ANALYSIS/OPINION: The Chinese Year of the Rat began on Jan. 25. The year Bill Clinton was re-elected, 1996, was also a Year of the Rat and the scandals coming out of that re-election effort, sometimes known as “Chinagate,” not only dogged his entire second term, they were a powerful undercurrent to his impeachment trial in the Senate in early 1999. A time line is often useful. President Clinton was impeached by the House on Dec. 19, 1998, and everyone knew that the trial would begin after the Christmas break, i.e. January 1999. So the Lewinsky matter was public. What was not widely known is that on Dec. 4, 1998, two weeks before the House impeachment, FBI Director Louis Freeh had held a private meeting with Attorney General Janet Reno to request that she name an independent counsel to investigate certain persons, including Mr. Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.