Summary: After voting against legislation to keep the government running, Rep. Michele Bachmann — somewhat hypocritically, considering she has also proposed freezing military veterans’ health care funding and cutting their disability benefits — said she would introduce legislation that would prevent troops from being “used as pawns in political negotiations.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 10, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Kurt Kruize arrived home for the last time. Sgt. Kruize is the first St. Cloud soldier to die in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the third in Central Minnesota. Staff Sgt. Brian Hellermann of Freeport died in 2003 and Cpl. Anthony McElveen of Little Falls was killed in Iraq in 2005.

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Summary: Powerful anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatens to reactivate his feared Mahdi Army militia if American soldiers remain in Iraq beyond the end of 2011, after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered on behalf of the Obama administration to keep American troops in Iraq if needed. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 9, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the White House issued a warning that al-Qaida was quietly hunting for an atomic bomb, adding urgency to a historic summit where President Barack Obama aimed to persuade world leaders to step up their efforts to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.

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Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases and iCasualties.org. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 8, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Taliban released a video of Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier captured in Afghanistan in June 2009, showing him pleading for his freedom and to be returned home.

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Summary: Army Gen. Carter Ham, the former U.S. commander of the military mission in Libya, describes the ongoing operation as a stalemate that is more likely to go on now that America has handed control to NATO, adding that the U.S. may consider sending troops into Libya with a possible international ground force that could aid the rebels. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 7, 2010, Aubrey Immelman announced a second challenge to incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann for her U.S. House of Representatives seat in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, on a platform of national security, law and order, fiscal responsibility, and uncompromising opposition to political extremism.

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Summary: MSNBC BLTWY squares Sarah Palin off against Michele Bachmann to see who has the makings of a GOP presidential nominee — or U.S. president. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 6, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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Summary: Rep. Michele Bachmann leads an anti-spending “Cut Spending Now” rally outside the Capitol near where she stood in November 2009 before thousands of angry tea party activists protesting a Democrat-sponsored plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 5, 2010, Aubrey Immelman featured an Associated Press analysis of tea party operations in almost every state and examined whether the movement could be fomenting extraconsitutional rebellion.

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Summary: In an an email sent to millions of supporters, President Barack Obama launched his bid for re-election in 2012. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 4, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that three car bombs shook central Baghdad in quick succession on Easter Sunday, killing at least 35 people.

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Summary: At least 10 people have been killed and 83 injured in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, on a second day of violent protests over the actions of extremist Christian fundamentalist preacher Terry Jones, who supervised the burning of a Quran in front of about 50 people at a church in Florida on March 20. The new violence came one day after protesters overran a U.N. mission in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing seven foreign staff in the deadliest attack on the U.N. in Afghanistan. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 3, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the FBI was warning police across the country that the call of an anti-government group — a “sovereign citizen” group called Guardians of the Free Republics — to remove governors from office could provoke violence.

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Summary: After more than two years of a bleak prospects for job seekers, the economy’s slow, steady growth is finally creating jobs at a healthy pace. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 2, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the U.S. economy had posted its largest job gain in three years, with unemployment in March remaining at 9.7 percent for the third straight month.

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Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases and iCasualties.org. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 1, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that political reporter Pat Kessler, on the March 30, 2010 edition of “Reality Check” on WCCO 4 News at 10, fact-checked four claims Rep. Michele Bachmann made on CBS “Face the Nation” regarding healthcare reform. Kessler’s scorecard: “wrong,” “false,” “out of context,” “not true” (0 for 4 — three strikes and a foul ball).

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