Sandy Berger cleared of document theft

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Too bad the damage is already done--they managed to tarnish the reputation of a fine man.

" President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger -- who'd been accused of stealing classified material from the National Archives -- has been cleared of all wrongdoing.

The National Archives and the Justice Department have concluded nothing is missing and nothing in the Clinton administration's record was withheld from the 9-11 Commission.

The Wall Street Journal reports archives staff have accounted for all classified documents Berger looked at.

Late last year they asked investigators to see if the former national security adviser removed materials during his visits.

Berger's lawyers said his client had inadvertently removed several photocopies of reports, but later returned them.

http://www.kyw1060.com/news_story_de...wsitemid=39459

Notice how there was little or no mention of this development on Fux/CNN/MSGOP/NBC/CBS/ABC today?

They made this story out to be a matter of grave importance w/ serious implications for national security, etc., and the media whores yammered on and on about it.

Now Berger has been cleared, suddenly the story is no longer important, I guess.

"Liberal media" my ass!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Standard Operating Bullsh*t for these rat bastards. Scream the false accusations at the top of the lungs - Page 1 headlines and lead story on CNN Headline News. Then when it proves to be baseless and without merit, quietly slink away and plan the next act of character assasination.

[OrangeDoofus]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

"Liberal media" my ass!

My thoughts exactly. I stopped by the FoxNews website today and they've got a teaser on the front page for an editorial by David Asman titled "Is Sandy Berger getting a free pass from the elite liberal media?"

They certainly seem to be taking a pass on reporting that he was cleared of wrongdoing.

[watermock]

Yeah, kinda like missing CD's were found behind a copying machine at Los Alamos where it had allready been searched.

So why did the video show him shoving documents down his shorts and socks?

Just maybe he was looking for something?

They were "returned?" WTF are you talking about. It was a reading room dimwit. Answer me this:

How do you inadvertently take classified documents and put them in your underwear and socks then return them?

Sounds alot like Los Alamos when all of a sudden classified information showed up later.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

They certainly seem to be taking a pass on reporting that he was cleared of wrongdoing.

Bingo.

Now that Berger has (predictably) been cleared, you can hear the sound of bubbles bursting all across the red states.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

To the shameless repigs and the media lapdogs who trashed a good man's reputation:

Cheney you!

[watermock]

This is like talking to a donkey.

He allready has said he "inadvertently took documentes and accidentially destroyed some from his own admission. '

First, he wasn't allowed to take any documents, second, some are missing and never returned on his own admission.

[OrangeDoofus]

Originally Posted by watermock

Yeah, kinda like missing CD's were found behind a copying machine at Los Alamos where it had allready been searched.

So why did the video show him shoving documents down his shorts and socks?

Just maybe he was looking for something?

They were "returned?" WTF are you talking about. It was a reading room dimwit. Answer me this:

How do you inadvertently take classified documents and put them in your underwear and socks then return them?

Sounds alot like Los Alamos when all of a sudden classified information showed up later.

Good detective work, mock. Obviously you know much more about the case than those dumb saps at the Justice Department.

[Rohirrim]

Rove cut lose this leak on Berger just to spread a little dirt around on the Dems right before their convention. It did its job. Who cares now? Rove will have new "talking points" for Press, Inc. this week.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by watermock

So why did the video show him shoving documents down his shorts and socks?

What video? There was no video. The whole video of him shoving into his pants and socks was invented by Fox.

[Taco John]

...and for what it's worth, I think the investigation is still ongoing... If you can trust NewsMax to actually report straight up News...

So much has been invented with this story (ala... mythical video of him shoving it in his pants and socks) that I don't know what to believe.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Rove cut lose this leak on Berger just to spread a little dirt around on the Dems right before their convention. It did its job. Who cares now? Rove will have new "talking points" for Press, Inc. this week.

The Rove Smear Machine not only "spread dirt around"--it cost Berger a well-deserved position in a Kerry administration.

[TexanBob]

There's a difference between commiting a crime and lacking evidence to prosecute a crime. Both may be true here. All I know is what has been reported. The Justice Dep't may have their reasons not to go after Berger even when he essentially admits to wrongdoing (in cute little "inadvertant", "mistaken" "sloppy" words). From the beginning, this story had some huge question marks to it - one of which being why this wasn't reported last fall and why Berger hadn't been arrested.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by TexanBob

(in cute little "inadvertant", "mistaken" "sloppy" words).

