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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Summary: A car explosion and apparent suicide attack reportedly linked to Sweden’s presence in Afghanistan injured two people, killed the bomber, and caused panic among Christmas shoppers in Stockholm. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 11, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported the closure of what may be China’s first megachurch — the most visible sign that the communist government is determined to rein in the rapid spread of Christianity, including a September 2009 crackdown in which hundreds of police and hired thugs descended on the Golden Lamp Church in Linfen, Shanxi province, smashing doors and windows, seizing Bibles, and sending dozens of worshippers to hospitals with serious injuries.

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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 10, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported what we know about Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts, based on information from U.S. intelligence sources, and featured personality profiles of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri developed at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics.

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Summary: By a vote of 216-198, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the so-called Dream Act — legislation that would give hundreds of thousands of foreign-born youth brought into the country illegally a path to legal status. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 9, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Summary: Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
warned North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il — whom he labeled the “bad guy” — that the United States’ commitment to defend South Korea was “unquestioned” as the Communist state’s military fired shells across the disputed sea border. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 8, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that a suicide car bomb in Baghdad flattened a court building and an explosives-rigged ambulance blew down walls like dominos near the Finance Ministry in a wave of coordinated attacks that targeted high-profile symbols of Iraqi authority, killing at least 127 people and wounding more than 500.

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