In Saudi Bombing Case, A Legal Feud Goes Public

By Viveca Novak and Elaine Shannon/Washington

Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington last week blasted FBI Director LOUIS FREEH and JOHN ASHCROFT'S Justice Department over a new wrinkle in the probe of the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. After DOJ decided to yank the investigation from outgoing U.S. Attorney WILMA LEWIS and give it to prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia, Lewis steamed that the move was "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." Freeh and Lewis have long battled over how to proceed in the probe of the truck bombing at the military barracks that killed 19 U.S. airmen. Sources in Lewis' camp say some in the FBI have pushed to move too aggressively, given the wispiness of the evidence. FBI officials counter that the issue was a lack of support from Lewis' office, but lawyers familiar with the case dismiss bureau complaints as a power play. Said one: "Freeh wanted to be both the investigator and the prosecutor."

--By Viveca Novak and Elaine Shannon/Washington