Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels

Glad to see someone is still looking into this. New front page story in the Washington Post. Doesn't mention preincident indicators, but it's a start.

Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels

Plotters Freed in Yemen; U.S. Efforts Frustrated

By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, May 4, 2008; A01

ADEN, Yemen -- Almost eight years after al-Qaeda nearly sank the USS Cole with an explosives-stuffed motorboat, killing 17 sailors, all the defendants convicted in the attack have escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials.

Jamal al-Badawi, a Yemeni who helped organize the plot to bomb the Cole as it refueled in this Yemeni port on Oct. 12, 2000, has broken out of prison twice. He was recaptured both times, but then secretly released by the government last fall. Yemeni authorities jailed him again after receiving complaints from Washington. But U.S. officials have so little faith that he's still in his cell that they have demanded the right to perform random inspections.

Two suspects, described as the key organizers, were captured outside Yemen and are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Many details of their alleged involvement remain classified. It is unclear when -- or if -- they will be tried by the military.

The collapse of the Cole investigation offers a revealing case study of the U.S. government's failure to bring al-Qaeda operatives and their leaders to justice for some of the most devastating attacks on American targets over the past decade.

Dieter Snell back in the news

As Peter Lance points out here:

As the sex scandal hurricane engulfed Eliott Spitzer last week, one of his closest advisors at the eye of the storm was Dietrich “Dieter” Snell. An ex U.S. Attorney from the same office conducting the prostitution probe, Snell is now defending Spitzer in the “Troopergate” scandal and reportedly raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for the international law firm he joined last year.

A former Southern District prosecutor who later became Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission, Snell is also one of the ex Feds who rewrote history in the Commission’s “Final Report” by relying entirely on the tortured “confession” of 9/11’s purported “mastermind” to pinpoint the origin of the “planes as missiles” plot.

He’s the same investigator who dismissed as not “sufficiently credible” the testimony of a decorated Navy Captain who was part of a secret data mining operation that uncovered evidence of 9/11 hijackers in the U.S. more than a year before the attacks.

A former Deputy Attorney General under “the Sheriff of Wall Street,” Snell is now attempting to quash the subpoenas of investigators probing whether Spitzer misused state troopers to investigate his chief political rival, protecting his ex boss and mentor with a “separation of powers” defense worthy of Dick Cheney.

Lance's column also references an article by Larisa Alexandrovna on the new book by Phil Shenon. Ms. Alexandrovna writes:

Bayoumi moved to London in 2001 and lived there until his arrest immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. Following his release, Bayoumi returned to Saudi Arabia, where he was interviewed in October 2003 by the Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, and Senior Counsel Dieter Snell.

Snell did not respond to requests for comment; Zeilkow could not be reached.

According to Shenon, several staff members working under Snell, “felt strongly that they had demonstrated a close Saudi government connection,” based on “explosive material” on al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy, a “shadowy Saudi diplomat in Los Angeles.”

Shenon recounts how Snell, in preparing his team’s account of the plot, purged almost all of the most serious allegations against the Saudi government and moved the “explosive” supporting evidence to the small print of the report’s footnotes. (The Commission, pp. 398-399)

Two commission investigators who were working on documenting the 9/11 plot, Michael Jacobsen and Raj De, argued that it was “crazy” to insist on 100 percent proof when it came to al-Qaeda or the Saudi regime. In the end, however, and with a publishing deadline looming, Snell’s caution and Zelikow’s direction buried apparently promising leads.

Zelikow denies explosive charges in new book

From ABC News:

The former executive director of the 9/11 Commission denies explosive charges of undisclosed ties to the Bush White House or interference with the panel's report.

The charges are said to be contained in New York Times reporter Philip Shenon's unreleased book, "The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation," according to Max Holland, an author and blogger, and generally confirmed by the book's publisher. Although the book is not slated to hit stores until early next month, Holland says he bought a copy of the audio version at a bookstore. (Attempts to purchase the book, in any format, at the Barnes & Noble across the street from ABC News headquarters were unsuccessful.)

