Summary: U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan doubled in 2009 compared with a year ago. A tally by The Associated Press shows 304 American service members had died as of Dec. 30, up from 151 in 2008. In contrast, U.S. deaths in Iraq dropped by half as troops largely remained on bases and the United States prepares to withdraw from that country by the end of 2011. There, 152 U.S. service members died, down from 314 a year earlier. … The Pakistani Taliban claims they used a turncoat CIA operative to carry out a suicide bombing that killed seven American CIA employees in Afghanistan as revenge for the death of former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a U.S. missile strike in August 2009. … A suicide bomber blew himself up in an SUV at an outdoor volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan, killing 88 people in a village that opposes Taliban insurgents. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on January 1, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. military deaths in Iraq plummeted by two-thirds in 2008 from the previous year, while the war in Afghanistan saw American military deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamic extremists shifted their focus to a new front with the West. The combined total of at least 465 U.S. deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan for 2008 was the lowest combined total for both wars since 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq.

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Summary: A suicide bomber killed 16 people and wounded at least 23 others in a busy city square in western Afghanistan, while near the capital Kabul a powerful former warlord and ally of Afghan President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 20, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, appearing on Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes” on November 18, 2008, dismissed as an “urban legend” reports that she had said on an October 17, 2008 cable show with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that then-Sen. Barack Obama and other members of Congress “may have anti-American views” and that “the news media should do a penetrating exposé … and find out if they’re pro-America or anti-America.”

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Summary: Helicopter crashes have killed 14 Americans in Afghanistan — 11 troops and three drug agents — in the deadliest day for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan in more than four years. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the eighth day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported that Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab political party suspended all dealings with U.S. civilian and military personnel after U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out a raid in which a senior official of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi’s Iraqi Islamic Party was killed.

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Summary: Two powerful car bombs exploded outside the Justice Ministry and city government offices in downtown Baghdad, killing 155 and wounding at least 500 in Iraq’s worst attack in more than two years. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the seventh day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported that a new poll sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio and the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute mirrored the results of a SurveyUSA poll released the previous day by KSTP television: Support for Bachmann was holding steady a week after she became a lightning rod for national criticism and media attention when she told Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hardball” that Barack Obama “may have anti-American views” and the media should investigate which members of Congress “are pro-America or anti-America.”

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Summary: The father of Army Spc. Stephan Mace, killed in action near Kamdesh, northeast Afghanistan, when several hundred Taliban fighters armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attacked and nearly overran Combat Outpost Keating, says the U.S. is “fighting a war with too few people” and that the troops at Kamdesh were “sitting ducks.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the first day after announcing a write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman featured former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s stinging rebuke of Bachmann for alleging Barack Obama “may hold anti-American views” and suggesting that the media investigate which members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.” Immelman also reported on halting progress in the U.S.-Iraq status-of-forces agreement, ongoing violence in Iraq, and escalating violence in Afghanistan.

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Summary: 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. … Stephanie Smith of Cold Spring, Minnesota, was left paralyzed in 2007 after eating a hamburger tainted by E. coli. …. On the 25th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported the killing of a senior al-Qaida in Iraq bombing mastermind, the withdrawal of Polish forces from Iraq, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s first public appearance in more than a month amid speculation about his health.

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Summary: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) held a town hall meeting in St. Cloud to talk about President Obama’s health care reform proposals, which she opposes, after which she headlined an anti-Obama tea party. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the fourth day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a car bombing in the mainly Shiite Iraqi town of Dujail, 30 miles north of Baghdad, which killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 40.

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Summary: Iraqis are skeptical that much will change after June 30, 2009 withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from urban areas. … June was the deadliest month for Iraqis in 2009. … July 2009 update of key facts, figures, and statistics on Iraq since the war began in March 2003. … Two U.S. troops killed in attack on U.S. base in Afghanistan. … U.S. soldier reported missing, believed captured, in Afghanistan. … Four U.S. troops killed in Kunduz province, northern Afghanistan roadside bombing.

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Summary: Two roadside bombs have killed four more American troops in Afghanistan as violence continues to mount and U.S. casualties climb to record levels.

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Summary: Three U.S. troops have been killed in fighting in Anbar province west of Baghdad, making April 2009 the deadliest month of the year thus far for American forces in Iraq.

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