NPR 2010-07-28

President Obama's trying to shore up support for the war in Afghanistan following the unauthorized release of a huge cache of classified documents from the battlefield. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, Mr. Obama does not want the leaked documents to sidetrack additional funding for the war.

President Obama says he's concerned that sensitive information in the leaked documents could put American forces at a greater risk in Afghanistan. But Mr. Obama insists the documents should not sway House lawmakers as they prepare to vote on a 60-billion-dollar bill to keep funding the war.

"The fact is these documents don't reveal any issues that haven't already informed our public debate on Afghanistan."

Mr. Obama says many of the same concerns outlined in the leaked documents are what led him to call for a new strategy in Afghanistan late last year with tens of thousands of additional troops. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

The Pentagon is unable to account for nearly nine billion dollars that was supposed to be used for reconstruction 1 projects in Iraq. The US Special Investigator 2 for Iraq Reconstruction released a report that, as NPR's Rachel Martin tells us, details several reasons for the mismanagement.

The biggest problem, according to the report, is that no one agency at the Department of Defense 3 was set up to monitor an account for the billions of dollars in Iraqi oil money that was supposed to go to reconstruction. Nine point one billion dollars of that money was set up in a special fund. But according to the inspector 4 general's report, US officials failed to create bank accounts at the US Treasury 5 to track how the money was used. The report says that weak oversight 6 left the funds "vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss". Pentagon officials responded to a draft of the report, saying they will follow the inspector general's recommendations to strengthen oversight mechanisms 7 for Iraqi reconstruction funds. Rachel Martin, NPR News, Washington.

BP's newly named chief says the Gulf 8 oil spill is a wake-up call for the entire industry. American Bob Dudley says safety will be one of the company's highest priorities. He replaces Tony Hayward, the embattled CEO who became the face of BP's flailing 9 attempts at containing the spill. Today, Hayward said he did the best he could.

"From the beginning of the crisis, I've sought to do the right thing, do it the right way and communicate openly and transparently 10."

Hayward steps down October 1st.

Federal investigators 11 are blaming last year's deadly metro 12 rail crash in the Washington, D.C. area on a faulty electronic circuit. But the National Transportation Safety Board also makes note of what it calls an 'anemic safety culture'. In a hearing today, the NTSB said that in June of 2009, a signaling system failed to alert a metro conductor of a stopped train ahead. Nine people were killed; fifty-two were injured.

Last check on Wall Street, Dow was up 13 at 10,529.

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A fiery 13 closing from Rod Blagojevich's defense attorney today as former Illinois governor fights to escape conviction on corruption 14 charges. NPR's David Schaper at the Chicago courthouse reports the defense told jurors the prosecution 15 simply failed to prove its case.

His voice rising and booming at some moments and dropping off to nearly a whisper to others, defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. acknowledged to the jury that he had promised Rod Blagojevich would testify in his defense, and that the former governor's absence from the stand is the pink elephant to the room. But Adam says when he made that promise at opening statements, "I had no idea that in two months of trial, they", meaning the prosecution, "would prove nothing." As he went through the specific allegations, such as bribery 16 and extortion, Adam frequently became incredulous, yelling, "Come on, and you've got to be kidding" in response to the prosecution's account of how Blagojevich allegedly committed those crimes. Jurors could begin deliberating whether to convict or acquit 17 Blagojevich of 24 counts of corruption charges by the end of the day today. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.

NATO confirms that one of the two American sailors, who went missing in Afghanistan last week, is dead. The service member's body was found somewhere in eastern Afghanistan. NATO says it is still searching for the other sailor. Over the weekend, the Taliban said the sailors had strayed into insurgent 18 territory when a firefight broke out. The militants 19 said one sailor was killed and the other captured.

Whilst BP goes through a management shakeup, the company is posting a big loss nearly 11 billion pounds or 17 billion dollars between April and June. That's the largest loss posted in UK history