People are understandably disappointed to learn that Joe Paterno may have played a role in concealing the heinous crimes of Jerry Sandusky. People are still debating whether his actions or inaction constitute a crime, but most all agree it is at least a moral failing. Similarly, almost all people are justifiably horrified at Jerry Sandusky himself and the depravity and damage he inflicted upon his young victims. Sandusky should and will be punished for his crimes.
What many people are not considering is that an argument can be made that Louis Freeh is the biggest monster of this entire story. Many readers might be confused at this point. Isn’t Louis Freeh the former FBI Director who ran the investigation into Penn State’s actions during the Sandusky crimes? The same Louis Freeh and report that is now being commended for bringing the actions of others to light? Yes…
First, let’s start with the premise that there is a generally accepted ranking for the severity of criminal action. Petty theft on the lower end, higher are the various assaults, and highest is murder and mass murder.
OK, so how does this relate to Louis Freeh? When did Louis Freeh do anything close to a crime which could be argued is in excess of Sandusky? In this article by Bill Anderson on LewRockwell.com, you’ll note some of the following – –
1) “The Butcher of Waco” – Louis Freeh was in charge of the assault that resulted in the deaths of 75 people at the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas. 25 of the dead were childredn under the age of 15.
“…what Freeh, who apparently did not have the same concern for the children trapped at the Branch Davidian residence as he did for the children whom Sandusky abused, had his underlings do on the final day of the 1993 Waco siege:
…CS gas was delivered via 54-ton tanks driven by FBI agents. The tanks smashed through much of the Davidians’ home and intentionally collapsed 25 percent of the building on top of the huddled residents. The FBI knew the Davidians were lighting and heating their residence with candles and kerosene lamps and had bales of hay stacked around the windows. The FBI also knew that “accumulating [CS] dust may explode when exposed to spark or open flame,” as a U.S. Army field manual warned. Six years after the assault, news leaked that the FBI had fired incendiary tear gas cartridges into the Davidians’ home prior to a fire erupting. Attorney General Janet Reno, furious over the FBI’s deceit on this key issue, sent U.S. marshals to raid FBI headquarters to search for more Waco evidence. From start to finish, the FBI brazenly lied about what it did at Waco – with one exception. On the day after the Waco fire, FBI on-scene commander Larry Potts explained the rationale for the FBI’s final assault: “Those people thumbed their nose at law enforcement.”
There is certainly a lot of remaining controversy to the Waco Tragedy. Survivors of the fire claim that the government intentionally or accidentally started the fire. Repeated inquiries show that the government initially lied about use of incendiary devices, then recanted and qualified that their use was outside the main building and therefore were not a factor in the fire. Then there is the missing door which is purported to show that the government agents fired first (inward facing metal from the bullet holes on the door). In the end, it will be difficult to know the truth other than to say many, many innocent people died in a tragic incident which involved the direct leadership of Louis Freeh.
2) Kenneth Trentadue – murder and obstruction of justice. FBI agents appeared to believe Trentadue was “John Doe #2” and the accomplice to Timoth McVeigh. Shortly after his incarceration, he was found dead in his cell. Autopsy evidence suggested a cause of death other than suicide, and law enforcement attempted to analyze his cell further. They were stopped from doing so by Louis Freeh and his agents, with the cell itself being “cleaned” before any further forensic investigation could be done.
3) Richard Jewell –
Compared with murder and covering up the crime, a false accusation from Freeh’s FBI would seem to be minor, but the way that Freeh and the FBI handled matters in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing demonstrated the outright criminal mindset that seems to govern that organization and is part of Freeh’s enduring legacy of lies and incompetence. Following the bombing in Atlanta during the Olympic Games, the FBI quickly fixated itself upon security guard Richard Jewell, who was the first to suspect that the backpack left alone under a bench might contain a bomb.
The bomb exploded with one person killed, but in the aftermath, Jewell was a hero for having acted quickly. However, the FBI decided via one of its vaunted “profilers” that the pudgy guard was the person who made and planted the bomb. Not surprisingly, the FBI began to leak to the media that Jewell was their man, and he was subjected to the horrors of the media rush to judgment, something that seems to be a permanent fixture in U.S. culture.
4) Louis Freeh and the FBI’s culture – Researchers into the history of the FBI vary as to level of corruption attributable to Louis Freeh as compared to his predecessors and successors. What is slightly less disputed is the fairly pervasive cultural belief within the the FBI that it, and its agents are “above the law”. The FBI has been termed “A Stasi for America” for its long history of abuse comparable to the secret police organizations of the Eastern Bloc.
As Bill Anderson states in his article
Louis Freeh does not deserve our praise; indeed, he does not even deserve our scorn. Instead, he deserves to be sitting in a cell at the federal Supermax Prison in Colorado, as the crimes he committed during his years at the FBI pale in comparison to anything done by Paterno, whose legacy Freeh has destroyed, or even Sandusky ever did.
Whether you agree with Mr. Anderson and believe there is sufficient evidence to indict Louis Freeh is a matter of personal opinion; his status as a ‘monster’ is at least a matter worthy of further consideration.