Via Talk Left, we see the DC Rumor Mill is reporting that a number of indictments are going to be handed down in the Plame case:
The D.C. rumor mill is thrumming with whispers that 22 indictments are about to be handed down on the outed-CIA agent Valerie Plame case. The last time the wires buzzed this loud — that Tom DeLay would be indicted and would step down from his leadership post in the House — the scuttlebutters got it right.
Sweet mother of God that sounds like a lot of indictments, but hey, if they are guilty, my attitude remains ‘nail their asses to the wall.’ I don’t know if that means that that one person or several people will receive multiple indictments, or 22 people will be indicted, or what. Talk Left also has some clarifying terminology that you may find useful.
For the partisans on the right, Drudge is reporting some excerpts from former FBI Director Louis Freek’s new books that are going to get the Clinton bashing back into high gear:
In the book, “My FBI,” he writes, “The problem was with Bill Clinton — the scandals and the rumored scandals, the incubating ones and the dying ones never ended. Whatever moral compass the president was consulting was leading him in the wrong direction. His closets were full of skeletons just waiting to burst out.”
The director sought to distance himself from Clinton because of Whitewater, refusing a White House pass that would have enabled him to enter the building without signing in. This irked Clinton. “I wanted all my visits to be official,” says Freeh. “When I sent the pass back with a note, I had no idea it would antagonize the president,” he tells Wallace.
Returning the pass was only the start of the rift. Later, relations got so bad that President Clinton reportedly began referring to Freeh as “that F…ing Freeh.” Says Freeh, “I don’t know how they referred to me and I really didn’t care,” he says. “My role and my obligation was to conduct criminal investigations. He, unfortunately for the country and unfortunately for him, happened to be the subject of that investigation,” Freeh says.
In another revelation, Freeh says the former president let down the American people and the families of victims of the Khobar Towers terror attack in Saudi Arabia. After promising to bring to justice those responsible for the bombing that killed 19 and injured hundreds, Freeh says Clinton refused to personally ask Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to allow the FBI to question bombing suspects the kingdom had in custody – the only way the bureau could secure the interviews, according to Freeh. Freeh writes in the book, “Bill Clinton raised the subject only to tell the crown prince that he understood the Saudis’ reluctance to cooperate and then he hit Abdullah up for a contribution to the Clinton Presidential Library.” Says Freeh, “That’s a fact that I am reporting.”
All of this is great news, because what, with the war in Iraq, the DeLay indictments the dual hurricanes, the Senate and the President wrangling over torture and abuse, the SCOTUS nomination, the rising gas prices and the soon to hit home heating costs, let’s face it- things were just getting a little too boring and a little too civil.
In all honesty, we are now to the point that sometimes I wake up in the morning, check the headlines, and get so overwhelmed I don’t know what to write about, leading invariably to someone accusing me in the comments of intentionally avoiding an issue.
DougJ
In the spirit of BJ civility Thursday, can we all agree that we hate Louis Freeh? And that whatever we might think of Bush’s appointment of Michael Brown, that Clinton’s appointment of Freeh was far, far more catastrophic?
That guy should have been fired for Ruby Ridge, should have been fired for Waco, should have been fired for the Richard Jewell fiasco, should have been fired for not finding Eric Rudolph…tell me when you want me to stop
Zifnab
I think that’s “Lots of Red Meat” :-p
Zifnab
Hey, John. I am highly offended that you have managed to neglect an issue of international importance over the past week. What with all that’s happened within our nation, one event seems to have oh-so-convinently slipped past your radar. I thought you at least tried to be vaguely objective on this site, but I guess I was wrong.
Not a single post about the Texas-OU game on Saturday.
I am shocked an appalled, sir. Shocked. And. Appalled.
OU still sucks.
demimondian
Huh? I must not have gotten the memo.
Clinton should have fired Freeh right after he fired Reno.
Jesse
Louis Freeh was an abomination as an FBI director. I think he more than anyone is responsible for 9/11. He is the reason that the FBI was in the technological stone age. According to Ron Kessler’s book Inside the FBI, the first thing Freeh did when he got into his office was to remove the computer from his desk.
Steve
Wow, Louis Freeh didn’t like Clinton because of the non-existent Whitewater scandal. Why doesn’t he just write that he hated Clinton for having Vince Foster killed.
I don’t know if the stuff about the Saudis is true, but if it is, it’s right up there with giving the Saudis a free plane ride out after 9/11. Both are inexcusable and both are symptomatic of the fact that the Saudis basically, you know, own the world.
