Summary: Unanticipated but predictable consequences of the Iraq war — With sectarian tensions reemerging after the departure of U.S. troops in December 2011, Iraq continues its almost inevitable slide to sectarian civil war as a legacy of the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

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Summary: A wave of bombings targeting Shiites in Iraq killed 72 people, further deepening sectarian tensions that reemerged with the departure of the last American troops in mid-December and portending a slow slide to sectarian war as a legacy of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

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Summary: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a new dawn as Iraq celebrated the departure of American troops under a Bush-era U.S.-Iraqi status-of-forces agreement. Television stations aligned with Sunni and Shiite extremist groups have dubbed “Iraq Day” the “Day of Defeating the Occupier,” the “Day of Fullfillment,” or the “Day of Evacuation.”

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With Defense Secretary Leon Panetta approving an order officially ending the Iraq war, the last American troops crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait early Sunday, December 18, 2011, ending the U.S. military presence there after nearly nine years of war.

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Summary: President Barack Obama declared an end to U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, announcing that all U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 23, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Michele Bachmann had asked the Minnesota Secretary of State to remove her name from the publicly available voter registration records under a legal provision designed to protect past or potential victims of domestic abuse, and commented that the real problem with Michele Bachmann is not her self-centeredness, her unresponsiveness to the needs of her constituents, her meager legislative accomplishments, or even her voting record, but her delusion-like paranoia, her shameless conspiracy-peddling, and her incessant fear-mongering.

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Summary: Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his militias to halt attacks against U.S. forces until the withdrawal is finished at the end of 2011 as required under a Bush-era status-of-forces agreement between Washington and Baghdad. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 12, 2010, Aubrey Immelman noted that the Star Tribune — Minnesota’s largest and most influential newspaper — ran an extraordinary editorial that spoke to the core issues in Minnesota’s 2010 gubernatorial race.

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Summary: In the year since the United States formally ended its combat mission in Iraq, 57 American troops have died there, with June 2011 the deadliest month in Iraq since 2008, with the death of 15 service members. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 18, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that a suicide bomber detonated nail-packed explosives strapped to his body among hundreds of army recruits, killing 61 and wounding 125, casting new doubt on the military capacity of Iraqi forces as U.S. troops began to head home.

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Summary: Powerful anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatens to reactivate his feared Mahdi Army militia if American soldiers remain in Iraq beyond the end of 2011, after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered on behalf of the Obama administration to keep American troops in Iraq if needed. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 9, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that the White House issued a warning that al-Qaida was quietly hunting for an atomic bomb, adding urgency to a historic summit where President Barack Obama aimed to persuade world leaders to step up their efforts to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.

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Summary: Addressing an adoring and frenzied crowd of thousands in his first speech after his triumphant return to Iraq after four years of self-imposed exile in Iran, radical Shi’ite fundamentalist Muqtada al-Sadr called the U.S., Israel, and Britain Iraq’s “common enemies,” saying “our aim is to expel the occupier by any means.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 8, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani falsely claimed that there were no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil under President George W. Bush.

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Summary: Iraq at long last seated a government after nine months of haggling, bringing together the main ethnic and religious groups in a fragile balance that could make it difficult to rebuild a nation devastated by war as American troops prepare for their final withdrawal in December 2011. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 21, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on the 2009 Jacob’s Freedom Walk for Missing and Abducted Children, a three-day, 60-mile walk from Anoka to St. Joseph, Minn., marking the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of Jacob Wetterling and raising awareness for all missing and abducted children.

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