The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright [135]
The agents on the ground were demoralized by the obstacles that Saudi investigators put in their path. They were not allowed to interview witnesses or question suspects. They couldn’t even leave the bomb site. In the opinion of the agents, the Saudis were obstructing the investigation because they didn’t want to expose the existence of internal opposition in the Kingdom. The impression, quickly formed by agents with little experience in the Middle East, was that the Saudi royal family was hanging on to power by their fingernails.
Freeh was initially optimistic that the Saudis would cooperate, but O’Neill became more and more frustrated as the late-night meetings drifted on a sea of pleasantries. As they were flying home after one of their several trips to the Kingdom together, Freeh was upbeat. “Wasn’t that a great trip? I think they’re really going to help us.”
O’Neill replied, “You’ve got to be kidding. They didn’t give us anything. They were just shining sunshine up your ass.”
For the remainder of the flight, Freeh refused to speak to him. But, recognizing O’Neill’s passion and talents, he sent him back to Saudi Arabia to continue lobbying for cooperation. O’Neill met with Prince Naif and other officials. They listened grudgingly to his pleas. Intelligence agencies across the world are jealous and insular organizations, not inclined to share information, which O’Neill appreciated. He was used to cadging what he could through charm and persistence, but the Saudis were seemingly immune to his wooing. They were far more close-mouthed than any other police organization he had ever worked with. The Americans were infuriated to learn that a few months earlier Saudi authorities had intercepted a car from Lebanon that was stuffed with explosives and headed for Khobar. It was Naif who decided not to inform his U.S. counterparts.
In addition to their ingrained cultural reticence, the Saudis had legal reasons to be cautious in dealing with the Americans. Because the Kingdom is governed by Sharia law, clerical judges have complete discretion to throw out any evidence they don’t care to hear, such as material provided by foreign agencies. The Saudis were worried that the involvement of the FBI would taint the case. O’Neill worked out an agreement that allowed the FBI agents to interview suspects through mirrored glass, which gave the bureau access while preserving the appearance of separation that the Saudis insisted upon.
As the evidence began to point to Iranian-backed terrorists as being the most likely perpetrators of the bombing, however, the Saudis became reluctant to pursue the investigation. They worried what the Americans would do if Iran were implicated, which soon became the case. The Saudi’s own investigation pointed to a branch of Hezbollah inside the Kingdom. Economic and diplomatic sanctions against Iran appeared unlikely, because the Europeans wouldn’t go along. “Maybe you have no options,” one of the Saudis told O’Neill. “If it is a military response, what are you going to bomb? Are you going to nuke them? Flatten their military facilities? Destroy their oil refineries? And to achieve what? We are next door to them. You are six thousand miles away.”
In the new era of a globalized FBI, O’Neill learned, it was one thing to solve the case, another to gain justice.
O’NEILL LONGED TO GET OUT OF WASHINGTON and “go operational.” He wanted to supervise cases again. In January 1997 he became special