9/11 Commission co-chairs Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton hired former Condoleezza Rice aide Philip Zelikow to be executive director, Zelikow failed to tell them about his role helping Rice set up President George W. Bush's National Security Council in early 2001 – and that he was "instrumental" in demoting Richard Clarke, the onetime White House counterterrorism czar who was fixated on the threat from Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, according to Holland's version of Shenon's tome.

"[Zelikow] had laid the groundwork for much of what went wrong at the White House in the weeks and months before September 11. Would he want people to know that?" Shenon writes, according to Holland.

Zelikow denied that was the case. "It was very well-known I had served on this transition team and had declined to go into the administration. I worked there for a total of one month. I had interviewed Sandy Berger, Dick Clarke and most of the NSC staff." He noted he recused himself from working on the section of the panel's report addressing the NSC transition, and that other staffers had held conflicting positions in the Clinton administration.

In his book, Shenon also says that while working for the panel, Zelikow appears to have had private conversations with former White House political director Karl Rove, despite a ban on such communication, according to Holland. Shenon reports that Zelikow later ordered his assistant to stop keeping a log of his calls, although the commission's general counsel overruled him, Holland wrote.

Zelikow told ABC News he was under no prohibition that barred his conversations with Rove, and did not recall asking his assistant to stop logging his calls, although he did speak to her about leaving phone messages in a publicly visible place. "Two other people took my calls as well, and neither have a recollection" of Zelikow asking for calls not to be logged, he said. Further, Zelikow said 9/11 Commission general counsel Daniel Marcus did not raise the matter with Zelikow at the time.

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Marcus declined to confirm or deny the events.

Zelikow flatly denied discussing the commission's work with Rove. "I never discussed the 9/11 Commission with him, not at all. Period."

What's more, the idea of Zelikow and Rove conspiring over the commission's work was unrealistic, the ex-director indicated. "I was not a very popular person in the Bush White House when this was going on. There's a lot of carryover of that to this day."

Holland reports that Shenon discovered some panel staffers believed Zelikow stopped them from submitting a report depicting Rice's performance as "amount[ing] to incompetence, or something not far from it."

"I don't think that staffers will bear that out," Zelikow said. Out of 85 staffers, half a dozen were disgruntled, Zelikow told ABC News. "Under the circumstances, that was a pretty low fraction," he said. "But they all talked to Shenon."

Halfway into the panel's operation, Zelikow told his bosses under oath of the once-hidden ties, Holland's blog says Shenon's book reports. Upon hearing the details, Shenon writes, Marcus concluded Zelikow "never should have been hired," according to Holland.

"That's not right," Marcus said when told of the account. "That's certainly not true."

Shenon directed calls to his publisher, Twelve Books, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group.

Cary Goldstein, a spokesman for Hachette, confirmed the blog's characterization of the book's contents, but said he could not confirm direct quotes.

"It's not a surprise," Goldstein said when asked his reaction to the leak of the book's details before its Feb. 5 publication date. "I think people are really curious to see what the report had looked like if it hadn't been neutered in [the panel's] effort to be unanimous."

Former Rep. Weldon Aide Pleads Guilty

From the AP:

The one-time top aide to former Rep. Curt Weldon pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to a conspiracy charge as part of a plea agreement.

Russell James Caso Jr., 34, who was chief of staff for the Pennsylvania Republican, acknowledged he intentionally did not report to the House income his wife made for doing work for a nonprofit company tied to Weldon.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Sklamberg told U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. that Caso has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in an investigation. Outside court, Sklamberg was asked after the hearing whether that probe involved Weldon. The prosecutor said he could not discuss the case.

But Weldon's defense lawyer, William Winning, said it would be a "little naive" to think the investigation didn't involve Weldon.

Weldon has not been charged. He used to represent the Philadelphia-area, speaks Russian and led congressional trips abroad before his election loss last year.

He served on the governing body of the nonprofit, which sought to help U.S. businesses operate in Russia and facilitate the flow of trade between the countries, records show.

At Weldon's direction, Caso organized meetings in which Weldon and Caso made presentations to high-level officials in the departments of State and Energy and the National Security Council seeking money for the proposals that Caso's wife, Sherrill Caso, had worked on, court records show.

