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  • Did the CIA Deliberately Lie to Congress?

    Holly Bailey | Jul 9, 2009 12:09 PM
    Now this is a big story, if true: Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee accused the CIA of lying to Congress about classified actions, citing as their evidence recent testimony by the agency’s chief, Leon Panetta. Intel chairman Silvestre Reyes, in a letter sent to House Dem and GOP leadership, said the committee “has been misled, has not been provided full and complete notifications and (at least one case) has been affirmatively lied to.” (Here’s the letter, courtesy the Washington Post.) A separate letter signed by seven other Democrats on the Intel committee says Panetta recently told the panel in closed-door testimony on June 24th that the CIA had “misled members” and “concealed significant actions” from Congress for the last eight years. What actions are they specifically talking about? Democrats won’t say—but according to the Wall Street Journal, the CIA does confirm Panetta “took the initiative” to notify Congress about “lapses.” This comes on the heels of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s run-in with the CIA, where she said the agency intentionally misled her in a 2002 briefing on controversial interrogation techniques used against terrorism detainees. So is this vindication for Pelosi—or simply politics as usual? Your Gaggler asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs here in Italy if the White House or the president was aware of Panetta’s testimony, and if so, what the CIA director was referring to. Gibbs, who said he was only aware of the flap through news reports, didn’t have an immediate comment. But it’s notable that the letters, which were written late last month, become public just a day before the House prepares to take up a bill cracking down on executive powers. The White House has said Obama will veto the bill if it includes language proposed by the Democrats that would require the president to notify Intel committees in Congress about covert CIA activities in their “entirety.”
  • WH Still Hopeful on Climate Change

    Holly Bailey | Jul 9, 2009 11:19 AM
    Even before President Obama arrived in Italy for the G-8, White House officials were downplaying expectations that there would be major movement on climate change policy here. And that’s still the message, a day after the talks produced an agreement to limit levels of greenhouse gases in the long term but failed to produce numerical benchmarks in the short term for how exactly to achieve that goal. Amid the disarray, developing nations, led by China and India, failed to sign onto the accord—putting at risk talks set for later this year in Copenhagen when the United Nations hopes to cement a worldwide climate treaty. Asked this morning about the failure to get an accord, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs repeated a line of argument he used earlier this week: that the administration is more concerned with getting something through Congress before turning to the world stage. “I'm not entirely sure that we expected to come here and have eight to 10 years of disagreement wash away in a couple of days in July in Italy,” Gibbs said. “Everybody understands that this is going to take some time… and I think you probably heard him on the campaign trail say--that it is hard for us to go to certain countries in the world and ask them to do something that we don't appear to be likely to do.” Gibbs said it was important to Obama to show “we have some skin in the game.” Still White House officials framed yesterday’s developments as “progress” and were hopeful that more announcements could come today as Obama chairs a broader forum of major economies, expanding the number of participating countries from 8 to 17, where climate is expected to be a leading issue.
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  • Lula Zings Obama on Soccer

    Holly Bailey | Jul 9, 2009 06:41 AM

    Ouch. At day two of the G-8 summit this morning, President Obama met with Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who couldn’t resist getting a dig in about his country’s recent victory over the U.S. national soccer team. The two leaders were gathered for a photo op in front of reporters when Lula motioned to an aide, who subsequently brought over a Brazilian soccer jersey autographed by team members. “Hey, look at this,” Obama said, holding up the shirt. As reporters watched, Lula began excitedly talking about how stressed he was during the June 28th soccer match between the U.S. and Brazilian national teams in the Confederations Cup series. The U.S. led most of that game 2-0, only to lose 3-2 to the Brazilians. Through an interpreter, Lula told Obama that he had spent most of the game on the edge of his seat and that he had subsequently ripped off Obama’s campaign catchphrase to make it through. “Yes we can, Yes we can,” Silva repeatedly said, as Obama grinned. Lula has long been one of the world’s more colorful foreign leaders. In a press conference with George W. Bush in Brazil several years ago, Lula declared that he hoped Brazil and the U.S. could find their “G-Spot” in trade negotiations—a phrase the Bush White House later timidly quoted as “g-point” in their official transcript. (Your Gaggler STILL doesn't know what that means, FYI.) That’s not to say Obama didn’t get his own word in. As the two leaders wrapped up their bilateral talks today, Lula had already taken out his earpiece providing interpretation when Obama indicated he had one more thing to say. The Brazilian president replaced the earpiece. “We will not lose a 2-0 lead again,” Obama said and abruptly turned the microphone off and stood up. Lula burst out laughing.