DOCUMENTS SHOW BERGER NIXED ATTACKS ON BIN LADEN

drudge report ^ | now | drugde

[zook]

flasher on

"On December 4, 1999, the National Security Council?s counterterrorism coordinator, Richard Clarke, sent Mr. Berger a memo suggesting a strike in the last week of 1999 against Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Reports the commission: ?In the margin next to Clarke?s suggestion to attack Al Qaeda facilities in the week before January 1, 2000, Berger wrote, "no." ?

[Zavien Doombringer]

Wonder if the documents smalled like feet…

Smalled? This could be Series!

[Steven W.]

Berger was placed in that position by Clinton for a reason - he didn't want to be troubled with having to meet with the DCI every day and therefore assigned his duties to Berger.

[Peach]

Exactly! But the left will try to spin it otherwise.

So then we say to them, "EVEN if you are correct, then you will understand the importance of standing with the current president and stopping the partisan attacks."

[mcg1969]

According to the article, the report claims that Berger nixed four separate opportunities to get Bin Laden. So I do think it's in there.

[Pukin Dog]

Whether the media picks up on this or not, don't worry. This is only the beginning. I told you, Kerry is going to wish he never ran for President.

[Reagan Man]

Further evidence of the Clinton Legacy. A legacy of missed opportunites to protect and defend America from the forces of terrorism. A legacy of failure.

[Diogenesis]

It was Berger who for Hillary Clinton let bin Laden go
both from the Sudanese and was he was briefly vulnerable to missile attack.
[e.g. US News & World Report, Paul Bedard, 15 Mar 2003]

"Mr. Berger, calling Mr. Sandy Berger. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Please. This is urgent.
We can take out Osama, now. Please answer!!! We have him in our sight."

Berger-Burglar: "Nope. Forgetaboutit. No big deal. Bill and I are too busy watching the West Wing on TV."

---

"I was summoned to the office of National Security adviser Sandy Berger,
who chewed me out for not having a national security adviser (on the West Wing).
So I opened the next season with Anna Deavere Smith as the national security adviser" -
Aaron Sorkin

[Chad Fairbanks]

What I always refer to as a "Stained Legacy"...

[Peach]

Yes you did, PD. It's going to get worse for the Democrats before it gets better too.

[Steven W.]

This has all the smell of Clinton's people cutting the rug out from under Berger's feet & focusing all the blame and finger pointing at Berger. Now we know why Clinton was laughing.

[ChocChipCookie]

My problem with it is that it, too neatly, places the blame on a single underling and directs blame away from his boss. A little too neat a solution, I'd say. I hope the investigation doesn't end here.

[television is just wrong]

That depends, dem's will elect charles manson if they could.

[cinFLA]

>>Not a part of the 9/11 report.<<

It appears that it is but I haven't read the report.

---

Well, look now to what the 9/11 report has to say about the man to whom President Clinton, under attack by an independent counsel,delegated so much in respect of national security, Samuel “Sandy” Berger. The report cites a 1998 meeting between Mr. Berger and the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, at which Mr. Tenet presented a plan to capture Osama bin Laden.

“In his meeting with Tenet, Berger focused most, however, on the question of what was to be done with Bin Ladin if he were actually captured. He worried that the hard evidence against Bin Ladin was still skimpy and that there was a danger of snatching him and bringing him to the United States only to see him acquitted,” the report says, citing a May 1, 1998, Central Intelligence Agency memo summarizing the weekly meeting between Messrs. Berger and Tenet.

In June of 1999, another plan for action against Mr. bin Laden was on the table. The potential target was a Qaeda terrorist camp in Afghanistan known as Tarnak Farms. The commission report released yesterday cites Mr. Berger’s “handwritten notes on the meeting paper” referring to “the presence of 7 to 11 families in the Tarnak Farms facility, which could mean 60-65 casualties.”According to the Berger notes, “if he responds, we’re blamed.”

On December 4, 1999, the National Security Council’s counterterrorism coordinator, Richard Clarke, sent Mr. Berger a memo suggesting a strike in the last week of 1999 against Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Reports the commission: “In the margin next to Clarke’s suggestion to attack Al Qaeda facilities in the week before January 1, 2000, Berger wrote, ‘no.’ ”

In August of 2000, Mr. Berger was presented with another possible plan for attacking Mr. bin Laden.This time, the plan would be based on aerial surveillance from a “Predator” drone. Reports the commission: “In the memo’s margin,Berger wrote that before considering action, ‘I will want more than verified location: we will need, at least, data on pattern of movements to provide some assurance he will remain in place.’ ”

In other words, according to the commission report, Mr. Berger was presented with plans to take action against the threat of Al Qaeda four separate times — Spring 1998, June 1999, December 1999, and August 2000. Each time, Mr. Berger was an obstacle to action. Had he been a little less reluctant to act, a little more open to taking pre-emptive action, maybe the 2,973 killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks would be alive today.

[OXENinFLA]

On RUSH NOW!!!

[Dog]

Didn't you mention that what Berger wanted was what was in the margins...

[FreeRadical]

but I smell something fishy around this story...

I do too. It's too tidy. Too simple. Too quick. Too not to damning to anybody buy Bergler. I realize I am too greedy, but I still don't believe this is "all" there is too this.

[Peach]

There was a thead/article on FR this morning that Clinton nixed a bounty on OBL's head because it was thought the people turning him in would be the same people who had a bad record of human rights abuses against women and Clinton didn't want to anger Hillary!

Oh, now that's a good reason to let the worst terrorist of our lifetime to roam free.

[The G Man]

Further proof of the damage that self serving SOB did to this country by not resigning.

[freeperfromnj]

Clarke has a lot to answer to as well. He sat up there trying to make President Bush look negligent when all along he knew that his recommendation was nixed by the Clinton Administration.

[GROOVY]

hmmm..

Heres a conspiracy theory.. Clinton tells Berger to get all the documents that implicate him and Berger in failing to get Bin Laden. Clinton thinks this will help his legacy, by clearing up the real record. But Berger gets caught, Clinton's plan goes to the next step. Clinton knew about the Berger thing 8 months ago. So he waits and leaks it now so the story overshadows the convention and paves the way for Hillary 2008.