One proposal sought to facilitate cooperation for joint missile activities and the other sought to reduce the risk of proliferation of biological and chemical weapons from Russia to rogue nations, records show.

Court records indicate that Caso's wife did "little work" for $17,500 she received from the company, but that she received $1,500 for editing documents for the firm that were part of the proposals presented to the officials.

Caso, who was Weldon's top aide in 2005 and 2006, could face up to five years in prison. His next court date is May 23.

He was named a vice president this year at Avineon Inc., a technology company that has contracts with the government.

Caso's lawyer, Kelly Kramer, declined comment after the hearing.

Weldon spent 20 years in Congress before losing to Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa. Weldon was vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee at the time of his loss.

Three weeks before Election Day last year, the FBI raided the homes of Weldon's daughter, Karen Weldon, and her business partner, Charles P. Sexton Jr., as well as other locations.

Winning, Weldon's attorney, declined to discuss details spelled out in the court documents.

"I can assure you that we're confident that the congressman did not do anything wrong, and at the end of the day here, his name will be cleared and his reputation will be cleared, and this cloud of suspicion that has been circling around him will be lifted," Winning said.

UPDATE: Here is the press release from the Justice Department.

198 criminals in the House?

A reader writes:

Don't think for a second that the attack on Russ is not political. From what I know he sought and received permission for his wife to perform the work. He made the simple mistake of forgetting to acknowledge it on his disclosure statement. Disclosure statements get amended all the time, see the attached link.

Lawmakers rush to disclose trips in wake of DeLay furor

Scrutiny of Majority Leader Tom DeLay's travel has led to the belated disclosure of at least 198 previously unreported special-interest trips by House members and their aides, including eight years of travel by the second-ranking Democrat, a review has found.

At least 43 House members and dozens of aides had failed to meet the one-month deadline in ethics rules for disclosing trips financed by organizations outside the U.S. government.

The review of thousands of pages of records covered pre-2005 travel that was disclosed since early March. That's when news stories began scrutinizing DeLay's travel, prompting lawmakers to comb through their files to make sure they had disclosed their travel.

While most of the previously undisclosed trips occurred in 2004, some date back to the late 1990s. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer recently disclosed 12 trips, the oldest dating back to 1997.

Sklamberg files charges against Caso

That's right, the same Clinton appointee who let Sandy Berger go free with a slap on the wrist has just filed criminal conspiracy charges against Russ Caso, former chief of staff for Curt Weldon. It's with a heavy heart that I have to link to this report:

Ex-Staffer To Weldon Agrees to Guilty Plea

Former congressman Curt Weldon's chief of staff has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges for allegedly helping a consulting firm championed by Weldon obtain federal funds and for concealing money the firm paid his wife, according to court papers filed yesterday.

Russell James Caso Jr. and a top official at the unnamed nonprofit consulting firm met repeatedly with Weldon to seek the Pennsylvania Republican's help in obtaining federal funds for the organization's defense projects, according to the court papers.

The "criminal information," a document filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Washington, could not have been submitted without the defendant's permission. It indicates that a plea agreement has been reached. A federal judge has scheduled a hearing Friday on the charges against Caso.

Federal prosecutors make no accusations of wrongdoing against Weldon, a former 10-term Republican from Pennsylvania. A grand jury last year investigated whether he had acted improperly to help clients of his daughter's consulting firm. The firm named in the court papers filed yesterday is not affiliated with Weldon's daughter.

I obtained a copy of the document from District Court web site and sure enough, the prosecuting attorney is none other than Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard R. Sklamberg.

Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor.

Sestak campaigns for Clinton in New Hampshire

Clinton Supporters Campaign for Clinton in N.H. This Weekend

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2007

Contact: NH for Hillary Press Office, 603-782-4647

Kathleen Strand, 603-782-4635
nhpress@hillaryclinton.com

MANCHESTER, NH – The New Hampshire for Hillary campaign today announced that former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Carol Browner, and Pennsylvania Congressman and Afghanistan veteran Joe Sestak, will travel to the Granite State this weekend to discuss Hillary's plans to make real change happen.

