Farrakhan ‘Cavorting With Dictators,’ U.S. Official Says

The Clinton administration Wednesday accused Louis Farrakhan of “cavorting with dictators” in Libya and Iran in its sharpest attack on the Nation of Islam leader since he enhanced his national reputation by staging last year’s Million Man March on Washington.

“He has a following of a lot of people in this country who believe in him, and to go overseas and to criticize the United States so severely in such blatant terms and in such wrong terms is really shameful and it’s inexcusable,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said after Farrakhan joined Iranian leaders in celebrating their 1979 revolution and the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran.

Farrakhan is touring Muslim-ruled countries in Africa and the Middle East, denouncing U.S. foreign policy at every stop. He told the Tehran newspaper Kayhan, for instance, “You can quote me: God will destroy America by the hands of Muslims.”

Farrakhan visited Moammar Kadafi’s Libya last month, accepting a substantial financial pledge for his American political activities before going to Sudan and Iran. He went on to Iraq on Wednesday.

“I think it’s shameful that an American citizen, much less a major religious leader in the United States, would cavort with dictators like Kadafi and the Iranian leadership,” Burns said.

The State Department official refused to say if Farrakhan’s trip could be construed as treasonous. But he added pointedly: “The blood of Americans is on Kadafi’s hands, and it’s on the Iranian hands.

“If you lined up 100 Americans and asked them, ‘What do you think of this?’ I can guarantee you 100 Americans would say, ‘It’s wrong,’ ” Burns said.

A spokesman for Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), a sharp critic of Farrakhan, said of the Burns comments: “It is promising that they are addressing what is going on here.”

King’s office said a report from the legal department of the Congressional Research Service indicated that Farrakhan’s trip may violate at least five federal laws: the Foreign Agent Registration Act, Libyan sanctions regulations, restrictions on campaign contributions by foreign nationals, passport travel restrictions and a law that prohibits private citizens from conducting their own foreign policy.

King complained that Atty. Gen. Janet Reno has ignored the Muslim leader’s activities.

The administration has been reluctant to criticize Farrakhan since he organized the Million Man March.

In Iran, Farrakhan reportedly told students at the University of Tehran that he expects to be arrested and prosecuted when he returns to the United States.