Better be careful... These are the same cute little words that Bush is using with regards to intelligence over invading Iraq for WMDs...

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by TexanBob

From the beginning, this story had some huge question marks to it - one of which being why this wasn't reported last fall and why Berger hadn't been arrested.

The reason it wasn't reported last fall is because the Justice department doesn't disclose information on pending investigations... Until they get leaked right before political conventions (or whenever they are politically expedient)...


The reason why it wasn't reported last fall: It wasn't a good time to leak it.

[TexanBob]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Better be careful... These are the same cute little words that Bush is using with regards to intelligence over invading Iraq for WMDs...

While the Bush administration has backpedaled a little, British intelligence has never backed away from the Niger uranium story and the other WMD stories were all attributed to Clinton people in 1998 before Bush took office. While Blix and his minions found nothing substantial, Saddam continued to act like a guilty man in the same manner that O.J. Simpson did. It wasn't inadvertant or sloppy. It was old and not reinforced by new intelligence. Saddam was daring them to call his bluff and Bush did. We had what an LEO might deem "probable cause".

[Spider]

O.J has WMD ? ............. Lets invade O.J.Simpson

[watermock]

First, there was reputed to be a video. My mistake.

After the investigation was revealed this week by The Associated Press, Berger stepped down as an informal foreign policy adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Those darn repugs from the A.P. again.

At the very least, it was improper, as admitted by Berger, and it's problematic there might of still been something there he was looking for, or he wouldn't of taken them off the property.

To me, the issue is closed if they claim there were other copies, including side notes.

It's still quite odd when there are specific rules regarding the handling of classified documents. I'm not vindictive just to be vindictive like LABF. I'm just waiting for him to claim the AP is a bunch of Smirk Monkeys.

[TexanBob]

I'm still waiting for the announcement that Berger has been cleared to come forward from a credible news source. Or are all the other news sources just asleep? We'll know Monday I guess.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Naturally, while the Berger red herring plays itself out, this sort of thing doesn't get much play on Faux/CNN/MSGOP/NBC/CBS/ABC:

Another Whistleblower Given the Boot at the FBI

Another F.B.I. Employee Blows Whistle on Agency
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: August 2, 2004

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/po...blower.html?hp

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 - As a veteran agent chasing home-grown terrorist suspects for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mike German always had a knack for worming his way into places few other agents could go.

In the early 1990's, he infiltrated a group of white supremacist skinheads plotting to blow up a black church in Los Angeles. A few years later, he joined a militia in Washington State that talked of attacking government buildings. Known to his fellow militia members as Rock, he tricked them into handcuffing themselves in a supposed training exercise so the authorities could arrest them.

So in early 2002, when Mr. German got word that a group of Americans might be plotting support for an overseas Islamic terrorist group, he proposed to his bosses what he thought was an obvious plan: go undercover and infiltrate the group.

But Mr. German says F.B.I. officials sat on his request, botched the investigation, falsified documents to discredit their own sources, then froze him out and made him a "pariah." He left the bureau in mid-June after 16 years and is now going public for the first time - the latest in a string of F.B.I. whistle-blowers who claim they were retaliated against after voicing concerns about how management problems had impeded terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11 attacks...

[watermock]

Total deflection and off topic.

This crap probably makes page one at the NYTimes, which has been so continually discredited it's become the joke of media from the Crack Smoking Affirmitive Action "Reporter" to it's page 8 retractions.

Go back to Bartcop, it's just as accurate.

How funny how O'Reilly gets bashed, how many retractions has he had to make? Less than the NYTimes, and O'Reilly is only an opinionist.

[Exile_In_SJ]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

Too bad the damage is already done--they managed to tarnish the reputation of a fine man.

By his own actions did Berger tarnish his reputation, remember einstein, he admitted to taking classified documents. He did the damage himself. No one did it to him.

And as of yet, the justice department hasn't cleared him, so he's still under investigation.

[SimonFletcherRules!]

CLEARED MY ASS!!!

Berger to pay $50,000 for taking classified material
WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge on Thursday ordered Sandy Berger, President Clinton's national security adviser, to pay a $50,000 fine for illegally taking classified documents from the National Archives.
The punishment handed down by U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson exceeded the $10,000 fine recommended by government lawyers. Under the deal, Berger avoids prison time but he must surrender access to classified government materials for three years.

"The court finds the fine is inadequate because it doesn't reflect the seriousness of the offense," Robinson said, as a grim-faced Berger stood silently.

Earlier in the hearing, Berger expressed remorse for his crime, which he described as a lapse of judgment that came while he was preparing to testify before the Sept. 11 commission.

"I let considerations of personal convenience override clear rules of handling classified material," Berger said. "I believe this lapse, serious as it is, does not reflect the character of myself."

"In this case, I failed. I will not again," he said.

The sentencing capped a bizarre sequence of events in which Berger admitted to sneaking classified documents out of the Archives in his suit, later destroying some of them in his office and then lying about it.

After initially saying it was an "honest mistake," Berger pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material, which contained information relating to terror threats in the United States during the 2000 millennium celebration.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by SimonFletcherRules!

CLEARED MY ASS!!!

Berger to pay $50,000 for taking classified material
WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge on Thursday ordered Sandy Berger, President Clinton's national security adviser, to pay a $50,000 fine for illegally taking classified documents from the National Archives.
The punishment handed down by U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson exceeded the $10,000 fine recommended by government lawyers. Under the deal, Berger avoids prison time but he must surrender access to classified government materials for three years.

"The court finds the fine is inadequate because it doesn't reflect the seriousness of the offense," Robinson said, as a grim-faced Berger stood silently.

Earlier in the hearing, Berger expressed remorse for his crime, which he described as a lapse of judgment that came while he was preparing to testify before the Sept. 11 commission.

"I let considerations of personal convenience override clear rules of handling classified material," Berger said. "I believe this lapse, serious as it is, does not reflect the character of myself."

"In this case, I failed. I will not again," he said.

The sentencing capped a bizarre sequence of events in which Berger admitted to sneaking classified documents out of the Archives in his suit, later destroying some of them in his office and then lying about it.

After initially saying it was an "honest mistake," Berger pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material, which contained information relating to terror threats in the United States during the 2000 millennium celebration.

I'm sure you've been told before but here it is again. Post the link to any articles and the source.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Simple Simon

CLEARED MY ASS!!!

Psssst! Genius!

He was cleared of Withholding Material From 9/11 Commission.


Wall Street Journal: "Berger Cleared of Withholding Material From 9/11 Commission"

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1...ys_us_page_one

Excerpt:

WAS BERGER SMEARED? Sure looks like it. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Officials looking into the removal of classified documents from the National Archives by former Clinton National Security Adviser Samuel Berger say no original materials are missing and nothing Mr. Berger reviewed was withheld from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Several prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, have voiced suspicion that when Mr. Berger was preparing materials for the 9/11 Commission on the Clinton administration's antiterror actions, he may have removed documents that were potentially damaging to the former president's record.

The conclusion by archives officials and others would seem to lay to rest the issue of whether any information was permanently destroyed or withheld from the commission.

Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said officials there "are confident that there aren't any original documents missing in relation to this case." She said in most cases, Mr. Berger was given photocopies to review, and that in any event officials have accounted for all originals to which he had access.

That included all drafts of a so-called after-action report prepared by the White House and federal agencies in 2000 after the investigation into a foiled bombing plot aimed at the Millennium celebrations. That report and earlier drafts are at the center of allegations that Mr. Berger might have permanently removed some records from the archives. Some of the allegations have related to the possibility that drafts with handwritten notes on them may have disappeared, but Ms. Cooper said archives staff are confident those documents aren't missing either.

Daniel Marcus, general counsel of the 9/11 Commission, said the panel had been assured twice by the Justice Department that no originals were missing and that all of the material Mr. Berger had access to had been turned over to the commission. "We are told that the Justice Department is satisfied that we've seen everything that the archives saw," and "nothing was missing," he said.

It would have been nice for Tom DeLay, Duncan Hunter, and Dennis Hastert to withhold judgment for just a week or two before accusing Berger of deliberately pilfering documents and endangering national security for the purposes of covering up alleged intelligence snafus by the Clinton administration. And I wonder if Tom Davis will follow through with his "investigation" of Berger's dastardly deeds, now that the political usefulness of such a probe seems diminished.

This development doesn't leave Berger entirely in the clear -- it appears he still removed photocopies of classified material from the archives, and that's wrong. But I do think the commission's comments militate against the motives ascribed by Berger's critics. It looks more and more like this was an honest mistake, although, again, not one that should be taken likely.