Sandy Berger will plead guilty to taking classified documents from the National Archives, Fox News is reporting. Although he “inadvertently” took some papers, he “knowingly” crammed others down his pants. So he meant to steal only a few things. OK. Too bad it’s only a misdemeanor.
As I wrote back in July 2004, Samuel “Sandy” Berger Won’t Go To Jail…
Michelle Malkin has a great post.
Update (4/1): Power Line says Another Successful Cover-Up.
Scrappleface: “Ex-Clinton administration national security advisor Samuel ‘Sandy’ Berger entered a Virginia hospital today suffering from an “acute skin inflammation on his wrists” minutes after learning of the punishment he’ll face for smuggling top-secret documents out of the National Archives.”
More from Malkin.
There are documents still missing! Bunch of crooks.
Liberal blogger Kevin Drum on Sandy Berger: “Bizarre and inexplicable.”
Lorie Byrd: “When I first read of the Berger theft of documents I was amazed that such a thing could happen in a facility that is responsible for classified documents. Now I am amazed that a former NSA appears likely to get away with pilfering and destroying classified documents with a slap on the wrist.”
LOL
I love the title of this post
It’s disgusting though. If a military person did what he did , they’d be slinging rocks at Leavenworth (and those that did are).
Comment by Renee — 03.31.05 @ 7:05 pm
Not only that he is pleading guilty to only a misdemeanor!
Comment by Ian — 03.31.05 @ 7:59 pm
Misdemeanor? When classified dcouments walk away in someone’s pants I call that attempted espionage and treason. If he doesn’t go to death row he should go to prison until the next Democrat president abuses the power of the pardon.
Comment by CCR — 03.31.05 @ 8:42 pm
Berger Pleads Guilty
Former Clinton National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger is pleading guilty to taking classified document from the National Archives. FoxNews has the story (HT: La Shawn Barber).
Trackback by Air Force Voices — 03.31.05 @ 8:45 pm
“…attempted espionage and treason.”
I like the sound of that.
Comment by La Shawn — 03.31.05 @ 8:47 pm
If you’re well connected enough, or have the right financial resources, you can get out of just about anything…of whatever you get into will be painless and trivial. Members of the First Estate always get off….and the Fourth Estate never holds them accountable, unless their conservative.
Comment by Chris Roberts — 03.31.05 @ 9:04 pm
Sandy Berger: “I’m Guilty of an Honest Mistake”
“He called the episode “an honest mistake,” and denied criminal wrongdoing.”
This is classic double-speak from a Clintonista. Mr. Berger, you were formerly the National Security Advisor to the President of the United States of America. Are you t…
Trackback by blogical conclusions — 03.31.05 @ 9:19 pm
Oh how planned was this - wait for a big news day (e.g. Schiavo finale) and cop a plea at the end of the day.
Talk about taking out the trash!
p.s. great title!
Comment by Mean Dean — 03.31.05 @ 9:26 pm
This is hilarious. An honest mistake? Stuffing papers in his pants was an honest mistake? Give me a break.
What I want to know is not so much what he did (we’ve known that for a long time), but whether another person or persons directed the operation, and why. Perhaps the plea agreement will allow Berger to rat out someone higher in the food chain. Or so the conspiracy buff in me wonders.
Comment by RedBeard — 03.31.05 @ 9:49 pm
Think what would happen if a Bush official had done this during 911 Commission times..The MSM would still be Sceaming cover-up after all this time..But this will go away, just like all the left that break the law.’he made an honest mistake’..yeah right
Comment by greenmiler — 03.31.05 @ 10:14 pm
Berger to Plead Guilty
Just saw this on Fox:
Former national security adviser Sandy Berger will plead guilty to taking classified material from the National Archives , a misdemeanor, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Berger is expected to appear in federal court in W
Trackback by Iowa Voice — 03.31.05 @ 10:38 pm
It all depends what the meaning of “honest” is. One more Clinton administration person with a private meaning of a word.
Comment by Evon Bachaus — 03.31.05 @ 10:54 pm
So Sandy HamBerger insists that it was an “honest mistake” and denies any criminal wrongdoing. OK. So we’re supposed to believe that’s perfectly acceptable behavior? After all, doesn’t EVERYBODY “accidently” stuff top-secret documents in their pants?
