Summary: The last U.S. combat brigade in Iraq has crossed the border into Kuwait, bringing to a close the active combat phase for Americans of a 7½-year war that overthrew Saddam Hussein, forever defined the presidency of George W. Bush, and left more than 4,400 American service members and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 19, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported the deadliest attack in Iraq since U.S. troops withdrew from urban centers at the end of June 2009 — and one of the deadliest of the war — with a wave of bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad killing nearly 100 and wounded approximately 1,000.

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Summary: Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari, commander of Iraq’s military, is calling for U.S. forces to stay in the country for another decade, reinforcing his stance that his country’s military won’t be able to secure the nation on their own after U.S. troops leave at the end of 2011. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 12, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that dozens of Iraqis were killed and hundreds wounded in a spate of bombings, raising fears of a sustained insurgent campaign aimed at provoking new sectarian tensions.

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Summary: Twin suicide bombings kill nearly 50 people in Iraq as U.S. combat troops prepare to withdraw by the end of August. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 18, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that 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.

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Summary: Iraq’s Sunni Arab vice president, Tareq al-Hashimi, is threatening to veto the country’s election law unless changes are made giving Iraqis living abroad more guaranteed seats in parliament, throwing the January vote into question. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 15, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Adm. Chris Barrie, former chief of the Australian Defense Force, had said there was no evidence to justify going to war in Iraq in 2003; that two U.S. soldiers had been killed in helicopter crash Iraq; and that a car bomb had killed 10 people and wounded 30 in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar.

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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 speaker of Iraq’s parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, announced his resignation after a parliamentary session descended into chaos as lawmakers argued about whether to free a journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush. … In an interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney attempted to justify the decision to invade Iraq. … A double-bombing targeting traffic police in Baghdad killed at least 18 people and wounded 52. … Raed Fahmy, Iraq’s Minister of Science and Technology, escaped injury in a car bomb explosion that appeared to be an assassination attempt.

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Summary: Al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said in an Internet video the U.S. financial crisis was caused by Washington’s military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and taxpayers were paying the price. … Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has emerged as a nationalist strongman after reaching a status-of-forces agreement with the Bush administration requiring U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

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Summary: Iraqi officials, who see President-elect Obama’s views on the timing of a U.S. withdrawal as consonant with their own, appear to be leveraging his election to pressure the Bush administration to make last-minute concessions in negotiations to reach a status-of-forces agreement with the United States. … Iraqi and U.S. officials are concerned about a surge in “sticky bombs.” In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to stop the killing of civilians in coalition operations, which undermines popular support for the Afghan government and the international mission.

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Summary: On the 14th day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman drew attention to blogger Eric Zaetsch’s pointers for casting a write-in ballot and reported ongoing political wrangling and violence in Iraq.

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