Posted by
Red Meat & Cigarettes on Saturday, September 09, 2006 11:49:37 PM
To those of you who aren't aware, Clinton national security advisor Sandy Berger pleaded guilty to illegally taking
classified documents from the National Archives. Kind of funny how small a story this is. to recap briefly what he did....
In preparation for his testimony in front of the 9-11 commision, he made a visit to the National archives to view classified Clinton era documents reffering to the millenium terror threat and it's handling. During that visit, Archives staff became suspicious of his activities because of unreturned documents. On his second visit they coded the documents to help keep track of which ones were returned, there were some taken by berger back to his office and destroyed. That's it in a nutshell.
Berger ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and under the watchful eye of U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson ended up paying a 50,000$ fine and losing his security clearance for 3 yrs. Why 3 yrs?, why not forever? Sweet price to pay for a possible act of treason. Yes, treason...If a commision is studying how to make our nation safer and documents based on our response to terror threats are destroyed right in the middle of the investigation, it sends up major red flags with me. He admitted to destroying these documents so why is he not in prison. HE WAS OBVIOUSLY TRYING TO HIDE SOMETHING.
This needs to be revisited early and often until we get some accountability. Prager, Benett, Medved, Oreilly, Hannity, Hewitt,....all of you patriots, Grab this like a pitbull and don't let go!!!!
Every time he does an interview someone needs to ask him why he destroyed our nations classified documents!!!!!
A parial clip from AP
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.