Soccer Dad

Freeh-dom's just another word

When Richard Clarke and Paul O'neill got opportunities to hawk their Bush bashing books on 60 Minutes, supporters of the President (myself included) were rightly outraged at the free ride given these guys. Their charges were dutifully re-inforced by their interviewers instead of being subjected to any sort of critical inquiry.

Now that former FBI Director, Louis Freeh has had the opportunity to flack for his book critical of former President Clinton on "60 minutes", it's important to view this book in a similarly skeptical light.

I don't doubt that Clinton missed many of the opportunities to take action against Bin Laden. However, I think this was less a question of competence or corruption (though both of those may have been at issue) than it was a failure of imagination. I don't believe that many people (except for Clarke) took the terror threat seriously before Sept 11, 2001 and that even a Dole administration - had there been one - would have missed the signs too.

However two people in the Clinton administration seem to be particularly at fault for missing those signs. They would be then-CIA director George Tenet and then-FBI Director Freeh.

As is the case with many of these books the author has an axe to grind and an image to burnish. In Judge Freeh's case it's that he missed signs that he should have caught. In "Terrorism on Trial" written 3 months before 9/11, Daniel Pipes and Steven Emerson wrote of the information available from the embassy bombing trial that was available for domestic law enforcement to glean information on domestic terrorism. Had the FBI been vigilant in pursuing these leads, it may well have prevented 9/11. This is what Freeh missed and it had nothing to do with former President Clinton.

The Washington Post reported that there was enough of a doubt about one of Freeh's most explosive charges that led "60 Minutes" to air a rebuttal offered by Sandy Berger. (Who chose him?!)

Pundit Guy watched the segment and found Freeh credible. I think that Freeh should be treated somewhat skeptically.
UPDATE: Pundit Guy provides a link to the video.

Technorati Tags: Louis Freeh, Bill Clinton, FBI, 60 Minutes.