SPB News for Monday

Obama: Afghanistan Is "America's War"

In his interview on CBS' Face The Nation, President Obama was asked whether the Afghanistan War was now his war. "I think it's America's war," said Obama. "What we want to do is to refocus attention on al Qaeda. We are going to root out their networks, their bases. We are gonna make sure that they cannot attack U.S. citizens, U.S. soil, U.S. interests, and our allies' interests around the world."
Obama To Meet With David Cameron On Wednesday

Speaking Freely, Biden Finds Influential Role — WASHINGTON — When President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. meet for their standing Friday lunch engagement, Mr. Obama always picks the cuisine — a subtle break from previous administrations in which the president …

BREAKING: Inquirer CEO Tierney Got Bonus Before Bankruptcy

FBI-Muslim Relations Strained as Government Looks for Terrorists --Relations Soured After FBI Cut Ties With Prominent American-Islamic Group Law enforcement efforts to root out home-grown terrorists are jeopardized by deteriorating relations between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Muslim and Arab-American communities... The situation worsened in February, when it became public that the FBI had planted an informant at a California mosque who, a coalition of more than a dozen Muslim American groups charges, actively tried to recruit terrorists.

Troops Arrest an Iraqi Ally in Baghdad For Terrorism --'Awakening Councils,' US (now Iraq) funded mercenaries, are typically in every neighborhood, using checkpoints. Fighters were each paid $300 per month. American and Iraqi troops arrested the leader of a crucial Awakening Council in Baghdad on Saturday, setting off street fighting and raising fresh concerns about the troubled Awakening program. A combined force of American and Iraqi Army troops and National Police descended on Fadhil, a Sunni neighborhood in central Baghdad, and arrested the head of Fadhil’s Awakening Council, Adil Al-Mashhadani, on terrorism charges, according to Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi security forces in Baghdad.

2 more lawsuits target Xe over Iraq shootings Two more federal lawsuits filed this week accuse the mercenary contractor formerly named Blackwater Worldwide of fostering a culture of lawlessness. A lawsuit filed Friday in the southern district of California targets the company for a shooting in September 2007, while a lawsuit filed Thursday focuses on the infamous shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square a week later. The lawsuits join a third lawsuit filed last week that makes similar accusations for a December 2006 incident.

Army vet billed $3,000 for war wounds Erik Roberts, an Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq, underwent his 13th surgery recently to save his right leg from amputation. Imagine his shock when he got a bill for $3,000 for his treatment. The Department of Veterans Affairs has now decided to pay his bill, but only after prodding from a U.S. senator who got involved after CNN brought it to his attention.

G20 summit: blow for Gordon Brown as £1.4 trillion spending blueprint is leaked Gordon Brown's preparations for this week's G20 summit in London got off to a bad start last night when a British blueprint for a £1.4 trillion worldwide spending boost was leaked. In an embarrassing disclosure, a draft of the final communiqué to be signed off by world leaders at the end of the one-day gathering on Thursday appeared in the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Albany Agrees on a Plan to Raise Taxes on Top Earners Gov. David A. Paterson and leaders of the Legislature have reached a deal to temporarily raise taxes on New York’s highest earners in order to close the state’s yawning budget deficit, lawmakers and officials involved in the talks said on Saturday. The new plan -- which would expire after three years -- would raise $4 billion a year by creating two new tax brackets, the highest one affecting those who earn $500,000 or more.

Last week's poll had asked:

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's response to President Obama that Iran will change if the US alters its attitude to his country. What are the chances of a new dialogue? Many of the readers answered good chance. This week is now up.