Venue: Historic Paramount Theatre
Address: 913 West St. Germain Street, St. Cloud, MN
Google Map
Phone: 320 259-5463
Start: May 15, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.
Cost: $15 reserved seating / $30 VIP Tickets

Photo: Smerconish.com

Nationally syndicated radio talk show host, newspaper columnist, author, and MSNBC contributor Michael Smerconish will speak at the Historic Paramount Theatre in St. Cloud, Minn., at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at an event billed “An Evening with Michael Smerconish,” sponsored by WJON 1240 AM, which broadcasts Smerconish’s nationally syndicated talk show each weekday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Reserved seating tickets are $15. Special VIP tickets are available and include a private reception, complimentary appetizers, a cash bar and an hour of up-close and personal conversation from 5:30 to 6:30 with Michael. VIP pre-show reception tickets are $30 and are limited in number.

Tickets may be obtained at the Paramount Theatre Box Office or by calling (320) 259-5463.

Information from WJON.com

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UPDATE

Photo: @Smerconish on Twitter

The main theme of Michael Smerconish’s presentation was the trend toward increasing partisanship, polarization, and incivility in American politics, driven in large part by the tone set by radio and cable talk shows, which politicians then imitate.

During Q&A, a member of the audience asked for Smerconish’s opinion on Mitt Romney’s likely choice for running mate. Smerconish’s responded that Romney — unlike John McCain, whom he characterized as a “risk taker” naturally attracted to the long-shot gamble on Sarah Palin — was cautious and deliberative, and would therefore make a very calculated, risk-averse choice.

Smerconish’s analysis was higly consistent with empirically based psychological analyses of Romney and McCain (see “Related reports on this site” below).

Smerconish went on to say that former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, unlike New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, would be an example of a safe choice. Although that might well be the case, Pawlenty would be a poor choice for Romney, because they have similar personalities (cautious, deliberative, conscientious), the primary distinction between their personality styles being that Romney is more dominant and introverted and Pawlenty more submissive and outgoing (see “Related reports on this site” below).

Another member of the audience asked Smerconish’s opinion of Rep. Michele Bachmann (the local member of Congress). Smerconish, while acknowledging that all of us misspeak at times, expressed concern about the high frequency of Bachmann’s misstatements of fact and — of special concern to Smerconish — her apparent inability to self-correct or even to acknowledge her mistakes.

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Related report

Michael Smerconish Plays the Paramount
(By Bob Hughes, Program Director, WJON)

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Related reports on this site

Mitt Romney Personality Profile

Click image for more information (Photo composite: The Moderate Voice)

John McCain Personality Profile

Click image for larger view

Tim Pawlenty Personality Profile

Click image for larger view

Michele Bachmann Personality Profile

Click image for larger view

On March 19, 2012, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann became a subject of the European nation Switzerland and now holds dual U.S.-Swiss nationality, as reported below in Politico.

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Michele Bachmann Claims Swiss Citizenship

By Tim Mak

May 8, 2012

Rep. Michele Bachmann is now officially a Swiss miss.

Bachmann (R-Minn.) recently became a citizen of Switzerland, making her eligible to run for office in the tiny European nation, according to a Swiss TV report Tuesday.

Arthur Honegger, a reporter for public broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen, told POLITICO the Swiss consulate in Chicago has confirmed that the former Republican presidential candidate became a citizen March 19 [2012]. …

Marcus Bachmann, the congresswoman’s husband since 1978, reportedly was eligible for Swiss citizenship due to his parents’ nationality — but only registered it with the Swiss government Feb. 15. Once the process was finalized on March 19, Michele automatically became a citizen as well, according to Honegger.

Bachmann’s three youngest children are also now Swiss citizens, and her two older children are eligible to apply for a fast-track citizenship process, according to an email from the consulate provided and translated by Honegger.

Bachmann’s office confirmed that the congresswoman had received Swiss citizenship, and attributed the decision to her children.

“Congresswoman Bachmann’s husband is of Swiss descent, so she has been eligible for dual-citizenship since they got married in 1978. However, recently some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship so they went through the process as a family,” said Bachmann spokesperson Becky Rogness.

The Minnesota congresswoman was interviewed by Swiss national public television in D.C. on Tuesday while with a group of Swiss parliamentarians.

“My husband is a 100 percent Swiss, and his parents were raised in Switzerland, they were married there, they came to the United States, they bought a farm in Wisconsin and raised their three sons there,” said Bachmann. …

Each Swiss citizen belongs specifically to a canton, and Bachmann’s is the canton of Thurgau in Northeast Switzerland. …

Full story

Bachmann Responds to Dual Citizenship Inquiries

Washington, May 9 — Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) issued the following statement about her dual citizenship with Switzerland:

“This is a non-story. I automatically became a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland in 1978 when I married my husband, Marcus. Marcus is a dual American and Swiss citizen because he is the son of Swiss immigrants. As a family, we just recently updated our documents.

“I am proud of my husband, Marcus, the love of my life, and his Swiss heritage. Even though I have been a dual citizen since I was married in 1978, I have never exercised any rights of that citizenship. Rather, I have always pledged allegiance to our one nation under God, the United States of America. We live in the greatest nation humankind has ever known and I am proud to be an American.”

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Note: Bachmann’s statement is at odds both with reports that, although eligible for Swiss citizenship due to her husband’s parents’ nationality, Bachmann only became a Swiss national after the Bachmanns registered their heritage with the Swiss government, and the explanation offered by her office that “some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship so they went through the process as a family.” It appears Bachmann actively had to “opt in” to acquire Swiss citizenship.

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Dual Citizenship is Treason

Submitted by James_Madison_Lives

April 30, 2011

I am against dual citizenship of any kind. When you benefit from the blood spilled by patriots in the past, the least which can be requested of you is undivided allegiance. …

The fact that we are now being badly betrayed by our leaders and threatened by domestic traitors to the Constitution is another matter. …

One small step is to outlaw what President Teddy Roosevelt called “a self-evident absurdity.”

Roosevelt said  “We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.”

For most of the country’s history, dual citizenship was considered the equivalent of political bigamy. It is a recent development, dating from 1967, when the Supreme Court struck down a law that forced people to relinquish their American citizenship if they acquired another citizenship.

The absurdity gets worse. It so happens some people are subject to relinquishing dual citizenships, as was revealed in the case of Shamai Kedem Leibowitz, an FBI translator with a top secret security clearance. …

In an article on Leibowitz, Politico noted:

“The FBI page page on contract linguists says: ‘Applicants for the FBI Contract Linguist position must meet all of the following requirements: United States citizenship; Willingness to renounce dual citizenship. … Ability to meet all FBI Employment Requirements, pass an FBI Background Investigation, and receive a Top Secret Security Clearance …’” …

The big question is, why are low-level employees subject to relinquishing their dual citizenship, but not U.S. Congressmen like former Representative Rahm Emanuel, later White House Chief of Staff, or those at the highest levels of an administration’s foreign policy apparatus like Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, or Dov Zakheim? …

The idea of liberty dictates that any human being can choose to be a citizen of any country for which he or she qualifies.  That’s his business. But any country could suddenly be at war with any other country. That is realpolitik. For the privilege of being a citizen of this great country, you must choose.

Full story

LATE UPDATE

Michele Bachmann Drops Swiss Citizenship, Says She’s ‘A Proud American’

 
May 10, 2012

Michele Bachmann doesn’t want to be Swiss after all.

On Tuesday, Swiss national television reported that Bachmann, a Republican U.S. representative from Minnesota and former GOP presidential candidate, had recently become a citizen of Switzerland, a landlocked European country surrounded by Italy, France and Germany.

By Thursday, after media reports about her dual citizenship, Bachmann said she had sent the Swiss consulate a letter to withdraw her citizenship. She said she wanted to be clear that she was “100 percent committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America.”

She was eligible for citizenship because Marcus Bachmann, her husband of 34 years, was born to Swiss immigrants who moved to Wisconsin, POLITICO reported. Bachmann’s office said the Bachmann children wanted dual citizenship and so the family decided to go through the process together, according to Minnesota Public Radio. They officially became Swiss citizens in March. …

The Bachmanns visit Switzerland often, she added, always returning home with bags of the country’s well-known chocolate.

But on Thursday, Bachmann released a statement saying she had sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting to withdraw her Swiss citizenship.

“I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen,” she said. “I am proud of my allegiance to the greatest nation the world has ever known.”

The Swiss Embassy in Washington confirmed that the Swiss Consulate in Chicago had received Bachmann’s e-mail asking that her Swiss citizenship be withdrawn.

Full story

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Twitter

Today I requested the withdrawal of my dual Swiss citizenship. tiny.cc/ybz3dw I want to be perfectly clear: I am a proud American.

— MicheleBachmann (@MicheleBachmann) May 10, 2012

Bachmann Statement on Withdrawal of Dual Swiss Citizenship

Washington, May 10 — Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) issued the following statement today about her decision to withdraw her dual Swiss citizenship:

“Today I sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting withdrawal of my dual Swiss citizenship, which was conferred upon me by operation of Swiss law when I married my husband in 1978. I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen. I am, and always have been, 100 percent committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America. As the daughter of an Air Force veteran, stepdaughter of an Army veteran and sister of a Navy veteran, I am proud of my allegiance to the greatest nation the world has ever known.” …

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5/14/2012 Update

Bachmann Hit by Conservative Blogs Over Swiss Citizenship

May 13, 2012

When word got out that Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., had filed for an acquired Swiss citizenship back on March 19, she got slammed with an icy avalanche of criticism from conservative blogs, reports Politico.com.

