured SHO Arman Gul and three other policemen, Khan Saeed, Niaz Ali and Wajahat. The retaliatory fire of police killed Noman on the spot. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital, where the SHO succumbed to his injuries.

#7: A former sub-inspector (SI) of Wadh Police Station was shot dead in Bolan Colony area of Khuzdar district, 310 kilometres away from the provincial capital, on Sunday. According to the police, the former police official, identified as Muhammad Rafeeq, was sitting outside his house when unidentified armed men opened fire.

#8: Afghan police, army and NATO-led coalition forces have killed 17 armed Taliban insurgents during 17 cleanup operations in different provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said on Monday morning. "During the cleanup operations, launched in Kunar, Laghman, Baghlan, Badakhshan, Kandahar, Zabul, Ghazni, Khost, Farah and Helmand provinces, four other Taliban insurgents were injured and two other suspects were arrested by the joint troops," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates to media.

#9: Five people were killed and 13 wounded in a motorcycle bombing attack on Sunday evening in southern Afghan province of Helmand, a provincial government spokesman said on Monday morning. "An explosive-laden motorbike was detonated through a remote- control device near an Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoint in Mirmandab area of Gereshk district Sunday evening as a result two ALP policemen and three civilians lost their lives," spokesman Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua.
He said the injured include 11 civilians and two ALP servicemen.

DoD: Capt. Bruce A. MacFarlane

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