Sloppy documents, sloppy reporting, and a bombshell of a story

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How an Ex-Aide to President Clinton Stashed Classified Documents

Submitted by Jared, Dec 21, 2006 15:37

Sandy Berger former National Security Advisor to a recent President misplaces top secret documents including presidential briefing material after having stolen it out of a top secret repository. Sounds like an interesting story to do some real digging into. You would think there would be some investigative journalists out there just itching to get the full scoop on this story. What if there was something covered up? What would be important enough for a former National Security Advisor to sneak out top secret documents and destroy them at the risk of his career, his freedom, or even his life if it were deemed espionage. More likely it was just sloppiness. After all, Sandy is a liberal and liberals fight for the important causes of this world. If really it wasn't sloppiness and he were taking such risks, it was probably for national security and he was doing the world a favor at such great risk to himself. What a hero. Perhaps we should return the favor by just breezing past this story. After all, it would hurt the candidate we intend to vote for in 2008. Why would I run a story that may invalidate my future vote.

It is a good thing that Colin Powell or Condi Rice wasn't caught stealing docs for a max security repository. The 60 Minutes team would have an hour long special put together within a week.

Basically, it comes down to trust. Because the ideology of most reporters is liberal and similar to the Clintons, Mr. Berger, and other liberals, they see themselves on the same team and fighting for the right (albeit left) causes. They are reticent to question someone on the same team and will mostly only do so when what has happened is so grievious that it cannot be overlooked. It takes a proponderance of evidence and thought-out analasys, and enough conservative media attention before the MSM will hit into one on their own team. Evidence in fact: Out of all the political scandals in the past ten years, how many of the democrats involved in the scandals stepped down? Out of all the scandals involving republicans, how many of them didn't have to step down? The only way this was possible is having the newsmakers at bat for you to augment or lessen the effect of the story. Few people know who Tom DeLay is, but they have heard a million times that he is a crooked politician, despite the evidence of jury shopping and a history of politacally motivated indictments by the prosecutor. On the flip side, there is no doubt of Berger's guilt, yet almost nobody has heard of him and even less have heard about this incident.