By Thursday of this past week, the former GOP presidential contender announced she was withdrawing her citizenship in a country her husband holds dual citizenship with.

Bachmann’s trumpeting of her new citizenship didn’t sit well with conservatives. Among her detractors was Mark Krikorian of the National Review.

“Dual citizenship isn’t simply a matter of convenience, a way to make travel easier or a sentimental tie to the Auld Sod,” Krikorian added in a piece headlined “Swiss Miss.” “It’s a formal declaration of divided allegiance, civic bigamy, if you will,” Krikorian wrote. …

[The] United States does discourage citizens, like Bachmann, from seeking and applying for dual citizenship and warns such citizens may lose their U.S. citizenship.

The State Department website states: “A person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship.”…

A former Bachmann congressional staffer told Poltico.com: “She didn’t think there was anything wrong with holding or applying for Swiss citizenship while serving as a member of the U.S. Congress. She didn’t think it might be perceived as a conflict of interest as a candidate for president or for re-election to her House seat.”

Some detractors, however, went beyond calling for an end to any appearance of conflict of interest, casting the dual citizenship adventure as a stake through the political heart of Bachmann.

“How she thinks that she can sit in the Congress of the United States after swearing allegiance to the country of Switzerland is beyond my comprehension,” wrote conservative blogger Lori Stacy on Examiner.com. “Michele Bachmann needs to step down immediately and apologize profusely to all of our citizens and especially the residents of her district in Minnesota for carrying on this egregious offense of representing them since March 19 after becoming a citizen of a different country.”

Bachmann’s latest fiasco may mean a continued erosion of support she holds from patriotic tea party supporters.

Bachmann has already been criticized for raising millions of dollars nationally for her congressional seat, promising to remain a thorn in the Washington establishment. Instead of fulfilling that promise, Bachmann used millions of the funds she raised for a losing presidential bid many saw as an ego trip for her.

Full story

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Related reports on this site

Video

Michele Bachmann is a Swiss citizen (MSNBC “The Ed Show,” May 9, 2012) – Michele Bachmann claims she loves freedom and liberty, yet she filed papers to become a citizen of Switzerland. Ed Schultz tries to make sense of it. (02:05)

Bachmann’s ‘Anti-American’ Rant (Oct. 18, 2009)

The 50% American (July 15, 2008)

Video

Bachmann endorses Romney (NBC News, May 3, 2012) – Speaking at a rally in Virginia, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann endorses Mitt Romney for president, saying it’s a choice between President Obama or President Romney. (02:23; not part of Washington Post report below)

By Rachel Weiner
The Fix

May 3, 2012

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) endorsed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in Virginia on Thursday.

“I’m honored to announce that today, I am endorsing Governor Mitt Romney for President of the United States, a man who will preserve the American dream of prosperity and liberty,” she said in a statement released this afternoon.  “On November 6th, the only option is Mitt Romney for President.”

The conservative lawmaker and former White House hopeful was one of Romney’s harshest critics in the presidential race. She dropped out in early January after placing sixth in Iowa’s caucuses; since then she has issued vague calls for unity, but stopped short of an endorsement.

Bachmann based her campaign on opposition to Democratic health-care reform and repeatedly argued that Romney was too close to President Obama on the issue. In December she called Romney “the only governor in the history of the United States to put into place socialized medicine.”

Shortly before exiting the race, Bachmann told ABC News that Romney, who was governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, “can’t beat Obama” because he wrote “the blueprint for Obamacare.”

Now, all of Romney’s rivals save Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) have dropped out, and Bachmann has decided that time to embrace Romney has arrived. Former Bachmann campaign manager Keith Nahigian said there was also a personal element to the endorsement. …

Full story

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Twitter

@TeamBachmann – As you’ve endorsed @MittRomney, I have to conclude you were either a phoney or a sellout. I regret supporting you.

— Jim Williams (@Hiraghm) May 3, 2012

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Related analysis

Video

Bachmann, Gingrich endorse Romney despite former attacks (MSNBC “Hardball,” May 3, 2012) – Republican strategist Todd Harris and Democratic strategist Steve McMahon discuss Mitt Romney’s recent endorsements from his former opponents, despite statements in which they’ve doubted Romney’s conservative stance. (08:09)

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Topical reports on this site

Back in 2009, when Michele Bachmann was focused on reelection to Congress in Minnesota’s libertarian-leaning 6th District, she heavily courted Rep. Ron Paul. But now that she’s focused ‘like a laser beam’ on her national ambitions, she’s kicked Dr. Paul to the curb and embraced Gov. Romney who, in her own words, “can’t beat Obama” and is “the only governor in the history of the United States to put into place socialized medicine.”

Queer Bachmann-Paul Pairing (Sept. 28, 2009)

Ron Paul Converts Michele Bachmann (Aug. 27, 2009)

As of Monday, April 30, 2012, at least 1,958 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to iCasualties.org.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 15,319 U.S. service members have been wounded as of Jan. 31, 2012, according to iCasualties.org.

Latest identifications:

Marine Corps Cpl. Christopher D. Bordoni, 21, Ithaca, N.Y., died April 3, 2012 of wounds sustained Jan. 18, 2012, while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Army Staff Sgt. Christopher L. Brown, 26, Columbus, Ohio, died April 3, 2012 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained after he was attacked with an improvised explosive device while on a dismounted patrol. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Army Staff Sgt. Tyler J. Smith, 24, Licking, Mo., died April 3, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when he was attacked with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Spc. Jeffrey L. White Jr., 21, Catawissa, Mo., died April 3, 2012 in Khost province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Shawn T. Hannon, 44, Grove City, Ohio, died April 4, 2012 in Faryab province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained during an enemy attack by a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Ohio National Guard, Walbridge, Ohio.

Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey J. Rieck, 45, Columbus, Ohio, died April 4, 2012 in Faryab province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained during an enemy attack by a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Ohio National Guard, Walbridge, Ohio.

Army National Guard Capt. Nicholas J. Rozanski, 36, Dublin, Ohio, died April 4, 2012 in Faryab province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained during an enemy attack by a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Ohio National Guard, Walbridge, Ohio.

Marine Corps Cpl. Alex Martinez, 21, Elgin, Ill., died April 5, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Army Spc. Antonio C. Burnside [Blackfeet family name "Many Hides"], 31, Great Falls, Mont., died April 6, 2012 at Ghanzi province, Afghanistan of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Navy Constructionman Trevor J. Stanley, 22, Virginia Beach, Va., died April 7 2012 while deployed to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. He was a Seabee assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3, homeported in Port Hueneme, Calif.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Ramon T. Kaipat, 22, Tacoma, Wash., died April 11, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Army Spc. Philip C. S. Schiller, 21, The Colony, Texas, died April 11, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Abraham Tarwoe, 25, Providence, R.I., died April 12, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Army Sgt. Tanner S. Higgins, 23, Yantis, Texas, died April 14, 2012 in Logar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.

Marine Corps Cpl. Aaron M. Faust, 22, Louisville, Ky., died April 15, 2012 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Army Staff Sgt. David P. Nowaczyk, 32, Dyer, Ind., died April 15, 2012 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Army Capt. Michael C. Braden, 31, Lock Haven, Pa., died April 18, 2012 in Bagram, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

Army Chief Warrant Officer Nicholas S. Johnson, 27, San Diego, Calif., died April 19, 2012 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, when his Black Hawk (UH-60) crashed. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

Army Sgt. Dean R. Shaffer, 23, Pekin, Ill., died April 19, 2012 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, when his Black Hawk (UH-60) crashed. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

Army Chief Warrant Officer Don C. Viray, 25, Waipahu, Hawaii, died April 19, 2012 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, when his Black Hawk (UH-60) crashed. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

Army Sgt. Chris J. Workman, 33, Boise, Idaho, died April 19, 2012 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, when his Black Hawk (UH-60) crashed. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Joseph H. Frankhauser, 30, Mason, Texas, died April 22, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Army Pfc. Michael J. Metcalf, 22, Boynton Beach, Fla., died April 22, 2012 in Paktia province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 504th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Walsh, 28, Cobb, Ga., died April 22, 2012 in Paktia province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 504th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Spc. Manuel J. Vasquez, 22, West Sacramento, Calif., died April 24, 2012 in Paktika province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany.

Army Green Beret Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Britton-Mihalo, 25, Simi Valley, Calif., died April 25, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Army Spc. Moises J. Gonzalez, 29, Huntington, Calif., died April 25, 2012 in Balkh province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle rolled over. He was assigned to the 509th Combat Service Support Company, 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.

Army Spc. Benjamin H. Neal, 21, Orfordville, Wis., died April 25, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Spc. Jason K. Edens, 22, Franklin, Tenn., died April 26, 2012 in Bethesda, Md., of wounds sustained April 15 in Laghman province, Afghanistan, when the enemy attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 13th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Army Green Beret Staff Sgt. Brandon F. Eggleston, 29, Candler, N.C., died April 26, 2012 in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 4th Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Sgt. Dick A. Lee Jr., 31, Orange Park, Fla., died April 26, 2012 in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 95th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Sembach, Germany.

