Bush halts inquiry of FBI - breaks in the ranks?

[Hakki Alacakaptan]

This might have something to do with protecting former FBI boss Louis Freeh,
whose tenure at the post was a debacle that damaged Janet Reno something
awful. Freeh remained untouchable because of the GOP backlash that his
removal would provoke (see below). Clinton tried to ignore him, as he did
with Woolsey at the CIA, but had to live with his incompetence, as evidenced
by the suppression of Oklahoma Bombing evidence, the trumped-up spy case
against Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, the Hanssen case,  the 100's of
unaccounted-for FBI laptops and briefcases containing sensitive material,
etc. The Boston scandal is a really damning tale of FBI sleaze of the lowest
kind reminiscent of the prohibition-era Chicago cops. Although the scandal
predates Freeh, Bush may be shutting the lid on it out of fear that it could
trigger a domino effect against the GOP and upset Ashcroft's plans for a
police state.

GOP support for Freeh:

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/dont_quote_me/multi-page/d
ocuments/01636591.htm
(...)
Yet Freeh has proven himself to be a master politician. Appointed by Bill
Clinton to lead the FBI, he burnished his reputation by sucking up to
congressional Republicans, making it clear that he believed not nearly
enough was being done to investigate the Clinton fundraising scandals — a
tack that made it impossible for Clinton to fire him. As late as last week,
the New Yorker ran a long puff piece on Freeh, revealing that he had chosen
to hand his resignation to Bush rather than Clinton because he believed the
Clinton administration had stymied his efforts to investigate the 1996
bombing of an American military base in Saudi Arabia.
(...)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Who wants to be reminded of Clinton fundraising scandals when you've got
pals like Enron's Kenneth Lay? Who wants to be reminded of how the US
bungled in stopping ObL - and never stopped bungling, since he's till on the
run - when you've just shown him partying after he got 3.500 people killed
in the US?

Boston story follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/HallsOfJustice/hallsofjustice990819.html
FBI Enlists Dick Tracy
A Weekly Look Inside the Justice Department
By Beverley Lumpkin
ABCNEWS.com
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 20
(...)
the FBI just added the name of James J. “Whitey” Bulger to the list
(replacing the suspected railway serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz, who
surrendered in July).

     Bulger has long been reputed to be a major organized crime figure in
the Boston area, but has been on the lam for more than four years.

    More important, the FBI’s Boston office is the center of a major
investigation into allegations that for decades Bulger was an informant for
FBI agents who allowed him to commit crimes with impunity, and helped him
escape the attentions of other federal investigators.

     There has even been testimony that Bulger expected his FBI friends to
give him “a head start” if he were to be indicted.

     The scandal has caused the Justice Department to re-examine the FBI’s
rules on dealing with informants.
(...)

Hakki

 || -----Original Message-----

 || From:  Leslilake1 at aol.com

 ||

 || Anybody know more of the background on this?   Indications of

 || breaks in the

 || GOP ranks a/o increased spine on the part of the Dems?

 ||

 || Published on Friday, December 14, 2001 in the Boston Globe

 ||

 || Bush Halts Inquiry of FBI and Stirs Up a Firestorm

 || by Glen Johnson

 ||

 ||