Clinton aides battle Freeh over '60 minutes' book

drudgereport.com ^ | Oct 8, 2005 | Drudge

[Zeppo]

Under strong pressure from former President Bill Clinton's advisers, CBS's ''60 Minutes'' has agreed to read a statement denying an explosive charge being made on Sunday nght's program by former FBI director Louis Freeh, the WASHINGTON POST reports.

In the statement, Samuel ``Sandy'' Berger, Clinton's national security adviser, challenges Freeh's assertion that Clinton failed to press Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to cooperate with an investigation of the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in that country, and used the occasion to ask for a contribution to his presidential library. The Saudis made such a donation last year _ six years after the 1998 meeting.

Berger, who was at the meeting, said: ``The president strongly raised the need for Saudi officials to cooperate with us on the investigation into the attack on Khobar Towers at the time when the FBI was attempting to gain access to the suspects. The president did not raise in any fashion the issue of his library.''

Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said he told CBS's Mike Wallace that he had supportive accounts from five other former officials at the meeting, including those briefed about a private conversation between Clinton and Abdullah.

``The fair journalistic question is why they didn't call and get comments for their story from people who were in the room, such as Sandy Berger, and why they took until Friday afternoon to get that done,'' said Lanny Davis, a former White House lawyer, who tried to persuade ''60 Minutes'' producer Jeff Fager to allow him or another Clinton spokesman to appear on Sunday night's segment.

Carson, who called the Freeh book ``a total work of fiction.''

Developing...

[Southack]

"Former President Bill Clinton has hired a new spokesman, a veteran of the Howard Dean 2004 presidential campaign and New York City's 2012 Olympics bid. Jay Carson was also a former press secretary for Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and has worked for the Democratic National Committee. Clinton's office announced Carson's hiring Tuesday."

It's like Senator Kerry hiring 8 time Presidential campaign loser Bob Shrum in 2003/4.

Carson lost in every event above.
Howard Dean 2004 presidential campaign...Lost.
New York City's 2012 Olympics bid........Lost.
Press secretary for Sen. Tom Daschle.....Lost.
Worked for the Democratic National Committee...Lost control of the Senate.

In the past, Democrats at least had talent on tap. Now they're down to a few mega-personalities and an overtly corrupt news media.

That can't be enough to put them back into power.

[Southack]

"Mmmm, just a guess, but I have a feeling Katie and Matt are not having Louis Freeh on three mornings in a row this week to discuss his book....."

BWAA HA ha!

That's the funniest post of the week!

[beckett]

How delightful that Clinton now has to go to such lengths to discredit his own FBI Director, a man he himself nominated!

Little Billy Clinton will never be free of sleazy doings. It's all a part of the nature of the man.

[gpapa]

Sandy Berger after work.........

[Bush gal in LA]

Sandy Burgler? Is this the same guy who smuggled high class security documents out in his pants and socks. Then said when asked what he took'' He doesn't remember cause they flew out the window of his car?! Yeah right, he's a reliable source!

[leprechaun9]

The Clinton "knee pad" team will saturate the TV networks. Not only Burglur, Davis, Paul By-golly, but I expect to see Susan Ostrich, Eleanor Rodham Clift, James Carnival, Senator Dickhead Turbin (D-IL), Reverend Charleton, Jessie Jettison, and Dingy Harry Reid (D-NV)!

[jeffers]

Yes, Clinton was a regular ball of fire in going after terrorism in 1996. First his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, ordered the US Embassy in Khartoum closed, as of February 7, 1996, denying the CIA any chance to observe and report on Bin Laden,

Then on March 3, 1996, Timothy Carney, US Ambassador to Sudan, David Shinn, Director of East African Affairs for the US State Department, and an unnamed CIA asset from the Directorate of Operations, Africa Division, met with Elfatih Erwa, Sudan's Minister of Defense, to discuss ways the Sudan could improve their relations with the US. The US position was presented, and five days later, Sudan's Defense Minister offered the CIA official Bin Laden on a platter, however and where-ever we wanted him. The CIA official replied, "We have nothing we can hold him on."

Sudan's Minister of Defense then offered to share Sudan's intelligence on Bin Laden with the US and this offer was again refused.

In June, Khobar Towers was bombed, killing 19 US Servicemen.

In July, Clinton campaign contributor with "Friend of Bill Clinton" status Mansoor Ijaz, told Steve Schwartz, Sudan Desk Officer of the US State Department that he was meeting with Hassan al Turabi, then Speaker of Sudan's Parliament. Instead of discussing the sharing of intelligence information, he was told to carry a threat to the Speaker, specifically, "We're watching every move he makes. He moves one step out of line, just one step out of line, we're going to have his ass."

Later on in September, al Turabi had faxed a personal letter to the State Department, the CIA, and The National Security Council at the White House, asking for warmer realtions with the US, and Ijaz was called in to speak with Sandy Berger.