Frankly, I think he should be lauded for doing it at all — I don’t even know how he managed to keep the papers in there!! (Behind his b**t?)
Comment by Shayne — 03.31.05 @ 11:03 pm
Justice Departmentis letting him off. Where are all the documents? Why has he not turned them over? Who did he give them to? If they are not in his possession,who has them?
Comment by Don — 04.01.05 @ 7:38 am
“Berger, no swiping! Berger, no swiping!”
Sandy Berger, former National Security Advisor under President Clinton, is going to plead guilty today to removing classified documents from the National Archives, according to a Justice Department spokesperson. The former Clinton administration offici…
Trackback by Ramblings' Journal — 04.01.05 @ 8:49 am
Outrageous Berger
Here at ITA there is a genre of blogging we generally try to avoid. It’s called “PASWO,” or “point at something with outrage.” In spite of our aversion to it that’s precisely what I intend to do in this post,…
Trackback by In the Agora — 04.01.05 @ 10:11 am
He deserves at lest as much as Martha.
Comment by Walter E. Wallis — 04.01.05 @ 10:58 am
Berger Will Plead Guilty
Why let him plea bargain? He should be in prison.
Trackback by Don Singleton — 04.01.05 @ 11:05 am
No one is praying for the DEATH of POPE JOHN PAUL II more than spy, traitor, liar and thief Sandy Berger!
Comment by pajamazon — 04.01.05 @ 11:07 am
Today’s blog roundup
Links marked with an asterisk (*) are ones I found particularly good. Sandy Burger pleads guilty, well, sort of: La…
Trackback by JackLewis.net — 04.01.05 @ 11:23 am
Sandy Berger, Original Scum
Since some documents were shredded it’s impossible to even know if any truly unique was destroyed. But IMO it’s safe to assume the probability is high.
Trackback by UNCoRRELATED — 04.01.05 @ 11:26 am
Today’s blog roundup
Links marked with an asterisk (*) are ones I found particularly good. Sandy Burger pleads guilty, well, sort of: La…
Trackback by JackLewis.net — 04.01.05 @ 11:28 am
The Sandy Berger issue leaves one disgusted
But this situation with Sandy Berger just stinks to high heaven, and I’m disgusted that case begun under the Ashcroft Justice Department and culminating on the watch of Alberto Gonzales has given Berger such a slap on the wrist for stealing and destr…
Trackback by The Anchoress — 04.01.05 @ 11:46 am
Speaking as a military officer, I can assure you that if you’re not a political hack, the penalty for stealing classified documents is a bit stiffer…like, 20 years in Fort Leavenworth. We take security violations very seriously.
Hektor
Comment by Hektor — 04.01.05 @ 12:16 pm
He should go to prison, a REAL prison, for at least a few years.
Comment by stan — 04.01.05 @ 1:40 pm
If Condi had been caught stuffing her Maidenform last year with documents that could even possibly have reflected badly on Bush, the MSM would have made it the lead story for months, demanding the heads of not only Rice and Bush, but every other Republican in sight.
But Berger gets caught red-handed *stealing* *classified* documents (after our crack goverment document security agents finally start to notice that documents are missing after his *every* visit), and he only has to plead guilty to misdemeanor carelessness.
First of all, any National Security Advisor, present or past, is *well* aware of the importance of properly dealing with confidential documents according to established procedures. The claim of carelessness should never wash, but *especially* not in this situation. What we’re dealing with here is anything but carelessnes. It is, in fact, an exhibition of an attitude that surfaces with increasing regularity amongst Democrats: the attitude that “the rules don’t apply to me/us”.
Berger’s actions were deliberate and *fully* consistent with intentional tampering with government records. He *knew* what he was doing was wrong. I won’t buy for a minute that anyone trained to work with confidential documents could “inadvertently” carry then out in his portfolio, but even if he had, that does nothing to addres the premeditated and deliberate action of smulling out documents in his pants and socks.
I’ll repeat myself here: if this had been any Republican, but especially one trained to properly deal with classified papers, it would have been front page news for the past two years. Perhaps this will quash the pretense of “no bias” in the MSM, since there is quite obviously a complete double standard for ethical behaviour in Democrat and Republican administrations.
