Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. 

In a recent article (“Bold, conservative Bachmann hints at ‘Mrs. President’ Future,” Aug. 15, 2009) in WorldNetDaily, Drew Zahn quotes U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann as follows:

“I attended my caucus, not intending to run for office,” Bachmann told WND. “I had on jeans and a sweatshirt with a hole in it and tennis shoes. But the people said, ‘Michele, you need to run,’ and I did.” 

The WND report continues:

Bachmann went on to beat out Minnesota’s longest-sitting state senator in the 2000 Republican primary and then defeated her Democratic opponent in the general election. Six years later, she overcame millions of dollars in Democrat campaign spending to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and, in an exclusive interview with WND, Bachmann hinted her underdog campaigns may even lead to the White House.

Bill Prendergast, responding to the WorldNetDaily article in an Aug. 17 Daily Kos diary titled “Michele Bachmann, God and false witness,” exposes the prevarication in Bachmann’s account of her entry into politics:

[Bachmann] has stated publicly that throughout her life, God has come to visit and instruct her to take a particular course of action. Sometimes these visits come in the form of visions, other times they are messages, and on some occasions she claims to have had conversations with the Lord. (Yes, she has claimed this publicly, while running for office, and there is video.)

Here’s the video:

Prendergast continues:

The WND article is another example of Bachmann lying to people. But this is a special case, because her audience at WorldNetDaily is made up of evangelical conservative believers in Christ. And Bachmann has done that before. It was captured on video by an anti-Bachmann activist, and posted to YouTube. …

In 1999, Michele Bachmann, a resident of Stillwater, Minnesota, began to explore the possibility of winning political office. She met with a local Republican powerbroker named Bill Pulkrabek.

Bachmann told Pulkrabek that she wanted to challenge the incumbent GOP State Senator Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination, and run for State Senate herself. Bachmann had built up some credibility with local evangelical conservatives (protesting at a hospital that would provide abortions, etc.) and believed that she should be the Minnesota State Senator.

At the meeting, Pulkrabek told her not to challenge Senator Laidig. He advised instead to make her entry into politics as a candidate for the local school board. The Stillwater school board race was traditionally non-partisan, but Pulkrabek had come up with a plan to run a slate of five GOP-endorsed candidates that year. Bachmann took his advice and ran as a partisan GOP candidate that year.

During the campaign she appeared on local evangelical radio to promote her candidacy and that of her fellow Republicans. All of them lost and, to this day, that’s the single electoral defeat that Michele Bachmann has suffered.

But her campaign and her evangelical radio exposure raised her profile with local evangelical conservatives, and Michele came back and challenged Senator Laidig for the State Senator nomination. She appeared at the Republican nomination event with a number of fellow conservative evangelicals, outnumbering Laidig supporters and taking the nomination away from him.

If you read the WorldNetDaily account of how she got into politics, you will find that it tells a very different story from what actually happened. You will see Bachmann claiming (as she regularly claims) that her political career began with her challenge to Laidig. She does not mention her partisan campaign as a GOP candidate for a failed run at a school board seat.

Now that’s not necessarily a “lie”; you might call that deceptive “spin or omission” aimed at deceiving the evangelical Christian readers.

Here’s the lie:

Michele Bachmann, candidate for the United State Congress, testifying for Jesus Christ at a Minnesota church, October 14, 2006:

“And in the midst of all this, as if we didn’t have enough to do, He called me to run for the Minnesota State Senate. I had no idea, and no desire to be in politics. Absolutely none.”

Now that’s a lie, as [it omits] the established account of Bachmann’s partisan political activity and campaigning prior to her Senate run.

To many people that might not seem like a such a serious 0r important lie. But it is; it’s very important.  Throughout her career, Bachmann has claimed that she represents personal devotion to Jesus Christ,  Christian values, and to be acting on instructions from God. Yet here she is, lying in church, to fellow conservative Christians — in the name of Jesus Christ.

This lie — and where and how it was told — tells us that the devotion Bachmann claimed and still claims to have to the Christian faith and Jesus Christ is false. Evangelical Christians say they believe that the name of God is sacred, that it violates a core commandment to make wrongful use of that name — but Bachmann has no problem doing that: falsifying the circumstances surrounding the beginnings of her political career in church, before a congregation of believers, while testifying for Jesus Christ. …

She’s told many, many lies — before and since, and I’ve recorded them since at least 2003 — but I found this one particularly breathtaking, given the circumstances of the telling. And to this day, she’s telling Christian audiences a false account of how she got into politics. …

To recap: When Bachmann spoke at Pastor Mac Hammond’s Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, Minn., on Oct. 14, 2006, just three weeks before she was first elected to Congress, she bore false witness to Christians, in church.

To reiterate, Bachmann said: “And in the midst of all this, as if we didn’t have enough to do, He [God] called me to run for the Minnesota State Senate. I had no idea, and no desire to be in politics. Absolutely none.”

That statement is a patently false, because a year before running for State Senate, Bachmann had run as a partisan GOP-endorsed candidate for a seat on the Stillwater School Board upon the advice of a political operative to whom she had expressed her personal ambition to run for State Senate.

Watch the embedded video above to see Michele Bachmann use God’s name in vain and bear false witness before unsuspecting believers in a Christian church. 

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 31, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 48

At the entrance to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds: Paddy (2), Matt (11), Pam, and Tim Immelman (13).

One year ago today, on the 48th day of my campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I visited the Minnesota State Fair with my family.

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Bombs Kill 18 People Near Baghdad

Iraqi policemen inspect the wreckage of a vehicle used in an attack in Shirqat that killed at least nine people and wounded 17 others, police said. (Photo credit: Sabah al-Bazee / Reuters)

Aug. 29, 2009

BAGHDAD – Bombs struck a cafe in Baghdad and remote communities in northern Iraq on Saturday, killing at least 18 people, as the visiting Iranian foreign minister warned that Iraq’s instability affected the whole region.

The blasts came just over a week after suicide truck bombers devastated the foreign and finance ministries in Baghdad, killing about 100 people and dealing a blow to confidence in the Iraqi government’s ability to protect the people as U.S. forces scale back their presence.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called on neighboring countries to play a positive role in helping stabilize Iraq. His comments took on added significance amid a diplomatic dispute between Iraq and Syria over demands that Damascus extradite suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists blamed for the Baghdad ministry bombings.

“The lack of stability and security in Iraq will definitely affect the region,” Mottaki said at a news conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari. “All of Iraq’s neighbors should work seriously and help Iraq in providing security and stability.”

