He can’t be prosecuted a second time thanks to the double jeopardy clause in the Constitution. But if half of what the Inspector General’s report on Sandy Berger’s escapades at the National Archives can be believed, the former National Security Advisor to President Clinton has a lot to answer for – if not to the law, then certainly to history and the American people.
Berger robbed the American people of the only thing owned by all of us; our shared experiences as a nation. His destruction of documents relating to the Millennium Plot will make that event a little less understandable, a little less clear when historians 50 years from now try and pick up the thread of all that transpired during that time.
A small event in the sweep of history, yes. But no historical event exists as an island. What knowledge we lose from our incomplete picture of the response to the Millennium Plot ripples across other events and prevents us from fully understanding our past in a way that was entirely avoidable and largely without precedent.
From the Executive Summary of the Inspector General’s report, we learn that it was not simply copies of the Millennium Plot After Action Report (MAAR) and “notes in the margins” that were stolen and destroyed as we were originally led to believe. In fact, the MAAR was an attachment to each document taken. There were four separate emails with the attachment, the contents of each not being revealed (for obvious reasons).
This information throws the entire Berger incident into a totally new light. Richard Minter of Pajamas Media, who has the PDF file of the IG report available for download:
What was role of Omar Bashir, President of the Sudan, and his relationship to Berger and President Clinton during the days when he offered to cooperate in the capture of Osama Bin Laden?What was in the ten to twenty pages of notes Berger is believed to have taken out of the reviewing room against regulations during his first session?
Who was the person or persons Berger contacted during the numerous “private cell phone calls†he was allowed to make during his active review of the classified documents?
Exactly what was in the documents Berger stole from the archives, some of which he has confessed to destroying?
Did Berger have an accomplice? If the person on the other end of those phone conversations knew what he was doing, it would seem logical that he/she would be open to aiding and abetting a crime. There is nothing in the IG report that I can see where any attempt was made to discover who Berger was making all those phone calls to.
Minter speculated on air today that one of the documents removed and destroyed by Berger was a 1995 letter from Bashir to Clinton offering to hand Osama Bin Laden over to us. What would the 9/11 Commission have had to say about this? Would it have altered their final report?
Probably not, which makes these revelations perhaps more of an historical curiosity than anything else. I doubt whether it would have altered any perceptions by the American people about whose failures were responsible for 9/11 and how much blame should be assigned to both Clinton and President Bush. Al-Qaeda would not have disappeared even if we had gotten a hold of Bin Laden. And radical Islamists would have continued plotting against America regardless of his fate.
But none of this lessens the outrage we should feel against Berger. The man might not have to face a court of law again for the crime. But the government can certainly revisit his paltry 3 year national security clearance suspension. Given the facts of the case, there should be no reason why the government shouldn’t make Mr. Berger permanently ineligible to review classified material.
And any Democratic presidential candidate who would use Mr. Berger as an advisor is opening themselves up to well deserved criticism for having such an untrustworthy person as an aide.
Berger should be banished to the outer darkness of the national security establishment for what he’s done. Unfortunately, he will still pull down five figure speaking fees and be in demand as a lecturer and talking head on cable news shows. It is we, the American people who will be poorer for Mr. Berger’s crimes – acts for which he has yet to show much remorse much less being shamed for what he’s taken from all of us.
7:05 pm
Report: Ex-Clinton Aide Hid Documents
Sandy Berger, President Clinton’s national security adviser, removed classified documents from the N
7:45 pm
You rock, Big Guy!
10:01 pm
Doesn’t this show he perjured himself and his plea arrangement was built on a fabrication? That means he was convicted of a fictional crime and not the malicious one that actually occurred.
10:07 pm
It would be more appropriate to concentrate on exposing the bush crime family and preserving the constitution while there is still time. Yo Ho Ho merry Christmas.
10:31 pm
[...] Original post by Rick Moran and software by Elliott Back [...]
8:51 am
Yo Wingo (#4):
Bush crime family? Oh, OK. Seems to me a person concerned with the Constitution would be more cognizant of the presumption of innocence implied therein.
Do have anything else for us besides the tired memes emanating out of LiberalWorld?
Chip
9:06 am
The Sandy Berger Thought Experiment
Former National Security Advisor and current Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was accused of the theft and descruction of classified materials related to 9/11…
11:11 am
I’m not sure this is even worth discussing.
11:20 am
sandy only loses security clearence for a few years .. should have had it revoked permanentley … if anyone of us had done this we’d be under the jail but the msm isn’t even really mentioning this. I am getting so discourged guys.
12:07 am
“Berger robbed the American people of the only thing owned by all of us; our shared experiences as a nation.”
Exactly. To put it simply: Berger stole our stuff and got away with it.
I’m totally amazed that the guy isn’t behind bars. Well, amazed isn’t the right adjective, scared is more fitting and I certainly am.
It’ll get scarier yet if a Dem is elected in ‘08 and brings good old Sandy back on board. Nothing to stop same, in view of the conveniently timed reinstatement of his security clearance. The thought of his being part of a future administration is disgusting, but I think it likely he would be.
9:55 am
News bits
News bits for today…
Alexander Litvinenko’s italian contact, Mario Scaramella, who was also poisoned, has been arrested. Scaramella was hospitalized for several days in London, and he said doctors told him he had received five times the …
9:27 pm
“Minter speculated on air today that one of the documents removed and destroyed by Berger was a 1995 letter from Bashir to Clinton offering to hand Osama Bin Laden over to us. What would the 9/11 Commission have had to say about this? Would it have altered their final report?”
.....
What would 9/11 Commission co-chairman, Lee Hamilton have to say about a letter that he received from Sudan in April 1997 asking the Clinton White House to allow the FBI counter-terrorism units into Sudan to look at intelligence of Al Qaeda and bin Laden activities? It seems like Sudan was trying to convince SOMEONE in the Clinton Administration to come and check it out. It is my understanding that this letter is a matter of the Congressional Record.
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:EpPdn1AgLq4J:www.mediamonitors.net/espac1.html+Sudan+%22Lee+Hamilton%22+letter+bin+laden&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=11
In April 1997, there was another invitation, once again inviting the Clinton Administration to send FBI counter-terrorism units to Sudan to verify any information they may have had about terrorism. The letter was addressed to Representative Lee Hamilton, the then chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and is part of the Congressional Record. (13) This offer was eventually turned down four months later.
13- ‘Perspective on Terrorism – Olive Branch Ignored’, The Los Angeles Times, 30 September 1998.
Carol
10:26 am
Web Reconnaissance for 12/26/2006
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
2:29 pm
Mr. Berger must go through a different security clearance process than I did. Had I done a tenth of what is alleged against him, my clearance would be permanently gone and I’d likely be facing criminal charges. It is another example of elites in this country protecting elites. It’s why General Officers get early retirement for the same crime that will put an enlisted servicemember in jail for a few years.
This incident brings up a larger issue of security at our national archives. Berger was caught, but I’d be very surprised if he was the first or only high-level government official who did the same thing. The Archive needs an accounting system for every document along with physical searches of EVERYONE who leaves.