Navy Lt. Christopher E. Mosko, 28, Pittsford, N.Y., died April 26, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Nawa district, Ghazni province, Afghanistan. He was assigned as a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Platoon Commander to Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, Afghanistan, and was stationed at EOD Mobile Unit 3, San Diego, Calif.

Marine Corps Master Sgt. Scott E. Pruitt, 38, Gautier, Miss., died April 28, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Army Pfc. Christian R. Sannicolas, 20, Anaheim, Calif., died April 28, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Sgt. Nicholas M. Dickhut, 23, Rochester, Minn., died April 30, 2012 in Zharay, Afghanistan, from wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

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UPDATES

5/3/12 update: Army Capt. Bruce K. Clark, 43, Spencerport, N.Y., died May 1, 2012 in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, of noncombat causes. He was assigned to A Company, Troop Command, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas.

5/4/12 update: Army Staff Sgt. Zachary H. Hargrove, 32, Wichita, Kan., died May 3, 2012 in Bagram, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 84th Explosive Ordnance Disposal, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

5/7/12 update: Army Master Sgt. Gregory L. Childs, 38, Warren, Ark., died May 4, 2012 in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Defense Logistics Agency, Fort Belvoir, Va.

5/7/12 update: Marine Corps Sgt. John P. Huling, 25, West Chester, Ohio, died May 6, 2011 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. His death was originally reported by the International Security Assistance Force, which characterized it as the result of gunshot wounds inflicted by an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform.

5/8/12 update: Army Staff Sgt. Thomas K. Fogarty, 30, Alameda, Calif., died May 6, 2012 in Ahmad-Kheyl, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

5/8/12 update: Army Spc. Junot M. L. Cochilus, 34, Charlotte, N.C., died May 2, 2012 in Logar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

5/8/12 update: Army 2nd Lt. David E. Rylander, 23, Stow, Ohio, died May 2, 2012 in Logar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

5/9/12 update: Army Pfc. Dustin D. Gross, 19, Jeffersonville, Ky., died May 7, 2012 in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

5/9/12 update: Army Spc. Chase S. Marta, 24, Chico, Calif., died May 7, 2012 in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

5/9/12 update: Army Sgt. Jacob M. Schwallie, 22, Clarksville, Tenn., died May 7, 2012 in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

5/13/12 update: Navy Petty Officer Second Class Jorge Luis Velasquez, 35, Houston, Texas, died May 12, 2012 of injuries sustained in a fall from a balcony in Manama, Bahrain. He was an operations specialist assigned to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 56 in Bahrain, which conducts maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

5/14/12 update: Army 1st Lt. Alejo R. Thompson, 30, Yuma, Ariz., died May 11, 2012 in Bagram, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

5/14/12 update: Marine Corps Sgt. Wade D. Wilson, 22, Normangee, Texas, died May 11, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

5/14/12 update: Army Spc. Alex Hernandez III, 21, Round Rock, Texas, found dead in his room May 12, 2012 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

5/15/12 update: Army Pfc. Richard L. McNulty III, 22, Rolla, Mo., died May 13, 2012 in Bowri Tana, Afghanistan, when the enemy attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

5/15/12 update: Army Sgt. Brian L. Walker, 25, Lucerne Valley, Calif., died May 13, 2012 in Bowri Tana, Afghanistan, when the enemy attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

5/16/12 update: Army Staff Sgt. Israel P. Nuanes, 38, Las Cruces, N.M., died May 12, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained during an enemy attack with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 741st Ordnance Company, Fort Bliss, Texas, part of the 84th Ordnance Battalion, 71st Ordnance Group.

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Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

Honor the Fallen

Click to visit the Military Times Hall of Valor

Visit Military Times — The top source for military news

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Related reports

Suicide Blast Kills 3 American Soldiers in Usually Peaceful Afghan Province

Wounded U.S. soldiers lie on the ground at the scene of a suicide attack Wed., April 4, 2012 in Maimanah, the capital of Faryab province north of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Gul Buddin Elham / AP)

The Associated Press, Reuters, and NBC News, via MSNBC.com
April 4, 2012

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed at least 10 people, including three American soldiers, Wednesday in Afghanistan’s relatively peaceful northern Faryab province, police said.

Pentagon and military officials told NBC News that the three Americans, who were not identified, were “partnered” with Afghan forces on a routine patrol when the blast occurred.

Afghan police said the Americans were taking pictures at a park in Maimanah, when shortly before noon, the bomber detonated his explosives at the park gate. Police said four of the 10 killed were Afghan police officers. At least 20 people were wounded, officials said.

Slain soldiers lay on blood-soaked pavement beside a blown-off leg and strewn helmets, witnesses told Reuters. Afghan police rushed to try to move soldiers into vehicles. …

Witnesses said the bomber walked right up to them and screamed “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) before detonating his suicide vest. …

Full story

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U.S. Black Hawk helicopter with four crew members crashes in Afghanistan (NBC News, April 19, 2012) — A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter with four crew members on board crashed in southwestern Afghanistan on Thursday. A senior U.S. military official confirmed to NBC News that there was bad weather in the area at the time of the crash, but said that the possibility that enemy activity downed the helicopter could not be ruled out. … “We don’t expect any survivors,” the official told NBC News. … Full story

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Army Nurse in Afghanistan Dies While Skyping with Wife

A U.S. Army carry team transfers the remains of Army Capt. Bruce K. Clark, of Spencerport, N.Y., at Dover Air Force Base, Del., May 3, 2012. (Photo credit: U.S. Air Force / Roland Balik)

The Associated Press via MSNBC.com
May 4, 2012

HOUSTON — The Texas-based wife of an Army nurse serving in Afghanistan witnessed her husband’s death as the two video chatted via Skype, his family said Friday.

The circumstances of Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark’s death on Monday were not immediately available.

An Army spokesman, however, said it is believed that Clark died of natural causes and that an autopsy is being conducted to make a final determination, according to CNN.

“We believe his death was from natural causes,” CNN quoted Clarence Davis, a spokesman for the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, where Clark was based, as saying. …

“Bruce’s wife tragically witnessed her husband’s death during one of their regular Skype video-chats on Monday,” Bradley Taber-Thomas, Clark’s brother-in-law, said in a prepared statement. “At the time of the incident, the family was hoping for a rescue and miracle, but later learned that it was not to be.”

Clark, a clinical staff nurse who had worked in the ICU at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, was deployed in March. Yobeta said he was stationed in Tarin Kot, Afghanistan.

Clark is survived by his wife and two daughters, age 3 and 9.

Taber-Thomas said the soldier’s body was returned Thursday to Dover Air Force Base.

“Although the circumstances were unimaginable, Bruce’s wife and extended family will be forever thankful that he and his wife were together in his last moments,” he said. …

Full story

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Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark

Was he shot? Wife of Army captain whose husband died in Afghanistan as they chatted on Skype says she saw a bullet hole behind him after he collapsed

Capt. Clark leaves behind his wife Susan Orellana-Clark and two children aged 3 and 9 (Photo credit: Facebook via Daily Mail)

The Daily Mail
May 7, 2012

The wife of a US Army captain who died while he was on Skype with her says she saw a bullet hole in the closet behind him after he collapsed.

An Army spokesman says medic Bruce Kevin Clark died of natural causes while he was serving in Afghanistan.

His wife, Susan Orellana-Clark, made a statement on Sunday saying she doubts that assessment.

‘(Capt) Clark was suddenly knocked forward,’ Mrs Clark said in remarks released by her brother.

‘The closet behind him had a bullet hole in it. The other individuals, including a member of the military, who rushed to the home of Capt Clark’s wife also saw the hole and agreed it was a bullet hole.’

Mrs Clark sat in in El Paso, Texas, and watched the computer screen helplessly for two hours on Monday as she frantically tried to contact her husband’s colleagues 8,000 miles away in Afghanistan to get him help.

Finally, two Army personnel arrived in Capt Clark’s room and checked his pulse. They did not, however, tell Mrs Clark what had happened to her husband, the family said.

A spokesman at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in Texas, where Capt Clark was stationed, told MailOnline on Friday that the officer’s death came from natural causes and was not combat-related or suicide.

Mrs Clark said she decided to go public with the bullet hole detail ‘to honor my husband and dispel the inaccurate information and supposition promulgated by other parties.’

Capt Clark was chatting online with his wife, he suddenly looked ‘alarmed’ and disappeared from his wife’s computer screen during a conversation on Monday, according to an Army spokesman.

‘Mrs Clark was Skypeing from the family home here in El Paso with her husband when he all of a sudden fell away from the computer keyboard and fell out of sight,’ said Colonel John Modell.

‘He assumed an alarmed look and fell back out of the picture,’ he continued. …

A Facebook page has been created in Clark’s honor and tributes have been flooding in. …

Full story

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Investigators: Army Nurse in Afghanistan Did Not Die of Bullet Wound

Rebecca Ruiz and The Associated Press

May 7, 2012

Captain Bruce Kevin Clark, an Army nurse who died while on Skype with his wife, did not die of a bullet wound, U.S. military officials said. Investigators say Clark apparently died of natural causes.

“We can positively say that Captain Clark was not shot,”Chris Grey, a spokesperson for U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, said in a statement. “We do not suspect foul play in the death of Captain Clark at this point in our ongoing investigation.”

During a Skype conversation, Clark suddenly pitched forward and was unresponsive. His nose had been bloodied, apparently when his head slammed into the table or computer keyboard after collapsing. Clark’s family said Sunday they believed he had died of a gunshot wound.

Clark’s family released a statement describing what his wife saw in the video feed recording her husband’s death in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan.

“Clark was suddenly knocked forward,” the statement said. “The closet behind  him had a bullet hole in it. The other individuals, including a member of the military, who rushed to the home of CPT Clark’s wife also saw the hole and agreed it was a bullet hole.”

But no bullet wound was found in Clark’s body, Grey said Monday. Investigators “found no trauma to the body beyond minor abrasions and a possible broken nose most likely caused from Captain Clark striking his face on his desk when he collapsed,” Grey said. …

Military officials have told NBC News that Clark died of an apparent massive heart attack. Grey says an autopsy is being done to determine the cause of death.

Full story

Students Present Research at Scholarship Day

(Clockwise from right front) Feiran Chen, Beth Peichel, Wade Kohls, Rachel Heying, Sara Duxbury, and Amanda Nusbaum present their poster “The Personality Profile of 2012 Presidential Contender Rick Santorum” at Scholarship and Creativity Day, College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, April 25, 2012. (Photo: Aubrey Immelman; click photo for larger image)

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. (Apr. 25, 2012) — Beth Peichel, Amanda Nusbaum, Feiran Chen, Sara Duxbury, Wade Kohls, and Rachel Heying, students at the College of Saint Benedict and St. John’s University in St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minn., presented their research on “The Personality Profile of 2012 Presidential Contender Rick Santorum” at the colleges’ annual Scholarship and Creativity Day.

The research was conducted under the auspices of the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, directed by College of St. Benedict | St. John’s University associate professor of psychology Aubrey Immelman.

Summary of Research Results

Click on image for larger view

The profile reveals that Sen. Santorum’s primary personality pattern is Conscientious / dutiful, with secondary features of the Dominant / controlling and Ambitious / confident patterns.

As noted by personality theorist Theodore Millon, Conscientious / dutiful personalities are characteristically conventional, dependable, and principled, with a tendency toward personal rigidity or inflexibility. At times, these personalities may be uncompromisingly moralistic, self-righteous, and judgmental of others.

Conscientious personalities maintain a well-disciplined, organized lifestyle that enables them to function efficiently and successfully in most of their endeavors. They demonstrate an extraordinary degree of integrity, adhering as firmly as they can to society’s ethics and morals as they perceive them to be. Notably respectful of tradition and authority, they typically act in a reasonable, proper, and conscientious manner, do their best to uphold conventional rules and standards, and tend to be judgmental of those who do not.

Being principled, scrupulous, and meticulous, conscientious individuals tend to follow personal standards from which they hesitate to deviate and decide matters in terms of what they believe is right. They are often religious; maintaining their integrity ranks high among their goals, while voicing moral values gives them a deep sense of satisfaction.

The major limitation of this personality style is a predilection for seeing complex matters in black-and-white, good-or-bad, and right-or-wrong terms. Their major limitations with regard to executive decision making are cognitive constriction (with an attendant deficits in flexibility, creativity, and imagination); indecisiveness rooted in fear of committing errors of judgment; and striving for perfectionism to a degree that may interfere with task completion.

Note: Provisional profile; will be refined upon further analysis of the data.

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Related reports on this site

Barack Obama Personality Profile (Nov. 2, 2008)

Joe Biden Personality Profile (April 17, 2009)

Mitt Romney Personality Profile (June 2, 2011)

Michele Bachmann Personality Profile (June 13, 2011)

Tim Pawlenty Personality Profile (June 16, 2011)

Why Mitt Romney Won’t Win (May 12, 2011)

Obama Campaign Tilting at Romney Windmill (Aug. 9, 2011)

Personality Matters: Mitt Romney Has Al Gore Problem (Jan. 16, 2012)

By David Zucchino

April 18, 2012

The paratroopers had their assignment: Check out reports that Afghan police had recovered the mangled remains of an insurgent suicide bomber. Try to get iris scans and fingerprints for identification.

The 82nd Airborne Division soldiers arrived at the police station in Afghanistan’s Zabol province in February 2010. They inspected the body parts. Then the mission turned macabre: The paratroopers posed for photos next to Afghan police, grinning while some held — and others squatted beside — the corpse’s severed legs.

A few months later, the same platoon was dispatched to investigate the remains of three insurgents who Afghan police said had accidentally blown themselves up. After obtaining a few fingerprints, they posed next to the remains, again grinning and mugging for photographs. …

Full story

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Related report

U.S. Condemns Troops Who Allegedly Posed With Dead Suicide Bombers in Afghanistan

Video

Photo: U.S. troops pose with body parts of Afghan bombers (MSNBC News, April 18, 2012 ) – Army officials are conducting a criminal investigation into newly revealed photographs showing U.S. troops posing with body parts of dead Afghan suicide bombers. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports. (04:43)

By Sohel Uddin (NBC News in Kabul) and F. Brinley Bruton (MSNBC.com) with reporting by Reuters
April 18, 2012

KABUL — The Los Angeles Times published photos showing U.S. troops posing with the body parts of dead suicide bombers in Afghanistan on Wednesday, prompting condemnations from American officials even before the pictures were posted on the newspaper’s website.

A total of 18 pictures showing soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were taken in 2010 and given to the Times by a soldier who served with the 82nd Airborne’s 4th Brigade Combat Team from Ft. Bragg, N.C., the newspaper reported. Only two of the 18 photos appeared on the site. …

[In a press statement, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta] said: “These images by no means represent the values or professionalism of the vast majority of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan today. [link added] …

The news comes at a time of growing sensitivity over the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan after a series of damaging and embarrassing incidents involving U.S. troops.

In January [2012] a YouTube video surfaced of U.S. Marines urinating on Afghan corpses. In February [2012], the burning of Qurans at the main American base in the country sparked violent protests and revenge killings of six Americans. Last month March [2012], 17 civilians, mainly women and children, were killed in a nighttime rampage, allegedly by Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. [links and video added]

Video

Conduct unbecoming (NBC Nightly News, April 18, 2012) – Pictures taken two years ago showing American soldiers posing with the severed legs of a dead Taliban suicide bomber are being condemned by the Pentagon. NBCs Jim Miklaszewski reports. (02:51)

A spike in so-called green-on-blue attacks — by Afghan army and police on U.S. and other foreign forces — has stoked concern that some of that anger is spilling over into the security forces and turning them against their Western allies [link added]. …

Full story

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4/19/2012 update

Karzai calls for U.S. to hand over security to Afghan troops sooner (MSNBC.com, April 19, 2012) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Thursday for U.S. and other foreign forces in the country to hand over security to his government’s forces sooner than planned, following the publication of photographs showing American troops posing with the body parts of dead suicide bombers. In a statement issued by the presidential palace statement to NBC News and other media outlets Karzai said he strongly condemned the “inhumane and provocative” act. … The statement noted “similar incidents of odious nature in the past that sparked angry reaction by the Afghans and the international community at large.” … Full story

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Related reports on this site

Horrific Massacre by American Soldier in Afghanistan (March 13, 2012)

Mounting evidence against Robert Bales (NBC Nightly News, March 23, 2012) – The defense attorney for Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier charged Friday with 17 counts of murder, has said the military lacks much of the physical evidence necessary to establish a solid case against his client. But prosecutors say there is ample evidence: surveillance video, shell casings and more. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports. (02:36)

U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan Over Koran Burning (Feb. 24, 2012)

Sgt. Joshua A. Born, Sgt. Timothy J. Conrad Jr., Lt. Col. John D. Loftis, and Maj. Robert J. Marchanti II

Setback for U.S. in Afghan War (Jan. 13, 2012)

Soldiers Pose with Afghan Corpse (March 21, 2011)

This image shows the body of Gul Mudin, the son of a farmer, who was killed on Jan. 15, 2010. A member of the “kill team” poses behind. (Photo credit: Der Spiegel)

America’s Worn-Out Welcome in Afghanistan (Nov. 21, 2010)

Protesters chant anti-American slogans and burn an effigy of President Barack Obama in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009. (Photo credit: Rahmat Gul / AP)

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened. … Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor dampened, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue. … In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

There is no instance of a country having been benefited from prolonged warfare.

— Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Video

Taliban attacks mark beginning of ‘Spring Offensive’ (NBC Nightly News, April 15, 2012) – The attacks on Western embassies in Kabul, the Afghan capital, raise questions about the competence of Afghan security forces. NBC’s Sohel Uddin reports. (01:30)

By Sohel Uddin, NBC News in Kabul; Alastair Jamieson, MSNBC.com; and Reuters
April 15, 2012

Heavy street fighting between militants and security forces in the center of the Afghan capital Kabul ended on Monday after 18 hours of intense gunfire, rocket attacks and explosions, police and government officials said.

Battles which broke out at mid-day on Sunday gripped the capital’s central districts through the night, with explosions and gunfire lighting up alleys and surrounding streets. …

The fighting at the parliament in the west of the city was the only pocket where militants were still resisting security forces. Earlier, at daybreak, security forces flushed out militants holed up near embassies in the heavily guarded diplomatic area. …

The assault by the insurgents, which began with attacks on embassies, a supermarket, a hotel and the parliament, is one of the most serious on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the Taliban from power in 2001. …

The attacks are retaliation for the burning of Qurans at a NATO base in February, the murders of 17 Afghans allegedly by an Army staff sergeant and videos that apparently show U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban [links added].

Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for Sunday’s assaults, one of the most serious on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the group from power in 2001.

“These attacks are the beginning of the Spring Offensive [link added] and we had planned them for months,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters. …

The Taliban said the main targets were the German and British embassies and the headquarters of Afghanistan’s NATO-led force. …

The Afghan Ministry of Interior told NBC News that 11 suicide attackers were killed across Afghanistan by Afghan security forces. In total, 14 police and nine civilians were wounded, it said.

NBC News reported that police captured two attackers with suicide-bomb vests and destroyed a car full of explosives near the Afghan parliament. …

Taliban fighters also launched assaults in at least two provinces, a spokesman for the insurgents said. …

The assault appeared to repeat the tactics of an attack in Kabul last September [link added] when insurgents entered construction sites in several places to use them as positions for rocket and gun attacks. …

Two rockets hit a British Embassy guard tower near the Reuters office in the city.

Fighting was going on at some facilities of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and near the U.S., Russian and German embassies, ISAF said via Twitter. …

Three rockets hit a supermarket that is popular with foreigners near the German embassy, Reuters witnesses said. News channel Al Jazeera reported that smoke was seen rising from the German embassy. …

Attackers also fired rockets at the parliament building in the west of the city, and at the Russian embassy, a spokesman for the parliament said. …

Afghan media said insurgents had stormed the Star Hotel complex near the presidential palace and the Iranian embassy. Windows of the hotel were blown out and smoke billowed from the building.

In the eastern province of Paktia, NATO helicopter gunships attacked insurgents holed up in a building next to a construction site while in the eastern city of Jalalabad, a witness told Reuters that the Taliban had attacked a foreign force base near a school. …

Full story

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Related reports on this site

A tracer bullet [more likely a rocket] is fired during an attack on the Kabul Inter-Continental Hotel. (Photo credit: Massoud Hossaini / AFP – Getty Images)

Deadliest Attack on U.S. in Kabul Since Afghan War Began (Oct. 30, 2011)

Daylong Taliban Siege of U.S. Embassy in Kabul (Sept. 13, 2011)

Gunbattle Rages for Hours in Kabul, Afghanistan (Aug. 20, 2011)

NATO Returns Fire in Kabul Siege (June 28, 2011)

Taliban Strikes in Heart of Kabul (Feb. 26, 2010)

Taliban Siege Rattles Kabul (Jan. 19, 2010)

Afghan War Closes in on Kabul (Oct. 28, 2009)

NATO Headquarters in Afghanistan Attacked (Aug. 15, 2009)

Mumbai-Like Strike in Kabul (Feb. 12, 2009)

As of Monday, April 2, 2012, at least 1,923 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to iCasualties.org.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 15,319 U.S. service members have been wounded as of Jan. 31, 2012, according to iCasualties.org.

Latest identifications:

Army Staff Sgt. Jordan L. Bear, 25, Denver, Colo., died March 1, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from small-arms fire during an attack on his base. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Pfc. Payton A. Jones, 19, Marble Falls, Texas, died March 1, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from small-arms fire during an attack on his base. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Marine Corps Cpl. Conner T. Lowry, 24, Chicago, Ill., died March 1, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Army Spc. Edward J. Acosta, 21, Hesperia, Calif., died March 5, 2012 in La Jolla, Calif., of injuries sustained Dec. 3, 2011, in Wardak province, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

Army Staff Sgt. Jesse J. Grindey, 30, Hazel Green, Wis., died March 12, 2012 of unspecified causes in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 287th Military Police Company, 97th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, Fort Riley, Kan.

Army Spc. Daquane D. Rivers, 21, Marianna, Fla., died March 14, 2012 from injuries sustained in a non-combat incident in Paktika province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany.

Army 2nd Lt. Clovis T. Ray, 34, San Antonio, Texas died March 15, 2012 in Kunar province, Afghanistan of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Army Sgt. Jamie D. Jarboe, 27, Frankfort, Ind., died March 21, 2012 in Topeka, Kan., from wounds suffered on April 10, 2011 in Zhari district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire during a foot patrol. [A bullet from a sniper's AK-47 rifle penetrated Sgt. Jarboe's spine and left him paralyzed from the chest down. He endured more than 100 surgeries before being placed in hospice care shortly before his death.] He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

Army National Guard Spc. Dennis P. Weichel Jr., 29, Providence, R.I., died March 22, 2012 in Laghman province, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered in a non-combat incident [a vehicle accident; see related report below]. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, 56th Troop Command, Rhode Island National Guard, East Greenwich, R.I.

Army Sgt. Daniel J. Brown, 27, Jerome, Idaho, died March 24, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Army Capt. Aaron D. Istre, 37, Vinton, La., died March 24, 2012 in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Fort Hood, Texas.

Army Sgt. William R. Wilson III, Getzville, N.Y., died March 26, 2012 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, of wounds from small-arms fire. His death was originally reported by the International Security Assistance Force, which characterized it as the result of gunshot wounds inflicted by an alleged member of the Afghan Local Police. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany.

Marine Corps Sgt. Joseph D’Augustine, 29, Waldwick, N.J., died March 27, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Air Force Capt. Francis D. Imlay, 31, Vacaville, Calif., died March 28, 2012 from injuries received in an accident involving an F-15 aircraft near a base in Southwest Asia. He was assigned to the 391st Fighter Squadron, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.

Army Pfc. Johnathon F. Davis, 20, Griffin, Ga., died March 29, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Marine Corps Cpl. Michael J. Palacio, 23, Lake Elsinore, Calif., died March 29, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.

Army Spc. David W. Taylor, 20, Dixon, Ky., died March 29, 2012 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds caused by an accident at an ammunition supply point. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Marine Corps Cpl. Roberto Cazarez, 24, Harbor City, Calif., died March 30, 2012 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Army Spc. James E. Dutton, 25, Checotah, Okla., died March 31, 2012 in Logar province, Afghanistan, of unspecified causes. He was assigned to the 125th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

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Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

Honor the Fallen

Click to visit the Military Times Hall of Valor

Visit Military Times — The top source for military news

——————————

Related reports

Four 20-Year-Olds Named Among Victims of Deadly Attack on British Soldiers in Afghanistan

PhotoBlog

March 8, 2012

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has released the names and photographs of six soldiers who were killed after an explosion hit their armored vehicle in southwestern Afghanistan on Tuesday. Four of them were aged just 20 and a fifth was 21.

They are (top row, left to right) Sergeant Nigel Coupe, aged 33, Corporal Jake Hartley, 20, Private Anthony Frampton, 20, (bottom row, left to right) Private Christopher Kershaw, 20, Private Daniel Wade, 20 and Private Daniel Wilford, 21.

The attack marked the biggest single loss of life for British troops in Afghanistan since 2006. Their deaths take the overall tally of British forces killed in the country to 404 since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban.

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The Story of Sgt. Dennis Weichel

U.S. Soldier Dies Saving Afghan Child

Sgt. Dennis P. Weichel Jr., a Rhode Island Army National Guard infantryman mobilized with Company C, 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, sits inside a Black Hawk helicopter prior to a mission earlier in his deployment in Afghanistan. Sgt. Weichel died March 22, 2012 in Laghman province, Afghanistan, while rescuing a child from being run over by a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle. (Photo credit: U.S. Army)

March 29, 2012

Sgt. Dennis Weichel, 29, of the Rhode Island National Guard died saving the life of a little girl in northeast Afghanistan, according to the Rhode Island National Guard.

According to the report, Weichel was in a convoy in Laghman Province last week when he noticed some children were in the path of the moving vehicles. Weichel and other soldiers got out to move them out of the way.

According to the press release, while most of the children scattered away, one girl went back to the road, as a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle continued moving toward her.

Weichel saw the massive truck moving toward the girl and grabbed her out of the way, the National Guard said. The girl survived, but Weichel died after the armored vehicle ran over him.

The National Guard said Weichel’s remains will be returned to Rhode Island on Saturday, according to the NBC Providence affiliate. The Army said Weichel leaves three children, a fiancee and his parents.

The circumstances of Weichel’s death speak to his character, Staff Sgt. Ronald Corbett, who deployed with Weichel to Iraq in 2005, said in a U.S. Army press release.

“He would have done it for anybody,” said Corbett. “That was the way he was. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was that type of guy.”

Weichel was posthumously promoted to sergeant, according to the press release. …

Full story

Video

Community mourns soldier who died saving Afghan child (NBC News, March 30, 2012 ) – A Rhode Island soldier is remembered after he died saving a child in Afghanistan. Mario Hilario reports. (01:12)

Good Deeds in Afghanistan Interrupt the Grim Narrative

By Rod Nordland

March 31, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — The story of Specialist Dennis Weichel could easily serve as a counternarrative to the gruesome account of the American soldier charged with 17 counts of murder in Kandahar on March 11.

Specialist Weichel [posthumously promoted to sergeant and awarded the Bronze Star], who was 29, was killed while rescuing an Afghan child, but more than a week after that event the military here has yet to officially confirm what happened. Indeed, the initial details of the episode in northeastern Laghman Province came not from military officials but from Afghan civilians and then fellow soldiers and friends in the United States.

