EXTRAORDINARY - AT 7:02 A.M. ET:  CIA Director Leon Panetta is emerging as one of the most fascinating figures in this administration, and a real stand-up guy.  His willingness to take on his own party is extraordinary.  Maybe that's because, in his work, he sees what reality is each day:

CIA Director Leon Panetta warned Monday against making his agency a pawn in the nation’s partisan political battles, even as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s claim that she was lied to by the CIA continues to reverberate in Washington.

“If they start to use these issues as political clubs to beat each other up with, that’s when we not only pay a price but this country pays a price,” Panetta said during a question-and-answer session following a lunchtime speech in Los Angeles. “One of the things that I really want to do as director of the CIA is to improve the relationship with the Congress…I realize that we’ve been through a rough period.”

Rough may be an understatement. Last week, Pelosi accused the CIA of lying to her during a 2002 briefing about interrogation techniques. On Friday, Panetta issued an unusual written statement to agency employees rebutting Pelosi’s claim, and Pelosi later backpedaled, saying it was the Bush administration that misled Congress.

COMMENT:  How long do you think it will be before Cindy Sheehan camps out on the steps of the CIA building in Langley, chanting "Panetta lied, thousands died"?

May 19, 2009