Ex-FBI Chief On Clinton's Scandals

[Shady]

Ex-FBI Chief On Clinton's Scandals

Freeh had another reason for wanting to outlast Clinton. It was the 1996 Khobar Towers terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia, where 19 U.S. servicemen died and more than 370 were wounded.

President Clinton had sent the FBI to investigate and promised Americans that those responsible would pay. “The cowards who committed this murderous act must not go unpunished. Let me say it again: we will pursue this. America takes care of our own. Those who did it must not go unpunished,” the president said.

But Freeh says the President failed to keep his promise.

The FBI wanted access to the suspects the Saudis had arrested but then-Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar said the only way to get access to prisoners would be if the president personally asked the crown prince for access.

Freeh says Clinton did not help him. He writes in his book:

“Bill Clinton raised the subject only to tell the crown prince that he understood the Saudi’s reluctance to cooperate, and then he hit Abdullah up for a contribution to the Clinton Presidential Library.”

“That’s a fact that I’m reporting,” says Freeh.

It’s a strong charge. And 60 Minutes wanted Mr. Clinton’s side of all this. He declined to talk to 60 Minutes, but told his spokesman to say: "The assertion that he asked the Saudis for funding for his library while he was president is absolutely false."

And Clinton’s former national security advisor, Sandy Berger, told us that Mr. Clinton did press the Saudis to cooperate with the FBI.

Freeh says to get access to the Saudis’ suspects, he eventually sought help from another president, the first President Bush. “Former President Bush, at my request interceded with the Saudis, spoke to Crown Prince, now King Abdullah, asked for his assistance and it happened just like that.”

The FBI concluded that Iran had orchestrated the Khobar attack, but Freeh said the White House did not want to pursue the prosecution, because Iran had just elected a new president and Clinton hoped to improve relations with Iran.

“I was very disappointed that the political leadership of the United States would tell the families of these 19 heroes that we were going to leave no stone unturned and find the people who killed them, to give that order to the director, because that’s the order that I got, and then to do nothing to assist and facilitate that investigation. In fact to undermine it,” says Freeh.

But he kept his fury private.

Why didn’t Freeh go public at the time? “I had a better response. What I said is, ‘This is too damn important to me to stop investigating it.’ And I didn’t stop investigating it. I waited for a change of administration, which happened when this President Bush was elected.”

And with the new president’s approval on Freeh’s last day as FBI director, he announced indictments of those responsible for the Khobar attack, but they’re still overseas and out of America’s reach.

Freeh told us that in 1993, after the first World Trade Center bombing, he realized the U.S. was in a global war with terrorists.

But then, after Al Qaeda terrorists blew a hole in the U.S.S. Cole and demolished two U.S. Embassies in East Africa, and America did little to retaliate and Freeh writes how frustrated that made him because he believes that not retaliating only encouraged more attacks.

In his book, he writes “America seemed like a lumbering giant stumbling around with a sign on its back reading ‘Kick me.”

He says the U.S. response to the attempted assassination of the first President Bush by the Iraqi intelligence service was also inadequate.

“We sent a missile into Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad after working hours. So, we were targeting the custodial staff and not the agents who had tried to kill the president,” says Freeh.

He also says the United States lacked the political will and spine to take military action against enemies, because the country was not on a war footing

60 Minutes

[newbie]

Freeh had a hate-on for Clinton from day one. Read Clinton's book for the other side of the story.

[Shady]

Freeh had a hate-on for Clinton from day one

That's what I orginally thought, until I also listened to what Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer has to say on similar subjects. He outlines more examples of the ball being dropped by the Clinton Administration.

MR. RUSSERT:  Do you believe we had at least 10 opportunities to take out Mr. bin Laden?

MR. SCHEUER:  Without question, sir.  They weren't perfect opportunities, clearly.  And Mr. Tenet, Mr. Clarke and others have gone out of their way to denigrate the quality of the intelligence.  But I think what Americans should know is that the defense of American citizens very seldom was part of the decision not to attack, and the 9-11 Commission reports it--documents that very clearly.  One time in December 1998, they were afraid to shoot at Osama bin Laden with a cruise missile because the shrapnel might have hit a mosque, which is an inanimate object.  One time they were afraid to shoot because bin Laden was having lunch with an Arab prince.

MR. RUSSERT:  But isn't this a presidential decision?

MR. SCHEUER:  Well, there are several books, Mr. Clarke's book included, that sometimes these things weren't even taken to the president.  But what I'm saying, sir, is if you have cancer and the doctor says "We have to operate" and there is only a 20 percent chance of your surviving, I think most Americans would take the shot.  The decision not to shoot or not to capture Osama bin Laden because of the fear of offending Muslim opinion, the fear of offending Europeans, the fear of killing an Arab prince--for goodness sake, there's lots of Arab princes.  But all of those things lead directly to 9/11. It's a mind-set that is somehow not properly devoted to protecting American lives.

Meet The Press

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear Shady,

what Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer has to say on similar subjects. He outlines more examples of the ball being dropped by the Clinton Administration.

I bought Scheuer's book, "Imperial Hubris" and read it a couple of times. While Clinton did call off a couple of opportunities to kill Bin Laden for fear of 'collateral damage' and the ensuing negative press, he did try to kill Bin Laden. Don't forget, this was pre-9/11, and public opinion in the US was vastly different than after.