After months of what has seemed like a relentless series of episodes of soldiers behaving badly, from Koran burnings to massacres, the military was almost reluctant to trumpet its good deeds, not only in the Weichel case, but in another recent case where soldiers saved the life of a Taliban insurgent’s son.

On March 22, Specialist Weichel, an Army National Guardsman from Rhode Island, was riding in a convoy that was just leaving a firing range when he jumped from his vehicle to help clear a group of children out of the way. The children were trying to collect the brass shell casings at the range to sell for scrap metal. Afghan witnesses said that when a 10-year-old Afghan boy darted under a vehicle, Specialist Weichel climbed under and pushed him to safety. Then the huge vehicle ran over Specialist Weichel, killing him.

The boy, Zaiullah, the son of an Afghan policeman, confirmed the episode in an interview. …

“What that soldier did in Kandahar was such a brutal act, no human could do what he did,” he said, referring to the accusations against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales in the Kandahar killings. “This soldier, he looked at my nephew as a human being and endangered his life to save my nephew’s life.” …

Full story

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Rhode Island National Guardsman, Killed while Saving an Afghan Boy, is Laid to Rest in Providence

PhotoBlog

April 2, 2012

Nicholas Weichel, son of Sgt. Dennis Weichel Jr., stands next to his father’s casket during funeral services. (Photo credit: Stew Milne / AP)

View more photos

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Related reports on this site

U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan Over Koran Burning (Feb. 24, 2012)

Setback for U.S. in Afghan War (Jan. 13, 2012)

Bachmann speaks in St. Cloud (St. Cloud Times, March 17, 2012) – Michele Bachmann speaks during a stop at the District 14 Republican Convention in St. Cloud on Saturday, March 17, 2012. (02:31)

By Mark Sommerhauser
St. Cloud Times
March 17, 2012

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann on Saturday urged St. Cloud Republicans to help her return to Congress this November, vowing to “continue to be an absolute fighter from the word ‘go.’”

Bachmann, R-Stillwater, stressed points that underpinned her former bid for the GOP presidential nomination. She said she wants to keep working to erase two of President Obama’s biggest lawmaking accomplishments: the health care act of 2010 and the Dodd-Frank financial act.

Bachmann’s remarks came at the Senate District 14 Republican convention at South Junior High School in St. Cloud. …

Bachmann spoke before votes to select delegates to the 6th Congressional District GOP convention and to the state Republican convention. The latter event will be held at the River’s Edge Convention Center [St. Cloud] in May. …

Bachmann has said she’ll seek a fourth term in the 6th District. Its new boundaries will retain the district’s core turf: the St. Cloud area, Sherburne and Wright counties and most of Anoka County, as well as new territory in western Carver County.

But the district will no longer include Bachmann’s home near Stillwater. Bachmann has emphasized her long-standing ties to the 6th District in explaining why she’ll run again there.

Bachmann told those at the Senate District 14 convention that it’s crucial to prevent President Obama from earning a second term, in part because the health care act and Dodd-Frank act — both of which he signed — must be repealed.

“He’s taken over the banking industry and he’s going to put half the banks out of business,” Bachmann said of Obama. “We’ve seen one industry after another now under the thumb and the control of government. That’s got to end.”

Full story

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Reader comments

“He’s taken over the banking industry and he’s going to put half the banks out of business” — can this woman discuss any issue without lying?

John Ellenbecker

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Bachmann bashers can deride and insult to their hearts’ content — and it will all be for naught in November.

It will take a defeat in a Republican primary to undo Bachmann. …

Don Casey

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Related compilations

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Campaign for President (2011-2012)

Michele Bachmann’s Political Résumé

Michele Bachmann’s March of Folly (2009-2010)

Michele Bachmann Up-Close (2010-2011)

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Related report

Dems McGoldrick, Graves Move to Join Nolan in 6th District Race

By Mark Sommerhauser
St. Cloud Times
March 23, 2012

ST. PAUL — Two more Democrats moved Thursday to challenge U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, adding to a suddenly crowded field interested in trying to unseat the state’s highest-profile Republican.

Stillwater-area businessman Brian McGoldrick and Minneapolis hotelier Jim Graves joined previously announced candidate Anne Nolan as hopefuls in the race. McGoldrick and Nolan, a nonpracticing attorney and workplace consultant from St. Cloud, both plan to seek the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s endorsement at the April 14 district convention in Blaine. …

McGoldrick, who lives in Washington County’s May Township, launched a series of photography-related businesses starting in his early 20s and sold them in the 1990s. He’s since worked in real estate development and also owns a marina and restaurant on White Bear Lake. He’s never run for office or been active in politics, and said he’s likely to use at least part of his own finances for his campaign.

“I can see that the most important issue for our residents right now is jobs,” McGoldrick said. He accused Bachmann of doing nothing to bring jobs to the district and also swiped at her Republican presidential bid: “I know Minnesota’s 6th District isn’t located somewhere down in Iowa.” …

Nolan said an economic message about jobs and home foreclosures would be central to her campaign as well.

“We’ve got so many people underwater in their mortgages in this district,” said Nolan, who has lost two previous state House races. “The real estate crash has hit this district terribly. It’s a great opportunity to talk about economic issues.”

Graves is chief executive of Graves Global Hospitality, a company with holdings that include the Graves 601 Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. Graves, also a political novice, lives outside the district in south Minneapolis. He isn’t required to live in the district, but a statement announcing his campaign stressed his St. Cloud roots.

Graves was born and raised there, and serves as a trustee at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph. His statement said he had “created hundreds of jobs” beginning with his roots as an entrepreneur in St. Cloud. …

Whoever ends up as the Democratic candidate faces a tough challenge with Bachmann. First elected to Congress in 2006, she’s a proven fundraiser and polarizing figure who, while incurring the wrath of Democrats and liberals, has cultivated strong devotion from many Republicans and conservatives. …

The 6th District stretches from suburbs north of the Twin Cities and reaches northwest to St. Cloud.

The district’s voters are seen above all as socially conservative. It could prove a challenge for McGoldrick, who supports abortion rights and said he thinks gay marriage should be legal. Nolan, in contrast, opposes legalized abortion but said she would first support steps to reduce it. Nolan said she opposes the amendment on Minnesota’s November ballot to outlaw gay marriage in the state constitution.

Full story

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Reader comments

No matter how you slice it, Sixth District voters will not elect a DFL candidate; moreover, after redistricting, the 6th is even more conservative now than in 2010, when Bachmann won by a landslide.

Here’s a macropolitical analysis of MN-06 political demographics, followed by an asymmetrical strategy for defeating Michele Bachmann:

Can a Democrat Beat Bachmann?

How to Beat Bachmann

Building a Non-Partisan Coalition

The truth of the matter is that Bachmann’s fate will be decided on Aug. 14, in the open primary in which Democrats are free to vote — not in the Nov. 6 general election.

That’s a cold, concrete fact.

Aubrey Immelman

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The Republican Party will make sure Bachmann has no creditable challenge in a primary.

Both parties exert considerable pressure on non-endorsed candidates to stay out of primaries. It is rotten, I hate it personally, but that’s the way both play the game (in the name of “unity”). I prefer that party nominees be selected in primary elections — by a broader base of voters instead of a handful of party insiders.

Don Casey

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An Invitation to Bachmann

Opinion column by John Bodette
Executive Editor
St. Cloud Times
April 1, 2012

Excerpts

This section of today’s column is an invitation to Rep. Michele Bachmann.

I’m making this invitation as a member of the Times Editorial Board. It is a serious statement and I mean no disrespect.

The last time Rep. Bachmann met with the board in person was 2008. We have extended invitations privately several times. No meetings have been scheduled. The result is today’s public invitation.

I’m puzzled as to why our Congress member won’t meet with us. …

When it comes to issues in Congress that affect the 6th District, who better to brief the board than the elected member of Congress who represents the district?

Respectfully, that person is you, Rep. Bachmann.

Regretfully, the board’s invitations to visit with us when you are in the St. Cloud area go unfulfilled.

Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken have met with the board. Between the two, both have come to talk about issues several times in meetings not focused on deciding an election endorsement. Their predecessors and yours did so, too.

We aren’t asking for special treatment. Recently, you had at least two local visits to meet with citizens in St. Cloud. Again, how about 30 minutes or an hour with the Editorial Board next time you are in the St. Cloud area?

A civil conversation with an update from you on the status of legislation affecting the people of your district would be a good thing.

Full text

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SIDEBAR

How long does it take to drive 80 miles at 80 mph? . . . 58 minutes

Why Bachmann Wins

By Bill Prendergast
December 27, 2009

I set out these four reasons on February 20th of 2009, in a Kos diary entitled “Over at Dump Michele Bachmann.” But that wasn’t the first time I listed the reasons; I’d been posting them in response to inquiries ever since Bachmann was first elected to Congress in 2006. All of the following conditions still obtain on the ground here in the Sixth Congressional District of Minnesota.

1.  The Sixth District of Minnesota was gerrymandered to be a very conservative district. Since it was redistricted about ten years ago, the congressional seat has always been won by a Republican — regardless of the local and national economy, regardless of Michele’s opponent. (She beat liberal Patty Wetterling to win her first term in Congress; and she beat Blue Dog Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg to win her second term.)

