Summary: On the same day that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Obama administration’s effort in the eight-year-old Afghanistan war is “only now beginning,” former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) — a potential successor to Secretary Gates — published an op-ed article in the Washington Post in which he cautions, “No country today has the power to impose its will and values on other nations. … Bogging down large armies in historically complex, dangerous areas ends in disaster.” … One year ago today, on the 51st day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman released a video statement regarding the serious national security implications of the Iraq war, which Rep. Bachmann failed to address the previous evening in her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: Bombs struck Baghdad and remote communities in northern Iraq on August 29, 2009 as the visiting Iranian foreign minister warned that Iraq’s instability affected the whole region. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 47th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his campaign focus on national security issues, issued his statement opposing the war in Iraq.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) announces a joint “town hall” forum in St. Cloud, Minn., with Rep. Ron Paul as her guest. … Robert H. Reid of the Associated Press reports that it’s been a summer of setbacks for the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, with rising casualties, a divisive election, and growing public doubt about the war. … Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who wielded enormous influence after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq as head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, has has died, exacerbating the growing political upheaval among Iraq’s majority Shiites. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 44th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman traveled to White Bear Lake to record a candidate statement for the Ramsey / Washington County Suburban Cable Commission, through its Government Television Network (GTN). Immelman also reported on the high human and economic cost of the Iraq war.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows a majority of Americans now see the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting, and just a quarter say more U.S. troops should be sent to Afghanistan. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 37th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman focused on national security issues, including the increasing sophistication of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to mount complex, coordinated attacks; and the precarious security situation in northern Iraq.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: In the deadliest coordinated attack in Iraq since U.S. troops withdrew from urban centers at the end of June 2009 — and one of the deadliest of the war — a wave of bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad have killed nearly 100 and wounded approximately 1,000. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on then the 36th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman issued instructions regarding voter registration to citizens not already registered to vote in the Minnesota state primary election. He also issued an explanation to all prospective voters regarding Minnesota’s open primary system, which allows citizens to vote in the partisan primary of their choice — irrespective of whether they consider themselves Republican, Democrat, or independent.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: Dozens of Iraqis have been killed and hundreds wounded in a spate of bombings this week, raising fears of a sustained insurgent campaign aimed at provoking new sectarian tensions. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 29th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman took a one-day break from his 100-mile Sixth District Walking Tour and highlighted an emerging threat in Iraq, the mujahidaat: female suicide bombers motivated by revenge for family members killed by U.S. and Iraqi forces.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: A suicide car bomb devastated a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, one of a series of attacks that killed at least 40 and wounded about 100 Iraqis. … Three British paratroopers and an American service member were killed in attacks in Afghanistan’s south and east, raising the number of international troops slain in the first week of August 2009 to 19. … Pakistan’s Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has reportedly been killed in a CIA missile strike, but the claim is disputed by senior Taliban commanders. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 24th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman announced the August 9 kick-off of his walking tour from Freeport in the northwestern corner of the Sixth District to Stillwater in the southeast on the Wisconsin border. … As a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Immelman featured Part 5 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: The U.S. Department of Defense has announced in a press release that the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) has positively identified remains recovered in Iraq as those of Captain Michael Scott Speicher. Captain Speicher was shot down flying a combat mission in an F/A-18 Hornet over west-central Iraq on January 17, 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 19th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman walked in the Albany Heritage Day Parade with his daughter Elizabeth and youngest son Patrick while his two older sons, Tim and Matt, attended a youth baseball clinic and a Minnesota Twins game at the Metrodome.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: Bombs exploded near five Shiite mosques in Baghdad on July 31, 2009, killing at least 29 people, in an apparent coordinated attack that targeted worshippers leaving Friday prayers. … August 2009 update of key facts, figures, and statistics on Iraq since the war began in March 2003. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 17th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman took Rep. Bachmann to task for talking almost exclusively about energy issues such as the price of gasoline in her reelection campaign, while ignoring important national security concerns.

  ::  Read Comments (0)

Summary: Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, will deliver the Third Annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 15th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on an op-ed article dealing with energy prices that he had written for the St. Cloud Times the previous day; met with Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner and Emergency Manager Marvin Klug; announced the release of a new web video in which he discusses his core campaign issues; and challenged unendorsed Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson’s justification for the Iraq war.

  ::  Read Comments (0)