Posted on 03/07/2005 4:13:42 PM PST by Libloather
Indict Sandy Berger now
Posted: March 7, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
WorldNetDaily.com
"To me the great danger is the complacency we have fallen into three and half years after 9-11."
Who said that?
A. Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff
B. CIA Director Porter Goss
C. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez
D. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller
Any of those choices would have been a good guess. But none of those men made that statement. Instead, it was made, in my estimation, by a most unlikely character – former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger.
He made the comment a week ago while participating in a panel discussion on national security issues at Purdue University.
Why is it strange that Berger made such a statement?
Because Berger is the perfect, walking, talking example of just how complacent we have become as a nation about national security.
It has been nearly eight months since we first learned Berger was caught red-handed removing highly classified documents from the National Archives. It has been 14 months since he was caught. And it has been at least two months since a federal grand jury began investigating a possible indictment of Berger, and perhaps others, for the crime.
That is my definition of "complacency."
In a time of war, a former national security adviser is pinched lifting national security secrets and 14 months later he is still out on the lecture circuit talking about national security. He has also lately been advising Sen. Hillary Clinton, thought to be a future presidential candidate, just as he advised Sen. John Kerry, last year's Democratic nominee for the presidency on national security matters.
You talk about the fox guarding the henhouse! This man should be in a maximum security penitentiary, not lecturing college students and certainly not advising presidential candidates.
And think about the irony of Berger preaching about complacency. Since he was busted, we have learned that Sandy Burglar, excuse me, Berger blocked four separate plans of action against the al-Qaida terrorist network between 1998 and 2000. That's what the 9-11 commission report found. Oh, and by the way, what was Berger doing in the National Archives when he was found stuffing national security secrets into his trousers and socks? He was said to be preparing former President Clinton to testify before that commission!
They say the wheels of justice move slowly.
In this case they are moving too slowly.
It's time for the Justice Department, now under new leadership, to get serious about the Berger caper.
Let's face it. If you or I were caught rifling through highly classified national security secrets, it wouldn't take 14 months for the government to bring us to justice. If you or I were caught stealing highly classified national security secrets, it's not likely we'd be taken seriously as a lecturer on the subject of national security on college campuses. If you or I were caught flagrantly violating laws governing national security secrets, we wouldn't be invited to advise senators or future presidential candidates on national security matters.
Which raises what will become a serious question for this Justice Department and the Bush administration if they don't indict Sandy Berger or explain to the American people why he's above the law. What did Berger find in those archives? Did he find something so incriminating on this administration that no one dares lay a finger on him? Was he in the National Archives doing more than refreshing Bill Clinton's memory? Was he covering up past abuses of his national security efforts? Or was he digging up dirt on the current administration?
What, if anything, does Sandy Berger have on the Republicans that prevents full and speedy prosecution of this crime?
If the Bush administration and the Gonzales Justice Department think they can sweep this crime under the rug and score some political points with their political opposition, they are sorely mistaken. It will then become a bipartisan scandal. It will then become clear to the American people that there are two standards of justice in this country – one for ordinary Americans and another for the privileged political elite.
Sandy Berger said something else of interest while speaking at Purdue more than a week ago. He said: "We need to make sure that the American dream is perceived as positive throughout the world."
He's right about that. We also need to make sure it is perceived as positive right here in the good old USA, too. And that's a good reason to indict Sandy Berger sooner rather than later.
co·con·spir·a·tor ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kkn-spîr-tr) n.
A joint conspirator.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Main Entry: co–con·spir·a·tor
Pronunciation: "kO-k&n-'spir-&-t&r Function: noun
: a fellow conspirator
NOTE: Under Federal law, a statement made by a co-conspirator during and to further the conspiracy is admissible as evidence, but there must be other evidence establishing both the conspiracy and the defendant's participation.
Source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
co-conspirator
coconspirator n : a member of a conspiracy [syn: conspirator, plotter, machinator]
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University.
"... no trial. You can make book on that"
And .. is that just a hopeful guess or do you have some information to support your claim ..??
"Dream on. There will be no trial. You can make book on that"
Much as I wish it were otherwise, I have to agree. There is no sign of any active investigation going on. Who is the lead prosecutor? When does the GJ meet? What motions have been filed? Why does no reporter, even a conservative one, provide updates, speculations, even, as happens in every other grand jury of public interest?
