SANDY BERGER NO CHARGES!!! (No verification.)

CBS

[snopercod]

Fomer=Former. Need more coffee...

[.30Carbine]

Don't worry, I spelled "Berger" as "Burger" this morning--the effect of 'The Burgler' comments and pics going around, I guess!

NewsMax is reporting that prosecutors will make NO deals on this, with direct quotes from both parties.

[.30Carbine]

Methinks SeeBS suffers from wishfull thinking.

They've been making up 'news' for years. How anyone could take them seriously is beyond me.

[Montfort]

The Republican Party does not control the prosecutors. Bush did not do what Clinton did when he came in. Clinton fired every single US Attorney (top federal prosecutor in each federal judicial district), and picked his own.

Bush did not do that. Running the Justice Department does not permit you to decide who will be charged in every district in the land. I would imagine that if Ashcroft somehow tried to make sure that a crat was charged with a crime, that would become the scandal, at least in the eyes of the media.

[roaddog727]

At a Minimum, he should loose his Security Clearance. As has been demonstrated, he is incapable of safeguarding classified information.

With the Loss of his clearance, he would not be eligible to advise anyone on or be privy to Classified information.

This is the course of action we must pursue. Take away his abilty to interact in this realm.

IMHO

[gathersnomoss]

"If the Bush administration (Justice Dept) does not prosecute him, then they are complicit in his crimes."

Time will tell. Any administration that is complicit in The Bergermeister's crime WILL NOT get my vote. This is a matter of national security we are talking about, not oral sex!!!!

Bush "will loose a good portion of his base" if this is swept under a rug without a whimper. Anyone want to take this bet?

[freeangel]

I think burger boy ought to be hung out to dry. However, the facts are that the FBI has been "investigating" since Oct. It would seem to me that charges should have been filed by now since he was caught on tape.

[gathersnomoss]

See post #46. DITTO's. This is not a test, Bush!!!

[Sacajaweau]

The silence of Ashcroft himself on this is deafening. Read Ashcroft's testimony before the 9-11 committee and I think you'll see a few other pieces of this puzzle.

[gathersnomoss]

The blood from any future attacks that result from this is on both party's hands if this goes unpunished. My vote stops at that point!

[defenderSD]

"Read Ashcroft's testimony before the 9-11 committee and I think you'll see a few other pieces of this puzzle."

Indeed, this is a puzzle with many pieces. It will take time to put all the pieces into place. The Rotund Lady has not yet arrived at the opera.

[Lurking in Kansas]

It's my understanding that copies of classified documents are classified, and so are notes of classified documents. It's also my understanding that not even notes made off classified documents can be removed.

You are living in the REAL world and those rules only apply to Republicans. Drink the Koolaid, and enter fantasyland. King Willie & Queen Hillary will set you free.White is black and up is down. Expand your mind.

The magical mystery tour is waiting to take you away,
Waiting to take you away.
Waiting to take you away.

The magical mystery tour is hoping to take you away,
Hoping to take you away.

The magical mystery tour is coming to take you away,
Coming to take you away.

The magical mystery tour is dying to take you away,
Dying to take you away, take you away.

[Centurion2000]

If Bush and the Justice Department do not prosecute him for this, then I give up the Republican Party. This is an OUTRAGE. Any military officer would have already been kicked out and charged with crimes over this. At the very least this would be a career ending move for him.

[petercooper]

[MARTIAL MONK]

I doubt that he will be charged with anything that he does not agree to be charged with. He is/was in a policy making position. There is commonlaw precedent that people that can influence the public welfare are held to less strict adherance to the rules and regulations of society at large especially when it would interfere with their public duties.

To most this is a sacred trust not to be abused. To us, this is the "good old boy" network covering each other's butt but there is a solid principle behind it. It is the reason that a congressman cannot be arrested while traveling to or from Washington. His vote is held to be more important than an arrest for beating up a hooker in Baltimore. This shadowy principle has even been extended to the military by law. A National Guardsman cannot be arrested for crimes committed in going to or from his duty post. He can be held to account by the Guard, but not by civil authorities. His presence in his unit is held to be in the higher public interest and cannot be interfered with.

Berger is too high up to charge and the scandal to obvious not to charge. A compromise will be reached.

[Centurion2000]

There is commonlaw precedent that people that can influence the public welfare are held to less strict adherance to the rules and regulations of society at large especially when it would interfere with their public duties.

There are no super citizens in theory, but in practice, I am afraid you are right.

Still ... no charges, no vote and I will just toss my respect for the rule of law out the window. This is a complete travesty.

[Richard Axtell]

Since this story broke, I have seen the Democrats spin more than a drunk teenager on a old carnival Tilt-A-Whirl. This is big, and it is going to get bigger! No way Berger simply walks on this. There is a report that he has already offered "deals" to plead to lesser charges to the Justice Dept., and they weren't going for it. Unless he simply gives up Bubba himself, "he aint gonna get no munity, no sir!"

[InterceptPoint]

The spin misters are saying they were only copies not the real documents

The law is quite clear about removing classified documents from a secure facility and it matters not whethere the documents were the originals or copies. It is the information that is being protected not the paper that it is written on. This is just more wishful thinking from CBS based on an unnamed Democrat that is just guessing and hoping.

[MARTIAL MONK]

The immunity is vested in the position, not the person but since it exists it is open to abuse. The same abuse that diplomatic immunity is open to. It is grating to us common folk when we see it flaunted whether in his socks or in a diplomatic satchel. It is intended for people of good intentions and good will. The Democrats are hiding behind it to protect criminal activity.

To push criminal sanctions is to invite retaliation. I sense, however, in AG Ashcroft a curious streak of Puritanism that may encourage him to throw caution to the wind and prosecute. I view this as a good thing with some bad fallout. It will remind everyone that the immunity is not complete and the veil can be pierced. Sandy Berger will never see jail time, though. That would be unseemly and would signal all out partisan warfare.

[.38sw]

Jed Babbin, undersecretary of Defense in the George H. W. Bush administration was on KSFO radio (san francisco) this morning. He said it DIDN'T MATTER whether or not these were copies. They were highly classified documents, under strict (supposedly) control at the archives. What Berglar did was highly illegall. I hope that this "No Charges" report isn't true.