On Saturday, November 3, Browner will speak at the “Step it Up” Rally at the Concord State House. On Sunday, November 4, Congressman Sestak will kick-off a canvass and meet with veterans in Nashua before heading to Henniker to attend a town hall meeting at New England College. Sestak will conclude the day with a house party in Peterborough.

Carol Browner served as the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a Cabinet-level position, from 1993 to 2001. She was the longest-serving Administrator in the Agency’s history. In that position, Ms. Browner developed partnerships with business leaders, community advocates, and all levels of government. She is widely known for championing common-sense, cost-effective solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental and public health challenges.

Joe Sestak is serving his first-term as the Representative from Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, which includes most of Delaware County and parts of Chester and Montgomery Counties. Congressman Sestak spent 31 years serving our nation in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of three-star Admiral. Sestak served as the Director for Defense Policy on the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration. After 9/11, he was selected to serve as the first Director of "Deep Blue," the Navy's anti-terrorism unit where he worked to establish new strategies for the Navy to fight the Global War on Terror.

Which ocean was it Afghanistan borders again? Good grief. Well, he does owe the Clintons a favor or two. Not sure he can help her here, though:

FBI Agent Walks on Mob Murders

From the New York Times:

Prosecutors said they would drop the murder case against a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation supervisor, a law enforcement official said yesterday, after a reporter upended the trial with taped interviews showing that their main witness, a gangster’s mistress, had changed her account and damaged her credibility.

From the AP:

In a stunning finish to one of the worst law enforcement corruption cases in U.S. history, former FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio was cleared Thursday of giving up confidential information that a Colombo family hit man used to kill four fellow mobsters — either rivals or potential rats....

It wasn't until Schiro began testifying this week that the case reached its unexpected conclusion. The key prosecution witness was the lone direct link between DeVecchio and the murders.

Once she finished her first day of testimony, veteran reporter Tom Robbins came forward with tapes made in 1997, when he and fellow journalist Jerry Capeci had interviewed Schiro for a never-published book. The tapes contradicted her sworn testimony against DeVecchio.

Her account "was so disturbingly different, we couldn't sit on it," Robbins said outside court after Thursday's dismissal.

Well, not all of it was so different at least:

Most of our conversations with Schiro were tape-recorded. Some tapes have long since gone missing. Audibility is a problem in others. But the conversation about the murder of Joe Brewster has survived. So has Schiro’s story about another killing, that of Lorenzo Lampasi, a Colombo soldier gunned down by Scarpa and his gang during the crime family’s bloody civil war in the early 1990s....

But if she was scared of him — and she never said so on the stand Monday — Schiro showed no sign of it in 1997. When she talked with us about the FBI agent, she sounded unconcerned. “I was friendly with Lin,” she said at one point. She even put him in lesser crimes, claiming that Scarpa had sometimes passed cash to DeVecchio and, on one occasion, gave the agent a couple of baubles from a jewelry heist....

Last week, at the DeVecchio trial, a prosecution witness named Rey Aviles, who was present at the Halloween shooting, testified that it was Porco himself who told Joey Schiro and his old man about his encounter with the cops.

But Linda Schiro told us in 1997—and testified on the stand this week—that the information came from DeVecchio. “Lin called, he said the kid was going to tell the detectives what happened,” Schiro told us. She remembered that the agent was unusually secretive. Usually, she said, DeVecchio was willing to chat on the home phone with his informant. This time, Schiro said, he insisted that Scarpa call him back from an outside line. “I drove him to the pay phone,” Schiro said. They used what she said was a special, untraceable number to call DeVecchio. “Greg got back in the car and told me that this kid Patrick was going to rat on Joey,” said Schiro.

UPDATE: In response to a reader question, yes all charges were dismissed, and because DeVecchio asked for a bench trial instead of a jury trial he can never be retried. Personally, I suspect he knew about the tapes before the trial and specifically requested a bench trial for that reason. DeVecchio is close to one of the two reporters, Capeci, who he leaked stories to all the time. It would not have taken much for Capeci to give DeVecchio and his lawyers word of the tapes before the trial even started. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that was the case.

From the New York Times:

Because Mr. DeVecchio had waived his right to a jury trial, the legal concept of jeopardy attached, meaning he could not be retried for the four killings in which he was indicted, a court official said.