WASHINGTON

CIA TO RELEASE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS ABOUT NAZI WAR CRIMINALS

The CIA has agreed to release more information about Nazi war criminals it hired during the Cold War, ending a standoff between the intelligence agency and the group seeking the documents, Senator DeWine said yesterday.

Mr. DeWine, a Republican of Ohio, was lead Senate author of a 1998 law that required all U.S. government documents related to Nazi war crimes to be declassified, but the Central Intelligence Agency had resisted giving up details about the work performed by agents with Nazi ties.

The law has led to the release of more than 8 million pages of documents, including 1.25 million from the CIA, which showed that the agency or its predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, had a relationship with some individuals later found to be war criminals.

The CIA provided a general description of the operational tasks performed by war criminals that it hired, but a governmental working group created to declassify the documents wanted to know more about what these people did for the agency. The working group also sought documents on all former SS officers who worked for the CIA after WWII.

The agency resisted, saying it would only release information on people who were proven war criminals. It also claimed information on the intelligence operations these people performed was exempt from the disclosure law because of a rule that allows the CIA to protect its sources and methods. A letter sent Friday to the group – officially called the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group – reversed both stances.

“This is good, this is really what we anticipated when we wrote the law,” Mr. DeWine said yesterday.

– Associated Press

HEALTH

SWEET DRINKS ARE LINKED TO WEIGHT PROBLEMS IN PRESCHOOLERS

CHICAGO – Sweet drinks – whether Kool-Aid with sugar or all-natural apple juice – seem to raise the risk of pudgy preschoolers getting fatter, new research suggests. That may come as a surprise to parents who pride themselves on seeking out fruit drinks with no added sugar.

“Juice is definitely a part of this,” said lead researcher Jean Welsh of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While fruit juice does have vitamins, nutritionists say it’s inferior to fresh fruit. The new U.S. dietary guidelines, for example, urge consumers away from juice, suggesting they eat whole fruit instead.

The bottom line, though, is that “children need very few calories in their day,” Ms. Welsh said.

“Sweet drinks are a source of added sugar in the diet.”

She said preschoolers were better off snacking on fruit or drinking water or milk.

Ms. Welsh’s research, published in the February issue of Pediatrics, found that for 3- and 4-year-olds already on the heavy side, drinking something sweet once or twice a day doubled their risk of becoming seriously overweight a year later. The sweet drinks seemed to have little effect, however, on children of normal weight. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting preschoolers to 4 to 6 ounces of juice per day. Some parents and schools are paying attention. One Chicago Head Start program banned juice last year as part of an anti-obesity effort after finding that one out of five of its students was obese.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

FEMALE GUARD MEMBER DEMOTED FOR MUD-WRESTLING PARTY IN IRAQ

RALEIGH, N.C. – A female member of a National Guard military police unit was demoted for indecent exposure after a mud-wrestling party at the Armyrun Camp Bucca detention center in Iraq, a military spokesman said yesterday.

The party occurred October 30, as the 160th Military Police Battalion, an Army Reserve Unit from Tallahassee, Fla., prepared to turn over its duties to the Asheville-based 105th Military Police Battalion, said Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson, spokesman for detainee operations at Camp Bucca.

In the course of the transfer of duties, “some individuals in their exuberance decided to put together a mud-wrestling thing,” Colonel Johnson said yesterday by telephone. “There were females involved, and some members of the 105th also became involved, one female soldier in particular.”

Following an inquiry, that soldier was demoted and placed on restriction for participating in the event, specifically for indecent exposure, he said.

Four or five other members of the 105th who were spectators received counseling, Colonel Johnson said. He did not release the name of the demoted soldier. However, she was identified by the Daily News as Deanna Allen, 19, and the New York newspaper’s identification was confirmed by her mother, Ladyna Waldrop of Black Mountain.

Ms. Allen was demoted from specialist to private first class. She is still a guard at the camp, the newspaper said.

– Associated Press