?Volume 8, No. 15 Sunday, March 1, 2009 Price $1.00

Obama sets firm Iraq pullout for August 2010

President says most will remain this year

Commentary Food Comics Caribbean Across America Ben Feller CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. ? President Barack Obama drew a firm finish line in the Iraq war Friday, six years after the invasion he opposed and six weeks into his presidency. Obama said he will withdraw combat forces within 18 months. ?Let me say this as plainly as I can,? he said. ?By Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.? Yet in the same speech before Marines and military leadership, he said the vast majority of those involved in the pullout will not leave this year. Obama also said tens of thousands of U.S. personnel will remain behind to train and advise Iraqis. ?We have forged hard-earned progress, we are leaving Iraq to its people, and we have begun the work Iraq ? Page 4B Larry Miller Tribune Staff Writer It was quiet in Coatesville this week, but that could change as quickly as lighting a match. Earlier this month, law enforcement authorities announced that they had made two arrests in the string of arsons that have terrorized residents. They cautioned residents of the former steel town that the investigation was still open and that there were still 12 unsolved fires. Then, in the early morning hours of Feb. 21, someone set a blaze that incinerated several school buses, causing more than $400,000 in damages. The message, said a local resident was clear, blatant and fearsome. ?They?re saying that it?s not over,? said Donna, who asked that The Tribune not to use her real name. Donna is a long-time resident of the Coatesville vicinity, having left a Philadelphia housing complex 16 years ago that had become too crime-ridden to be

INSIDE

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Tribune?s Most Influential African Americans, COUNTDOWN TO WITHDRAWAL

U.S. soldiers walk the streets during a routine patrol in central Baghdad, Iraq, Friday. ? AP PHOTO/KHALID MOHAMMED

Suspicions grow with Coatesville arsons

SPORTS

Sixers climb back above .500 mark

Defeated N.Y. Knicks at the Garden. 1C Zack Burgess Tribune Correspondent Some would say the events of the last decade have created a generation of lost souls. Obviously, there has been a succession of unfortunate circumstances; the war on terror, high unemployment, high crime, home foreclosures, collapsing banks, the demise of labor, factories closing and a shrinking economy, have visibly left a once proud nation bruised and battered. What makes it even more interesting, is an African- American, President Barack Obama, has been elected to lead this nation out of not only fiscal calamity, but some would argue, moral chaos as well. And in a little over a month, it has become obvious that the president is moved by what drives most human action, good and bad. He wants what we all want. He wants to win. Which begs one to ask two very important questions: Will he be allowed to govern in such a highly charged partisan envi- NEWS

School renamed in honor of Hardy Williams

Dignitaries gather to salute former state Senator. 4A RELIGION

First African Baptist Church honored.

Congregation celebrates 106th anniversary. 6D

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Vice President Joe Biden, right, accompanied by Labor Secretary-Designate Hilda Solis, makes remarks as he chairs a session of President Barack Obama?s middle-class task force at the University of Pennsylvania Friday. ? AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE

Biden seeing ?green?

Patrick Walters Vice President Joe Biden says Philadelphia has 400,000 row homes that can be weatherized and made more efficient. Biden says doing so will lower utility costs 20 percent to 40 percent. Biden chaired the first meeting of the White House?s middle-class task force Friday, hearing testimony at the University of Pennsylvania about ?green jobs.? Speakers say such jobs will put idle workers into well-paying positions while also improving energy efficiency and reducing dependence on oil. ronment? And are the expectations greater because he is an African American? For most African Americans, it is a question they not only ponder when they think about a president that has left them beaming with pride, but for themselves as well. For centuries, Blacks have Biden ? Page 3A

Will Obama be held to higher expectations?

lived with a paranoia ? healthy or not ? that in order to make it in America, they had to be two times better than their Caucasian counterpart. This was never more evident than when the president was preparing for his inaugural address to the nation, and his Coatesville, Pa., resident Tamara Steele and others view a news conference on Feb. 19, announcing the arrest of Roger Leon Arsons ? Page 4B Obama ? Page 4A Barlow Jr. for a string of arsons. ? AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE

TRIBUNE MAGAZINE, INSIDE

Flower Show opens,

SEE LEISURE, PAGE 3D

President Barack Obama speaks about combat troop level reductions in Iraq as he addresses military personnel at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Friday. ? AP PHOTO/CHARLES DHARAPAK COMING TUESDAY Nikki Watts opens fashion boutique

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