Summary: In a curt missive issued by Baghdad Operations Command, Iraq’s top commanders told their U.S. counterparts to “stop all joint patrols” in Baghdad, raising fresh concerns about the safety of U.S. troops in Iraq. … U.S. F-15E fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan, killing crew. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the fourth day of his 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman responded to a challenge by Eric Zaetsch of the “Developers are Crabgrass” blog to define what he means by “traditional conservative values.”

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Summary: Iraqis are skeptical that much will change after June 30, 2009 withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from urban areas. … June was the deadliest month for Iraqis in 2009. … July 2009 update of key facts, figures, and statistics on Iraq since the war began in March 2003. … Two U.S. troops killed in attack on U.S. base in Afghanistan. … U.S. soldier reported missing, believed captured, in Afghanistan. … Four U.S. troops killed in Kunduz province, northern Afghanistan roadside bombing.

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Summary: The upcoming January 2009 provincial elections will be Iraqis’ fourth national ballot since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime. … David Enders of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting examines the power struggle among competing Shiite factions in Iraq.

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Summary: Iranian demonstrators, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Death to Obama,” burned photographs of Barack Obama in Tehran as they protested against America’s inaction over Israel’s Gaza offensive. Iranian demonstrators have often burned effigies or pictures of U.S. presidents, but this appeared to be the first time Obama’s picture had been defaced, a week before his inauguration as president.

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Iraq’s fractious parliament squeezed its abrasive speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani out of a job and authorized non-U.S. foreign troops to stay in the country for another half-year, a pair of high-stakes moves in its final session of 2008.

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Summary: Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, says Iraq will need a U.S. troop presence for 10 years to help build up its military forces, well past the newly agreed three-year deadline for the withdrawal of American soldiers under the U.S.-Iraq status-of-forces agreement negotiated by the Bush administration.

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Summary: Defense Secretary Robert Gates signaled a willingness to forge ahead with two key priorities for the incoming Obama administration: accelerating the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention center. … President-elect Barack Obama’s national security team will include two veteran cold warriors — former NATO commander Gen. James L. Jones as national security adviser and Robert M. Gates as defense secretary — and a political rival — Hillary Clinton as secretary of state — whose records are all more hawkish than that of the new president.

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Summary: The fallout from a three-day terrorist rampage that killed nearly 200 people in Mumbai threatens to unravel India’s improving ties with Pakistan and prompted the resignation of India’s security minister. … Iraq’s influential Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reportedly has reservations about a status-of-forces allowing U.S. troops to stay in the country until the end of 2011, but is leaving it up to politicians to decide the value of the security pact.

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Summary: A rocket attack on a U.N. compound in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone has killed two foreigners and wounded 15. … A suicide bomber struck Shiite worshippers at a mosque run by followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, killing at least 12 people, a day after Iraqi lawmakers approved a status-of-forces agreement with the Bush administration. … The Iraqi parliament’s approval of a security pact with the U.S. has propelled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki into a position of strength unsurpassed among Iraqi political leaders since the fall of Saddam Hussein; however, it has also set the stage for a power struggle in the run-up to the 2010 Iraqi elections, which may weaken Maliki’s dominance.

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Summary: A suicide car bomber targeting an American convoy exploded about 200 yards outside the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, killing at least four Afghan bystanders. … Iraq’s parliament approved a security pact with the United States that lets American troops stay in the country for three more years.

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