Former FBI chief Louis Freeh now works for Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, one of the suavest diplomats in the world. This is the prince known as Bandar Bush because of his close relations with the Bush family—the prince with whom President G.W. Bush had dinner on the third evening after 9/11.
Is it illegal for a former FBI head to work as an attorney defending the prince in a scandal related to the British defense firm BAE? Not at all. Does the United State pay a price when the loyalty of its high-level public servants is up for auction when they leave the government? That's a hard question to answer, but it needs to be asked.
Consider what the amiable and very knowing Bandar once told the Washington Post about Saudi Arabia's hiring of American officials: "If the reputation builds that the Saudis take care of friends when they leave office, you'd be surprised how much better friends you have who are just coming into office." That one is worth thinking about, especially if you've ever wondered about such things as why government-sanctioned physical punishments offensive to Western culture are played up when they occur in Iran, played down when they occur in Saudi Arabia.
Consider, too, that Freeh, America's former top cop, is defending Bandar in a way that thwarts not only one investigation but, potentially, others, by undermining the faith of other countries in the effectiveness of joint investigations. It's alleged that BAE paid Bandar bribes amounting to 120 million pounds a year for 10 years; that the money was tied in with an oil-for-arms deal; and that the British defense ministry covered it up.
The U.S. and European Union countries doing business with BAE have tried to investigate the matter but have been blocked by Britain and, with Freeh's help, by Bandar. Freeh claims, among other things, that an airplane painted the colors of Bandar's favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys, is a Saudi Air Force plane, not Bandar's own; such distinctions, the former FBI head told PBS's Frontline, are none of the U.S.'s business.
