MIDWEST

TENET SPOKESMAN DENIES FORMER CIA HEAD CALLED IRAQ WAR WRONG

A former director of central intelligence, George Tenet, yesterday disputed a report that he described the war in Iraq as “wrong” during a speaking appearance in Michigan on Wednesday.

The Herald-Palladium newspaper of St. Joseph reported that Mr. Tenet called the war “wrong” as he spoke to about 2,000 members of the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan.

“He has never said the Iraq war is wrong,” a spokesman for Mr. Tenet, William Harlow, said last night. “The reporter just must not have heard him right. It’s not his view and it’s not what he says.”

The freelance journalist who wrote the story, Anna Clark, stood by her article. “He did make the comment,” she told The New York Sun. “I got the impression he was saying it was not the smartest thing to do in the context of the greater war on terrorism.”

Ms. Clark said Mr. Tenet politely dismissed her question about whether American intelligence resources would have been better focused somewhere other than Iraq. “If he didn’t think the war was fundamentally wrong, he disregarded the opportunity to clarify himself,” she said.

The newspaper also quoted Mr. Tenet as saying, “When I look at the regime (Saddam Hussein) ran, and the elaborate depth he took to deny us the ability to build our intelligence, I can’t say it was a waste.”

Ms. Clark said she could not provide the complete quote in which Mr. Tenet called the war wrong because he declined to allow his remarks to be recorded.

The president of the business club, Michael Cook, said he never heard Mr. Tenet make such a statement at the event. “I did not hear him say that,” Mr. Cook said. “He was very careful in what he said. I think he was intent on not saying something that dramatic.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

HEALTH

SIZE MAY MATTER WHEN IT COMES TO SPERM QUALITY

PHILADELPHIA – Men who weigh too much are more likely to have poor sperm quality, research on nearly 1,600 young Danish men has found. Being too thin is a problem, too.

Women don’t get off the hook. Though it’s long been known that very overweight women have trouble conceiving naturally, a large new study confirms they also are less likely to become pregnant even when embryos are fertilized in lab dishes and placed in their wombs.

“Among the severely obese, we saw significantly reduced implantation and pregnancy rates,” said Dr. David Ryley of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He presented results of the women’s study this week at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

The sperm study was done by doctors at various hospitals and universities in Denmark and published in the October issue of the reproductive society’s journal, Fertility & Sterility. It involved 1,558 men, average age 19, who volunteered to give a semen sample during mandatory exams to determine their fitness for military service in two cities, Copenhagen and Aalborg.

Sperm counts, sperm concentration, semen volume, and other measures of sperm quality such as shape and motility were measured, along with testicle size and hormone levels. Researchers also calculated each man’s body mass index, a measure of obesity that takes into account height and weight. Sperm counts and sperm concentration were 28.1% and 36.4% lower respectively in underweight men. The same measures were 21.6% and 23.9% lower respectively in overweight men.

– Associated Press

WEST

BOXER ARRESTED IN DEATH OF FRIEND

James Butler, the embattled New York based light heavyweight known as “the Harlem Hammer,” was arrested by Los Angeles police officers and charged late Wednesday night with the murder of Sam Kellerman.

Kellerman was a decade-old friend of Mr. Butler’s who had shared his Hollywood apartment with the fighter and was the 29-year-old brother of Max Kellerman, the energetic Fox Sports commentator.

Butler, 31, is charged with murder in the first and would face a 25-year-to-life sentence if convicted. He is being held without bail. The fighter’s manager, David Berlin, declined to comment on the murder charge yesterday.

In late September, Mr. Butler’s boxing career was wavering after a loss and he had flown to Hollywood after Kellerman offered him free room and board. Funeral services are scheduled for Sunday at Riverside Memorial Chapel on the Upper West Side.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun