Summary: NATO may keep fighting in Afghanistan past its 2014 target date for shifting authority to Afghan forces, according to Mark Sedwill, the alliance’s top civilian in the country. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 17, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Summary: The new head of Britain’s armed forces, Gen. David Richards, says that the West cannot defeat al-Qaida but that defeating it is “unnecessary” because it can be contained. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 16, 2009, Aubrey Immelman featured excerpts from an article by Paul Harris, New York-based correspondent for The Observer and The Guardian, supplemented with annotated commentary of Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 15, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraq’s Sunni Arab vice president, Tareq al-Hashimi, threatened to veto the country’s election law unless changes were made giving Iraqis living abroad more guaranteed seats in parliament.
Summary: Insurgents set fire to a NATO fuel convoy, while a series of bomb blasts and insurgents attacks killed 11 people across Afghanistan, including five NATO service members. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 14, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that a Rasmussen Reports poll found U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s statewide job approval rating in Minnesota at 51 percent, with 45 percent disapproving and 4 percent not sure.
Summary: An independent 25-member task force led by former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and former national security adviser Samuel Berger is cautioning President Barack Obama about the high cost of the Afghanistan war and suggests the United States should downsize its ambitions and reduce its military presence in Afghanistan if Obama’s December 2010 Afghanistan policy review finds the current strategy is not working. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 13, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that morale had fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, while those in Iraq showed much improved mental health amid lower violence. There were 133 reported active-duty Army suicides from January 2009 through October 2009, compared with 115 for the same period in 2008.
Summary: Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani has given Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki the nod to form the next government after an eight-month deadlock following the March 2010 election. Al-Maliki retained power by cobbling together alliances with Iranian-backed religious Shiite parties, including the Sadrist movement led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has close ties with Iran. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 12, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Rep. Steve Israel called on U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann to apologize for Holocaust imagery displayed at a rally organized by Bachmann at the U.S. Capitol on November 5, 2009 to protest health care reform.
Summary: The story of the Memorial Rifle Squad at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 11, 2009, Aubrey Immelman featured a video chronicle of the 2009 St. Cloud-area Veterans Day Parade.
Summary: Eight years ago today, on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2002, Maple Lake, Minn., student Joshua Guimond was reported missing from the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Josh remains missing and his case appears no closer to resolution than the day he vanished. To move Josh’s case forward, it is critical that the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department refer the case to FBI behavioral scientists now for review and recommendations. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 10, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Summary: Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) campaign for a leadership spot in the new Congress as Republican conference chair seems to be floundering as establishment Republicans close ranks around her opponent, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 9, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on the 7th anniversary of the unsolved disappearance of St. John’s University student Joshua Guimond.
Summary: Matt Lauer interviews former President George W. Bush on NBC’s “Today” show to discuss Bush’s memoir, “Decision Points” … Psychological profile of George W. Bush by Aubrey Immelman of the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 8, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that a suicide bomber had blown himself up in a market in northwest Pakistan killing 12 people, including the mayor, who had turned against the Taliban; and that two U.S. pilots had been killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq.