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Archive for November, 2009

Nov 10th, 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 November 10, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported the deadliest attack in Iraq in months, when a suicide bomber struck a crowd that gathered where an explosion moments earlier had damaged a bus full of schoolgirls, killing at least 31 people and wounding 71.



Summary: News and information about the disappearance and search for Joshua Guimond, missing November 10, 2002 from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. … Seventh anniversary of the disappearance of St. John’s University student Joshua Guimond. … On Saturday, November 7, 2009, Josh’s family and supporters convened near the site of Josh’s disappearance for a “Justice for Josh” march to raise public awareness of their son’s plight, after which they delivered a petition for renewed efforts in the search to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department. On Saturday evening, the family held a prayer service and candlelight vigil at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Maple Lake, Minn. … Video reports of the day’s events. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 9, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Shiite clerics were warning the Iraqi government not to sign a security pact that would keep U.S. troops in Iraq until 2012. … Referring to President-elect Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said she was “extremely grateful that we have an African-American who has won this year,” calling Obama’s victory “a tremendous signal we sent.”


Nov 8th, 2009

Summary: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a market in northwest Pakistan, killing 12 people, including a mayor who had turned against the Taliban; two U.S. pilots have been killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq; Iraq’s parliament has passed a long-delayed law, setting the stage for nationwide elections in January 2010. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 8, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraqi officials, who saw President-elect Obama’s views on the timing of a U.S. withdrawal as consonant with their own, appeared 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; that Iraqi and U.S. officials were concerned about a surge in “sticky bombs”; and that Afghan president Hamid Karzai urged U.S. president-elect Barack Obama to stop the killing of civilians in coalition operations, which he said undermines popular support for the Afghan government and the international mission.


Nov 7th, 2009

Summary: News and information about the disappearance and search for Joshua Guimond, missing November 10, 2002 from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 7, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican senator from Rhode Island who endorsed Barack Obama for president, predicted a bloody struggle for the soul of the GOP. The election results demonstrated that the party had hit rock bottom, Chafee said, but he feared that socially conservative party activists — “the Rush Limbaughs, the Bill O’Reillys, the Sean Hannitys” — were incapable of changing course.


Nov 6th, 2009

Summary: Two U.S. soldiers transporting supplies in Afghanistan were swept away by a river in Badghis province while trying to save two boxes that had fallen into the water while being airdropped during a resupply mission and the Taliban said they were holding their bodies. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on Nov. 6, 2008, Aubrey Immelman noted that U.S. president-elect Barack Obama faced major foreign policy challenges and summarized intertwined issues Barack Obama inherited from George W. Bush.


Nov 5th, 2009

Summary: Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, due for deployment to Iraq, went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 and wounding 30. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 5, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Afghan president Hamid Karzai congratulated Barack Obama on his election as president of the United States and called on him to halt civilian casualties after U.S. warplanes bombed a wedding party — killing 37, mostly children — saying airstrikes cannot win the fight against terrorism.


Nov 4th, 2009

Summary: The New York Times reports that Republican victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races “put the party in a stronger position to turn back the political wave President Obama unleashed last year, setting the stage for Republicans to raise money, recruit candidates and ride the excitement of an energized base as the party heads into next year’s midterm elections.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on Election Day 2008 — the 17th and final day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District — Aubrey Immelman reissued his Statement on the Iraq War, reiterated instructions for casting a write-in ballot, and reported on ongoing violence in Iraq.


Nov 3rd, 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 16th day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported that in the final week of the campaign he mounted a ground assault with an advertising blitz comprising ads in 25 newspapers across the district with a combined circulation of approximately 150,000.


Nov 2nd, 2009

Summary: Of the 364 Iraqis killed in October, 155 died in two nearly simultaneous bombs targeting government buildings on Oct. 25, 2009 in downtown Baghdad — the worst attack in more than two years. … More Taliban bombings in retaliation as Pakistan continues its offensive in South Waziristan, a tribal region adjoining Afghanistan, where al-Qaida terrorists are believed to have hideouts. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 15th day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in his capacity as research director of the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, published two articles in the St. Cloud Times in which he provides an analysis of his primary concerns regarding the personality-based limitations of prospective Obama and McCain presidencies.


Nov 1st, 2009

Summary: Calling on supporters to descend on Washington to protest health care reform, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann resurrected the Ghost of Political Stunts Past. Bachmann pulled similar publicity stunts five years ago while crusading in the Minnesota state Senate for a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, 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.