Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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Archive for January, 2010

Jan 31st, 2010

Summary: U.S. Special Forces working with Afghan commandos clashed with Afghan troops manning a snow-covered outpost and called in an airstrike, killing four Afghan soldiers, U.S. and Afghan officials said. Both sides called the clash a case of mistaken identity. Separately, an Afghan interpreter killed two U.S. service members at a combat outpost and U.S. soldiers shot and killed an Afghan imam when his car approached a convoy. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 31, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraq imposed a nationwide security lockdown before key regional elections with blanket measures not seen since the deadliest years of the insurgency, underscoring the high stakes for Iraqi leaders desperate to portray stability after nearly six years of conflict prompted by the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.


Jan 30th, 2010

Summary: In a new audiotape, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden calls for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 30, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraq denied North Carolina-based Blackwater Worldwide (Xe), which guards American diplomats in Iraq, an operating license because of a deadly shooting spree in Baghdad. Iraqi officials said the lingering outrage over a September 2007 shooting in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead led to its decision. The shooting strained relations between Washington and Baghdad and fueled the anti-American insurgency in Iraq, where many Iraqis saw the bloodshed as a demonstration of American brutality and arrogance.


Jan 29th, 2010

Summary: An unrepentant Tony Blair defended his decision to join the United States in attacking Iraq, invoking the discredited neocon argument before a panel investigating the war that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks made the threat of weapons of mass destruction impossible to ignore. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 29, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that suicide rates among active-duty U.S. military personnel continuing to rise even as the Defense Department dedicated more resources to identifying troubled service members and getting them the help they need. Preliminary figures confirmed at least 125 soldiers killed themselves in 2008, compared with 115 in 2007, 102 in 2006 and 87 in 2005.


Jan 28th, 2010

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 28, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that North Korea could become one of President Obama’s most vexing foreign-policy challenges.


Jan 27th, 2010

Summary: The State of the Union: Fed up with Congress, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the federal government. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 27, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the new Obama administration had a clear message for Pakistan: No change in U.S. policy when it comes to going after al-Qaida and Taliban targets in Pakistan’s lawless border areas.


Jan 26th, 2010

Summary: A new report warns that al-Qaida has not abandoned its goal of attacking the United States with a chemical, biological, or even a nuclear weapon. … Al-Qaida’s high-value target list. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 26, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that counterterrorism officials and the FBI were investigating whether al-Shabab or other Somali Islamic groups were actively recruiting in the United States. Officials said as many as 20 Somali-Americans between the ages of 17 and 27 had left their Minneapolis homes since 2007, apparently bound for Somalia.


Jan 25th, 2010

Summary: Three car bombs exploded near three Baghdad hotels popular with Western journalists, security contractors, and businessmen, killing at least 37 people and injuring more than 100. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 25, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on the upcoming Jan. 31, 2009 provincial elections in Iraq — an important test of Iraq’s stability as the U.S. planned to begin withdrawing its troops.


Jan 24th, 2010

Summary: President Barack Obama has recalled his former campaign manager, David Plouffe, and is reconstituting the team that helped him win the White House in 2008 to counter Republican challenges in the 2010 midterm elections and recalibrate after political setbacks that have narrowed his legislative ambitions. … The political psychology of Barack Obama: Obama’s personality profile; Obama’s leadership style; Obama’s decision-making style. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 24, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on the Iraqi provincial elections and the power struggle among competing Shiite factions in Iraq.


Jan 23rd, 2010

Summary: The death of two U.S. soldiers in southern Afghanistan has brought to at least 22 the number of American service members killed so far this month — compared with only 14 for the whole of January 2009. … In Pakistan, militants ambushed Pakistani security forces at checkpoints in two regions close to the Afghan border, sparking gunbattles that left 22 insurgents and two troops dead. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 23, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that a U.S. Army probe into suicides among Houston-based recruiters, all veterans of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, said medical problems factored in the deaths but none had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


Jan 22nd, 2010

Summary: NATO releases video of a complex Taliban attack on the Presidential Palace and other government buildings in the heart of Kabul, Afghanistan, January 18, 2010. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that former Congressman Joe Scarborough, speaking as “a good Republican,” responded to the inauguration of Barack Obama by saying, “I’m damn proud to be a part of this great republic.”