A Betrayal of Justice and Our National Security?
Copied in full from the Conservative Voice.
by Marc Rotterman
A Betrayal of Justice and Our National Security
January 15, 2007 02:19 PM EST
Widely ignored by the mainstream media was the Inspector general of the National achieves’ final report concerning former Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger’s pilfering of classified documents from the National Archives in 2003.
The release of the Berger Report (by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform) makes the decision by the Department of Justice -- to give Berger a slap on the wrist for this national security breach -- simply unexplainable.
The committee’s 60 page report makes it crystal clear that Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser knew exactly what he was doing and that what he was doing was wrong.
The report was released to the public in late December of 2006, more than a year after Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removal of the documents.
When confronted by National Achieves officials about the missing documents, Berger said it was possible he threw them in his office trash.
But now we learn from the Inspector general inquiry that - Berger confessed... that he placed the documents under a trailer in an accessible construction area outside Archives building and retrieved them later.
For this felonious breach of national security, Berger plead guilty to unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents, was fined $50,000, ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, and was barred from access to classified material for three years.
Sandy Berger received no jail time for his crime – zip – zero.
No wonder the average American thinks there is a double standard for the rich and powerful...
Throughout this national security scandal, the press, the public and law enforcement officials were repeatedly assured that former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger could not have destroyed any documents that the government did not have copies of in their files.
His conduct was portrayed as act of buffoonery, not as a breach of national security. At the time, these documents were also being reviewed by the 9/11 Commission.
Could it be that Berger was trying to hide the fact that he and his boss Bill Clinton we both “asleep at the wheel” when it came to protecting America from the likes of Bin Laden and al Qaeda?
Was Berger trying to alter the historical record of the Clinton approach to terrorism from the public and the 9/11 commission?
In the achieve files Mr. Berger had access to the original, un-copied and un-inventoried documents of Richard Clark, the anti-terror NSC official who served in the Clinton administration.
The key excerpt in the report's executive summary is all you need to read:
“The full extent of Berger's document removal, however, is not known, and never can be known. The Justice Department cannot be sure that Berger did not remove original documents for which there were no copies or inventory. On three of Berger's four visits to the Archives, he had access to such documents.”
The travesty is that Berger should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Instead he continues to be a guest on cable talk shows and panels pontificating his views of America’s national security policy.
And by the way, thanks to the Justice Department’s failure to fully and vigorously prosecute and Mr. Berger, he will be tanned, rested and ready for the next Democratic administration as his plea deal expires in 2008.
by Marc Rotterman
A Betrayal of Justice and Our National Security
January 15, 2007 02:19 PM EST
Widely ignored by the mainstream media was the Inspector general of the National achieves’ final report concerning former Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger’s pilfering of classified documents from the National Archives in 2003.
The release of the Berger Report (by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform) makes the decision by the Department of Justice -- to give Berger a slap on the wrist for this national security breach -- simply unexplainable.
The committee’s 60 page report makes it crystal clear that Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser knew exactly what he was doing and that what he was doing was wrong.
The report was released to the public in late December of 2006, more than a year after Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removal of the documents.
When confronted by National Achieves officials about the missing documents, Berger said it was possible he threw them in his office trash.
But now we learn from the Inspector general inquiry that - Berger confessed... that he placed the documents under a trailer in an accessible construction area outside Archives building and retrieved them later.
For this felonious breach of national security, Berger plead guilty to unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents, was fined $50,000, ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, and was barred from access to classified material for three years.
Sandy Berger received no jail time for his crime – zip – zero.
No wonder the average American thinks there is a double standard for the rich and powerful...
Throughout this national security scandal, the press, the public and law enforcement officials were repeatedly assured that former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger could not have destroyed any documents that the government did not have copies of in their files.
His conduct was portrayed as act of buffoonery, not as a breach of national security. At the time, these documents were also being reviewed by the 9/11 Commission.
Could it be that Berger was trying to hide the fact that he and his boss Bill Clinton we both “asleep at the wheel” when it came to protecting America from the likes of Bin Laden and al Qaeda?
Was Berger trying to alter the historical record of the Clinton approach to terrorism from the public and the 9/11 commission?
In the achieve files Mr. Berger had access to the original, un-copied and un-inventoried documents of Richard Clark, the anti-terror NSC official who served in the Clinton administration.
The key excerpt in the report's executive summary is all you need to read:
“The full extent of Berger's document removal, however, is not known, and never can be known. The Justice Department cannot be sure that Berger did not remove original documents for which there were no copies or inventory. On three of Berger's four visits to the Archives, he had access to such documents.”
The travesty is that Berger should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Instead he continues to be a guest on cable talk shows and panels pontificating his views of America’s national security policy.
And by the way, thanks to the Justice Department’s failure to fully and vigorously prosecute and Mr. Berger, he will be tanned, rested and ready for the next Democratic administration as his plea deal expires in 2008.
posted by Fred | 4:13 PM
2 Comments:
I have been watching the increasing clamor amongst the blogers about the Sandy "Pants" Berger incident and how he is a getting a free ride by the liberal media.
Guarantee that if it had been one of George's boys, the story would be Page 1!
Wonder what the hell he did drag out of there in his drawers?
It's hard to say, but you can bet he was covering for his boss and the Democrats will probably bring him back if they get elected in '08
Post a Comment
<< Home