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Archive for December, 2010


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.


Dec 20th, 2010

Summary: A U.N. Security Council emergency session amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula ended after more than eight hours without an agreement. North Korea warned of a “catastrophe” if South Korea went ahead with military live-fire drills on Yeonpyeong Island. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 20, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Lt. Col. Thomas B. Gukeisen, who commands 600 soldiers at Forward Operating Base Altimur in Logar province, Afghanistan, has achieved success operating by his own innovative ideas about counterinsurgency warfare.



Summary: Iraqi Christians are approaching their grimmest Christmas since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and wondering if they have any future in their native land. They have suffered repeated violence and harassment since 2003, when the interreligious peace rigidly enforced by Saddam Hussein fell apart. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 19, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Navy warships fired missiles at suspected al-Qaida training camps in Yemen, with that government’s support, according to Pentagon sources. One U.S. official said President Barack Obama personally ordered the missile strikes in northern Yemen.


Dec 18th, 2010

Summary: In a landmark for gay rights, the U.S. Senate voted 65-31 to let homosexuals serve openly in the military, giving President Barack Obama the chance to fulfill a campaign promise and repeal the 17-year policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 18, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iranian troops crossed into Iraq and seized an oil well in a disputed area along the two countries’ southern border. Iraqi security forces were in the area, but there were no reports of any fighting or shots fired and Iranian forces later withdrew from the disputed site.


Dec 17th, 2010

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases and iCasualties.org. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 17, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that an Associated Press-GfK poll showed a double-digit jump, to 52 percent, in President Barack Obama’s marks for handling the Afghanistan war after he capped a three-month strategy review by announcing a big troop increase, boosting U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 100,000.


Dec 16th, 2010

Summary: A five-page unclassified summary of the 2010 White House review of Afghanistan war strategy says U.S. and NATO forces had made “notable operational gains,” halting the Taliban’s momentum in many areas and disrupting al-Qaida. But it stressed the gains were fragile and reversible and that major challenges remained. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 17, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his 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.



Summary: As President Obama prepares to release a review of American strategy in Afghanistan that will claim progress in the nine-year-old war there, two new classified National Intelligence Estimates offer a more negative assessment and say there is a limited chance of success unless Pakistan hunts down insurgents operating from havens on its Afghan border. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 15, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning project of the St. Petersburg Times to find the truth in American politics, announced its “Lie of the Year” contest to find the most significant political falsehood of 2009, with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann among the eight nominees.


Dec 14th, 2010

Summary: Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, died unexpectedly at the age of 69 following surgery for a tear in his aorta. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 14, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that computer technicians found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush. The Bush White House e-mail archiving problems became publicly known in 2006, when federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald disclosed the irregularities during his criminal investigation of the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.


Dec 13th, 2010

Summary: A NATO airstrike killed at least 25 suspected insurgents in eastern Afghanistan and a Taliban suicide attack killed six American troops in southern Afghanistan while other violence left 22 civilians dead in a wave of attacks days before President Obama issues his 2010 review of U.S. strategy in the Afghanistan war. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 13, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that analysts believed the nuclear threat from North Korea and Iran had become more serious than it had been the year before.


Dec 12th, 2010

Summary: Antonio Martinez, a naturalized U.S. citizen who goes by the name Muhammad Hussain after recently converting to Islam, faces charges of attempted murder of federal officers and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction after plotting to blow up a Baltimore-area military recruiting center. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 12, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that a spike in terrorism cases involving U.S. citizens challenged long-held assumptions that Muslims in Europe are more susceptible to radicalization than their better-assimilated counterparts in the United States. According to several U.S. and international terrorism analysts, immigration trends, the global spread of a militant Islamism, and controversial actions by the United States and its allies since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks increase the probability that U.S. Muslims will carry out a domestic attack.