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, October 17, 2012

War News for Wednesday, October 17, 2012



CIA Operative Said Among Afghan Victims


Reported security incidents

#1:  At least 45 Afghan troops have been injured by a suicide car bomb attack at an Afghan-Nato military outpost in eastern Paktia province, say officials. The attacker reportedly detonated a vehicle packed with exlposives close to gates at the Zurmat base. Deputy provincial governor Abdul Rahman Mangal said most of the injured soldiers had been hit by broken glass.
 
#2: Unknown gunmen on Tuesday killed a polio vaccinator in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan, highlighting resistance to the country’s immunization campaign, officials said. The shooting happened in the Killi Jeo area of provincial capital Quetta a day after a three-day campaign kicked off across the country, senior government official Tariq Mengal told AFP.
 
#3: Gunmen shot dead four people on Tuesday, in what appears to be a fresh sectarian attack in Pakistan’s troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, police said. All those killed ran junk and scrap shops in the Kabarhi Market in Quetta, the provincial capital where sectarian and separatist violence is common. “It was a sectarian attack. Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on them and drove away,” Asif Ghafoor, a senior police official, said.
#4: Defence ministry on Tuesday announced two Afghan National Army (ANA) troops were killed and 6 wounded in separate attacks throughout the past 24 hours. A statement issued by defence ministry said a roadside bomb killed an ANA soldier in Kajaki district of Helmand province while two more were wounded in Khakrez district of neighbouring Kandahar province. In a separate statement, the defence ministry said a roadside bomb blast left an ANA soldier dead and another wounded in Pul-e-Alam, capital of Logar province, adding three ANA troops also wounded in Ghazni and Paktia provinces. The defence ministry claimed 22 anti-government gunmen were killed and six wounded after a clash in Andar district of Ghazni province and two more killed in Gereshk district of Helmand.
 
 
 

Posted by whisker at 3:51 AM

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