Berger Quits as An Adviser To Kerry,removed files with highest security level.

WashingtonPost ^ | 07/21/04 | Susan Schmidt

[Pikamax]

Berger Quits as An Adviser To Kerry Ex-Clinton Aide Facing Inquiry Over Papers

By Susan Schmidt Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 21, 2004; Page A01

Clinton administration national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, under criminal investigation for removing copies of highly classified documents from the National Archives, severed his ties to John F. Kerry's campaign yesterday.

Berger, who has been the subject of an investigation since October, stepped down as Kerry's informal adviser on foreign policy and national security as the campaign moved quickly to stem the unfolding story's political damage.

A government official with knowledge of the probe said Berger removed from archives files all five or six drafts of a critique of the government's response to the millennium terrorism threat, which he said was classified "codeword," the government's highest level of document security.

A Kerry adviser said the expanding controversy convinced the campaign that Berger's departure was essential because of the serious distraction it posed for Kerry in the week before the Democratic Party will nominate him for president.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>Page A01

A section, page 1...color me amazed they did it. Next thing you know, they'll be playing hockey in Hades, and we'll have to break out the industrial umbrellas in fear of the winged swine.

[tiki]

And the Dims practically crucified Nixon over Watergate. Watergate doesn't even hold a candle to this. It was about political hijinks not national security.

[InvisibleChurch]

xxxlinton and the boys were stuffing their pockets as far back as 1998

[twntaipan]

Berger removed from archives files all five or six drafts of a critique of the government's response to the millennium terrorism threat,

This proves it was not inadvertant. It was intentional, and the intent was to wash Clinton of any guilt.

[Samwise]

[Samwise]

He just got confused when Al Gore explained stuffing socks into trousers.

[doug from upland]

Put this in him........he's done

[conservative in nyc]

Not so fast.... Read the Kerry spin later in the article:

A Kerry campaign official, who declined to be identified in order to speak more freely about yesterday's internal discussions, said Berger had not informed the campaign about the investigation before news reports Monday night. The official also said the campaign did not ask Berger to step down.

"The attitude here is he deserves the benefit of the doubt, especially given his record and experience," the official said.

Move on; there's obviously nothing to see here. /sarcasm

[Liberty Valance]

LOL!

[Dolphy]

And Clinton thinks this is all funny (per Drudge teaser). I bet he is especially amused that Berger didn't inform the Kerry campaign.

[jnarcus]

Ah good perhaps this thing has legs after all...We can only hope...Doesn't it smell like a Web Hubbell fiasco? Sure does to me

[Sonar5]

This just keeps getting deeper and deeper....

Wonder where the NY Times will put this tomorrow...

[texasbluebell]

So the WaPo decided to move this to page 1 now...

It only rated page 5 before, I think.

Guess they see they can't bury this one.

[kcvl]

Berger removed from archives files all five or six drafts of a critique of the government's response to the millennium terrorism threat

So much for the, they were only copies, argument.

[KamperKen]

I just put on my tin foil hat, and have come up with the following:

The purloined memo's and their antecedent drafts would, at most, be embarassing. And I think the Democrats could isolate the embarassment to the Clinton administration. The press, of course, would bury the story and it would rapidly fade from the collective memory. Why would Berger take this sort of risk to save the Clinton administration embarassment?

The missing documents are feints or red herrings. That's to divert attention from what he really stole and destroyed - probably something that would point the 9/11 committee toward Chinagate, the true and towering scandal of the Clinton administration.

[GOPrincess]

Gee, maybe the LA TIMES will have more than two paragraphs on Pg. 13 Wednesday...

[kcvl]

Berger's departure was essential because of the serious distraction it posed for Kerry

[Viet-Boat-Rider]

NEVER underestimate the ruthlesness of the Dems. They will steal, lie, misdirect, stab their mother in the back, and take illegals to the voting booth to win the white house. They will sacrafice thier first born, put the country in danger, and sell top secret informaiton to Communist China for campaign contrabutions to win teh white house.

Berger was up to no good, big time.

[dano1]

"Even as Berger acknowledged his actions, it remained unclear the degree to which they stemmed from carelessness or an intentional effort to hide and remove the documents"

This is such a load of crap. It really reminds one of going back in time to the Clinton years, when they did not even pretend to supply plausible explanations. How in the world could it have been just inadvertent, if there were five or six drafts, each of which were 12 to 15 pages long? That's between 60 and 90 pages of documents, each of which would have had a heavy cover as a secret document. Probably it would be a stack of documents several inches high. There is no way in the world it could have been just an accident. We are being flat-out lied to in a way that shows they think we are idiots and they are above the law.