FBI Chief Leaves to Evaluate Blast Probe by Saudis

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh left for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday amid growing U.S. concern about Saudi Arabia’s interrogation tactics and level of cooperation in its investigation of the June 25 bombing that killed 19 American servicemen.

The Freeh mission came as Saudi security forces detained at least 200 people for questioning, U.S. officials said. They said they fear the circumstances of those detentions could hamper prosecution under U.S. law of any detainees found responsible for the bombing at an air base near Dhahran.

A Saudi government source confirmed that police were rounding up suspects, mainly from among 200 to 300 hard-core Islamic extremists known to the security forces, but said that no one had been formally arrested.

Also Tuesday, the State Department announced a $2-million reward for information leading to conviction of the bombers. Combined with the $3 million already pledged by Saudi Arabia, the reward is the largest bounty ever offered during the investigation of a terrorist act.

A senior Pentagon official said the goal of Freeh’s trip is to “translate all the Saudi pledges and assurances into practical modes of cooperation, which has not been forthcoming yet.”

“The stakes for the United States in this are very substantial,” a senior Clinton administration official said. “We want to leave no stone unturned in assuring that the working relationship is a good one.”

At the same time, senior U.S. officials said the Saudis have not kept their American counterparts fully briefed on their efforts. The officials expressed concern about Saudi tactics in detaining people, some because they merely acted suspicious.

Washington is also increasingly concerned about indications that the Saudi government is becoming “more and more physical” during interrogations of suspects and is using other unspecified tactics, a senior U.S. official said.

“There is no standard for evidence or probable cause as there is in the United States,” he added. Saudi investigating tactics and judicial standards are factors that could affect and potentially prejudice a case if one was ever brought to court in the United States.

An FBI statement confirming the Freeh trip made no mention of U.S. dissatisfaction with Saudi actions. “Director Freeh’s visit comes in the context of U.S. support for Saudi efforts to solve this heinous crime,” the statement said.

The administration source said Freeh proposed the trip to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, adding, “There is a special role for the FBI to make sure this works well. . . . It’s a criminal investigative role.”

Although U.S. officials have described the nearly 70 FBI investigators sent to Dhahran as primarily assigned to assist the Saudis in their investigation, Justice Department sources said that the agents and technicians are collecting and analyzing evidence in ways that would facilitate U.S. prosecution.

Despite Clinton administration frustration, Pentagon officials admit that they have not been surprised by Saudi reluctance to fulfill public pledges of cooperation.

“Anyone with passing knowledge knows the CIA and FBI don’t share information 100%, so one should have realistic expectations about how much foreign agencies are going to share,” the Pentagon official said.

U.S. and Saudi officials have also traded words about the Saudis’ willingness to implement security measures at the targeted military base.

Saudi officials are miffed by accusations that they prevented U.S. military commanders from putting in a wider security buffer around the Khobar Towers facility where the blast took place.

Any serious request to have the perimeter widened would have been granted if it had been brought to the attention of the country’s leadership, one official said.

Especially in a sensitive area such as terrorism, the Saudis would have been responsive to U.S. viewpoints, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“A country like the United States, which has the expertise, would take the lead in this kind of thing,” said the official. “If the U.S. came to us and said, ‘Guys, this is how you secure an area,’ there’s no way that we wouldn’t do it.”

The blast probe so far has not made as much progress as reported, several officials said Tuesday. Some parts of the vehicle identification number have been found on fragments from the truck that contained the bomb, for example, but the full number is still not known.

Earlier, officials indicated that investigators had recovered from the truck’s chassis the entire vehicle identification number, which would have aided in tracing the truck’s ownership.

In Saudi Arabia, ailing King Fahd made his first public comment about the attack. Speaking at a weekly meeting of his ministers, the 75-year-old monarch labeled the bombing a “desperate attempt to alienate the kingdom from the path of God.”

The king, who suffered a stroke several months ago, has had a higher profile over the past week, including a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry, than at any time since his illness.

Times staff writer John Daniszewski in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed to this report.