© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com 
 

It's time for Congress to call FBI Director Louis Freeh before an open-public interrogation, put him under oath and force him to answer some tough questions. 

It has never been more clear that Freeh's renegade agency has been flouting the law, obstructing justice and conducting cover-ups of massive proportions with regard to the Waco massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing and the shoot-down of TWA Flight 800. 

Even John Danforth, under attack for his own whitewash of the Waco debacle, has turned on those upon whom he relied to conduct his supposedly "independent" investigation. 

Last week he told the Washington Post the FBI was so uncooperative in his Waco probe that he threatened Freeh with a search warrant to gain access to relevant documents. He says he's still not sure the FBI has turned over all the evidence he requested as special counsel. 

"It was like pulling teeth to get all this paper from the FBI," he said. 

Maybe now Danforth is getting an idea of how tough it has been for ordinary citizens and members of the press to get any real factual data from this unaccountable FBI. 

This development should be viewed in the context of other revelations in WorldNetDaily concerning the FBI's cover-up of what looks more and more like a broader conspiracy in the Oklahoma City bombing. They should also be viewed in the context of explosive disclosures by four courageous FBI whistleblowers on CBS' "60 Minutes II" that demonstrate the rogue agency was simply not interested in evidence that didn't fit its official theories of what happened and who was involved. 

We have a problem in this country – a serious problem – when the FBI no longer has credibility with so many Americans, including a cautious, play-it-safe man like John Danforth. 

Now we also learn that a former federal prosecutor may go to jail for breaking an agreement with the government over the Waco case. Bill Johnston admitted withholding information about the Branch Davidian siege and the use of pyrotechnic tear gas. He said he did so out of fear hostile colleagues might take retribution against him. 

He added that Danforth's investigators "treated me with the same loathing and hostility that I had encountered from the Justice Department," according to an Associated Press report. 

The FBI has admitted withholding thousands of pages of evidence in the Oklahoma City bombing case, resulting in the delay of Timothy McVeigh's execution and certainly inviting more questions about the agency's procedures, competence and trustworthiness. 

Now, a shocking new video documentary on TWA Flight 800, the commercial airliner that exploded over Long Island Sound in 1996 raises even more questions about another high-profile FBI investigation. 

Hundreds of eyewitnesses – including some experienced military pilots – say they saw one or two missiles streak toward the plane just before the first of several explosions. Their statements appear to have been systematically ignored or twisted to conform to the government's theory that the plane just exploded on its own – a freak accident for which there is no plausible scientific evidence to support. 

Is there a pattern emerging here? 

What was going on in this time period that might have prompted the government – at the very highest levels – to spin the news coverage in a way that would minimize its own culpability? 

Is it possible, after all we now know about the Clinton administration, that political considerations could have been paramount over the truth – especially truth that could lead to further distrust of government, anxiety about national security and who-knows-what-else? 

As someone who has been involved in seeking the truth about Waco, Oklahoma City and TWA Flight 800 for many years now, I am both frustrated at these new disclosures and encouraged that we may yet be closer to learning the facts. 

But journalists don't have subpoena power. We can't extract answers from public officials who don't want to cooperate. We can only make noise and tell Americans what we know. 

At some point, the branch of government closest to the people – the Congress – must become engaged. At some point, Congress must stop passing the buck to special prosecutors. At some point, public hearings need to be held to demand on-the-record answers to questions that have haunted Americans for far too long.