The radical elements in Saudi Arabia harbor and fund more terrorists than Saddam Hussein could have dreamed of in a million years. But politics is the art of the possible, and if neither Clinton nor Bush will touch these guys, I guess it’s never going to happen.
Blue Neponset
William Sessions was the FBI director and Bush 41 was President during Ruby Ridge.
srv
Bush will just do what his daddy did for all those Iran-Contra guys. Then they can all get promotions when Jeb runs. Just like Poindexter, Abrams, Negroponte…
Vladi G
Who cares?! Freek (I like John’s version better) should have been fired anyway!
DougJ
Okay, so he wasn’t responsible for Ruby Ridge. I think he was the official most responsible for not stopping 9/11. Good enough?
You know when the Bushies try to blame 9/11 on Clinton? I think that most of their arguments are garbage, but if they wanted to say “It’s Clinton’s fault for appointing Louis Freeh”, then, well, it’s pretty tough to argue with that.
srv
Yeah, Sessions was running things for Ruby Ridge and Waco. After the FBI BBQ at Waco, Sessions directly contradicted Reno on Nightline – she had said she finally ordered a raid b/c they told her the kids were being abused. Sessions said he didn’t know what she was talking about.
And they still didn’t fire the guy. Everybody was afraid of him for some reason.
Completely unrelated tidbit: Vince Foster was found dead the morning after Sessions was finally sacked.
Geek, Esq.
Re: Karl Rove.
They call him Flipper . . .
Karl is in deep shit. Wonder who he’s going to squeal on?
Blue Neponset
I am not defending Freeky, but I have noticed Ruby Ridge being put on Clinton’s plate before and I wanted to correct it.
My theory is Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh killed Vince Foster. I came to that conclusion because I don’t like either one of them and I want those who believe everything they read to pass my lies on to someone else. If Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin can do it why can’t I?
DougJ
Who is Karl ratting out I wonder?
Was over on the huffpost site to read about this and I promise I will never complain about a commenter on this site again.
Tim F
I believe that Clinton pushed hard for Reno to fire Freeh but she told him to piss off. It certainly fits her MO. Anyhow, once the “scandals” started rolling in he couldn’t touch either of them. Thanks for that, Newt.
srv
Well, first you want to correct the record, and now you want to percolate falsehoods… Ingenious!
I don’t think Sessions’ (or Hillarys) ninjas did Vince in. But people usually off themselves for a reason. Since we don’t know what it was, one should assume he had a secret and others would exploit it (see Hoover).
Tim F
What, you want to blog about cats? These are salad days for you guys.
Gratefulcub
I was wondering aloud ‘how fun would watergate have been with the Daily Show’? It seems we might get a taste.
DougJ
I hope you’re right Gratefulcub.
Lines
Will we get a televised perp walk? I want that on permanent loop. I think I can make up small handheld displays that do nothing but play a loop of it, and I’m betting it would sell like hotcakes.
slide
Freeh was a horrible FBI director. I hate to have to say that because behind me on a wall as we speak is a photo of myself and Louis Freeh shaking hands.
Part of the reason the FBI is so backwards technically is because of his aversion to computers and what computer technology could do for an organization. He really was a disgrace and for him to now complain about all the Clinton scandals is really quite quaint as we sit here waiting for the 22 indictments of top white house officials.
slide
I want Rove in a Susan McDougal leg iron shuffle wearing his bright prison orange.
DougJ
Is that really true about Freeh and computers? Jesus, these things are always worse than I could possibly imagine.
Carlos
The Khobar Towers legacy is especially odious. More Cinton bashing should be in order. I comment furhter in a peice if anyone is interested.
http://carlosdelfuego.blogspot.com/2005/10/lie-of-clintons-justice.html
Maureen Hay
For what you need to know about Freeh: Counterintelligent.
Lines
Hey Carlos,
you might want to think about spell checking your blog entries before posting them, maybe then we can take your tin-foil hat theories and your liberal bashing a little more seriously.
Until then, hop away little girl, your pathetic Clinton bashing is right up there with Freeh’s.
Tim F
Yep. The FBI didn’t have access to Google until something like last year.
All those movies where G-men track down a killer using their sophisticated mainframe database? Real FBI agents jerked off to those.
Tim F
Maureen,
Great link. That should pretty much wrap up the Freeh business.
Lines
“New York subway under threat: …”
Full Article
Just to throw some fuel on the conspiracy theories, here’s your national emergency to hide the perp walk tonight.
ET
What John no stories about
Tom and Katie’s baby
Ben and Jen’s selling the marital abode
Nick and Jessicas possible impending split
Lindsey Lohan’s latest accident
Wake up, wake up, wake up ;)
Otto Man
Way to clear up that “incompetent assclown” image, Freeh. What a douchebag.
