Summary: The New York Times reports that in the midst of two unfinished major wars — Afghanistan and Iraq — the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 28, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Taliban, which had long operated its own shadow government in the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, had begun spreading north, encroaching on the capital city of Kabul.

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Summary: U.S. Navy warships fired missiles at suspected al-Qaida training camps in Yemen, with that government’s support, according to Pentagon sources. One U.S. official said President Barack Obama personally ordered the missile strikes in northern Yemen. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 20, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that according to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, Zimbabwe had collapsed and ran the risk of deteriorating into Somalia-scale chaos. He also featured a personality profile of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe that he developed in 2002 with Adam Beatty at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics and reported that for the sixth consecutive year, Iraq was the deadliest place in the world for journalists in 2008.

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Summary: The November 30, 2009 national edition of the Washington Times features a full-page ad by the anti-Obama website ProtectOurLiberty.org, claiming that President Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States. The ad copy claims that under a 60-year-old British law, President Obama is a citizen of Britain and “is currently also a British protected person and/or a British citizen to this day.” ProtectOurLiberty.org is run by Charles F. Kerchner, Jr., a plaintiff in a birther lawsuit filed against President Obama in New Jersey. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 4, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that New York University journalism professor Charles Seife had written a New York Times op-ed column proposing an interesting resolution to the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota between incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken: cast a lot to determine the winner by chance.

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Summary: President Barack Obama is holding an uncertain hand in his high-stakes gamble in the fight against Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Weak partners in both countries, doubts about the speed of building up Afghan security forces, and allies reluctant to commit themselves wholeheartedly to the battle all raise questions about the strategy. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 2, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that President George W. Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was flawed intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, telling ABC World News in an interview airing December 1, 2008 that he was unprepared for war when he took office.

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Summary: President Barack Obama’s address to the nation outlining his strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., December 1, 2009.

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Summary: In his 2009 Thanksgiving message, President Barack Obama calls the nation’s attention to the men and women in uniform who are away from home sacrificing time with family. He also talks about health care reform, the Recovery Act, and job creation. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 26, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraq had lost more than half of its Christian population of some 1 million in an exodus that began after the 1991 Gulf War and escalated dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

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Summary: Analysis of President Barack Obama’s political personality, leadership style, and decision-making on Afghanistan. … The Taliban’s reclusive leader, Mullah Omar, has ruled out talks with President Hamid Karzai and called on Afghans to break off relations with the “stooge” Kabul administration and continue the jihad, implying there will be no negotiations while foreign troops are in the country. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 25, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that KBR, a contractor providing services to the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, had committed serious violations of its contract, mainly by conducting inadequate inspections of electrical wiring and grounding at American bases. The Pentagon findings stemmed from the death of Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a highly decorated 24-year-old Green Beret from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was electrocuted on January 2, 2008 while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad.

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Summary: Afghanistan’s Taliban mocked the award of a Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, saying he should get a Nobel Prize for violence instead. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 30th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on efforts by the U.S. and Iraq to hammer out a status-of-forces agreement amid meddling by Iran and rifts among Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish factions in the Iraqi government.

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Summary: The U.S. and its five partners trying to stop Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China — plan to tell Tehran that it must provide “unfettered access” to its previously secret Qom uranium enrichment facility within weeks. … Personality profile and threat assessment of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 17th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a skirmish between U.S. and Pakistani ground forces across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and a speech at the United Nations by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, in which he told world leaders (in an apparent reference to U.S. cross-border attacks) that his country cannot allow its territory to “be violated by our friends.” Immelman also posted an update on U.S. casualties and security incidents in Iraq.

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Summary: Former president Jimmy Carter told NBC’s Brian Williams in an interview that he believes race is at the core of much of the opposition to President Obama. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on seventh day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a spate of bombings in Iraq coinciding with an unannounced visit by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

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