Al-Qaida alliance blamed

The Iraqi government has blamed an alliance of al-Qaida in Iraq and Saddam loyalists it says are based in Syria for the Aug. 19 bombings and demanded that Damascus hand over two suspected plotters, raising tensions between the two countries.

Iraqi forces have stepped up security in Baghdad and other cities since the truck bombings.

But attackers were still able to detonate an explosives-laden motorcycle near a cafe in an eastern section of the capital at about 8 p.m. on Saturday, killing at least two civilians and wounding 12, according to police and hospital officials.

Saturday’s deadliest attack was a suicide truck bombing targeting a small police station in the Sunni village of Hamad north of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people, including six policemen, and wounding 15, according to Iraqi officials.

Such remote villages often depend on a small security force for protection. Bombers have been exploiting that vulnerability in villages surrounding Mosul, in particular. They have mainly targeted ethnic minorities. …

Sinjar hit several times by bombs

A second bombing in northern Iraq targeted a market in the city of Sinjar, near the Syrian border. An explosives-laden truck blew up, killing at least four people and wounding 23, police said.

Sinjar, which is near the volatile city of Mosul, has been hit several times by bombings, most recently on Aug. 13 when double suicide bombings killed 21 people in a cafe. …

The city, which is dominated by members of the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi religious minority, was also hit by four suicide truck bombers nearly simultaneously, killing as many as 500 Yazidis, on Aug. 14, 2007.

Iraqi troops foiled another attempted suicide car bombing in the mainly Sunni Azamiyah area in northern Baghdad, shooting to death the attacker as he tried to flee, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said.

Are Iraqi security forces up to the task?

The spike in deadly bombings has heightened fears about the abilities of Iraqi security forces to protect the people just two months after U.S. forces pulled back from populated areas, with plans to fully withdraw from the country by the end of 2011. …

The Iranian foreign minister also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani before traveling south to the holy city of Najaf for the burial of one of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite leaders, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim. Al-Hakim died Wednesday of lung cancer in Tehran.

Thousands of mourners followed al-Hakim’s casket in a procession when it arrived in Najaf after a three-day tour through Iran, Baghdad and Karbala.

Related report

U.S. general: Impact of Iraq violence still unclear

Related recent reports on this site

Bomb Blasts Across Baghdad (Aug. 19, 2009)

Firefighters respond to a bombing near the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad, Iraq, on Aug. 19, 2009. (Photo credit: Khalid Mohammed / AP)

More Bombings in Baghdad (Aug. 16, 2009)

An Iraqi policeman secures the scene of a bomb attack that targeted a police patrol in the Karrada neighborhood, central Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 16, 2009. Several people were injured in the blast, police said. (Photo credit: AP /Hadi Mizban)

Sustained Iraqi Insurgency (Aug. 12, 2009)

Women share their grief following a bomb attack in Mosul, northern Iraq, on Aug. 10, 2009. (Photo credit: Nawras al-Ta’ei / EPA)

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 30, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 47

One year ago today, on the 47th day of my campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my primary campaign focus on national security issues, I published a statement opposing the war in Iraq.

Here, one year later, is the full text of that statement:

My name is Aubrey Immelman and I’m challenging the party-endorsed candidate for the Republican nomination in the Sixth Congressional District.

My main reason for running is U.S. national security — specifically, the unintended consequences of the Iraq war.

Plain and simple, the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.

More than just exacting a huge cost in American blood, treasure, and loss of international stature, our military intervention in Iraq has created complex security challenges for the United States.

Before the invasion, we had in place a very successful containment policy against Iraqi aggression — preserving a delicate balance of power between Iran and Iraq in one of the world’s most volatile regions, the Middle East.

The removal of Saddam has empowered Iran, with its nuclear ambitions, and placed Iraq under the control of Islamist Shi’ite leaders closely aligned with Iran — thereby creating an infinitely more serious threat to U.S. national security in the region than existed before the invasion.

I’m the only candidate in the Sixth District congressional race with military experience, trained as an airborne soldier in counterinsurgency and anti-terrorist operations and with professional credentials as a military consultant on nuclear counterproliferation, threat assessment, deterrence, and psychological operations.

I offer my specialized training and expertise to help secure the vital national security interests of the United States in the wake of the attacks of 9/11 and emerging security threats triggered by the ill-conceived, short-sighted Iraq war.

I have not taken any money to run for office, am not beholden to special interests, and come with no strings attached. My first responsibility will be to ordinary Minnesotans in the Sixth District.

In my campaign, I have walked the length of the District, 100 miles from Freeport in the north to Stillwater in the south, and across the District, 50 miles from Foley in the east to Paynesville in the west. With my feet firmly on the ground, my loyalties are clear.

I disdain the deplorable level of partisanship in Washington. I will reach across the aisle, where possible, to get things done and will strive to work productively with all reasonable people. Despite ideological differences, we’re all American.

There are some things worth dying for. But invading countries that pose no imminent threat to the United States is not one of them. …

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In Southern Afghan City, Fears of Taliban Takeover
‘Alarming setback’ for Barack Obama’s war strategy

An Afghan man wounded by Tuesday’s car bomb explosions is seen on a bed at a hospital in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. The Taliban on Wednesday denied any responsibility for a major bombing that killed at least 43 people and wounded 65 in the city just after dark Tuesday. (Photo credit: Allauddin Khan / AP)

Aug. 27, 2009

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Southern Afghanistan’s largest city, Kandahar, is slipping back under Taliban control as overstretched U.S. troops focus on clearing insurgents from the countryside — a potentially alarming setback for President Barack Obama’s war strategy. …

Losing Kandahar, a city of nearly 1 million and the Taliban’s former headquarters, would be a huge symbolic blow because it is effectively the capital of the ethnic Pashtun-dominated south, the main battlefield of the Afghan war.

It is difficult to measure the extent of Taliban control, and NATO officials publicly discount the possibility that Kandahar is about to fall to the militants.

Thousands of U.S. and Canadian troops are deployed throughout the province and around the city, which includes a major NATO base. NATO officials say the U.S. troop buildup in Afghanistan will enable them to send more troops into Kandahar. …

Nevertheless, many Afghans believe more Taliban forces are operating clandestinely in the city, while the Islamist movement tightens its grip on districts just outside the urban center. …

Full report

The AfPak War

U.S. Toll Hits Monthly High in Afghanistan
45th death makes August deadliest month in eight-year war

Video

Deadliest month ever for U.S. GIs in Afghanistan (NBC Nightly News, Aug. 28) — At least 45 American troops have been killed so far this month in Afghanistan, a record in the eight-year war. NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports on what is causing the uptick in casualties. (01:47)

Aug. 28, 2009

KABUL – An American service member died in a bomb blast in Afghanistan on Friday, making August the deadliest month of the eight-year war for U.S. forces, the U.S. military said. …

The death brought to 45 the number of U.S. troops who died in Afghanistan this month, meaning August surpassed July as the deadliest of the conflict.