2.  There is a white-hot core of angry, paranoid, conservative potato heads living in this district. It’s the most conservative district in this liberal state, and those guys are proud of it. Michele is the darling of the local Rush Limbaugh knockoffs. If Olbermann or Sanchez do a piece on national TV that shows her in the actual act of lying — they vote for her harder.

3.  She’s an evangelical darling; that’s how she got started and took away the nomination from a more “secular” conservative Republican to win her first elective office. She doesn’t talk much these days about “how gay marriage means the end of Western civilization” and “how wacky the theory of evolution is” — but the conservative evangelicals up here know that’s where she came from and what she stands for — so they’re in her pocket, every election. (She’s also got the national evangelical political movement on her side; the Council for National Policy, the Dobsons of this world.)

4.  Our local press. We send stuff to the press, letter, calls for corrections, documented evidence of her craziest statements and lies — the professional press and the big papers don’t run it. We’ve been putting it on the Web (at the Dump Bachmann blog and at thebachmannrecord.com) for years; they won’t go near it. Not one journalist in a big local newspaper is willing to report the crazy [expletive deleted] that she’s said over the years on local conservative and evangelical radio. (The local “alternative” newsweekly in Minneapolis/St. Paul — the City Pages — is doing stuff on her now, but the older folks don’t read that. I’m not sure the younger folks are reading it much, either, except for the movie and record reviews.)

5.  About ten per cent of the voters in Bachmann’s Sixth District can be identified as more-or-less “libertarian” independents – Ross Perot/Jesse Ventura types. They say they hate the Republicans as well as the Democrats, but it’s a certainty that these voters hate Democrats more. They are opposed to “special interests” and big government. (But yes, I’m sure that those of them that qualify take their federal farm and ag subsidies, just like the Bachmann family.) This bloc of voters is so independent that it doesnt even respect the endorsement of Minnesota’s Independence Party (which endorsed Bachmann’s Dem opponent [in 2008] last time around). Their presence acts to limit the effectiveness of any Dem challenger.

So there’s five reasons “why this kook and liar can get elected.” But why the uptick in Bachmann’s numbers?

Well, in the past two years there have been at least three new developments.

6.  Her national fame. Never in their lifetimes have the conservative Minnesotans who live in her district seen their congressional representative get this much attention. The district is a backwater, unimportant in national politics – but Bachmann’s successful attempt to build a national base has put them on the map. Bachmann is a nut, bigot, and liar – but if conservative rhetoric is all you care about, she’s a phenomenally successful one: and that makes local conservatives somehow “feel successful.”

It does not bother local conservatives in the least that Bachmann has delivered no significant legislation or reforms at any time during her nine-year career in office. It does not bother them that the district has suffered economically during her entire tenure of office; that she has delivered practically nothing for the district in the way of returning their federal taxes to it. It does not bother them that the Sixth District continues to lead Minnesota in home foreclosures.

What matters to the Republican conservatives and independent conservatives of this district is that “one of them” finally has a spot on the national stage.

7.  Over the last year or so, Bachmann has “reached out” with photo-ops about issues like “women’s health care” and such. A la Ronald Reagan, she creates the media event to show “she’s listening, she’s aware” – and this apparently pays off, even though she’s the enemy of any real effort to fund improvements in women’s health care (or anyone’s health care).

8.  Over the last year or so, Bachmann has made a sustained attempt to “crack” the local Ron Paul vote. She regularly attended Paul’s “seminars” in D.C. and was talking him up whenever she got the chance. That (I think) has helped her numbers back here in Minnesota. As you might suspect from reading the above, Paul has a significant number of acolytes here in the district. (This year they staged a sort of “coup” in the local Republican Party and captured some of the important posts in the local GOP.) The reach-out to Paul voters was a canny way to cut into that “independent vote” that was keeping Bachmann’s previous numbers to just under 50%.

So, no, its not the jibes from the “lefties” that are improving her numbers. It’s voting demographics here on the ground, the national notoriety, cowardly local corporate media. And the Bachmann campaign’s effective courting of Ron Paul’s John Birch-type “yes, it really is a conspiracy” libertarians here in the district.

That what’s paying off for her, here in her district.

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Updates: Michele Bachmann on the campaign trail

Swiss Miss: Michele Bachmann’s Foreign Citizenship (May 10, 2012)

Video

Massacre in Afghanistan (NBC Nightly News, March 12, 2012) – The Taliban have called for revenge after a 38-year-old U.S. staff sergeant allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians, nine of them children, and then burned many of the bodies. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports. (03:34)

Reuters and MSNBC.com
March 12, 2012

Afghanistan’s parliament on Monday condemned the massacre of 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier, with some legislators calling on President Hamid Karzai to step down. …

The country’s lower house of parliament closed in protest on Monday and some legislators called for President Hamid Karzai and his vice president to resign if they couldn’t ensure security for ordinary Afghans, Pajhwok Afghan News reported. …

The soldier suspected of being responsible has been detained but has yet to be identified. However, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to NBC News that he is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Tacoma, Wash. …

Full story

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U.S. Soldier Accused in Afghan Massacre Had Brain Injury History

Video

Was soldier who killed 16 a sociopath? (NBC “Today,” March 12, 2012) – Retired General Barry McCaffrey, an NBC News military analyst, talks to TODAY’s Matt Lauer about what could have possibly driven a U.S. soldier to killed 16 civilians, including nine children, in Afghanistan. (03:15)

NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, Reuters, and the Associated Press via MSNBC.com
March 12, 2012

The American soldier accused of massacring 16 civilians in southern Afghanistan on Sunday was a 38-year-old staff sergeant based in Washington State who had no history of behavioral problems, but had been treated for traumatic brain injury after a previous deployment to Iraq, senior U.S. defense officials told NBC News.

The soldier, reportedly married with two children, enlisted in the Army soon after the terror attacks of Sept. 11 and did three combat tours to Iraq before arriving in Kandahar in December 2011.

The soldier was from the 2nd Battallion, 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Stryker brigade, 2nd Infrantry Division based out of Joint Base Lewis McChord located south of Seattle. He was among 2,500 soldiers sent to Afghanistan for a yearlong deployment. …

The attacker left his base in Panjwai district early on Sunday and broke into the homes of local villagers, according to reports. Nine children and three women were among the 16 slain. Some of the bodies were also reportedly set on fire. The BBC reported that the soldier was thought to have suffered a breakdown. …

The staff sergeant accused of killing the Afghan civilians was treated for traumatic brain injury in 2010 after his vehicle rolled over in an accident that was not caused by an IED explosion, according to a senior U.S. defense official. He was medicated for some time, the official said.

The soldier was given a clean bill of health and received both pre- and post-deployment health assessments which did not indicate any problems, according to the defense official.

Officials said it was premature to state whether there was any link between the 2010 injury and the Afghanistan incident.

Home to about 100,000 military and civilian personnel, Joint Base Lewis McChord has suffered a spate of suicides among soldiers back from war. The Army is investigating whether doctors at Lewis-McChord’s Madigan Army Medical Center were urged to consider the cost of providing benefits when reviewing diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder. …

In a statement Monday, the Afghan Taliban pledged to “take revenge” against the “sick-minded American savages,” according to the AFP news agency.

“The American ‘terrorists’ want to come up with an excuse for the perpetrator of this inhumane crime by claiming that this immoral culprit was mentally ill,” the Taliban statement added. “If the perpetrators of this massacre were in fact mentally ill then this testifies to yet another moral transgression by the American military, because they are arming lunatics in Afghanistan who turn their weapons against the defenseless Afghans without giving a second thought.” …

Full story

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3/16/12 Update

Afghanistan’s President Karzai: Get U.S. Troops Out of Our Villages

Video

Karzai demands U.S. forces withdraw (NBC Nightly News, March 15, 2012) – The President of Afghanistan is asking the U.S. to hand over all security responsibilities by 2013. NBC’s Richard Engel reports. (02:48)

NBC News and Reuters via MSNBC.com
March 15, 2012

Afghanistan’s president on Thursday called for U.S. and other foreign forces in Afghanistan to leave villages in the country and move to larger bases instead, according to Hamid Karzai’s office.

In a statement — which comes amid the ongoing controversy over the killing of 16 Afghan civilians in Panjwai, Kandahar province, allegedly by a lone U.S. soldier — Karzai’s office said he had made the request to U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and said that “Afghan Security forces currently have the ability to secure the villages around the country.”

The statement also said that NATO-led foreign forces needed to have “complete respect for their religion and the Afghan culture. No foreign troops should enter Afghans homes. And they should pay more attention on reconstruction and financial support for our country.”

“Karzai said that both sides should work on accelerating the process and that they should hand over all the security responsibilities in 2013 instead of 2014,” it added.

“We demand that the process move quickly and they transfer authority into Afghan hands,” it added.

In a near-simultaneous announcement, the Afghan Taliban said it was suspending nascent peace talks with the United States seen as a strong chance to end the country’s decade-long conflict. …

Full story

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3/17/12 Update

U.S. Soldier Suspected in Afghanistan Massacre Identified

Video

Accused soldier’s identity revealed (NBC Nightly News, March 16, 2012) – Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, has been deployed three times to Iraq where officials say he suffered a traumatic head injury. NBC’s Miguel Almaguer reports. (03:08)

By Miguel Almaguer and Jim Miklaszewski

March 16, 2012

U.S. officials told NBC News on Friday that the soldier suspected of shooting 16 civilians in Afghanistan is Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.

