Freeh takes shot at Clinton administration
Former FBI director and NB native writes book, claims former president took Saudi money after bombings
By: Jim Hague, Reporter staff writer 10/23/2005
zwire.com
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh, a North Bergen native, wrote a book about his eight years as the head of the nation's top law enforcement agency in which he blames former President Bill Clinton for having a soft stance on terrorism, especially after the June 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 United States servicemen.
In his book, My FBI, that was released last week by St. Martin's Press, Freeh writes that Clinton turned a blind eye towards the Saudis because then-Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, now King Abdullah, was donating large sums of money to fund the soon-to-be built Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas.
Freeh meets the press Freeh, who lived in North Bergen throughout his young life and attended St. Joseph of the Palisades High School before studying law at Rutgers in the 1970s, appeared on the NBC news information program Meet the Press last Sunday to discuss the book and these new allegations against the former president, who appointed Freeh to the position as the nation's "top cop" in 1993.
Freeh told Meet the Press host Tim Russert that he had "usually reliable sources" who said that Clinton tolerated a lack of cooperation from the Crown Prince in the investigation concerning the Khobar Towers bombing because the Saudi leader promised to donate to the Clinton Library.
Three months after the bombing, Clinton met in the Rose Garden with the Crown Prince. Clinton insisted at the time that he asked the prince for cooperation in the investigation into the bombing that was being headed by Freeh.
Freeh, however, writes: "The story that came back to me from 'usually reliable sources' as they say in Washington, was that Bill Clinton briefly raised the subject only to tell the crown prince that he certainly understood the Saudis' reluctance to cooperate. Then, according to my sources, he hit Abdullah up for a contribution to the still-to-be-built Clinton presidential library."
Russert asked Freeh what the sources were.
"Well, the usually reliable sources in this case are very senior people who had firsthand knowledge of the meeting, who have identity with the principals at the meeting," Freeh told Russert. "They're not second-hand sources. They're not hearsay people. I did confirm it with them after the book came out because of some of the questions, and I feel very confident on their information. I'm not going to identify my sources, obviously, but I think you have to look beyond that Sept. 24 meeting and put the whole Khobar investigation into context."
Freeh added, "The New Yorker magazine article, which was in the spring of 2001, actually corroborates the one part of the story which is that the president didn't seriously or vigorously pursue the request, the request being to get FBI agents into the prison in Saudi Arabia to talk to detainees who would ultimately tell us that the Iranian government was responsible for this attack."
A controversial claim
Russert then read a statement from a Clinton spokesman: "It is disappointing the level to which Freeh will stoop to sell books," the statement read. "Among many other untruths, he invents baseless claims about the Khobar Towers investigation. Despite Freeh's claims about a meeting he did not attend, President Clinton pushed firmly and successfully for Saudi cooperation with the investigation, which led to the eventual indictments of the criminals, and he never asked for library funds."
Russert then said that he had interviewed a National Security Council official who said he debriefed Clinton and a translator that was at the meeting between Clinton and King Abdullah and confirmed that Clinton did request cooperation into finding the people responsible for the bombings and that there was no mention whatsoever of donations to the Clinton library.
"Look, the president's entitled to his denials," Freeh responded. "This is a president that makes public denials from time to time. We know that. Let me just give you what we would call corroborating evidence, which is what investigators and prosecutors talk about.
"For over two years, I pressed the president and his national security advisor to pursue one simple request with the crown prince. And the request was to get FBI agents into prison cells in Saudi Arabia, where three of the detainees who had actually performed the bombing. These are members of the Saudi Hezbollah, which is an agent of the Iranian government."
Freeh added, "This was an extraordinary request. FBI agents had never been in Saudi Arabia, let alone in a prison debriefing Saudi nationals. For two and a half years, we got no movement on that request. We would write the talking points for the president. The Saudis would tell us they didn't raise it. They didn't raise it seriously. And nothing happened for two and a half years."
Who got the ball rolling?
Freeh then claimed that it was former President George H.W. Bush, the father of the current president, who stepped in and helped the investigation by speaking to the Crown Prince.
"Then on Sept. 26, at my request, former President Bush, with the same set of talking points, met with the Crown Prince in the Saudi residence out in McLean, Virginia, and made the simple request," Freeh told Russert. "FBI agents need to get into that prison. President Bush called me after the meeting, and he said, 'I think you'll be hearing from the Saudis.' "
Freeh said eight weeks later, FBI agents were allowed into the Saudi prisons to interrogate the suspects involved in the bombing.
"I think it's very powerful circumstantial evidence," Freeh said. "This was an administration that was not interested in finding out that the Iranian government had blown up Khobar Towers."
Russert said to Freeh that there are officials who believe that Clinton should be prosecuted if Freeh's claim of Clinton taking money while in office from a foreign leader was true.
"Would you go under oath and say that you know for certain that Bill Clinton made this request to the Saudis?" Russert asked.
"It's reporting information from a source," Freeh said. "I wasn't at the meeting. I'm not making the allegation myself. I'm repeating it because I think it's very significant. It's also absolutely consistent with all the other evidence with respect to Khobar. I don't think it is a criminal offense, by the way. It may be an ethics offense."
An adversarial relationship
Despite being appointed as the FBI director by Clinton after the former Arkansas governor was elected as the nation's 42nd president in 1992, Freeh held an adversarial position with Clinton. Russert asked was there bad blood between the two, considering there were plenty of FBI-funded investigations behind Clinton's activities.
"Well, you'd have to ask him about that," Freeh said. "I didn't have any bad blood. I didn't have any animus towards him. I have great respect for him, anybody that holds that office. I think he turned the office into a personal disgrace. That was his own business. But that didn't have anything to do with what I was doing as the FBI director."
Freeh closed by speaking about the motivation for writing the tell-all book now.
"You can't tell your story when you're a public official," Freeh said. "I wanted to tell the story about the FBI because I'm so proud of them. And I got tired reading other people's books. You know, they've got you at meetings you never attended. They've got you saying things you never said. This is my story and I'm very proud of it."
Jay Carson, a spokesman for Clinton, called Freeh "a man who's desperate to clear his name."
"This is clearly a total work of fiction by a man who's desperate to clear his name and sell books," Carson said. "This is a man who contributed $20,000 to the Republican cause, including President Bush, in the last presidential election. It's unfortunate that he would stoop to this level in his attempt to rewrite history."
After graduating from Rutgers and Rutgers Law School in 1974, Freeh served as a special agent in the FBI from 1975 through 1981. At that time, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, where he worked with former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. During that stint, Freeh was the chief of the Attorney General's Organized Crime Unit and later earned the title of associate U.S. Attorney.
In 1991, Freeh was named a U.S. District Court Judge and was nominated to the position of director of the FBI, taking over on Sept. 1, 1993 and serving until his resignation in June of 2001.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.
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