Afghan-U.S. strains

Earlier Friday, President Hamid Karzai angrily accused the U.S. of pushing for a runoff in the Afghan presidential election during a heated meeting with the special envoy to the region, officials familiar with the encounter said Friday.

The reported exchange was another sign of strains between the U.S. and Afghan authorities. …

Strains in U.S.-Afghan relations emerged after President Barack Obama’s administration took office this year. Karzai enjoyed close ties with the Bush administration, which helped propel him to power after the collapse of the Taliban government in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

Running mate linked to drug trade?

In another sign of strain, The New York Times reported this week that the Obama administration is alarmed at the prospect that Karzai’s running mate, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, may be linked to the drug trade. …

Relations between the Americans and Afghans have also been strained by the U.S. policy of detaining suspected insurgents without charge and killing civilians in military operations. The new U.S. commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has issued new orders sharply limiting use of airstrikes and encouraging U.S. troops to protect civilians. …

——

UPDATE

Time to Get Out of Afghanistan

By George F. Will
Sept. 1, 2009

“Yesterday,” reads the e-mail from Allen, a Marine in Afghanistan, “I gave blood because a Marine, while out on patrol, stepped on a [mine's] pressure plate and lost both legs.” Then “another Marine with a bullet wound to the head was brought in. Both Marines died this morning.”

“I’m sorry about the drama,” writes Allen, an enthusiastic infantryman willing to die “so that each of you may grow old.” He says: “I put everything in God’s hands.” And: “Semper Fi!”

Allen and others of America’s finest are also in Washington’s hands. This city should keep faith with them by rapidly reversing the trajectory of America’s involvement in Afghanistan, where, says the Dutch commander of coalition forces in a southern province, walking through the region is “like walking through the Old Testament.”

U.S. strategy — protecting the population — is increasingly troop-intensive while Americans are increasingly impatient about “deteriorating” (says Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) conditions. The war already is nearly 50 percent longer than the combined U.S. involvements in two world wars, and NATO assistance is reluctant and often risible.

The U.S. strategy is “clear, hold and build.” Clear? Taliban forces can evaporate and then return, confident that U.S. forces will forever be too few to hold gains. Hence nation-building would be impossible even if we knew how, and even if Afghanistan were not the second-worst place to try: The Brookings Institution ranks Somalia as the only nation with a weaker state.

Military historian Max Hastings says Kabul controls only about a third of the country — “control” is an elastic concept — and “‘our’ Afghans may prove no more viable than were ‘our’ Vietnamese, the Saigon regime.”

Just 4,000 Marines are contesting control of Helmand province, which is the size of West Virginia. The New York Times reports a Helmand official saying he has only “police officers who steal and a small group of Afghan soldiers who say they are here for ‘vacation.’”

Afghanistan’s $23 billion gross domestic product is the size of Boise’s. Counterinsurgency doctrine teaches, not very helpfully, that development depends on security, and that security depends on development. Three-quarters of Afghanistan’s poppy production for opium comes from Helmand. In what should be called Operation Sisyphus, U.S. officials are urging farmers to grow other crops. Endive, perhaps?

Even though violence exploded across Iraq after, and partly because of, three elections, Afghanistan’s recent elections were called “crucial.” To what? They came, they went, they altered no fundamentals, all of which militate against American “success,” whatever that might mean.

Creation of an effective central government? Afghanistan has never had one. U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry hopes for a “renewal of trust” of the Afghan people in the government, but the Economist describes President Hamid Karzai’s government — his vice presidential running mate is a drug trafficker — as so “inept, corrupt and predatory” that people sometimes yearn for restoration of the warlords, “who were less venal and less brutal than Mr. Karzai’s lot.”

Mullen speaks of combating Afghanistan’s “culture of poverty.” But that took decades in just a few square miles of the South Bronx. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, thinks jobs programs and local government services might entice many “accidental guerrillas” to leave the Taliban. But before launching New Deal 2.0 in Afghanistan, the Obama administration should ask itself: If U.S. forces are there to prevent reestablishment of al-Qaeda bases — evidently there are none now — must there be nation-building invasions of Somalia, Yemen and other sovereignty vacuums?

U.S. forces are being increased by 21,000, to 68,000, bringing the coalition total to 110,000. About 9,000 are from Britain, where support for the war is waning. Counterinsurgency theory concerning the time and the ratio of forces required to protect the population indicates that, nationwide, Afghanistan would need hundreds of thousands of coalition troops, perhaps for a decade or more. That is inconceivable.

So, instead, forces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters.

Genius, said de Gaulle, recalling Bismarck’s decision to halt German forces short of Paris in 1870, sometimes consists of knowing when to stop. Genius is not required to recognize that in Afghanistan, when means now, before more American valor, such as Allen’s, is squandered.

For more debate on U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, read William Kristol’s No Will, No Way and Topic A: A War Worth Fighting?

——

Obama Weighs Afghan Report with 5 Measures

Video

22 killed in Afghan suicide bombing (NBC Nightly News, Sept. 2) — A massive suicide bombing killed at least 22 people, including Afghanistan’s number-two intelligence officer known as an expert on Al Qaeda. NBC’s Brian Williams reports. (00:12)

Sept. 2, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is weighing an expected request for more U.S. troops against concerns that an expanded American presence could be perceived by Afghan civilians as an occupation army and not a liberating force battling a determined and bloody Taliban resurgence. …

The troop recommendations are expected to come in the next several weeks, following a wide-ranging review of the war and civilian efforts that arrived Monday from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Five measures

[A] senior White House official, speaking anonymously to detail Obama’s thinking, said the concern about how Afghans, Americans and NATO allies would view a troop increase was part of five broad measurements the president was applying to the assessment and an expected request for more troops. The other concerns, the official said, are:

• How force size changes might be countered by al-Qaida propaganda and tactics.
• What impact any change would have on neighboring and nuclear-armed Pakistan, where the al-Qaida leadership — including Osama bin Laden — are believed hiding along the rugged, mountainous border.
• The effect on the “health” of U.S. forces, already strained from repeated deployments in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
• How more forces effectively would propel Obama’s goal of denying al-Qaida and its Taliban allies safe havens in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

By the end of the process, the overall request for additional forces could be relatively small — perhaps below a standing request for 10,000 additional troops that McChrystal’s predecessor left behind. …

Support for war fading

Whatever Obama decides, he’s facing vexing problems on a signature foreign policy and security issue and growing opposition at home.

Polling shows Americans increasingly against deeper involvement in the war if not in outright opposition to its continuation, even among his liberal Democratic base. With troop deaths at a record level last month as the war approaches the end of its eighth year, Americans are impatient and war-weary.

And U.S. resources, badly crimped by the economic downturn and vast federal spending to prop up the U.S. financial system, are desperately needed for other major projects that Obama has promised — like an overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 29, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 46

One year ago today, on the 46th day of my campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my campaign focus on national security issues I addressed the role of the Iraq war in empowering Iran and noted links between the Iraqi government and Iran.

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Kidnapped Girl Resurfaces 18 Years Later

Victim kept as sex slave allegedly had 2 kids by abductor

Phillip Garrido, left, and his wife, Nancy Garrido, are in custody in the  1991 kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl. (Photo credit: Department of Justice via EPA)

Aug. 27, 2009

PLACERVILLE, Calif. – Joyous, miraculous news that a little girl kidnapped nearly two decades ago was found alive gave way Friday to the horrifying details of how police say she has lived all those years: kept by a convicted rapist in his backyard as a sex slave and forced to bear two of his children.

Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was 11 in 1991 when she was snatched from her school bus stop, was locked away from the outside world behind a series of fences, sheds and tents in the back of a suburban home, police said. Her abductor, investigators said, raped her for years and fathered two children with her, the first when Jaycee was about 14. Those children, both girls now 11 and 15, also were kept hidden away in the backyard compound.

“None of the children have ever been to school, they’ve never been to a doctor,” El Dorado County Undersheriff Fred Kollar said. “They were kept in complete isolation in this compound.”

Dugard, now 29, was reunited Thursday with her mother, but the meeting was tempered with sadness as the family learned their smiling, blue-eyed, blonde ponytailed little girl had spent most of her life as a virtual slave.

“She was in good health, but living in a backyard for the past 18 years does take its toll,” Kollar said. The backyard compound had electricity from extension cords and a rudimentary outhouse and shower, “as if you were camping,” Kollar said.

Video

Found alive (NBC Today, Aug. 28) — Officials in Lake Tahoe, Calif., say a woman who was abducted as an 11-year-old in 1991 has been found alive. NBC’s George Lewis reports. (04:37)

Suspect: I’ve turned my life around Convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido, 58, was charged with various kidnapping and sex charges. His wife was also arrested, and authorities said she was with Garrido during the kidnapping in South Lake Tahoe.

Video Suspect speaks out (NBC News, Aug. 27) – Phillip Garrido, a convicted sex offender, was arrested in connection with the 1991 kidnapping of a California girl. He spoke with a reporter from jail, claiming he had turned his life around. (01:24)

Garrido told NBC station KCRA of Sacramento in a telephone interview Thursday from jail that he has turned his life around.

“Wait until you hear the story of what took place at this house,” he said. “You are going to be completely impressed. It’s a disgusting thing that took place with me at the beginning. But I turned my life completely around and to be able to understand that, you have to start there.”

He added: “If you take this a step at a time you’re going to fall over backwards and in the end, you’re going to find the most powerful heart-warming story.”

Nothing seemed amiss

Garrido was on lifetime parole, and his arrest raises questions about how closely parolees are monitored. But Kollar said a visitor to Garrido’s house would not notice anything was amiss — the compound was well concealed by shrubs, garbage cans and a tarp.

Authorities said they do not know if Garrido also abused his daughters, but they are investigating.

Video Case solved (NBC Nightly News, Aug. 27) – Jaycee Lee Dugard was 11 when she was abducted near her home. NBC’s George Lewis reports. (05:44)

The case broke after Garrido was spotted Tuesday with two children as he tried to enter the University of California, Berkeley, campus to hand out religious literature. The officers said he was acting suspiciously toward the children. They questioned him and did a background check, determining he was a parolee, and informed his parole officer.

Garrido was ordered to appear for a parole meeting and arrived Wednesday with Dugard, his wife and two children. During questioning, corrections officials said he admitted kidnapping Dugard. It was not known if he had a lawyer.

Video

Stepfather: Girl’s return is a ‘miracle’ (NBC Today, Aug. 28) — The stepfather of a girl kidnapped from near her California home in 1991 talks with Ann Curry about the woman’s return nearly 20 years later. (05:09)

Dugard’s stepfather, who witnessed her abduction and was a longtime suspect in the case, said he was overwhelmed by the news after doing everything he could to help find her.

“It broke my marriage up. I’ve gone through hell, I mean I’m a suspect up until yesterday,” a tearful Carl Probyn, 60, told The Associated Press at his home in Orange, California.

Neighbors weigh in

Garrido’s compound was located in Antioch, a city of 100,000 about 170 miles from her family’s home in South Lake Tahoe. The house was cordoned off with police tape as it was searched by FBI agents and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department.

People who knew Garrido said he became increasingly fanatic about his religious beliefs in recent years, sometimes breaking out into song and claiming that God spoke to him through a box.

Jaycee Lee Dugard’s stepfather provided this photo of her. (AP)

“In the last couple years he started getting into this strange religious stuff. We kind of felt sorry for him,” said Tim Allen, president of East County Glass and Window Inc. in Pittsburgh, who bought business cards and letterhead from Garrido’s printing business for the last decade. Three times in recent years, Garrido arrived at Allen’s showroom with two “cute little blond girls” in tow, he said.

In April 2008, Garrido registered a corporation called Gods Desire at his home address, according the California Secretary of State. During recent visits to the showroom, Garrido would talk about quitting the printing business to preach full time and gave the impression he was setting up a church, Allen said.

“He rambled. It made no sense,” he said.

Garrido would talk about holding events at UC Berkeley and mentioned the names of important people as if he knew them. Allen said he had no inkling of Garrido’s criminal record.

“We never thought anything bad about the guy,” Allen said. “He was just kind of nutty.”

In addition to kidnapping charges, Phillip Garrido is being held for investigation of rape by force, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor and sexual penetration, said Jimmie Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department. His wife, Nancy Garrido, 54, was arrested on kidnapping charges.

A neighbor, Cheyvonne Molino, told the Contra Costa Times she started seeing the girls this summer when their father brought them by the Molinos’ auto wrecking yard when doing printing business for them.

“I don’t think they realized anything was wrong or different except they didn’t go to schools with other kids,” said Molino, who was told that the girls were home-schooled, described them as “very shy” and said the older one was “very clingy to her father.”

