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, April 6, 2010

War News for Tuesday, April 06, 2010

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier from non-combat related injuries in Baghdad on Sunday, April 4th.

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Lt. Miroslav Zilberman died after his E-2C Hawkeye crashed into the Arabian Gulf on Wednesday, April 31st.


Total charged with Iraq oil-for-food corruption:

Leaked video footage shows Iraq journalists killed by US gunships:

Lawmakers: Afghan leader threatens to join Taliban:

Afghan Investigators Say U.S. Troops Tried to Cover Up Evidence in Botched Raid:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1-6: Six bombs rocked Baghdad killing at least 28 people on Tuesday, the second time the capital has come under attack in three days, fuelling fears insurgents are making a return due to a political impasse. The explosions destroyed residential buildings in mostly Shiite neighbourhoods, with Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim Atta saying four of the bombs detonated inside the buildings. "Six bomb attacks in several neighbourhoods of Baghdad occurred, and seven buildings collapsed," said an interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official added that 28 people were killed and 75 wounded.

#1: The explosions started at about 9.30am at a residential building in the Shula area of north-west Baghdad.

Six civilians were killed and 12 others were injured in two explosions that hit two apartment buildings in northwestern Baghdad, a local police source said on Tuesday. “The blasts occurred in succession in al-Shula neighborhood, northwestern Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Then a car bomb struck at a junction about a mile away, damaging nearby buildings.

#3: At 9.45am a bomb left in a plastic bag exploded at a restaurant in the Allawi district, near the government’s Culture Ministry.

Four civilians have been injured in a blast that hit an apartment building in the capital Baghdad, the third of its kind today, a local police source said on Tuesday. “The blast, which occurred in downtown Baghdad’s Allawi area, left four civilians injured, according to an initial count,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: A suicide bomber struck near the former British embassy in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#5: Yesterday a Shiite couple and four of their children were gunned down in their home outside Baghdad.

#6: Three civilians have been injured in a sticky explosive device blast in the capital Baghdad, a police source said on Tuesday. “A sticky device hit a Kia-modeled vehicle in al-Shula neighborhood, northwestern Baghdad, wounding three civilians who were taken to a nearby hospital,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Basra:
#1: A roadside bomb killed a policeman and wounded three others in the Shat al-Arab district of eastern Basra, 420 km (290 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A NATO airstrike on a residence in southern Afghanistan killed four civilians and four insurgents, an Afghan official and the military alliance said Tuesday. According to NATO and provincial government spokesman Dawood Ahmadi, insurgents had fired at NATO troops and Afghan army and police from inside the compound in Helmand province's Nahri Sarraj district on Monday, prompting the airstrike.The presence of the civilians — two women, an elderly man and a child — was discovered only after the troops entered the compound, NATO said.

#2: Islamist militants unleashed a car bomb and grenade attack against a U.S. consulate in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing four people and striking back after months of American missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in the region. The multi-pronged strike against the consulate in Peshawar city was the first direct assault on a U.S. mission in the country since 2006. Officials said the four attackers in two vehicles hoped to breach the heavily fortified compound and kill people inside, but they failed to do that and caused only minor damage. They detonated their first suicide vehicle at a checkpoint some 20 meters from the entrance to the consulate, said Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan. The second vehicle, which was carrying a larger amount of explosives, was stopped at another security barrier some 15 meters from the entrance, he said.

#3: Hours earlier, a suicide bomber killed 45 people and wounded more than 70 at a rally by a secular political party in the northwest that has supported recent Pakistani army offensives in the region close to Afghanistan, where the United States is battling a related insurgency.

#4: Police killed two suspected suicide bombers during a raid in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said. Police raided a hide-out Tuesday in the Mittani area on the outskirts of Peshawar after receiving a tip, sparking a shootout. One of the two alleged attackers killed was wearing a suicide vest, said Laiquat Ali, a senior police official.

#5: Two top former ISI officials and a Pakistani-origin British TV journalist have gone missing in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, where they had gone to interview Taliban leaders, including Jalaluddin Haqqani. Two top former ISI officials and a Pakistani-origin British TV journalist have gone missing in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, where they had gone to interview Taliban leaders, including Jalaluddin Haqqani.

#6: At least 6 Afghan policemen have been killed and two others reported missing during a fierce firefight with suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan's Baghlan province. Six policemen were killed before dawn on Tuesday when militants opened fire on a checkpoint in the Puli Khumri district of the northeastern Baghlan province. The militants set two police vehicle ablaze and made off with three others, Bakhtar news agency reported.

#7: Afghan forces claim killing 30 Taliban militants in Balamirghab district of the northwest Badghis province on Tuesday.


MoD: Rifleman Mark Turner

DoD: Lt. Miroslav Zilberman

DoD: Lance Cpl. Tyler O. Griffin

DoD: Sgt. Frank J. World

DoD: Staff Sgt. Scott W. Brunkhorst

DoD: Lance Cpl. Curtis M. Swenson

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really disagree with that first sentence. To win a game of rugby you need to score one or more points more then the other team. If you are to say that a team should win even if the referee is against them I find that like saying the Sharks didb't deserve to beat the Highlanders because they only won by two points. The referee could have wrongfully given the Highlanders a penalty and they could have won when the Sharks stil deserved to win.

I didn't watch the Brumbies game. As you really said these things balance out eventually, you get the good and the bad calls.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone noticed that Aussie rEfs tend to be both pedantic and biased.