Posted on 04/04/2005 5:54:58 AM PDT by Theodore R.
The Berger whitewash
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: April 4, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
I knew it. You knew it.
When Sandy Berger, the former national security adviser to the president of the United States, was caught red-handed stealing highly classified documents from the National Archives more than a year ago, he was permitted to go free. He was allowed to go out and give speeches. He was even permitted to serve as a national security adviser to a presidential candidate and was talked about as a possible secretary of state for John Kerry, should he have been elected to the White House.
The investigation dragged on for more than a year.
The public has never received answers as to the specific papers taken by Berger, whose excuse for being in the National Archives at the time was preparing his former boss, Bill Clinton, for testimony before the 911 commission.
And, last week, confirmation came. Berger would be charged with one misdemeanor count of taking classified material. He copped a plea and would plead guilty, avoiding any jail time. His "punishment" would be a $10,000 fine and not being allowed to serve in a national security position in the federal government for a period of three years, which, of course, is meaningless since Republicans will be in control of the White House until 2008.
It was the proverbial slap on the wrist. It's worse than that. It's a shake of the finger with a wink and a nod. It's a joke.
Berger didn't even have to admit he did anything wrong. He got away with characterizing this high crime as an "honest mistake."
Once again, the case shows there are two standards of justice in America – one for ordinary people like you and me and another for members of the establishment, the elite.
If you or I had walked out of the National Archives with highly classified documents, we would have been slapped in leg irons and done hard prison time. Berger did it and never saw the inside of a jail cell.
He wasn't even forced to produce all the documents stolen. He wasn't even forced to account for them. Did he shred them? Did he burn them? Did he sell them to foreign powers? Did he give them to the presidential candidate for whom he was working? Did he use them to blackmail someone?
The American people will never know the answers to these questions. The American people will never even get to see those documents – even though they may well have been distributed to our enemies. The American people will never even get an accounting of those papers or a suitable explanation.
Was Sandy Berger covering up for his own serious national security mistakes leading up to Sept. 11? Or was he covering up for the mistakes of his superiors?
We know that Berger signed off on instructions not to attack Osama bin Laden at least three times before the devastating terror attacks in 2001. Since this was a matter of public record, one can only wonder what unrevealed scandal or scandals he was trying to conceal.
And that's what this yearlong-plus Justice Department investigation has left us with – more unanswered questions.
Are we really at war? Are we really concerned about national security in this country? As we leave the borders wide open and slap former top national security officials on the wrist for stealing classified secrets, can we really say we are behaving like a nation at war?
When men in the battlefield, operating under wartime conditions, are prosecuted for premeditated murder for killing terrorists, we give a pass to civilian officials who steal national security secrets. Does this make sense to you?
And notice that Sandy Berger's plea agreement was announced by the Justice Department on the day Terri Schiavo died – to ensure it would be buried and overwhelmed in the day's news coverage.
Whatever crimes Berger committed – and I am certain they would be stunning if the public ever learned the full extent – the Bush Justice Department has just affirmed it is complicit in them.
My first gut reaction after reading your post is: (groaning) Oh No, here we go again. Gosh these guys are sooo slimy.
Thanks for the info.
Even after the burglary AND an open investigation of said burglary
being launched. If memory serves, Berger was under investigation
for over a year before the public found out about it.
The two standards for justice are for DemoRats and Republicans.
Imagine the outrage if a Condi Rice or a Brent Scrowcroft would have taken documents out of the National Archives. The New York Times would run out of headline space.
FBI brought into the Berger case in January 2004 and we found out about it a few months later (about a year after his first pilfering--July). He committed his crimes in July, September and October 2003.
No.
Bump, I have to go for now.
Michael Savage speculated that Bush Sr. and Clinton worked this out during their Tsunami tour. Savage: Both parties in the permanent governmnet, our "benign oligarchy," protect their own by protecting each other.
.....and besides, the Archives had to reort to setting up a sting to catch Berger in the act.....
"His "punishment" would be a $10,000 fine and not being allowed to serve in a national security position in the federal government for a period of three years, which, of course, is meaningless since Republicans will be in control of the White House until 2008".....please note Mr. Berger will be allowed to potentially "serve" again in pewrhaps the next Democratic administration...whether by invitation...or having confiscated his masters' incriminations, by blackmail!!
Just another example of the Republicrats taking care of each other. It's like pro-wrestling, they pretend to be enemies when the cameras are on and then go out drinking.
http://www.constitutionparty.com
During war time, at that!!!
Fortunately for Sandy, he did not commit the one unforgivable crime: uttering a racially insensitive remark.
The criminal investigation of Berger began last October but only came to light this week.
Kerry Camp Accuses White House of Berger Leak
The way I read it, for the 9 months before the news of the investigation broke, Sandy the Burglar kept up business as usual.
So, although most of official Washington knew Berger was under investigation for a serious crime, he was still advising a candidate for the presidency, and, as Liz pointed out, profiting from US government business in Iraq.
There is something extremely wrong with this picture.
Yes, he was caught in October but the FBI was brought in in January.
I am not sure most of Washington knew about the investigation. Berger knew he was being investigated, so he of course told clinton. Lindsey knew because he's the one the Archives called to say documents were missing. The reason they called him is Lindsey served as liaison between clinton and the Archives for any official (ahem) at the Archives on clinton's behalf.
Kamp Kerry most likely knew because Berger was working with them.
But I don't think most of DC knew. As to the leak, the Bush administration, contrary to the dem/media spin, most certainly did not leak it. There was no purpose to do so. It is a tried and true clintonian tactic to leak the existance of the investigation. Making it public threw a monkey wrench in quietly collecting evidence and gave them the spin of "the Bush administration is leaking" thereby diverting attention from the actual crime. Also it would help serve down the road with an attempt to say it was all "old news". I don't think it worked this time.
I agree, it is outrageous he has been able to galavant about with an aura of respectability he lost long long ago, as did the rest of that crew.
For a long time we've seen two sets of justice. One for the Sandy Bergers and rich athletes and celebrities such as OJ and Robert Blake. And another set for us.
I wonder if the Fed. attorney in charge of this case was a Bush appointee or a holdover from the Clinton regime? Does anyone know?
In Washington there is a system where the powerful protect each other.Since they all end up doing something wrong at one time or another the wheels keep turning.The way that Bush has been sucking up to Clinton lately is real sickening to watch.
What a coincidence, the $10,000 fine amount is the EXACT limit for tax-free "gifts."
Berger won't pay a dime, liberal contributors will.
I wrote Her Honor Robinson a letter. Alot of good that will do......I'll probably get a IRS tax audit next year!
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