Long criminal record

Garrido has a long rap sheet dating back to the 1970s.

He has a conviction for rape by force or fear and was paroled from a Nevada state prison in 1988, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In 1991, police believe he was trolling for victims in South Lake Tahoe in a Ford Granada and snatched Dugard from a bus stop outside her home. The case attracted national attention and was featured on TV’s “America’s Most Wanted,” which broadcast a composite drawing of a suspect seen in the car.

Her stepfather said he saw someone reach out and grab her before the car sped away.

“As soon as I saw the door fly open, the driver’s door, I jumped on my mountain bike and I tried to get to the top of the hill but I had no energy,” Probyn recalled. “I rode back down and yelled at my neighbor, 911!”

Stepdad struggles to understand

Probyn said his wife, from whom he is separated, was devastated by the kidnapping. He said for 10 years after the crime, she would take a week off work at Christmas and on the anniversary of the abduction and spend the time crying at home.

An undated screenshot shows an FBI flyer for Dugard, who was kidnapped in 1991. (Photo credit: FBI via EPA)

Probyn eventually lost hope that he would ever see his stepdaughter alive. He said he was struggling to understand why Dugard didn’t come forward earlier.

“I don’t know if she was brainwashed, I don’t know if she was walking around on the street, I don’t know if she was locked up under key for 18 years, I have no idea.”

The mother and daughter met Thursday morning at an area hotel. Dugard retains custody of her children, authorities said.

Probyn said that he got a call from his wife shortly after she got the news of Dugard’s reappearance.

“She said, ‘They found Jaycee. She’s alive,’” he told the Contra Costa Times. “We cried for about two minutes.” …

Resident Angie Keil said the Lake Tahoe community rallied around the family, holding candlelight vigils, and in the early days organizing searches.

“Jaycee has always been in our minds, all these years,” she said, her eyes moist with tears.

Video

Profiler on California kidnapping case (NBC News, Aug. 28) — NBC analyst and former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt talks with TODAY’s Ann Curry about the case of Jaycee Lee Dugard, found after being kidnapped nearly two decades ago from a California bus stop. (03:41)

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3/5/10 Update

Kidnap victim Dugard shares home videos (AP, March 5, 2010) — Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard, held captive for 18 years in a ramshackle backyard compound, was seen cooking with her sister and mother and riding horses in recently shot home videos aired on ABC. … Full story

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Other child abduction cases on this site

Jacob Wetterling Lead Unravels (Jan. 7, 2009)
Includes reporting on the disappearance of Joshua Guimond

Ottis Toole Murdered Adam Walsh (Dec. 16, 2008)

——

Related reports on this site

Jacob Wetterling Freedom Walk (Dec. 21, 2009)

Guimond: “Justice for Josh” March (Nov. 9, 2009)

Missing Person Joshua Guimond (Nov. 7, 2009)

Jacob Wetterling 20 Years On (Oct. 22, 2009)

Jacob Wetterling Celebration (Oct. 16, 2009)

Jaycee Lee Dugard Found Alive (Aug. 28, 2009)

Wetterling Friend Shares Story (Apr. 28, 2009)

Jacob Wetterling Lead Unravels (Jan. 7, 2009)

Ottis Toole Murdered Adam Walsh (Dec. 16, 2008)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 28, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 45

One year ago today, on the 45th day of my campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I traveled to Annandale, where I appeared with Dan “Ox” Ochsner and Mike Landy of Newstalk KNSI AM 1040 (Leighton Broadcasting) at Camp Friendship to benefit Friendship Ventures, a non-profit agency that creates educational, recreational, and social opportunities for people with mental and physical developmental disabilities.

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9/12/09 Update: It is reported that U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul will speak to students at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 25. The “student town hall” forum will take place at 7 p.m. at Northrop Auditorium on the Twin Cities campus. The topics will be “monetary reform, limited government and free market economics,” according to a news release from Bachmann’s office.

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Bachmann to Host Town Hall with Rep. Ron Paul

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.)

By Andy Birkey
The Minnesota Independent
Aug. 24, 2009

In an interview with AM 1280 on Saturday, Rep. Michele Bachmann announced that she will have Rep. Ron Paul as her guest for a September town hall forum in St. Cloud.

“I’ll be doing another town hall up in the St. Cloud area in September and we’ll do that on monetary policy. Ron Paul is going to come in and we are going to host something on monetary policy,” Bachmann said.

Bachmann is a convert to the Ron Paul movement, sometimes attending the congressman’s weekly lunches.

“I especially want to speak to the 19- to 20-year olds so they can know what there future will be under this level of debt accumulation and spending,” she added about the forum. “They need to know their future. And so I’m bringing him in so we can have a discussion on monetary policy.”

Comment

I hold Rep. Ron Paul’s in high regard with respect to his views on foreign policy, particularly his opposition to the Bush doctrine. That’s why it’s so disappointing to see Dr. Paul share the stage with Rep. Michele Bachmann, who acted as a cheerleader and congressional rubberstamp for the Bush administration’s neocon policies.

Here are some Bachmann quotes from her 2006 congressional campaign, when the situation in Iraq was at it very worst, with sectarian factions on the brink of civil war:

Michele Bachmann’s campaign platform includes “supporting the war in Iraq.” (St. Cloud Times, May 7, 2006)

Michele Bachmann: “The American people are responding overwhelmingly to the progress we’ve made in Iraq recently.” (St. Cloud Times, July 2, 2006)

Michele Bachmann: “It’s difficult to define victory, but … we’ve had very good news on that score.” (St. Cloud Times, Sept. 21, 2006)

Bachmann … stuck to her guns, supporting Bush’s prosecution of the war in Iraq. (St. Cloud Times, Sept. 22, 2006)

Bachmann “reiterated her support for Bush’s prosecution of the war in Iraq, saying that ‘we have made tremendous progress’.” (St. Cloud Times, Oct. 8, 2006)

And then there are her infamous remarks to Lawrence Schumacher of the St. Cloud Times in February 2007, about a a nonexistent secret plan to partition Iraq:

Iran is the troublemaker trying to tip over apple carts all over Baghdad right now because they want America to pull out. … they’re going to partition Iraq and half of Iraq, the western-northern portion of Iraq is going to be called the United … umm … the … umm … I am sorry I can’t remember the actual name of it right now.

But it’s going to be called … the … umm … Iraq State of Islam, something like that. I am sorry I don’t have the official name. It is meant to be the training ground for the terrorists.

There’s already an agreement made, they are going to get half of Iraq and that is going to be a terrorist-free … umm … terrorist safe haven zone where they can go ahead and make more attacks in the Middle East region and then to come against the United States, because we are their avowed enemy.

