Posted on 04/02/2005 6:17:05 AM PST by conservativecorner
The Powerliners are not happy with the Sandy Berger plea deal. But I'm a little surprised that Burglar - I mean, Berger - admitted so much. From today's Post:
Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, a former White House national security adviser, plans to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, and will acknowledge intentionally removing and destroying copies of a classified document about the Clinton administration's record on terrorism. ...
The deal's terms make clear that Berger spoke falsely last summer in public claims that in 2003 he twice inadvertently walked off with copies of a classified document during visits to the National Archives, then later lost them.
He described the episode last summer as "an honest mistake." Yesterday, a Berger associate who declined to be identified by name but was speaking with Berger's permission said: "He recognizes what he did was wrong. . . . It was not inadvertent."
That all sounds pretty damning. But then you read the actual consequences:
Under terms negotiated by Berger's attorneys and the Justice Department, he has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and accept a three-year suspension of his national security clearance. These terms must be accepted by a judge before they are final, but Berger's associates said yesterday he believes that closure is near on what has been an embarrassing episode during which he repeatedly misled people about what happened during two visits to the National Archives in September and October 2003. What? Just what do you have to do to get your clearance pulled permanently? Start the clock, he can go back and start deleting memos that make him and his colleagues look bad starting in 2008 or so!
The details of this story are even more damning:
Rather than misplacing or unintentionally throwing away three of the five copies he took from the archives, as the former national security adviser earlier maintained, he shredded them with a pair of scissors late one evening at the downtown offices of his international consulting business. The document, written by former National Security Council terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke, was an "after-action review" prepared in early 2000 detailing the administration's actions to thwart terrorist attacks during the millennium celebration. It contained considerable discussion about the administration's awareness of the rising threat of attacks on U.S. soil.
Although one element of this story apparently is a bit of an urban legend:
On Sept. 2, 2003, the associate said, Berger put a copy of the Clarke report in his suit jacket. He did not put it in his socks or underwear, as was alleged by some Republicans last summer. Now... what about this deafening silence that we have heard on this from Berger's associates, since this story first surfaced? Will we be seeing any criticism of him from former President Clinton, Madeline Albright, Hillary, John Kerry, or any other prominent Democrat? Is the perception that this is no big deal, standard operating procedure for that White House, and is something to be swept under the rug?
Do any Democrats want to confront the unpleasant truths of how the Clinton White House handled terrorism?
Because there were some facts out there that were so damning, Sandy Berger was willing to break the law to make sure the public never saw them.
[Posted 04/01 04:38 AM]
Don't know, but judging from the punishment Rpublicans have endured for Watergate, ie, over 30 years of constant "Watergate; Watergate; Watergate" reminders, a Republican version of Sandy Burglar seeing the light of day again, would be measured in decades...
The new Justice Dept. head honcho should read the Donald's "The Art of the Deal".
Or maybe the consequences of NOT making a deal was the better option for the Bush administration. If so, WHY?
Maybe we're not supposed to reason why, ours is just to move on or die.
Leni
Berger is an opportunistic mafioso.
He doesn't take the fall for anybody.
Clintons got a little too over-confident siding up to him, cuz he'd stab his own mother if she got in the way. It's is nature.
You are right, but his handlers, Zipperless Bill and file loser Hillary should be the two others that are charged and imprisoned for their blatant illegal activities that would fill an Encyclopedia Britannica.
The ex-presidents' club...preserve the dignity of the office by shoving the dirt under the carpet.
...I'm surprised the Burglar King admitted to ANYTHING....
Me too, but the fact there is an admission means there was a tradeoff and surely there was something obtained better than just saving the expense of a trial.
There was the thought of Web Hubble expressed that he would roll over one more time but I wonder. Maybe Sandy did not roll.
He is now on a death watch.
So what do you think was the deal made with him, do you think he gave them lots of dirt on the Clintons (and hopefully Hil). And if so, do you think the Bush WH or especially the DOJ would use it (especially any implications in regards to Senator Clinton) in the near future or before the 2008 election?
We will see if Sandy gets immunity. I predict hell will freeze over before that happens. Of course my hopes are roused with the opportunity to get Bill 'The Oval Office sink master and supreme overlord' Clinton but 90% of me is thinking it ends with Sandy.
Did Berger manage to destroy THE ORIGINAL AND ALL COPIES of any of the documents?
That was clearly his intention.
And one who can't spell, to boot!
You think if "I" did what Berger did, I'll be $10,000 lighter and have my national security clearance wanked for three years?
These FBI files the Clinton's have must be real juicy to keep get him off the hook so easily.
He should hang for this, this is treason pure and simple. This is making a total mockery of national security.
Rat scum!
There are FBI files still in the possession of the Clinton's.
Nice convenient way to keep covering up your crimes when they are still popping up 6 years later
I don't know.
I'm sure he' sang, and I'm sure he nailed Kerry, Heinz, Torecelli (folks forget he was under the radar but working for his campaign), Cleland (people forget he disappeared without a trace, as well), Kennedy, Gorelick, both Clintons, Albright, Reno, and any number of others.
Albright has recently changed her stand on some positions. Is it connected?
And Clinton was out of the country with Bush Sr. on Tsunamipalooza - was this to keep him from meddling with Berger? Possibly. Hill has been real quiet of late, as well.
Keep your eyes on the loudmouths who suddenly shut up.
Just may take. Bush will not extort to get what he wants - he'll reach across the aisle and compromise, but he'll get what he wants. Watch.
But I'm not laughing..
And the Mexican border is a runway for Mexican Drug Lords..<<- Mex gov't...
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