Summary: Pakistan’s shutting of a key supply line for coalition troops in Afghanistan and the apparent ease with which militants are attacking the stranded convoys are shaking an already uncomfortable relationship between Washington and Islamabad. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 4, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades nearly overran a U.S. outpost near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, killing eight U.S. soldiers and capturing more than 20 Afghan security forces in the deadliest assault against U.S. troops in more than a year.
Summary: Responding to credible al-Qaida threats, the U.S. State Department is issuing a travel alert urging American citizens to be vigilant if they travel in Europe. Officials have not identified specific targets, but it’s likely terrorists might be considering Mumbai-style “swarm attacks.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 2, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, U.S. Fearmonger-in-Chief — as though vying for the title of “World’s Greatest Exaggerator” — made the histrionic claim that by fall 2010 “someone’s 13-year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back, and go home on the school bus that night … [with] Mom and Dad … never the wiser.”
Summary: In a 44-minute audio recording that appears to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., al-Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released an audio recording accusing the Pakistani government of responding too slowly to severe flooding in the country and calling on Pakistanis to revolt. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 16, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that former president Jimmy Carter told NBC’s Brian Williams in an interview that he believed race was at the core of much of the opposition to President Obama.