What's going on here? FBI Director Freeh's frustration on this case sounds like he alreay knows who's guilty and would like it to come out, and/or knows why the bombing occurred and would like that reason to come out. (?)

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Saturday March 24 3:24 AM ET
FBI Reassigns Prosecution of Saudi Bombing-Reports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A long-running feud between the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington over the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing probe has spilled into public view with reports published in two news magazines.

FBI Director Louis Freeh has had the case reassigned to federal prosecutors in Virginia, over strong objections from U.S. Attorney Wilma Lewis, according to reports in both U.S. News and World Report and Time magazine published on Friday.

U.S. News said Freeh took the unusual step of reassigning the case because he had grown frustrated by missteps in the investigation of the bombing of the U.S. military barracks in Dharan, Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American service members.

Government sources told the magazine that Freeh was angered when Lewis failed to convince a key Saudi suspect, who had been extradited from Canada, to testify.

In a statement issued to the magazines, Lewis said every key decision in the investigation had been made with input from the highest levels of the Justice Department.

She also said her prosecutors had a number of conflicts with Freeh, many of which had been settled by former attorney general Janet Reno, ``not necessarily in accord with the Director's

desires.''

Lewis said the FBI chief's decision was ``not only ill-conceived and ill-considered, but is the latest gambit in an ongoing effort by Director Freeh to move this case from this office, which would not accede to his demands as to how the case should be prosecuted.''

Sources in Lewis' camp told Time that some in the FBI pressed for indictments early on but prosecutors considered the evidence far too thin.

FBI officials countered that the issue was never indictments but rather a lack of support from Lewis's office.

Lawyers familiar with the case were cited as saying Lewis gave the FBI what it needed and dismissed bureau complaints as a power play.

Freeh's attempt to transfer the case two years ago was blocked by Reno, according to U.S. News. However, his persistent complaints to Justice Department headquarters bore fruit this week, when Acting Deputy Attorney General Robert Mueller turned the Khobar Towers case over to the U.S. Attorney in Richmond, Va., at Freeh's request, according to the report.

Sources told U.S. News that in the last year, Freeh has slowly managed to win over Saudi officials to cooperate with the FBI and that he recently asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to help obtain further cooperation.

Administration sources told U.S. News Powell met with Freeh privately before his recent Middle East tour and that the Secretary conveyed the message to Saudi officials that the Bush administration is keenly interested in solving the Khobar Towers case.

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