Someone mentioned Enron. We knew when the process was happening. Subpoenas were issued. Witnesses were called. The prosecutor team was known. To be sure, there is a whole lot of behind the scenes work, but that which is public record tells a lot.
Now, nothing. If Farah is so keen on this maybe he should do a little legwork and report on what, if anything is happening. Instaed, nothing. Silence. Except for muted sporadic complaining.
Berger the spy walks and I have no idea why.
The only reason we knew about which reporters have gone before the Plame grand jury is because they get held in contempt and court filings make public the dispute. Otherwise it's been tight as a drum.
Also it turns out Fitzgerald has been pursuing another leak investigation and we only knew about that when subpoenas were again fought and documents unsealed.
Another example is the HRC fundraiser. Until the indictment of Rosen, who knew that was being pursued.
This is to illustrate that we don't always know what's going on but my above examples show that activity is taking place away from the media glare.
Judas priest, this ain't offshore accounts and multi-level corporate layering...this is a little weasel smuggling documents in his shirt. WTF is so Enron about it? I'm with Joe on this. What is taking so long to prosecute the guy for what's essentially a shoplifting charge, where the shop is the federal government and Bergler's the 15 year old dork?
Maybe there is much substance to Terry Reid's book "Compromised" that put the Bushs and Clintons squarely in bed together in the corruption that was Mena.
It would explain an awful lot of the inaction since.
I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of it just like they prosecuted the murderers of Vince Foster, Ron Brown, that Enron guy in Houston, the insider traders profiting from 9-11, and all those who committed vote fraud all over the country in 2000 and 2004. And then, while they're at it, they'll appoint some real federal judges who will actually rule according to the plain language of the law and Constitution. And then they'll cut wasteful federal spending, and stop expanding entitlement programs bankrupting the country. And then they'll stop printing money hand over fist and triggering ruinous inflation. And then they'll fix the Endangered Species Act and all the crazy environmental rulings. And they'll start enforcing border controls.
Wake up, folks, your federal government is controlled by criminal gangs, whether or not Bush himself knows it. Thank God there is profit in fighting terrorists or we might not have gotten anything of value from this Administration.
Yea, but it would sure help to know if the 'theft' is being looked at!!
Doogle--"They went so far as to put bogus documents in the files, and he bit."
I can't remember hearing that bogus files were planted.
Why are you making me responsible - I'm not a federal prosecutor ..?? Good grief!
But .. since none of you are either .. what evidence do you have to support your claims that the DOJ is doing nothing? - that's the point I'm trying to make.
We don't know - because our President plays his cards close to his chest - and he doesn't tell his enemies what moves he's making (the way the Clintons always did - in order to allow the bad guys to get away).
I truly believe this may be a much more complicated case than we know - primarily because the documents he took were classified and could have revealed some information that does make it a complicated case. It could have opened a hornet's nest.
"it would sure help to know if the 'theft' is being looked at"
Well .. I remember actually seeing a person on FOX - who is a federal prosecutor - making a cursory statement about the Berger case was moving right along (whatever that means) - as he was walking into the DOJ building.
I think we're all just so fed up with what happened during the Clintons years .. we're impatient with justice being done because it was so lacking for so long.
A partnership forged in Mena,Arkansas leaving the guilty untouchable.
imo
Your're gonna love Barbara Simpson's column today then.....
on why America's southern borders are still leaking like a sieve.
Handcuffed, head down and whining all the way to the prison cell.
Yeah, I know.....I'm just dreaming.
The 2006 election cycle is the perfect time to have this trial happen.
----"... no trial. You can make book on that"
And .. is that just a hopeful guess or do you have some information to support your claim ..??----
Hopeful it most certainly is not. It is my sincere desire that Mr. Berger is kehauled and hung from the yard arm...along with a couple of his handlers (you know the dastardly duo to whom I refer).
Support? Past history is a pretty good guide to the future. What I'd like to see is some small evidence that Republicans have developed spine. Please point me to it.
Absoloutely! We should wait for years and years and years and......... then expect nothing to happen.
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