Instead of discussing the proposition, Berger was hostile, asking Ijaz why he had been in Sudan and why he had helped get this letter written. Ijaz explained, and then asked Berger why the US was threatening Sudan, to which Berger say he didn't believe that event had ever happened.

Ijaz offered to get proof, did so, and was then told by Sandy Berger, "Let's talk about all this after the election."

Bin Laden left Sudan for Afghanistan on May 18, 1996

At least two other Sudanese efforts to share intelligence with the US on Bin Laden's operations in Sudan after the 2006 election were refused, one through Indiana Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton, and another face to face between Ijaz and Clinton.

In 1997, Madeline Albright announced a plan to cooperate with Sudanese Intelligence on September 24, but in mid October, Clinton National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Clinton Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke went around Albright to nix the plan.

American Intelligence did not see the trove of information possessed by the Sudanese Intelligence branch, passports, records of visits to Bin Laden, photographs, visas, movement reports and character assessments for top and mid level Al Qaeda affiliates, all offered and on the table, no strings attached, all while Clinton was supposedly eager to fight terrorism, until July, 2001.

-"Losing Bin Laden", Richard Miniter, Regnery Publishing, reporter for, among others, the Washington Post, The New York Times, The W#all Street Journal, and the The Sunday Times of London.

[msnimje]

[longfellow]

I want to see the books that come out when this guy is dead, I will bet anything there are people who have even better stories but are still scared of this pos.

[holden]

Clinton's former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Wyche Fowler (MEI, and on the Saudi payroll): "... Wahabism, it does teach tolerance for Jews and Christians..."

Yes, that's why there are so many churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia--NOT!

Yes, that's why through the hands of 19 Saudi nationals we had nearly 3000 dead "infidels" in NY, DC and PA.

Thanks, I needed that hearty laugh.

I still wonder whether Clinton's July '96 TWA800 cover-up might've become an opportunity (like unto FBI files) to extort dollars by the millions from the Saudis. Of course, more recent Riyals are significantly higher in value vis-a-vis the dollar (3.75 versus ~5), so they can afford to kick back some to Presidential libraries.

HF

[Jeff Chandler]

The Republicans don't consider it "cricket" to hold Democrats responsible for their actions.

[Jeff Chandler]

They're overgrown adolescents with authority complexes. It's not rational. It's all about the emotions. Republicans, capitalists, heterosexuals, men... they're all father figures.

You hit the nail on the head. I noticed this when I was still a liberal. The Boomer generation never grew up. I blame the drugs.

[foolscap]

Of all the people the Clintons could get to defend them Sandy has got to be one of the worst. At least they could let some time pass for his conviction to cool off in the public mind They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel. Oh wait, scraping the bottom of the barrel is what the Clintons are all about. I guess it is just more of the same. Never mind.

[Cincinna]

Clinton hires new gofer.
Resumé: Howard Dean and Tom Daschle... remember them?

[elfman2]

As an FBI Director, I’d have expected Freed to have done a little investigating of 60 minutes history of railroading Clinton attackers.

The 60 Minutes Deception

[montag813]

Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said he told CBS's Mike Wallace that he had supportive accounts from five other former officials at the meeting

A few years ago, Berger, Albright and Roger Cresson all said that they were in on the conference call with Sudan, and that Clinton did not refuse to take Bin Laden when they offered him up. Yet Clinton then gave his famous speech at the LIA in which he himself admitted that he did just that.

[Peach]

Thanks for the ping; this should at least give a little exposure to the story and I'm hoping that most people are suffering Clinton scandal fatigue.

[Caliban]

No other former Clintonista "flunky" is willing or able to defend Bill any more. Bottom of the barrel scraping is all that is left, any former Clintonista worth their weight is standing back so that when Hillary runs she has a cadre of semi credible fluny's to pick from who can defend her from her husband's past...

[samtheman]

CBS the lying Al Jezzera network of America

Correction: CBS, one of the lying Al Jezzera networks of America.

[Fishtalk]

I really had problems with the fact that Freeh seemed to turn a blind eye in the Clintons direction but maybe now we'll find out why.

In that Drudge snippet, Freeh asserts something to the effect "I am stating this as statement of fact".

I just don't believe he would have been so firm if he didn't have solid proof somewhere.

The guy was head of the FBI! Maybe he had a pen in his pocket that recorded the conversation. Maybe he had a bug in the room. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But I'm convinced he's got some proof somewhere. Freeh knows full well the Clintons were going to come out swinging.

That said, I must wonder why on earth Freeh waited so long to come out with this book. If I'm right and he gathered proof and documentation during his many years of exile from the Clinton administration, why on earth wait what, six years after that admin is gone?

I heard that Freeh didn't meet with Clinton during his last six years as head of the FBI. Now isn't that odd?