Bill O'Reilly blasts Ashcroft and Reno for Corruption

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | January 4, 2002 | Bill O'Reilly

[editor-surveyor]

There is something very wrong inside the Justice Department of the United States and there has been for some time.

Various newspapers are now reporting that under President Clinton, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was ordered to stand down on various terrorist investigations.

One of the most egregious examples is the failure of the bureau to investigate fundraising organizations like "The Holy Land Fund," based in Arizona, which allegedly funneled millions of dollars in donations to Middle Eastern terrorists.

Although the Bush administration has now frozen the assets of the fund, it was apparently allowed to operate for 8 years despite the FBI intelligence that was presented to Mr. Clinton and then-Attorney General Janet Reno. One bureau source told the press that Ms. Reno felt any investigation of "The Holy Land Fund" would lead to anti-Arab sentiment and therefore was opposed to such an investigation.

As always, Ms. Reno will not comment on any aspect of her tenure as attorney general that is at all controversial.

There is no question now that under Ms. Reno and then-FBI Director Louis Freeh, Americans were put at great risk. The Wen Ho Lee-Chinese espionage case still has not been explained, and the fact that the 19 Sept. 11 terrorists weren't even on the FBI's radar screen is about as frightening as Janet Reno's passion for political correctness.

The current attorney general, John Ashcroft, has made no attempt to examine Ms. Reno's bizarre behavior or update the public about the Marc Rich investigation or anything else. Mr. Ashcroft specializes in looking dour and stonewalling. While Congress is attempting to get documents about President Clinton's dubious foreign fundraising and FBI abuses in Boston, Ashcroft is refusing to cooperate at all.

And this isn't a political issue. Conservative Congressman Dan Burton and liberal Congressman Barney Frank have actually joined forces to try and pry this information from Ashcroft's hands. If that's not amazing, then nothing is.

The truth is that for nearly 8 years, the Justice Department has been corrupt and inefficient. Janet Reno botched nearly every important decision she had to make including Waco and Elian Gonzalez. Time after time, Ms. Reno refused to approve investigative initiatives sought by the FBI. And time after time, Mr. Freeh sat in his plush government office refusing to let the American people know what was happening.

Now Mr. Ashcroft is doing the same thing. There is no reason on this earth why the public should not know the status of the Rich pardon probe. Or the anthrax investigation. And what about Enron, Mr. Attorney General – are you going to look into that? Millions of Americans were hosed while some Enron executives made millions.

How about a comment on that, Mr. Ashcroft?

Here is the whole article.

[editor-surveyor]

"Reading this, you would think O'Really is an anti-Clinton crusader"

To me, O'Reilly is mostly a pro-O'Reilly crusader.
I've never been one of his fans; I view him as wilfully uninformed on many critical issues, but with this one he is touching one of our pet 3rd rails here at FR:    Is the Bush Justice Dept. covering for the Clinton crimes?

I'm growing more troubled with Ashcroft by the day.     I was hoping for an administration that I could get behind 100%    I'm growing tired of carping; I'd like to smile for a while.

[Howlin]

There have been accusations, especially in Muslim countries, that the U.S. government altered the videotape it released last month in which bin Laden talked about planning the attacks.

I hope that's not your evidence that the whole world is laughing at us.

That article is filled with hearsay and sounds awfully whiney.

[Howlin]

shouldn't surprise anyone, especially Keyes supporters and those of us who were less than enthusiastic about Bush carrying the flag for the GOP.

All of you? How many of you were there anyway?

Oh, please tell us all how Mr. Keyes would have handled this. We're all dying to know.

[Howlin]

but with this one he is touching one of our pet 3rd rails here at FR: Is the Bush Justice Dept. covering for the Clinton crimes?

When you say "our," exactly who are you speaking for?

[Minuteman23]

Thanks for the ping. O'Reilly may be an obnoxious s.o.b. but he has no sacred cows.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up! I do think it was a stretch for him to conclude Now Mr. Ashcroft is doing the same thing.

IMHO, the DOJ has been reasonably forthcoming on the anthrax probe. I certainly don't expect prosecutors to reveal information that might alert suspects under surveillance, especially when national security is involved.

The Rich pardon is another story - maybe. His worldwide connections are very odd for an ordinary businessman.

And, I'm sure that the ENRON case will be litigious in the extreme - both civil and criminal - state and federal. I cannot envision a consolidated case that would cover all the potential plaintiffs and complainants.

[backhoe]

harpseal has the right of it- total, absolute corruption. It will take years ( if ever ) to purge the clinton-appointed rot from all of the federal gov't. One of many reasons he should never have been elected, re-elected, or left in office after impeachment.

[ProudGenXLibertarian]

The reason that the tapes were supposedly edited, is that they contained embarassing information about the Saudis. In essence, basically saying it was a well known fact that the Saudis knew what Bin-Laden was up to. If this is so way off-base, please explain to me why 18 of the 20 hijackers were saudi citizens, but we have not made one single demand of the Saudi government. We have bombed Afghanistan and destroyed the Taliban, (rightly, I might add) but have take no measures against the Saudi government, why??

[Howlin]

You are wrong; the tapes did, in fact, contain that very language; it was the transcript that was "edited."

And if you are wondering why we haven't bombed Saudia Arabia, perhaps you need a basic course in international affairs.

[CommiesOut]

Of course not. AP is quite careful, and rightly so.
Their article is nothing more than a clumsy damage control.
Check EU, Asia or AU media. They don't have to be careful.

[ninonitti]

His uninformed "opinion" of Ashcroft's job performance is a shame

The shame doesn't lie with Mr. O'Reilly or his opinions. It rests on the US Department of Justice and John Ashcroft.

He has backpedaled on every meaningful investigation into the outrages under his predecessor and in turn her predecessor.

Can anyone here name any signifigant moves by Ashcroft to expose or root out corruption in the DOJ or FBI?

[Mortimer Snavely]

Run a search and look up "Alan Keyes."

[t-shirt]

Johnnet Reno Ashcroft

[Howlin]

So you don't know?

[been_lurking]

Bill O'Reilly blasts Ashcroft and Reno for Corruption

Isn't that what he gets paid to do?

[ProudGenXLibertarian]

I dont need a course in International Affairs, to recognize hypocrisy when I see it.

[Howlin]

What's your point? That the U.S. government is a hypocrite? Who didn't know that. How does that justify us bombing Saudia Arabia?

[t-shirt]

I can't!

Release the Subpoenaed criminal evidence on Bill Clinton to Congress Ashcroft! Now!!!