Posted on 06/08/2007 11:46:44 AM PDT by lowbridge
Posted by Ken Shepherd on June 8, 2007 - 10:24.
You know, it seems pretty cut-and-dried to me. Stuffing secret documents down your pants and removing them from a secure room in a federal facility, that constitutes stealing.
USA Today's "On Deadline" blog isn't sure, though. (bold/italics are USA Today's):
Sandy Berger, the national security adviser under former President Clinton, was disbarred yesterday in the District of Columbia.
The Washington Post says Berger agreed last month to give up his law license in order to avoid a prolonged investigation that grew out of his conviction in 2005 of removing classified documents from the National Archives.
"While I derived great satisfaction from years of practicing law, I have not done so for 15 years and do not envision returning to the profession," Berger said in a statement. "I am very sorry for what I did, and deeply apologize."
We debated whether to characterize Berger's actions as "stealing." What do you think?
The man stole and hid what he stole. He gave up his law license in order to stop an investigation. Do I have to go on here? And the saps at the Gonzales DOJ let this happen. F’n pathetic.
Sandy Berger stole our history... and got away with it.
It does not matter whether he stole them, destroyed them, or altered them, it was still a heinous crime. He got less than Paris Hilton got..........
I would not characterize it as stealing. I think I would go for Treason. Destruction of classified documents pertaining to, and in time of war. But that’s just me.
Since he plead guility to stuffing them into his socks and taking them from the building and received a $50,000 fine.
What is the question?
Bush made a tacit agreement to go light on all the old Clintonoids...when he’s gone, they won’t reciprocate, and he is going to be shredded.
Why is the media stupid?
Why is USA Today bending over backwards to cover for this guy? He ought to be in prison.
I’m with you. If he stole them, he would still have them. But he purposefully destroyed them to protect Monica’s lover, and that IS TREASON.
We should gather at dawn.....
Wouldn’t you think SIXTY MINUTES would be interested in this? No, I guess not...he’s a Democrat. Only Republicans get investigated on tv.
Is Sandy Berger in Jail Yet?
Are there any "secret docs" in the National Archives?
If "yes", then the answer is:
Probably...
I'll continue... not to purchase or trust anything that USA Today publishes.
Stole and then lied about stealing. He never even owned up to his intent making his remorse bogus.
Exactly. We have to assume that any document that Berger had access to has been compromised. Period. For that, Berger should be serving 20 years to life.
Because Berger was fighting back against the vast right-wing conspiracy that tried to discredit their poster boy.
You’re all so judgemental!
I do this all the time! You know, walk around in a suit and an attache case. I want to take a closer look at some papers. So I think to myself, true, I do have an attache case, but why not just shove a bunch of stuff down my pants instead! It’s great fun! And not telling the archival staff that I had shoved such documents down my pants was simply an oversight. And destroying the documents - well, that was just an accident.
And so many of you want to make something of this. Shame on you!
Fortunately, we have a great and wise leader in George W. Bush. He knows the proper way to handle these matters. Those of you who disagree with him are traitors, bigots, and don’t want what’s best for our country. And as so many of the more patriotic posters on FR remind us - if you take revenge against the Republicans for their actions, you are hurting the country by putting Democrats back in power. IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT - you traitors need to just bend over, shut up, and take whatever Bush and company are offering.
Many OUTSTANDING FReeper comments and yours stands out, xcamel.
I'd like to administer justice to that POS Berger, and whoever else the trail led to.
No, when he’s gone Fred Thompson will prosecute ALL the corrupt people. :)
I think now that we are in the habit, we should keep calling all the treasonous congress critters and the White House, and yell “Where’s the wall? Is Berger in prison yet?”
Berger is a traitor, thief, lier and scumbag. He is yet another adolescent-minded Democrat that doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions.
Nice to see Jorge and Gonzo zealously enforcing law.
NOT!
Why is the media stupid?
&&
If they were stupid I could forgive them. They are not stupid; they are corrupt and agenda-driven, which is why I despise them.
What instance of evidence/document destruction in the past century has made the left most apoplectic? I think it was the 18½ minute gap in Nixon’s White House tape.
**
Good heavens! Where is your judgment? Don’t you realize that Nixon was a Republican and Berger is a Democrat? Therefore, of course, whatever Nixon did was evil, and whatever Berger did was just harmless error.
Watergate is a much more apt comparison than what is commonly stated on FR: Scooter Libby. The difference in how the media treated the Clinton and the Nixon administration is appalling. They are not investigative reporters searching for truth and justice, they are simply partisans, using what remains of their crumbling media empire to push their agenda.
Ditto!
Yeah, that was my leaning as well. "Stealing" just doesn't quite cover how despicable Berger's actions were.
Berger removed zerox copies of original documents so the information was not lost. The crime comes from the fact that the information was classified and to be protected from release. I still don’t know how the Bush justice department let him walk when others (Scooter Libby and Border Patrol agents) go to jail.
If memory serves me right, that is not correct.
Most of the material he was given to review (alone) were copies, but not all of it.
In addition, some of the "copies" had marginal comments every bit as important as the original document.
Your point?
That is incorrect. He stole copies that had hand written notes in the margins from information discussed during, presumably, classified briefings. They could have been Clinton’s notes for all we know. What did they say? What was so important in the notes that Sandy Burglar had to destroy them?. He admits to stealing and destroying the documents, but now he is trying to avoid any further inquirers. Why?
I’m not defending Berger in anyway, as I stated its a sin and a crime that he wasn’t jailed for his actions but he removed copies of meeting notes upon which he wrote notes while there at the archives. The meeting notes contained the classified information for which he should have been jailed.
I have used the National Archives many times and it is easier to get gold out of Ft. Knox then it is to get origninal documents out of National Archives. There is absolutely no way that he had access to original materials once they had been archived.
Berger is a criminal and should have been punished. The question is stil open about what he was trying to hide (probably something related to his hand-written notes). Even odder is why he stashed them when he left. Lots of questions to be answered without making things up.
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