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AFGHANISTAN

Afghan Summer Brings Reversals
Setbacks include rising casualties, divisive election and growing doubts

Two nuns watch as the procession of Army Staff Sgt. Clayton Bowen, 29, passes in San Antonio, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. Bowen was killed in action Aug. 18 after he was struck by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Eric Gay / AP)

Aug. 26, 2009

Excerpts

KABUL – It’s been a summer of setbacks in Afghanistan — with rising casualties, a divisive election and growing public doubts about the war in the United States and among key allies.

The year began with President Barack Obama promising a new beginning for an old war — long ignored and underfunded by the Bush administration as the spotlight fell on the conflict in Iraq. …

Effort appears to falter

Months later, the American effort appears to be faltering. …

The image of Afghan politicians squabbling in Kabul at a time when American and other international soldiers are dying on the battlefield is grimly reminiscent of the darkest days of the Iraq war, when political stagnation in Baghdad helped turn U.S. public opinion against the Bush administration’s policy in the 2006 congressional election.

Nearly 300 international troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year, making this the deadliest year since the conflict began in 2001. Two U.S. service members were killed Wednesday in separate attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan, raising the August death toll to 43 — one short of the July figure which was the highest monthly total of the war.

No sign of retreat for insurgents

At the same time, the insurgents show no sign of shrinking from the fight. With U.S. and British troops focusing operations in Helmand province, the Taliban have quietly tightened their grip in neighboring Kandahar, where a vehicle bomb attack Tuesday killed at least 41 people in an assault that appeared directed at foreign interests in the city. …

U.S. officials have made little effort to gloss over the problems, perhaps mindful of the backlash that stung the Bush administration after years of false optimism in Iraq.

Support for war is wavering

Last weekend, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the situation in Afghanistan as “serious and deteriorating” and told CNN that “I don’t think that threat’s going to go away.”

All this comes as public support for the war both in the United States and Britain is wavering.

A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that just over half the respondents said the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting. A survey last month in Britain found that 58 percent of the respondents believe the war is unwinnable and 52 percent wanted British troops withdrawn immediately. …

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IRAQ

Powerful Iraqi Shiite Leader Dies

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Influential clerics say one of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite leaders has died after his health deteriorated while he was being treated for lung cancer. Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim has wielded enormous influence since the 2003 U.S. invasion as head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, maintaining close ties to both the Americans and his Iranian backers. (Photo credit: Nader Daoud / AP)

Aug. 26, 2009

BAGHDAD — Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the scion of a revered clerical family who channeled rising Shiite Muslim power after the fall of Saddam Hussein to become one of Iraq’s most powerful politicians, died Wednesday in Iran, the country that was long his powerful ally. He was 59.

The calm, soft-spoken al-Hakim, who died of lung cancer, was a kingmaker in Iraq’s politics, working behind the scenes as the head of the country’s biggest Shiite political party. …

Al-Hakim’s family led a Shiite rebel group against Saddam’s rule from their exile in Iran, where he lived for 20 years, building close ties with Iranian leaders.

After Saddam’s 2003 fall, al-Hakim hewed close to the Americans even while maintaining his alliance with Tehran, judging that the U.S. military was key to the Shiite rise.

Among Iraq’s minority Sunnis, he was deeply distrusted, seen as a tool of Shiite Iran. Al-Hakim’s outspoken support for Shiite self-rule in southern Iraq was seen by Sunnis and even some Shiites as an Iran-inspired plan to hand Tehran control of Iraq’s Shiite heartland, home to most of its oil wealth.

Shiite upheaval

His death comes at a time of political upheaval among Iraq’s majority Shiites. The alliance of Shiite parties that al-Hakim helped forge and that has dominated the government since the first post-Saddam elections in 2005 has broken apart ahead of January parliamentary elections, pitting a coalition led by al-Hakim’s party against another led by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. …

Son of influential scholar

Al-Hakim was born in 1950 in Najaf to one of Shiite Islam’s most prestigious clerical families. His father was Grand Ayatollah Muhsin al-Hakim, among the most influential Shiite scholars of his generation.

The younger al-Hakim studied theology in Najaf and married the daughter of Mohammed Hadi al-Sadr, member of another prominent Iraqi Shiite clan. …

He was jailed several times until he and most of the family fled to neighboring Iran in 1980 following a crackdown by Saddam on the Shiite opposition. In Iran, his older brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, founded the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the forerunner of the SIIC. Abdul-Aziz headed the group’s military wing, the Badr Brigade, which fought alongside Iranian forces during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War.

Bomb kills brother

The al-Hakim brothers returned to Iraq soon after the collapse of Saddam’s government. On Aug. 29, 2003, a massive vehicle bomb exploded outside the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, killing Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and more than 80 others. Abdul-Aziz stepped into the leadership of the Supreme Council.

The younger al-Hakim lacked his brother’s charisma, religious standing or political acumen. But he proved a fast learner and able leader, quickly building the party into Iraq’s largest Shiite political organization. He served on the leadership councils formed by the Americans. Then, in the 2005 parliament election, he forged a grand alliance of Shiite parties — backed by Iran’s foremost Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, which swept up a majority.

The coalition allied with the Kurds to form a government, though it constantly struggled to keep Sunni allies. …

Two days before al-Hakim’s death, his SIIC joined with followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to form a new political alliance to contest January parliamentary elections. The new Iraqi National Alliance excluded al-Maliki, making overt the new disunity among Shiites. …

Related report

Analysis: Iraq’s Shiite power base shifts

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 27, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 44

One year ago today, on the 44th day of my campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I traveled to White Bear Lake to record a candidate statement for the Ramsey and Washington Counties Suburban Cable Commission. I also reported on the high human and economic cost of the Iraq war.

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Car Bombs Kill Dozens in Afghanistan
Separately, 4 U.S. troops killed by roadside bomb

A policeman stands at the site where five car bombs detonated simultaneously in Afghanistan’s largest southern city of Kandahar on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. (Photo credit: Allauddin Khilji / AP)

Aug. 25, 2009

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A cluster of vehicle bombs detonated simultaneously near a foreign-owned company that plans to build a road through an insurgent-held area. At least 41 people were killed, all civilians, officials said. 

In other violence, four U.S. servicemen were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, making 2009 the deadliest year for the growing contingent of foreign troops since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.

The thundering explosion occurred just after nightfall in a district that includes U.N. facilities and an Afghan intelligence office. The force of the blast shattered windows around the city and sent flames shooting into the sky.

