A nice, complete summary of the Sandy Berger affair

Mr. Berger's Incredible Misadventure

Exactly why Samuel Berger removed copies of classified documents from the National Archives last October is not clear. Mr. Berger, the former national security adviser to President Clinton who was a Kerry adviser until Tuesday, wasn't going to be able to alter the records or give John Kerry an edge. The missing documents were copies of memos, which Mr. Kerry would have had access to anyway.

If, as Mr. Berger says, the removal was simply a blunder, it was inexcusably careless legally and daft politically. Senator Kerry can't be too happy that Mr. Berger compounded his initial sin by not informing him of the Justice Department's inquiry when it began in January. Mr. Berger and his lawyers may be indignant about the investigation being leaked, but they must have known it would get out.

Meanwhile, the Republican hyperventilating is overdone. The same Congressional leaders who shrugged at the leaking of a C.I.A. agent's identity to punish her husband, a critic of administration policy, demand hearings on Mr. Berger. The politicians should all let the Justice Department do its job.

Of real concern is that bleeding, yet again, of politics into criminal justice. After initially claiming it knew nothing of the case, the White House has had to admit it was informed. That sort of heads-up taints both sides. It leaves the White House open to questions about whether it timed a leak to the release of the 9/11 panel's report, and it feeds cynicism about the independence of federal prosecutors. Mr. Kerry, by the way, ought to stop stoking that cynicism with groundless claims that the prosecution of Kenneth Lay was improperly delayed.

For its part, the White House's denials about this leak would sound more credible if it assigned some urgency to solving the C.I.A. leak case.

Posted by Prometheus 6 on July 23, 2004 - 11:13pm :: Politics
 
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There is no comparison. Ken Lay is felon of record proportions. And Keny Lay is blaming the help. Berger has already taken accountability.

Sandy Berger was not GWB's number one lifetime contributor, with a rich history of correspondence, and if he's been to the jail he didn't get a certified letter from Bush.

Think of the interest off the billions lay has stolen being moved vertically while he was out of jail in unobstructed fashion.

Wonder how much of the market drop has him vested. Hard to tell, he inside trades and gets ahead of the loss curve.

And the biggest oil name neocon aside from James Baker and Condie Rice is Marge Tutwiler, who is the VP of the NYSE , having just left Powell's state Dept. as the director of Iraq communications, the supervisor of the State Dept's last ditch press run to salvage the "good news stories" in Iraq.

So there is someone vested with the entire war for oil money trail now ready to do damage control for the Bush economy and obfiscate any valid attempts to trail the money.

Ken Lay has been given the courtesy of a reacharound for his worst case scenario. Sandy Berger had to use professionalism to counter the millenium plots. Most of the CLinton white house style involved after hours and informal work and sleepovers so the idea of taking work with you/sleeping at the desk fits Berger's method so the mistake was arguably honest.

Face it the 9-11 commission was going to use the Blame Clinton argument until they elarned the goods could be shown later to prove otherwise. These guys have never shown ethics or honesty and to assume otherwise is naive at best. Given FLA 2000 and 2002 that excuse is weak also.

Posted by  Mr.Murder (not verified) on July 24, 2004 - 9:34am.