Summary: The 101st Airborne Division is seeing its worst casualties in a decade as the U.S. surge in Afghanistan turns 2010 into the deadliest year of the war for the NATO coalition. Meanwhile, twin suicide bombings rocked a government compound in Iraq’s western city of Ramadi, killing 17 people and wounding more than 50. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 27, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Pat Forte fought back courageously after suffering a setback around Easter 2009 with a relapse of thymic carcinoid, sustained by his strong Christian faith, the prayers and support of friends, and excellent medical care at the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center.

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Summary: In a matter of weeks, with a new Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Congress will go from trying to put illegal aliens on a path to citizenship to debating whether children born to parents who are in the country illegally should continue to enjoy automatic U.S. citizenship. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 26, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. agencies were looking into whether al-Qaida extremists in Yemen directed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and provided him with the explosives used in the failed bombing of Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit.

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Summary: Pope Benedict XVI’s 2010 Christmas message … “Urbi et Orbi” … “To the City and to the World” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 25, 2009, Aubrey Immelman featured Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 Christmas message and posted the Immelman family’s 2009 Christmas greeting. In a rare second post for the date, Immelman reported separately that the terror alert level was raised when a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to light an explosive powder aboard a commercial jetliner before it landed in Detroit.

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Summary: Official NORAD Santa Tracker … Tracking Santa Claus on his journey around the world on Christmas Eve. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 24, 2009, Aubrey Immelman featured NORAD’s Santa Tracker.

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Summary: North Korea’s minister of armed forces, Kim Yong Chun, said its military was prepared to wage a “holy war” against South Korea using its “nuclear deterrent” in response to what he called Seoul’s “intentional drive to push the situation to the brink of war.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 23, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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Summary: South Korea has mobilized troops, tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets for its largest-ever wintertime military drills in a show of force that comes a month after North Korea’s deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on the release of the 2010 election cycle’s first poll in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District race for U.S. Representative. The survey, conducted December 17-20, 2009, showed that 53% of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s constituents approved of the job she was doing.

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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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