Well at least she could rally the muslim hardliners on ONE issue.
Who is Barbara Bodine?
In October of 2000, after entering the Port of Aden off the coast of
Yemen, the USS Cole was hit by suicide bomber. The blast killed 17 and
injured 35 Americans. John O'Neill
was sent over to investigate, as head of the FBI team. Accompanying
O'Neill to Yemen were over 100 FBI agents, laboratory experts and
forensics specialists, as well as FBI Director Louis J. Freeh.
From the earliest moments of the investigation, O'Neill was sure Bin
Laden was responsible. However, from the start, his efforts to work the
case were sabotaged by US ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine. Bodine
refused to cooperate in the investigation or to encourage Yemenis to
cooperate. Despite repeated death threats against agents, she refused to
allow them to carry the type of weapons O'Neill considered adequate.
O'Neill reportedly called Louis Freeh in the middle of the night once
expressing anxiety about the safety of his men. The clash between O'Neill
and Bodine went steadily from bad to worse, peaking when Bodine publicly
called O'Neill a liar. Incredibly, Bodine claimed that through her
actions, she was merely trying to keep diplomatic relations running
smoothly.
But a look at Ms. Bodine's history suggests a very different motivation.
Throughout her career, Barbara Bodine has served primarily under
rightwing old boys and in areas where the oil interests of said old boys
are being furthered. Under Reagan, she served as Deputy Principle Officer
in Baghdad, Iraq. Under Bush, Sr., she served as Deputy Chief of Mission
in Kuwait and was there during the Gulf War. She has also worked for Bob
Dole, and far more ominously, for Henry Kissinger.
So, in 2000 we find her in Yemen, and though a Clinton appointee,
impeding the Clinton administration's efforts to conduct an investigation
of a crime of terrorism in which the chief suspect is the son of a Bush
family business associate.
http://www.libertythink.com/2003_03_10_archives.html#90437220