M. Scott Eiland
Tom and Katie’s baby
John should deal with that one along with the upcoming story about the nationwide rain of toads–because you *know* that’s the next impending sign of the apocalypse.
Bob
Way back in the afternoon Steve nailed it. The Saudis punk Bush whenever they feel like it, but Clinton spent some figurative time under the Saudi desk. Seems I read about Clinton’s kowtowing to the Saudis in one of the more recent books. I used to have an old Time magazine (serviceman’s edition) from late 1944-early 1945 with a cover of King Saud and a big story about FDR sucking up to him, so there’s a long history of White House occupants genuflecting towards the oilfields. Back then the Saudis were shipping oil to the Nazis via Franco in Spain and pledging neutrality, so it was big news when the Allies were streaming into Germany that Saud decided it was time to declare war against Hitler (even though he and Adolf pretty much agreed on the Jewish Problem).
Ironically, their best buddy, Bush, has unleashed all sorts of shit in the Saudis’ neighborhood to the benefit of the hated Shiite Iranians.
As far as Freeh being a lousy FBI Director, can anyone name a good one? Starting with Hoover, and after Nixon dusted him and replaced him with L. Patrick Gray, they’ve always been miserable pieces of shit. The latest one, Mueller, was covering up for the Big Boys during the BCCI investigation. That’s his resume. They’ve all been garbage.
Pug
Just looked at Talked Left’s definitions of some of the legal mumbo jumbo.
Target letter: It’s like that red dot on somebody’s forehead like you see in the movies? Blam.
JoeTX
First, it shouldn’t be “partisan” to expect HONESTY and ACCOUNTABILITY from our government. The “Partisans” are the ones who have been the appologists for this administration and looked the other way while they raped us of all our tax dollars.
A new Bill Clinton bashing book? Give me a break, the dude hasn’t been in the whitehouse or 5 years. I guess this will give Fox somebody to talk about instead of all the scandals going on right now, brilliant!
jobiuspublius
OK, no more Bubbles Coulter or Looee The Freak for you. It’s a Post-Katrina world with plenty of poor people to displace, votes to steal, property to take, prisoners to torture, veterans to shaft, cronies to position, crooked pols to indicte/convict, contracts to abuse, disasters to profiteer from, salamis to hide, words to spell, …
juandos
Wow! Now there is some incredibly lame, liberal trolls on what used to be a pretty fair blog site…
Reading the crap here is yet another testament to the fact that tax dollars spent on public education was money well wasted…
Especially here with all these short bus riders…
Steve
Apparently YOUR public education didn’t include subject-verb agreement. You might want to work on that before you start lobbing insults at others’ intelligence.
Krista
Thank you! I think that is what is pissing off a lot of people – this prevalent attitude that it is partisan (or treasonous)to demand accountability and transparency from one’s government. Isn’t that supposed to be one of the major features of a democratic society? Or did I miss the memo?
Steve: Isn’t it delightful to read those “Youse guys are so stoopid” posts?
Steve
It sure is. I have to point out, though, that here in New York “youse guys” is an acceptable construction. But stoopid is as stoopid does.
Krista
It is? Funny…I hear “youse guys” up here a lot too.
Don
Well, conservatives are always going on about how much they miss the Reagan years. Enjoy.
Mac Buckets
No, the partisans to whom John refers, no doubt, are the ones who demand “honesty and accountability” only from their political opponents. When their guys are in the driving seat, the blindfolds go on and their “transparency” talk shifts to “witchhunts” and “vast _____-wing conspiracies.” Swing a dead cat and you’ll find a dozen such partisans.
Mac Buckets
Sorry, John, just an expression.
jg
I’m with ya on the first sentence but ‘were money well spent’ doesn’t sound right to me. You sure he got it wrong there?
Tractarian
Yeah, he got it wrong because “was” doesn’t agree with “dollars.”
Anyway, according to the NYT, Rove Says He Wasn’t Involved in CIA Leak:
Talk about your non-denial denials.
Sinequanon
Hey John,
Screw it! There IS alot going on and I often wonder if it is fate, circumstance or intention. Whatever, it IS overwhelming. I have the same damned problem. Because I feel we are losing sight of some incredibly important issues which are not being reported because of the new, almost hallucenogenic extreme events out there. It’s all so zany and just insane. Like a very famous opera singer once told me, “this opera [insert unending maniacal policial bullshit] shit gives me a fuckin headache.”
N-