So many houses and nearby buildings had collapsed that officials feared the death toll could rise further. At least 66 people were wounded, said Gen. Ghulam Ali Wahabat, a police commander in charge of southern Afghanistan. …

Japanese company targeted?

It appeared the main target was the Japanese company that is involved in reconstruction efforts in the southern Afghan city. The company recently took over a contract to build a road that insurgents had stalled for several months. …

The blast in the center of the city was one of the largest since the Taliban were expelled from the country in 2001. It destroyed about 40 shops, including restaurants and bakeries. …

Provincial council member Haji Agha Lalai said five vehicles filled with explosives detonated together, causing the massive blast. But Shah said the vehicles used were an oil tanker filled with explosives and two car bombs. …

U.S. troops killed

In other violence, a bomb blast killed four U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, said military spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker. No other information was released pending the notification of family members.

The deaths bring to 41 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this month, the second deadliest month in the country since the 2001 U.S. invasion. Last month a record 44 U.S. troops died.

This year has been the deadliest of the war for U.S. troops. Including the latest deaths, at least 172 American forces have died in the Afghan war this year, according to an Associated Press count.

A British soldier also died Tuesday after being wounded in an explosion Aug. 15 while on patrol near Sangin in Helmand Province, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.

The number of overall NATO deaths this year is a record as well: at least 292. Last year 286 died, according to the AP count. …

Update

Taliban Denies Responsibility for Deadly Blast

Bystanders examine the destruction caused by a massive bomb blast in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Ahmad Nadeem / Reuters)

Aug. 26, 2009

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A Taliban spokesman denied any responsibility Wednesday for a major bombing that killed dozens of people in southern Afghanistan’s largest city, saying that the militant group condemns the attack. …

Rescue workers were still pulling out injured people on Wednesday. …

Kandahar is the spiritual home of the Taliban and the city was hit by rockets on the morning of election day as Taliban militants made good on threats to try to disrupt last Thursday’s polling with violence.

However, the group said it had no involvement in the most recent attack.

“We are denying responsibility, and condemn this attack in which innocent civilians were killed,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi wrote in a text message sent to an Associated Press reporter.

The Interior Ministry said the blast was from remote-controlled explosives planted in a truck. Local officials have said a cluster of vehicle bombs detonated nearly simultaneously near a Japanese construction firm that is involved in reconstruction efforts in the southern Afghan city. …

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 26, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 43

Arriving at City Hall in downtown Paynesville at the end of the second Sixth District walking tour.

One year ago today, on the 43rd day of my campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I completed my second walking tour, a 50-mile campaign swing across the Sixth Congressional District down Highway 23 from Foley in the east to Paynesville in the west. In line with my campaign focus on national security, I also reported multiple bombings in Iraq.

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Ted Kennedy Dies of Brain Cancer at Age 77

 
Aug. 26, 2009

Sen. Ted Kennedy died shortly before midnight Tuesday at his home in Hyannisport, Mass., at age 77.

In this file photo, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) waves to the crowd during day one of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Kennedy was rushed to the hospital after having convulsions during Barack Obama’s inaugural luncheon. (Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The man known as the “liberal lion of the Senate” had fought a more than year-long battle with brain cancer, and according to his son had lived longer with the disease than his doctors expected him to.

“We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” the Kennedy family said in a statement. “He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it.”

Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy, the youngest Kennedy brother who was left to head the family’s political dynasty after his brothers President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated.

Kennedy championed health care reform, working wages and equal rights in his storied career. In August, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — by President Obama. …

Read more

Sen. Kennedy’s “The Dream Lives On!” speech

The work begins anew
The hope rises again
And the dream lives on!

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq 

As of Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009, at least 4,335 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. …

Latest identifications:

• Army 2nd Lt. Joseph D. Fortin, 22, St. Johnsbury, Vt., died Aug. 23, 2009 in Muhallah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
• Army Pfc. William Z. Vanosdol, 23, Pinson, Ala., died Aug. 19, 2009 at Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy rocket fire struck his quarters. He was assigned to the 172nd Support Battalion, Schweinfurt, Germany.
• Army Spc. Matthew D. Hastings, 23, Claremore, Okla., died Aug. 17, 2009 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 582nd Medical Logistics Company, 1st Medical Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command, Fort Hood, Texas. 

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan 

As of Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009, at least 724 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. …

Family members receive the casket of Army Staff Sgt. Clayton Bowen, 29, after its arrival in San Antonio, on Tuesday. Bowen was killed in action Aug. 18 after he was struck by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. As troop deaths have risen, so have doubts about the war. (Photo credit: Eric Gay / AP)

Latest identifications:

• Army Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Lobosco, 29, Somerville, N.J., died Aug. 22, 2009 in Yakhchal, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. Matthew L. Ingram, 25, Pearl, Miss., died Aug. 21, 2009 in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle, and his unit came under small arms fire from enemy forces. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo. 
• Army Spc. Justin R. Pellerin, 21, Boscawen, N.H., died Aug. 20, 2009 in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
• Army Pfc. Brian M. Wolverton, 21, Oak Park, Calif., died Aug. 20, 2009 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with indirect fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
• Army Spc. Paul E. Dumont, Jr., 23, Williamsburg, Va., died Aug. 19, 2009 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 149th Transportation Company, 10th Transportation Battalion, Fort Eustis, Va.
• Marine Gunnery Sgt. Adam F. Benjamin, 34, Garfield Heights, Ohio died Aug. 18, 2009 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Staff Sgt. Clayton P. Bowen, 29, San Antonio, Texas, died Aug. 18, 2009 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.
• Army 1st Sgt. Jose S. N. Crisostomo, 59, Inarajan, Guam, died Aug. 18, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to International Security Assistance Force Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan.
• Army Spc. Troy O. Tom, 21, Shiprock, N.M., died Aug. 18, 2009 in Arghandab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Army Pfc. Jonathan C. Yanney, 20, Litchfield, Minn., died Aug. 18, 2009 in Arghandab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Army Pfc. Morris L. Walker, 23, Chapel Hill, N.C., died Aug. 18, 2009 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Leopold F. Damas, 26, Floral Park, N.Y., died Aug. 17, 2009 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Sgt. 1st Class William B. Woods, Jr., 31, Chesapeake, Va., died Aug. 16, 2009 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered when he was shot Aug. 14 while on patrol in Ghanzi, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Glen Arm, Md.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties 

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Related report

NATO Deaths in Afghanistan Hit New High
Four U.S. troops deaths put Western toll for ’09 at record 295

A wounded U.S. soldier receives first aid inside a bunker in Bargematal, Afghanistan, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. (Photo credit: Oleg Popov / Reuters)

Reuters and the Associated Press via MSNBC.com
Aug. 25, 2009

KABUL – Four U.S. servicemen were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Tuesday, making 2009 the deadliest year for the growing contingent of foreign troops since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.

