FROM THE ARCHIVES

One Year Ago — September 18, 2010

Afghan Vote Marred by Violence

An Afghan boy who was wounded after a rocket attack in Kunar province is treated at a hospital in Jalalabad on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010. Attacks hit Afghanistan’s parliamentary election, killing several people. (Photo credit: Parwiz / Reuters)

One year ago today, I reported that, amid Taliban rocket strikes and bombings, Afghans voted for a new parliament — the first election since a fraud-marred presidential ballot in 2009 cast doubt on the legitimacy of the embattled government.

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Two Years Ago — September 18, 2009

The ‘Bomb-Throwing’ Michele Bachmann

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann: New “face and shrill voice” of the GOP?

Two years ago today, on September 18, 2009, I featured a Politico report that elements within the GOP were concerned that the “bomb-throwing” Michele Bachmann might be inflicting damage on the party’s reputation with her incessant incendiary rhetoric.

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Three Years Ago — September 18, 2008

U.S. Invasion Turned Iraq into Terrorist Training Ground

Foreign fighters return home from Iraq to launch new attacks against U.S. targets. Smoke billows from the U.S. Embassy complex in San’a, Yemen, after a deadly car bombing on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008. (Photo credit: Yemen News Agency)

Three years ago today, on September 18, 2008, I reported that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 turned that country into a terrorist training ground for jihadists around the world, with militants converging on Iraq to learn increasingly sophisticated insurgency techniques and then exporting those tactics to other hotspots, including Afghanistan, and turning the war against terror “global” in a way not foreseen by the Bush administration.