Posted on 07/24/2004 9:22:53 AM PDT by tomball
Former Clinton adviser shaped policy some believe led to Intifada
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Former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, who this week admitted to taking classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, also was found in possession of a small number of classified papers containing his handwritten notes from Middle East peace talks during the Clinton administration, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
Although the Mideast notes are not the main focus of the current criminal probe, the source says their removal may shed further light on Berger's intentions. The Mideast notes were allegedly taken from the National Archives along with classified documents that officials say may paint the Clinton administration's handling of the al-Qaida threat in a negative way.
"Berger was heavily involved in several Israeli-Palestinian initiatives in the 1990s, and in Clinton's seeing Arafat and the Palestinians as negotiating partners, all leading to Camp David, which many now regard as a huge policy mistake that culminated in the violence still raging," said the source
Many American and Israeli political experts have in recent years blasted Clinton's approach to Mideast peacemaking, and some have openly blamed his administration's policies -- seeking major Israeli territorial concessions in exchange for promises of peace by the Palestinian Authority -- as factors in Arafat's decision to launch the Intifada.
Clinton also famously helped turn Arafat's image from guerilla leader to statesman, inviting the PLO president to the White House more times than he did any other world leader. Bush and Sharon have been trying to isolate Arafat, saying he is directly involved in terrorism.
Berger, a close confidante of former President Bill Clinton, was designated as the official from the Clinton administration who would review documents relevant to the 9-11 commission's probe.
The source told WND, "I can't see how notes regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives in the 1990s would be at all relevant to the 9-11 commission. We now have to question why he would have taken these, and in doing so, it could shed light on why he would take the documents that are the current focus of the probe."
The Justice Department is investigating whether Berger committed a crime by removing anti-terror-related documents, which discuss a 1999 plot to attack U.S. millennium celebrations and offer more than two dozen recommendations for improving the response to al-Qaida.
Berger had been an informal adviser to John Kerry's presidential campaign, but he quit Tuesday.
Kerry said later, ''Sandy Berger is my friend, and he has tirelessly served this nation with honor and distinction. I respect his decision to step aside as an adviser to this campaign until this matter is resolved objectively and fairly.''
Berger told reporters he was not guilty of criminal wrongdoing.
"Last year, when I was in the archives reviewing documents, I made an honest mistake. It's one that I deeply regret,'' Berger said. ''I dealt with this issue in October 2003 fully and completely. Everything that I have done all along in this process has been for the purpose of aiding and supporting the work of the 9/11 commission, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply, absolutely wrong."
The plot thickens.
Bergergate rolls on...
Hillry hugging Mrs. Arafat!!!!!
I don't know about the source but it does offer some evidence to your theory about Berger's real mission while in the archives.
I suggest calling it Smugglegate. Ties it cleanly to what was done.
Of course all this terrorism is interwoven. This argument that we could just have stayed in Afghanistan after 9/11 and ignored the rest is too compartmentalized. It was originally seen in the context of Mideast policy and apparently Arabs see it that way, too. Only
Democrats want to slice it up into discrete pieces.
Thanks for the ping, Dolphy. There is more to this matter than we will perhaps ever know, but I do think that Berger risked everything for a far more important reason than legacy building - either Clinton's or his.
I'd love to know how difficult it is to put documents back INTO the archives; we now realize how relatively easy it is to remove them :-)
It's interesting the Rats tell us to believe Berger and give him the benefit of the doubt but won't give the GOP the benefit of the doubt in terms of the timing of the leak.
Berger was clearly stealing and destroying documents that would implicate Willie in the murder of the 3000 folks in NYC and, eventually, to the cash he received for not doing what he should have done and not warning Bush about what he knew.
The media's job is now to divert attention and focus from these death penalty crimes. The favotite approach appears to be that he was simply collecting material for the book he will write.
A Willie sewer dweller should have known that, in addition to stealing the documents that prove Willie's crimes, he should have stolen the document that listed the Joint Chiefs luncheon choices (ham, beef or turkey?).
The media's job is to identify the "show" document and then have us ALL focus on that. Their job is to raise a bunch of frivolous issues, e.g., THAT document was a public record, that document has no secrets, Berger wrote that documnet, why were the archives' people watching so closely, etc., and lead us to the conclusion that it must have been about accuracy of detail in his book not preventing Willie from arrest.
FOX, of course, will keep it's eye on the ball and get more static for claiming to be balanced.
Berger would be more cooperative if he were in prison.
Nothing yet on why these DOCS had the classification CODE WORD....there has to be something else he took.....we don't know about yet.
CHELSEA CLINTON ADVISING DAD ON AFRICAN PEACE TRIP
President Bill Clinton has once again turned to his 20 year old daughter for advice and counsel in foreign affairs!...Chelsea Clinton actively participated in Camp David Mideast peace negotiations between Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. ....
Now, just three weeks later, evidence has surfaced which points to Chelsea’s active role in her father’s attempts to stop the fighting between the Tutsi-dominated government and Hutu rebels.
Thanks for this post. I sure wish the so-called mainstream media would do some investigative reporting on this. Journalists are passing up a chance at exposing the biggest story to come along in decades rather than break from the pack.
"Of course all this terrorism is interwoven. This argument that we could just have stayed in Afghanistan after 9/11 and ignored the rest is too compartmentalized. It was originally seen in the context of Mideast policy and apparently Arabs see it that way, too. Only
Democrats want to slice it up into discrete pieces."
I would have totally agreed prior to Sandy the Burglar being sent in to steal documents. What appears to have been an attempt to compartmentalize now falls flat, merely a cover attempt to avoid the real situation.
No something bigger is on the horizon, whether we will be allowed to have a look see still remains the question. I am not sure how this nation will react to finding the enemy within. Sure would have to have the "evidence" if it comes to that.
And the sheeple sleep.
Exactly, there was a real closeness with the Clintons and Arafats, the Clintons gave Afarat "credibility" when none was to be found.
Saddam was sending $25,000 to each family of the "homicide bombers" and yet the liberals still sought to protect him. Funds that Saddam reaped off his scam with the UN "Oil for rotten Food program".
It isn't just "Democrats."
Sandy Burglar is also hip deep in the crypto-Marxist cabal that includes Jamie Gorelick and The Beast.
Their mission was to sell Israel down the river.
This was reported the first day the news broke
If I recall correctly .. these papers were found by the FBI in his office
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