Excerpted from the ENN Intelligence Report-02/13/97-Vol. 3, No.

FBI TELLS CONGRESS ABOUT LACK OF SAUDI COOPERATION

By Steve Macko, ENN Editor

WASHINGTON (ENN) - A senior FBI official told Congress on Wednesday that Saudi authorities still have not provided evidence the U.S. wants in its investigation of a terrorist bombing last year that killed 19 United States airmen.

Testifying to several members of Congress, Assistant FBI Director Robert Bryant said that the Saudis had given the names of people they regarded as suspects, but not the evidence to support their conclusions. Bryant did express unhappiness with the level of Saudi cooperation in the investigation of the 25 June 1996 terrorist truck bombing at the Khobar Towers housing complex in Dhahran.

Bryant said, "The cooperation that we have gotten from the Saudis has been in some areas exceptional and in some areas where we have made requests for evidentiary type information, that information has not been forthcoming to date." He added that the Saudi security services had provided identities of suspects and "why they think these people are involved," but when asked for specific evidence, Bryant said, "what we've gotten is conclusions."

When asked whether any suspects from any other country besides Saudi Arabia were involved in the terrorist act, Bryant replied, "That's still an open question."

The chairman of the subcommittee, Representative Bill McCollum, said that every passing week makes it less likely that the bombers will be brought to justice. He claimed that U.S. investigative efforts had been hampered and "The FBI has not even been given a chance."

The assistant FBI dirctor disputed one Congressman's charge that the Saudi level of cooperation was "awful." Bryant explained, "It's a matter of patience and working through these issues with them."

What the problem may be -- may be -- is that the Saudis are not exactly holding back all of the requested information. Bryant said that when the Saudis were asked for specific evidentiary evidence to back up Saudi conclusions -- the FBI didn't receive anything. That may be because the Saudis don't have that evidence.

It must be remembered that investigators in the United States are held to a much higher standard in the collection of evidence in any kind of criminal case. This is not true in a large number of countries and Saudi Arabia is probably one of those countries were the level of proof is not as high as is needed in the U.S. criminal justice system.

When the Saudi ambassador to the United States visited the wounded victims in the hospital after the Dhahran terrorist attack -- he promised that the suspects would be caught and vowed that it would not be a "rerun of the O.J. Simpson trial."

Saudi investigators may be allowed to reach conclusions without having to back up their conclusions with evidence, as must be done in the United States. And this may be where the problem is.

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