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: The Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, has threatened more attacks on Christians after a siege on a Baghdad Catholic church left 68 people dead. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 3, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Summary: At least 58 Iraqi Catholics died and more than 70 were wounded when police stormed a Baghdad church where gunmen were holding dozens of parishioners hostage, threatening to kill them if al-Qaida-prisoners were not released. Since the war began, Iraq has lost half of its 1.5 million Christians. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 31, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Microsoft Network (MSN.com), promoting its new Bing! search engine, featured a demo search of “angry Americans.” It caught my attention, because history has shown that times of economic uncertainty — as we’re currently experiencing while bogged down in two wars in the aftermath of 9/11 — can be a fertile breeding ground for extremist ideologies, as we saw in Germany during the Great Depression following a humiliating defeat in World War I.

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Summary: An Iraqi soldier sprayed gunfire at American troops guarding one of their commanders as he visited an Iraqi military base, killing two and wounding nine. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 8, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, noting that four U.S. troops were killed that day in each of those countries.

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Summary: The complex nature of the June 13, 2010 attack on Iraq’s central bank suggests al-Qaida in Iraq’s new leadership could be taking cues from the Taliban’s success with similar operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 17, 2009 Aubrey Immelman featured biographical profiles of candidates and other major players in Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential vote.

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Summary: Afghans took to the streets to protest civilian casualties, chanting “Death to Obama, down with Karzai.” … Attacks in Afghanistan killed eight American civilians including CIA employees, four Canadian soldiers, and a Canadian journalist. … Coordinated explosions in Iraq killed 23 people and wounded an Iraqi provincial governor in the worst violence in months. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 31, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Michele Bachmann, Minnesota’s 6th District representative in Congress, made a strong showing in several “Year in Review” lists — no easy feat, considering the U.S. House of Representatives has 435 members, each vying for media attention.

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Summary: On the 17th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a skirmish between U.S. and Pakistani ground forces across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and a speech at the United Nations by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, in which he told world leaders (in an apparent reference to U.S. cross-border raids) that his country cannot allow its territory to “be violated by our friends.” Immelman also posted an update on U.S. casualties and security incidents in Iraq.

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