The Sandy Berger issue has never been fully investigated or brought out into public knowledgebut that doesn't mean it never will be brought to light. It is a bombshell sitting unexploded next to Mrs. Clinton's presidential asperations. There are a lot of reporters who are trying to wedge themselves between the bombshell and Mrs. Clinton to shield her from the blast should this ever get brought to light and some are working furiously to diffuse it. Perhaps they will eventually succeed, but I can't imagine that they will. I think that it is a bombshell that is going to go off at some point, the question is when.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
That criminal should be in jail for his efforts to keep the truth from the public. The Bush administration messed... [MORE]	nomas	Oct 24, 2007 20:06
Berger reportedly took multiple copies of the same document. Some copies were recovered, two were destroyed. So the information in... [MORE]	Archy	Dec 23, 2006 14:50
How does people who are to testify for the 9/11 have little or no mental capacity for wrong doing. If... [MORE]	Ken E,	Dec 22, 2006 20:49
A misdemeanor?? He should be in prison along with whoever sent him, paid him, guaranteed his family would be taken... [MORE]	ES	Dec 22, 2006 16:21
Our government is regrettably replete with puzzling and frustrating examples of "justice". These indiscretions are further mystified by the "watchdog"... [MORE]	Rich	Dec 22, 2006 12:22
Its funny how governmental leaders get treated so much better than even Marines in a war shooting at insurgents. Innocent... [MORE]	mike celestin	Dec 22, 2006 12:21
Obviously Berger was a henchman acting for someone else. Since he would not "give up" his "boss" on this crime caper... [MORE]	Ernesto	Dec 22, 2006 11:20
The information in the documents in question is classified under E.O. 12958, as amended. That means that the contents inherently... [MORE]	Archy	Dec 22, 2006 09:05
Wow, what a shameless ploy on your part, Archy. After numerous harmful leaks of current government information, you all of... [MORE]	Cygnus X-1	Dec 22, 2006 12:18
Bill Clinton has been out of office for 6 years. He is a private citizen now and as such can... [MORE]	Archy	Jan 13, 2007 17:27
The bottom line is that Berger was trying to hide or destroy documents that he felt would implicate the Clinton... [MORE]	Jack	Dec 21, 2006 22:45
It surprises me that an act which is being treated as 'mildly criminal' could have affected our entire country. Exactly... [MORE]	robin szczepaniak	Dec 21, 2006 22:14
Sandy Berger is a traitor and should be making license plates. If any other American had done this, with the... [MORE]	Robert	Dec 21, 2006 22:02
The archive employees say they copied the documents. How did they know which documents to copy? How many documents were... [MORE]	liberpublican	Dec 21, 2006 20:36
The fact that politically motivated people would attempt to remove damaging material from our National Archives is not a surprise.... [MORE]	D. Landrey	Dec 21, 2006 19:51
Why should he ever get his security clearance back? Just in time for 2008 [MORE]	marty	Dec 21, 2006 19:38
Jared, you write, "You would think there would be some investigative journalists out there just itching to get the full... [MORE]	Archy	Dec 21, 2006 18:51
HE IS A TRAITOR OF THE WORST KIND AND SHOULD BE PUT BEHIND BARS...LIKE THE GOOD OL' DAYS [MORE]	JOSEPHINE ARKLIN	Dec 21, 2006 17:41
So Berger admitted he lied originally? What a surprise. It was no surprise that he got a slap on the... [MORE]	Fred Edwards	Dec 21, 2006 17:24
The documents Mr. Berger took should probably not have been classified in the first place. However, if they were properly... [MORE]	Vernon Funkhouser	Dec 21, 2006 15:41
Sandy Berger former National Security Advisor to a recent President misplaces top secret documents including presidential briefing material after having...	Jared	Dec 21, 2006 15:37
...and they protect this odious pair from their perches on the federal bench, all departments and branches of the federal... [MORE]	Kyda Sylvester	Dec 21, 2006 15:30
It is not helpful to the National Archives to look at such issues from a partisan viewpoint. (Clinton and his... [MORE]	Archy	Dec 21, 2006 15:23
Stunning. Simply stunning. Archy, you have no shame. Let me say this: Anyone who is found to have stolen documents from... [MORE]	Cygnus X-1	Dec 22, 2006 13:09
You say apples and oranges. I say, no cherry picking, look at systemic problems. There is no shame attached to... [MORE]	Archy	Dec 23, 2006 09:45
Why are you stunned? I'm arguing for adherence to law. Were you disturbed by allegations that Clinton WH official Craig Livingston... [MORE]	Archy	Dec 23, 2006 12:19
Comments on this thread may be closed now. But I'll try this anyway in the interests of fairness. You have... [MORE]	Archy	Dec 23, 2006 17:22
If at first you don't succeed try , try again [MORE]	RD	Dec 21, 2006 14:27
Another one takes the fall for the Clintons,IMO. Wonder what was promised? Could it be a high level position in... [MORE]	RD	Dec 21, 2006 13:43
Two things: It's too late for a Republican congress to hold hearings; and now's the time to get all Clinton/Hillary... [MORE]	Art	Dec 21, 2006 13:19
Where is the Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, Thomas Friedman, E.J. Dion, Bob Herbert ,among others, crowd ? I'm... [MORE]	Jack Benisek	Dec 21, 2006 11:15
What a farce! If Berger were a Republican, he would be thrown to the sharks naked. This is the main... [MORE]	Jill Lawless	Dec 21, 2006 11:08
how long will the people of this country bury their heads in the sand and ignore rhe fact the placement... [MORE]	Ruth Skid more	Dec 21, 2006 10:50
I am NOT a lawyer; I am NOT an academic and I am NOT a journalist. We live in the Wabash... [MORE]	Michael Kor	Dec 21, 2006 10:40
Berger has "paid his debt to society" and has "moved on". Meanwhile, Scooter Libby is awaiting trial for a much lesser... [MORE]	M. J. Slayton	Dec 21, 2006 10:29
Scooter lied under oath. Does anything else need to be said. I don't care what Party, who he worked for,... [MORE]	Elliott Kershaw	Dec 21, 2006 11:43
anything that has been reported about the nefarious acts of persons working under the Clinton administraton show not surprise or... [MORE]	rogers l marshall	Dec 21, 2006 09:50
Everyday I lose a little more faith in this country. Any American that believes that the rich and well connected... [MORE]	Mike	Dec 21, 2006 08:38
Why isn't Sandy the Burglar being asked what was in those documents he destroyed? Why aren't we having that conversasion?... [MORE]	Sheeple	Dec 22, 2006 10:09
Now we know how the Clintons got rid of all the proof from their Whitewater actions, stock options, travel office... [MORE]	Kenneth Parady	Dec 21, 2006 08:33
Whay is this clown not in Federal Prison for Obstruciton of Justice? Talk about the double standard vs Scooter Libby. [MORE]	ESC	Dec 21, 2006 08:30