Summary: On the 39th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported that Pakistan was scrambling for foreign aid to ward off a possible economic meltdown while trying to contain sharply escalating violence by Islamic fundamentalists. He also highlighted looming economic problems, citing a Washington Post report that the U.S. federal deficit was soaring toward the $1 trillion mark by the end of 2008, “creating the deepest well of red ink since the end of World War II.”
Summary: On the 38th 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 Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s criticism of U.S. commander Gen. Ray Odierno and street protests against the U.S.-Iraq status-of-forces agreement by supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. He also posted a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq.
Summary: On the 37th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on the murder of a U.S. soldier by an Afghan policeman and sectarian divisions that threaten stability in Iraq.
Summary: On the 35th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on the increasing incidence of attacks by female suicide bombers — the mujahidaat — in Iraq and examined some of the factors behind this emerging threat.
Summary: On the 33rd day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on a spate of attacks against Christians in Mosul, Iraq, forcing hundreds of families to flee for their lives.
Summary: 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.
Summary: On the 29th 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, republished an Oct. 8, 2002 open letter by Michael Livingston outlining why the invasion of Iraq would be a mistake on both rational and moral grounds.
Summary: On the 28th 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, examined the differences between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain with respect to handling the war in Iraq.
Summary: On the 27th 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 that the U.S. Army was unveiling a new doctrine that foresees nation-building missions as becoming more important than conventional warfare; defines “fragile states” that breed crime, terrorism, and religious and ethnic strife as the greatest threat to U.S. national security; and holds that American troops in future will be less likely to engage in major ground combat against hostile states as they did in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead being called upon more often to operate in lawless areas to safeguard populations and rebuild countries.
Summary: On the 23rd 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, provided an October 2008 update of key facts, figures, and statistics on Iraq since the war began in March 2003. He also reported on suicide bombings at two Shiite mosques in Baghdad that killed 24 people and wounded more than 50, a missile strike by a suspected U.S. drone in the northwest Pakistan tribal region near the Afghan border, ongoing violence in Iraq, and the reduction of U.S. military deaths in Iraq as Iraqi security forces increasingly take the lead in counterinsurgency operations.