The deaths highlighted the steadily worsening violence in the country, which has been in political limbo since a disputed presidential election last week.

The election has also been a test of President Barack Obama’s strategy of rushing thousands of extra U.S. troops to the country this year in a bid to reverse Taliban gains.

More than 30,000 extra U.S. troops arrived in Afghanistan this year, most part of a package of reinforcements ordered by Obama in May. There are now more than 100,000 Western troops in the country, 63,000 of them Americans.

A NATO statement said the four U.S. service members were killed in the south, the Taliban’s heartland, but gave no further details.

That would bring the number of foreign troops who died in Afghanistan this year to 295, according to Web site icasualties.org, which compiles figures. Last year was the previous deadliest year when 294 were killed.

However, a count by The Associated Press puts the number of overall NATO deaths this year at 292. Last year, 286 died, according to AP figures.

The U.S. reinforcements sent by Obama, along with a British contingent already deployed in the south of the country, have advanced deep into formerly Taliban-held territory, taking heavy casualties mainly from roadside bombs. More Western troops have died since March than in the entire period from 2001-2004. …

Vide0

Deadly year in Afghanistan (MSNBC, Aug. 25) — NBC’s Richard Engel reports on the four American troops killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. (04:02)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 25, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 42

One year ago today, on the 42nd day of my campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I posted the first image of the Minnesota state partisan primary ballot, information about Minnesota’s open primary election system, and information about absentee voting. In line with my campaign focus on national security, I also posted an update on the Iraq war, where a mass-casualty suicide bombing struck Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib district and a U.S. soldier was killed in action.

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Lieberman: Many Health Care Changes Can Wait
Says Obama should postpone many initiatives because of recession

Sen. Joe Lieberman (Photo credit: Evan Vucci / AP)

Aug. 23, 2009

WASHINGTON – An independent senator counted on by Democrats in the health care debate showed signs of wavering Sunday when he urged President Barack Obama to postpone many of his initiatives because of the economic downturn.

“I’m afraid we’ve got to think about putting a lot of that off until the economy’s out of recession,” said Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

“There’s no reason we have to do it all now, but we do have to get started. And I think the place to start is cost – health delivery reform and insurance market reforms.” …

“I think it’s a real mistake to try to jam through the total health insurance reform, health care reform plan that the public is either opposed to or of very, very passionate mixed minds about,” Lieberman said.

Republicans want to start over

Talk about resorting to this maneuver comes as Republicans dig in against the idea of a government-run insurance program as an option for consumers and a requirement that employers provide health insurance to their workers. …

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., also suggested that a fresh start was needed.

“Bringing up of the health care situation in the midst of recession, the unemployment problems … was a mistake,” Lugar said.

“For the moment, let’s clear the deck and try it again next year or in subsequent times.” …

Lieberman and Lugar appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” … 

 
Is Obama too ambitious? (CNN, Aug. 23) — In this clip from Sunday’s “State of the Union,” three senators discuss the president’s health care agenda. (07:46)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 24, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 41

Church of St. Stephen

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Obama Faces Hard Choices on Afghan War Plans
Situation ‘serious and deteriorating,’ says Joint Chiefs chairman

Vide0

Is support for Afghan war shrinking? (NBC Meet the Press, Aug. 23) – Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says polling data concerns him, but the threat from al-Qaida and its Taliban allies is real. (03:26)

Aug. 23, 2009

WASHINGTON – As public support for the Afghanistan war erodes, President Barack Obama is faced with two equally unattractive choices: increase U.S. troops levels to beat back a resilient enemy, or stick with the 68,000 already committed and risk the political fallout if that’s not enough. …

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the situation in Afghanistan as “serious and deteriorating,” but refused to say whether additional forces would be needed.

“Afghanistan is very vulnerable in terms of (the) Taliban and extremists taking over again, and I don’t think that threat’s going to go away,” Mullen said Sunday.

Concern about diminishing support

Mullen also expressed concern about diminishing support among a war-weary American public as the U.S. and NATO enter their ninth year of combat and reconstruction operations. …

Mullen said President Obama’s strategy for defeating the Taliban and al-Qaida is a work in progress as more U.S. troops are put in place, Mullen said. But the security situation in Afghanistan needs to be reversed in the next 12 month to 18 months, he added.

“I think it is serious and it is deteriorating, and I’ve said that over the last couple of years, that the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated,” Mullen said.

Just over 50 percent of respondents to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this past week said the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting. …

‘We’re just getting the pieces in place’

Three years ago, the U.S. had about 20,000 forces in the country. Today, it has triple that, on the way to 68,000 by year’s end when all the extra 17,000 troops that Obama announced in March are to be in place. An additional 4,000 troops are arriving to help train Afghan forces.

“I recognize that we’ve been there over eight years,” he said. “But this is the first time we’ve really resourced a strategy on both the civilian and military sides. So in certain ways, we’re starting anew.”

“We’re just getting the pieces in place from the president’s new strategy on the ground now,” he said. “I don’t see this a mission of endless drift. I think we know what to do.” …

Mullen … appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union.” …

Related report on this site

Afghan War ‘Not Worth Fighting’

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Washington Man Becomes Army’s Oldest Afghanistan Casualty

1st Sgt. Jose Crisostomo (Photo: KING)

KING 5 News
Aug. 21, 2009

SPANAWAY, Wash. – A Spanaway grandfather is the latest casualty of war from Washington state.

Fifty-nine-year-old First Sergeant Jose Crisostomo was killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb Tuesday. He is believed to be the oldest U.S. soldier to die in Afghanistan. …

During a 24-year military career he served in Vietnam and Kuwait before retiring from the military in 1993.

After 9/11, Crisostomo decided to re-enlist in the U.S. Army.

“He insisted going back and serving his country,” said Crisostomo’s wife of 39 years, Patricia.

“That was his passion, his life,” said Patricia, who met her husband on their native Guam. …

Crisostomo is survived by his wife, four children and 10 grandchildren.

Related report on this site

Oldest soldier killed in Iraq (scroll down)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago Today — August 23, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 40

At the end of the first day’s walk, Patrick (2) runs to meet his mom after riding in his stroller down Division Street from downtown St. Cloud to Waite Park.

One year ago today, on the 40th day of my campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I continued my 50-mile walking tour across the Sixth District from Waite Park to Rockville, Cold Spring, Richmond, and Roscoe, stopping by the Rockvile Rock-Fest festival and parade.

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