Summary: A suicide bomber blew himself up near a crowd of Shi’ite pilgrims at a bus depot in the Iraqi city of Samarra, killing 38 people and wounding more than 70. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, Taliban suicide bombers killed 19 people, including 17 members of the Afghan security forces, in an assault on the provincial police headquarters in Kandahar that also wounded 49 people, including 23 civilians and nine children. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 12, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that more than two-thirds of the United States’ land mass had snow on the ground, with snow cover in 49 of the 50 states — Hawaii being the lone exception.

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Summary: A suicide bomber posing as a dairy deliveryman struck a Kurdish security headquarters, setting off a series of rapid-fire attacks in the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk killing seven and wounding up to 80 people. … With daily shootings and deadly bombings, it’s clear there’s still a simmering fight in Iraq as the U.S. military prepares to leave after nearly eight years, almost 4,400 U.S. troops killed and at least $750 billion spent. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 9, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and reported on the death of retired United States Marine Corps colonel Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.).

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Summary: The search continues for U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ahmed Kousay al-Taie, missing in Iraq since Oct. 23, 2006, Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 24, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that President Barack Obama recalled his former campaign manager, David Plouffe, and was reconstituting the team that helped him win the White House in 2008 to counter Republican challenges in the 2010 midterm elections and recalibrate after political setbacks that have narrowed his legislative ambitions. He also reported on the political psychology of Barack Obama, including Obama’s personality profile, leadership style, and decision-making style.

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Summary: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of police recruits in Tikrit, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120 as Iraq struggles to protect itself without foreign help. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 18, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Baitullah Mehsud, commander of the Pakistani Taliban until he was killed in a U.S. missile strike in August 2009, had said in March 2009 that his group was planning an attack on the White House that would “amaze” the world. In that regard, it’s notable that Osama bin Laden reportedly told planner Ramzi Binalshibh that he preferred the White House over the Capitol as a target in the attacks of 9/11. Hence, it must be assumed that the White House remains at the top of al-Qaida’s high-value target list.

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Summary: Two U.S. troops were killed by an Iraqi soldier who apparently smuggled live ammunition into a training exercise and opened fire, raising fresh concerns about insurgent infiltration in Iraq’s security forces as the Americans prepare to leave by the end of 2011. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 15, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Obama administration would allow Haitians who were in the United States illegally prior to the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake to remain in the country for 18 months under temporary protected status (TPS). Some critics cautioned, however, that TPS has a track record of devolving into de facto “backdoor amnesty” for illegal aliens.

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Summary: Iraq Body Count, a British group monitoring Iraqi civilian deaths, said in its 2010 annual report that the number of fatalities has dropped slightly since 2009 but warned of lingering, low-intensity conflict in the years ahead. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 29, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that an Afghan soldier killed a U.S. service member and wounded two Italian soldiers in western Afghanistan, while Pakistani authorities appealed for calm after a bombing against a Shiite Muslim procession marking the holy day of Ashoura killed 43 in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi.

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Summary: The 101st Airborne Division is seeing its worst casualties in a decade as the U.S. surge in Afghanistan turns 2010 into the deadliest year of the war for the NATO coalition. Meanwhile, twin suicide bombings rocked a government compound in Iraq’s western city of Ramadi, killing 17 people and wounding more than 50. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 27, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Pat Forte fought back courageously after suffering a setback around Easter 2009 with a relapse of thymic carcinoid, sustained by his strong Christian faith, the prayers and support of friends, and excellent medical care at the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center.

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Summary: Pope Benedict XVI’s 2010 Christmas message … “Urbi et Orbi” … “To the City and to the World” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 25, 2009, Aubrey Immelman featured Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 Christmas message and posted the Immelman family’s 2009 Christmas greeting. In a rare second post for the date, Immelman reported separately that the terror alert level was raised when a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to light an explosive powder aboard a commercial jetliner before it landed in Detroit.

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Summary: Intelligence officials say foreign fighters have been slipping back into Iraq in larger numbers recently and may have been behind some of the most devastating attacks this year, reviving a threat the U.S. military believed had been almost entirely eradicated. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 5, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that similarities between George W. Bush’s troop surge in Iraq and Barack Obama’s surge plan for Afghanistan belie the fact that there are few commonalities between the two war theaters.

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Summary: More than seven years after the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division entered Baghdad in March 2003 as the first conventional U.S. forces in Iraq, its soldiers are coming home from a year-long deployment that saw the end of combat operations. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 4, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the national edition of the Washington Times featured a shameful full-page ad by the anti-Obama website ProtectOurLiberty.org, claiming that President Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States. The ad copy claimed that under a 60-year-old British law, President Obama is a citizen of Britain and “is currently also a British protected person and/or a British citizen to this day.”

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