Sandy Burglar: Stealing to hide the truth?
Despite President Clinton’s repeated claims that he was “obsessed” with Osama Bin Laden, something his administration did, or didn’t do, caused his National Security Adviser Sandy Berger to turn into a thief, disgrace himself and betray his country.
Former national security adviser Sandy Berger removed classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them under a construction trailer, the Archives inspector general reported Wednesday.
The report was issued more than a year after Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removal of the documents.
Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he said it was possible he threw them in his office trash.
The report said that when Archives employees first suspected that Berger _ who had been President Clinton’s national security adviser _ was removing classified documents from the Archives in the fall of they failed to notify any law enforcement agency.
Berger, who pleaded 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.
The report said that when Berger was reviewing the classified documents in the Archives building a few blocks from the Capitol, employees saw him bending down and fiddling with something white, which could have been paper, around his ankle.
However, Archives employees did not feel at the time there was enough information to confront someone of Berger’s stature, the report said.
Brachfeld reported that on one visit, Berger took a break to go outside without an escort.
“In total, during this visit, he removed four documents … .
“Mr. Berger said he placed the documents under a trailer in an accessible construction area outside Archives 1 (the main Archives building).”
Berger acknowledged that he later retrieved the documents from the construction area and returned with them to his office.
Berger, with the authorization of former President Clinton, was reviewing National Security Council documents on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, Sudan, and related presidential correspondence. The review was to facilitate Berger’s impending testimony before the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Simply put, he should have done hard time.
If you or I did exactly what Sandy Burger did, but at the local Department of Motor Vehicles, we would have done time. He did it at the National Archives, he stole national security secrets and destroyed them. He got off easy. Bill Clinton’s legacy as a terrorist fighter, er, not so much.
December 21st, 2006 at 2:56 pm
It seems quite obvious why he risked his career to steal documents before his and the ex-presidents’
testimony. Why would anyone ask . . .
Now, after its too late, the rest of the story finally is seen by us tax poagies. It’s simply Standard Operating Procedures for our slugs in Washington, DeCeit - - - nothing more!
December 25th, 2006 at 8:41 am
Understanding the seriousness of Sandy Berger’s actions, I am left with still an unresolved question: WHAT could have been contained in those stolen documents that was SO VITALLY important that he would have risked so much to steal/conceal/destroy those archived documents? We will probably never know.
December 26th, 2006 at 2:48 am
If enough people become passionate and refuse to let Team Clinton get away with re-writing history it will fracture this attempt to do so.
The same “you gota be kidding me” kind of nonsense is going on with ‘Able Danger’.(nothing to see here.. move along..) Those seriously investigating ‘Able Danger’ are well aware there’s a cover-up underway.
Look at the timeline once the ‘Able Danger’ team member went to Afganistan and reported the M. Atta connection(among others). Now look at Sandy Berger’s archive visits timeline.
Pay attention to the framing of the questions by the media. It’s not “What docs did sandy disappear?” It’s “What was on the copies of THE DOCS HE SHREDDED with scisors?”
psst.. answer is… ‘MARGINALIA’! Little notes written in the margins of this After Action Report. You see, the ‘Able Danger’ team had the Aden Port tagged ‘hot spot’ BEFORE the Cole. This would have been noted on related reports. And it was ; ) ‘Able Danger’ data-mined many cell linkages much much more! Everything is being moved into the ‘black’ arena so they don’t get caught with their foot in their mouth like this again.
Sandy Berger pulled a classic “sweeper” job for Team Clinton. Notice how they haven’t asked Bill or Hillary to respond to the Berger information. And remember(or lookup) what Bill said when the story first hit?
Too many secrets for Team Clinton: The Liar, The Witch, and the Wardrobe!
December 26th, 2006 at 7:16 am
it’s very interesting and, at the same time, frustrating and disheartening, to see that there has not been a greater attempt at investigating this issue to its’ end and discoving the where, the why, and the who. that only leads one to believe that there are more people involved and even more who are guilty of treason. Only an enemy of America would behave this way. I would say ‘let’s string ‘em up’ but first we would have to find them. It can be done, but will it?
February 19th, 2007 at 7:13 am
I hate it when I kill a blog thread… I didn’t mean to… I’m just messy?
In an interview with the Denver Post, Clinton stuck to the most “innocent explanation,” that Berger’s just a slob. “We were all laughing about it on the way over here,” he told the paper. “People who don’t know him might find it hard to believe. But … all of us who’ve been in his office have always found him buried beneath papers.”
“The innocent explanation is the most likely one, particularly given the facts involved,” Bill Clinton said in defense of former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger.
“innocent explanation”
January 29th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Mini dachshund….
Mini chopper. Mini bikes. Ipod mini. Micro mini thong bikini. Mini pool. Mini sandrail. Mini fridge….