WASHINGTON, D.C.
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CIA chief counters Pelosi’s claim
Panetta insists lawmakers were ‘briefed truthfully’ about treatment of detainees
CIA Director Leon Panetta fired back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday, saying agency records showed officials had “briefed truthfully” about its interrogation program.
Panetta’s comments came one day after Pelosi accused the agency of misleading Congress by failing to inform her during a September 2002 briefing that the CIA already had used waterboarding and other severe methods on an Al Qaeda suspect.
Panetta’s statement, which was directed to CIA employees but released publicly, marks a rare instance in which the secretive agency’s leadership has chosen to publicly challenge a high-ranking lawmaker.
“Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress,” Panetta said. “That is against our laws and our values.”
CIA records indicate that Pelosi attended the briefing but do not indicate with certainty that waterboarding was covered. A month earlier, the CIA had used the simulated drowning method on Al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah at least 83 times.
Pelosi has claimed repeatedly that she was not told that waterboarding was being used, only that it was a method under consideration. But on Thursday she raised the stakes of the issue by accusing the CIA of deliberately concealing the truth.
— Greg Miller, Washington Bureau
ISRAEL
Pope calls for peace, rejection of anti-Semitism
Pope Benedict XVI prays at the spot where Jesus is believed to have been crucified in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Friday, the last day of his trip to the Holy Land. The pontiff offered a renewed condemnation of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial and his strongest appeal yet for the creation of a Palestinian state.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
CDC leader appointed
President Barack Obama on Friday appointed New York City’s crusading health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease-detective agency that spearheads the nation’s fight against threats from AIDS to obesity.
Frieden has made national headlines in a bid to get New Yorkers to live a healthier lifestyle through bans on smoking in a city known for smoky clubs and cigar-fueled power lunches, and on certain fats in restaurant foods.
But he’s also a well-known infectious disease expert who will inherit a looming decision on how best to manage the swine flu outbreak — including whether or how to produce a vaccine.
But beyond dealing with outbreak crises, Obama signaled that he expects the agency to play a big role in his plans to overhaul health care.
MINNESOTA
Ruling in cancer dispute
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota couple who refused chemotherapy for their 13-year-old son were ordered Friday to have the boy re-evaluated to see if he still would benefit from the cancer treatment.
Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg found Daniel Hauser has been “medically neglected” by his parents, Colleen and Anthony Hauser.
Daniel was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January, and it was recommended he have six rounds of chemotherapy. He underwent one round in February but stopped after that single treatment. He and his parents opted instead for “alternative medicines,” citing religious beliefs.
Doctors have said Daniel’s cancer had a 90 percent chance of being cured with chemotherapy and radiation.
FRANCE
Gitmo detainee arrives
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PARIS — A Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was at the center of a Supreme Court battle over inmates’ rights arrived Friday in France, which agreed to take in the Algerian in a gesture to the Obama administration.
After seven years in the U.S. camp, 43-year-old Lakhdar Boumediene was released Friday and flew to France.
The French government has arranged for medical care if needed, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said. Boumediene has been on a hunger strike since 2006 and was force-fed at the prison camp, his lawyers say.
Boumediene, suspected in a bomb plot against the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, was arrested along with five other Algerians in 2001 in Bosnia.
“He was deemed innocent of all charges relating to the participation in eventual terrorist activities by judicial decisions in several countries, including the United States,” Chevallier said.
URUGUAY
Gays allowed in military
MONTEVIDEO — Uruguay has lifted a ban on homosexuals joining the armed forces.
The decree signed by President Tabare Vazquez and Defense Minister Jose Bayardi lifts the ban imposed by the 1973-85 military dictatorship.
The decree was published Friday on the presidential Web site and states that sexual orientation no longer will be considered a reason to prevent people from entering the military.
Vazquez said the “state does not discriminate against citizens for their political view or for their sexual choice” during a visit Thursday to the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion.