FROM THE ARCHIVES

One Year Ago — October 1, 2010

Muqtada al-Sadr Rises to Power

In the Sadr City district of Baghdad, a billboard has an image of Moktada al-Sadr, second from left. His candidates won 40 seats in the March 2010 Iraqi elections. (Photo credit: Shiho Fukada / The New York Times)

One year ago today, I reported that Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical, anti-American Muslim cleric — whose Mahdi Army militia once fought U.S. occupation forces in Iraq — positioned himself as a big winner in Iraq’s months-long political deadlock when his Sadrist party threw its support behind Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

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Two Years Ago — October 1, 2009

Fr. Bob Koopmann Inauguration

“Life in Community” (Acts 4:32-35) from The Saint John’s Bible

Two years ago today, on October 1, 2009, I featured the inauguration of Fr. Robert J. Koopmann, OSB, as the 12th president of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

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Three Years Ago — October 1, 2008

Growing Taliban Influence, U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan

Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, has experienced creeping
Talibanization. (Photo: NBC News)

Three years ago today, on October 1, 2008, I reported on the growing Taliban influence in Pakistan, a missile strike by a suspected U.S. drone in the northwest Pakistan tribal region near the Afghan border, ongoing violence in Iraq, and the reduction of U.S. military deaths in Iraq as Iraqi security forces increasingly take the lead in counterinsurgency operations.