Bales, 38, was deployed to Afghanistan in December with the 3rd Stryker Brigade, based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Tacoma, Wash., the officials said.

Bales arrived late Friday at a U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he will be held in a solitary cell, the Army said. …

Bales, a married father of two, has a clean record of conduct, the officials said. He joined the military after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“He felt it was his calling to stand up for the us after 911 and then decided to make his career the military,” said his civilian attorney, John Henry Browne, who spoke to Bales on Thursday night.

Bales had been deployed to Iraq three times before going to Afghanistan. While in Iraq, officials say, he suffered a traumatic head injury in a crash and also suffered a foot injury in a separate incident. In Afghanistan, Bales reportedly saw a friend lose a leg.

What role those incidents may have played, if any, in the shootings, remains unclear. Browne says the soldier may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Browne also said the soldier never expected a fourth deployment.

“Overnight he was told he was going back and he told his family and told me that he did what he was ordered to do ’cause he was a soldier,” Browne said.

Officials are investigating reports that Bales may have been drinking before he left the base in Afghanistan on the night of the killings over the weekend. Among the dead were nine children.

Bales, a native of Ohio, has been based at Lewis-McChord his entire career. He and his family live close to Lake Tapps, a reservoir not  far from the base, and have family roots in western Washington. Bales’ wife is said to be an executive at a Seattle-area company.

Brown said the suspect’s family will remain on base for the foreseeable future for their own protection.

The Army, in a statement obtained by NBC News, said Bales will be held in pre-trial confinement at the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth. The Army described the prison as a state-of-the-art, medium/minimum custody facility for pre-trial confinement and military sentences of up to five years.

Also located on Fort Leavenworth is the Disciplinary Barracks housing military inmates sentenced to more than five years.

Bales will be in special housing in his own cell and not in a four-person bay, the Army said. He will be afforded time outside the cell for hygiene and recreational purposes. He may have religious support. …

Full story

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3/18/12 Update

Afghanistan Shooting Suspect Robert Bales Faced Financial Troubles, Records Show

This home near Lake Tapps in Washington state is owned by Robert Bales. (Photo credit: Anthony Bolante / Reuters)

March 17, 2012

As Robert Bales, an 11-year military veteran with a string of commendations for good conduct, sat in an isolated cell in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Saturday, divergent pictures emerged of the Army staff sergeant accused of gunning down 16 civilians in an Afghan war zone.

While classmates and neighbors from his younger years remembered him as a happy-go-lucky football player who loved military history and watched out for troublemakers in the neighborhood, emerging records and interviews about his past decade reveal financial troubles and brushes with the law. A blog written by his wife suggests the emotional and financial stress they faced as a military family.

Military officials say that after drinking on a southern Afghanistan base, Bales, 38, crept away in the night on March 11 to two slumbering villages, shooting his victims and setting many of them on fire. Nine of the 16 killed were children and 11 belonged to one family.

Bales hasn’t been charged yet in the shootings, which have endangered complicated relations between the United States and Afghanistan and threatened to upend U.S. policy over the decade-old war.

Court records and interviews show that Bales, 38, had joined the Army after a Florida investment job went sour, had a Seattle-area home condemned, struggled to make payments on another and failed to get a promotion or a transfer a year ago, according to a report by The Associated Press.

His legal troubles included charges that he assaulted a girlfriend and, in a hit-and run accident, ran bleeding in military clothes into the woods, court records show, the report said, citing legal records.

Months before the Afghanistan incident, Bales was eyeing a way out of his job at a Washington state military base, records and interviews showed.

His wife, Karilyn, hinted at the family’s troubles on multiple blogs [New York Times link added] with names like The Bales Family Adventures and BabyBales, the AP and the New York Times reported. …

It was Bales’ fourth tour in a war zone since joining up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001. He had spent three years in Iraq during three separate assignments.

The AP reported that Bales studied business for three years at Ohio State but did not graduate, then handled investments before a market downturn pushed him out of the business. …

He was struggling to keep payments on his own home near Lake Tapps, a reservoir about 35 miles south of Seattle; his wife asked to put the house on the market three days before the shootings, real estate Philip Rodocker said, according to AP.

Bales and his wife bought the Lake Tapps home in 2005 for $280,000; it was listed this week at $229,000, AP reported, citing records. …

The AP reported that Bales and his wife also own a home in Auburn, about 10 miles north, according to county records, but abandoned it about two years ago. …

In Washington state, court records showed a 2002 arrest for assault on a girlfriend. Bales pleaded not guilty and was required to undergo 20 hours of anger management counseling, after which the case was dismissed.

A separate hit-and-run charge was dismissed in municipal court in Sumner, Wash., three years ago, according to records. It isn’t clear from court documents what Bales hit; witnesses saw a man in a military-style uniform, with a shaved head and bleeding, running away.

When deputies found him in the woods, Bales told them he fell asleep at the wheel. He paid about $1,000 in fines and restitution and the case was dismissed in October 2009.

Full story

Video

Who is Staff Sgt. Robert Bales? (NBC “Today,” March 18, 2012) – NBC’s Miguel Almaguer reports on financial and other stresses likely to get an airing when Staff Sgt. Robert Bales stands trial for killing 16 Afghan civilians, including women in children. (03:24)

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Commentary: The psychological profile of Robert Bales beginning to emerge from his personal history as reported in the media is that of a workplace shooter. In this case, the working hypothesis is that Bales was angry, and possibly depressed, about his life circumstances and blamed others — specifically, the Afghan people — for his misfortune and lashed out against them in a paroxysm of rage.

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3/24/12 Update

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales Charged with 17 Counts of Murder in Afghanistan Massacre

Video

Mounting evidence against Robert Bales (NBC Nightly News, March 23, 2012) – The defense attorney for Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier charged Friday with 17 counts of murder, has said the military lacks much of the physical evidence necessary to establish a solid case against his client. But prosecutors say there is ample evidence: surveillance video, shell casings and more. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports. (02:36)

The Associated Press and MSNBC.com
March 23, 2012

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was charged Friday with 17 counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, along with other charges, in connection with a shooting rampage in two southern Afghanistan villages that shocked Americans back home and further roiled U.S.-Afghan relations.

The charges come almost two weeks after the massacre in which Bales allegedly left his base in the early morning hours and shot Afghan civilians, including women and nine children, while they slept in their beds, then burned some of the bodies. …

Bales’ civilian attorney, John Henry Browne, said Friday without commenting on the specific charges that he believes the government will have a hard time proving its case and that at some stage in the prosecution his client’s mental state will be an important issue. …

The decision to charge him with premeditated murder suggests that prosecutors plan to argue that he consciously conceived the killings. …

The maximum punishment for a premeditated murder conviction is death, dishonorable discharge from the armed forces, reduction to the lowest enlisted grade and total forfeiture of pay and allowances, Kolb said. The mandatory minimum sentence is life imprisonment with the chance of parole. …

Full story

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3/25/12 Update

U.S. Paid Close to $50,000 Per Shooting Spree Death

Video

Wife: Accused shooter ‘loves children’ (NBC Nightly News, March 25, 2012) – U.S. officials paid $50,000 to the Afghan families of the dead. Meantime, Karilyn Bales tells TODAY’s Matt Lauer that her husband “is like a big kid.” NBC’s John Yang reports. (02:16)

NBC’s Atia Abawi, Reuters, and The Associated Press via MSNBC.com
March 25, 2012

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The United States paid close to $50,000 in compensation for each Afghan killed in the shooting spree attributed to a U.S. soldier [Staff Sgt. Robert Bales] in southern Afghanistan, a U.S. official told NBC News on Sunday.

The official, who asked not to be named, would not say exactly how much was paid to the families, but added the amount was close to the $50,000 reported by Afghan officials. …

The 38-year-old soldier is accused of using his 9mm pistol and M-4 rifle, which was outfitted with a grenade launcher, to kill four men, four women, two boys and seven girls, then burning some of the bodies.

The Associated Press earlier reported that the families of the dead received $50,000 for each person killed on Saturday at the governor’s office, citing Kandahar provincial council member Agha Lalai.

Agha Lalai told the AP that each wounded person has received $11,000 and that they were told the money was from U.S. President Barack Obama. Community elder Jan Agha has confirmed the same figures.

The American official who handed over the money said it was not compensation, but the U.S. government offering to help the victims and their families, Kandahar provincial council member Haji Nyamat Khan said.

But a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, Col. Gary Kolb, said the money was compensation.

Full story

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Related reports on this site

Protesters chant anti-American slogans and burn an effigy of President Barack Obama in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009. (Photo credit: Rahmat Gul / AP)

Setback for U.S. in Afghan War (Jan. 13, 2012)

No Way Forward in Afghanistan (June 27, 2011)

Koran Burned, Many Dead (April 3, 2011)

Soldiers Pose with Afghan Corpse (March 21, 2011)

‘Limited Chance of Success’ in Afghanistan (Dec. 15, 2010)

Afghanistan Worn-Out Welcome (Nov. 21, 2010)

‘Making Enemies’ in Afghanistan (April 12, 2010)

Afghan Support for U.S. Plummets (Feb. 10, 2009)