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Archive for September, 2009

Sep 30th, 2009

Summary: According to initial reports, the Princeton police and fire departments and bomb squads from Minneapolis and Crow Wing County were responding to reports of suspicious packages at the Princeton post office, high school, and public utilities building in Princeton, Minnesota. According to later reports, the packages were “contained” and removed from the sites by early afternoon. The Princeton school superintendent described the package found outside the high school as an “incendiary device” and quoted the police chief as saying the objects were “very suspicious,” containing “some explosive material.” Subsequent tests showed the packages contained “inert powders and were negative for hazardous materials” — an apparent hoax. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 21st 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 the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and U.S. military deaths and persistent violence in Iraq.


Sep 29th, 2009

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 20th 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 mass-casualty bombings in Baghdad and a lecture by Juan Cole on the foreign policy implications of the Iraq war.


Sep 28th, 2009

Summary: Young Americans for Liberty refuse to publicize Michele Bachmann’s appearance with Ron Paul at a University of Minnesota rally, saying, “We don’t feel that we can promote her in good faith, because she represents none of the libertarian principles that we joined this group for.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 19th 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 violence in Iraq’s disputed Kurdish region and bombings in Baghdad, posted a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq, and documented political assassinations and kidnappings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.


Sep 27th, 2009

Summary: In St. Louis for the “How to Take Back America” conference, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has said she will not fully comply with the 2010 census, declined to respond to a question by Washington Independent reporter David Weigel regarding the apparent lynching — later ruled a suicide — of Kentucky census worker Bill Sparkman. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 18th 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 Kurdish security forces and Iraqi police in Iraq’s northeastern Diyala province near the disputed Kurdish autonomous region and provided a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq.


Sep 26th, 2009

Summary: The U.S. and its five partners trying to stop Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China — plan to tell Tehran that it must provide “unfettered access” to its previously secret Qom uranium enrichment facility within weeks. … Personality profile and threat assessment of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, 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 attacks) 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.


Sep 25th, 2009

Summary: Speaking at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh on a day the Pentagon announced five more American deaths in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama said he understands that Americans are tiring of the war in Afghanistan and that he is examining whether the U.S. is pursuing the right strategy there. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 16th 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 speech at the United Nations by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in which he decried civilian casualties in his country from foreign bombing raids, telling world leaders that innocent deaths can seriously hurt legitimate efforts to fight terrorism. Immelman also reported on continuing violence in Iraq and threats by militants in Pakistan to escalate the violence in that country if Pakistan did not cease cooperating with the United States.


Sep 24th, 2009

Summary: Media reports of former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel’s Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 15th 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 the downing of a U.S. drone amid strains between the United States and Pakistan over cross-border incursions; the attempted assassination of the Kabul police’s head of criminal investigations in Afghanistan; and security incidents and U.S. casualties in Iraq.


Sep 23rd, 2009

Summary: Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, will deliver the Third Annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater on the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 14th 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 security incidents and U.S. military deaths in Iraq, a bombing in Afghanistan, and violence in Pakistan.


Sep 22nd, 2009

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. … Al-Qaida marks the 8th anniversary of 9/11 with a new 106-minute video predicting President Barack Obama’s downfall. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 13th 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 tensions between Pakistan and the United States stemming from U.S. cross-border raids from neighboring Afghanistan; bombings and kidnappings in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and ongoing violence in Iraq.


Sep 21st, 2009

Summary: Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict “will likely result in failure.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 12th 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 truck-bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, that killed more than 50, and violence in Iraq, including an assassination and bombings.