Louis Freeh

If I were giving advice on Louis Freeh, former FBI director, and present author of a burning and broadly indicting report on the Penn State scandal, it would "be cautious" about Freeh and some of his conclusions.  He's been known, as the old saying goes, to "shoot with a long bow."

I'm not an athletics fan and know little about Penn State. Wherever I've taught, I should add, I've always gotten along pretty well with the athletic dimension  But it's obvious that some very bad things occurred under the Penn State aegis.  And it's true that some college and university administrations, especially in the state context, can function very problematically, even badly, when under internal and external pressure.  This is certainly true where athletics and alumni happen to be involved.

And where sex abuse charges are at hand, and especially when these involve young people, there is always the danger of a hysterical and fast widening backlash.  A small indication of this at Penn State is a current move to topple the statue of Joe Paterno.

 I think, in retaining Freeh as their primary investigator of a scandalous tangle, the Penn State trustees have erred badly.

Freeh was a major figure in the Clinton anti-gun crusade -- witch-hunt.  In that, he worked closely with Janet Reno, the AG, and, in time, Eric Holder, Deputy AG and, across departmental lines into Treasury, with ATF.  All of these and others were, genuinely or otherwise, greatly concerned about the presumed citizen militia menace.  As I've written at various points, I think that "menace" is frequently much exaggerated and, from my own long-standing involvement with the "gun culture", I've seen most militia situations as small and stupid -- wannabees -- and often existent only in the minds of their relatively few proponents.  Some militias were dangerous and some are dangerous  but these would be a very, very small number.  (It's worth noting that recently all serious Federal charges were dropped against bull-shooting Michigan milita members who had been indicted as a result of a government agent's report that they were plotting violence.  I posted on that when the case broke, and questioned the validity of the charges.]

As the year 1999 proceeded, Louis Freeh, as FBI director, launched a series of warnings about a militia upheaval in the West when computers might well crash when "turning over"  at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000.  Those "in the know" saw this as nonsense but it did play well in some stratospheric liberal and even some leftist quarters in the East Coast -- settings where many knew little or nothing about guns, were frequently opposed to firearms rights, confused the NRA [which has had a long standing anti-paramilitary stance] with militias.  The Southern Poverty Law Center, which can do good work especially in its region, fell into this mode and the anti-firearms organizations echoed Freeh's ostensible concerns.

January 1, 2000 arrived, computers  turned over normally and sans malfunctions -- and there was zero militia upheaval in our "wild West."  [Gun rights people now have, happily, the two recent and very significant Supreme Court rulings that clarify the 2nd Amendment as a full individual rights member of the Bill of Rights.]

But back to Louis Freeh.  He was unapologetic about the collapse of his Menace.  When Bush 2 was elected, Freeh continued on for a time as FBI director.  But, dropping the "gun issue" immediately, he now had a new Menace.  Apropos of the 1999 anti-GTO protests at Seattle, Freeh appeared before Congressional committees, issuing dire warnings about youthful radicals, anarchists, socialists, and Workers World.  In time, of course, the Bush 2 people discovered the Muslim Menace en masse.

Well, think all of this over.  Does it mean Freeh's Penn State report is off-base?  Not necessarily -- but I think it would be a great mistake to take it at face value. And I do think the Penn State trustees could have found a much, much more appropriate investigator.

Hunter Gray [Hunter Bear]


HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´ 
and Ohkwari' 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
www.hunterbear.org 
(much social justice material)
 
See the Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm
(Expanded and with more photos in June, 2012.)
 
For the new, just out (11/2011) and expanded/updated
edition of my "Organizer's Book," JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- 
with a new and substantial introduction by me.  We are now at 
the 50th Anniversary of the massive Jackson Movement of
1962-63.
http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm
 
And see My Community Organizing Mini-Course -- with much 
down to earth how-to material and updated into 2012:
http://hunterbear.org/my_combined_community_organizing.htm