This is an outrage only slightly below that of starving to death a helpless woman because she has become a lifestyle inconvenience.
I am rapidly beginning to believe that I could chant “Death to America” right up there with the best of Al Queda, but that’s what the Democrats want, now isn’t it? (If you doubt that, look at Kerry’s presidential campaign, which was at its core, one of anti-Americanism.) I know two things, though - 1) I have almost no respect left for *this* America, and 2) this is not the America the founders intended. It may well be time to start anew.
Comment by Dub Dublin — 04.01.05 @ 2:39 pm
“…surrender his security clearance for three years…”
They’re kidding, right? They’re gonna give his clearance back after only three years???? I can hardly believe he’s getting off w/o a prison term, but reinstating his clearance is just unimaginable!!!
Comment by Mayflower — 04.01.05 @ 3:21 pm
When the Headmaster was an active duty enlisted man in the Air Force, his commander once ordered his subordinates to alter some historical records. It wasn’t a national security issue, it was just a stupidity issue. A previous NCO had been demoted for fraternization and other violations of military protocol, and the Commander didn’t want his name on any documents for an upcoming inspection because he thought it would subject them to greater scrutiny and maybe make him look bad.
Nonetheless, every single airman in the squadron not only refused to do it, but knew full well that it was just wrong to alter the record.
Enlisted airmen who had been in for a year or two knew that this was wrong.
Mr. Sandy Burglar belongs in jail, and he ought to serve a much longer sentence than Martha Stuart ever did.
Comment by DeputyHeadmistress — 04.01.05 @ 5:54 pm
Berger Man
We live in a very strange world where a man at the highest levels of government is
Trackback by Shared Daily — 04.01.05 @ 6:50 pm
Well, the left has been screaming that Bush should be imprisoned, and he hasn’t been. So the big difference between Bush and HamBerger is that Bush hasn’t been stuffing top-secret docs in his pants.
OK, I realized, Berger could have stuffed them in his pockets…I forgot about pockets….
Comment by Shayne — 04.01.05 @ 8:34 pm
My understanding is that the Republicans have been in charge of the Dept of Justice since January 2001. It would seem that your problem is with them, not liberals.
Comment by stan — 04.01.05 @ 9:16 pm
Whatever happened to “no man is above the law”? Letting Berger off with a slap on the wrist, while just about anyone else would be doing hard time, makes me ill. Did all the “Friends of Bill” *gag* receive “get out of jail free” cards or something?
Comment by Insomniac — 04.02.05 @ 11:58 am
I don’t think Republicans exactly control the Justice Department. Here’s the way it works: Bush appoints a few top positions, and most of the departments are still overrun by liberals. Witness the Education department.
Comment by Shayne — 04.02.05 @ 12:25 pm
Shayne,
But a decision like this was made by the people at the top not some low-level “liberals”. They set the policy and direction.
Comment by stan — 04.02.05 @ 1:57 pm
Your guesses have been proven right. I checked the news articles today on AOL and Earthlink about Berger (as a former enlisted man I had a lot to do with classified documents and control of them in the time of the Kennedy admin so I am particularly interested in this case - also aghast at what appears to be going down). Today, one day after the initial news, the article on AOL is buried in the Crime and Courts section all the way at the bottom and on Earthlink it is under US news also way at the bottom. In both cases you have to be looking for additional news to find it at all. It is way down there after the news of the New Mexico guy and the dynamite in the home of Terry Nichols. Of course this does nothing to prove that the MSM is biased. We all know that it is always fair and unbiased; that is a given (sarcasm here).
Personally I think that Berger is scum and should be sent to jail for years for this one. If this POS ever gets a security clearance again, whoever gives it to him should be shot on sight. He should also never be given any kind of job with the federal government again and he should also lose his license to practice law.
Comment by dick — 04.02.05 @ 6:53 pm
Sandy obviously put out the word he would not go down alone. He probably has a Pearl Harbor file and he let some powerful people peek inside and see what he had on them.
Comment by Walter E. Wallis — 04.04.05 @ 12:02 pm
Sandy…”yeah that’s the ticket my friend, just sticking these documents down my pants because it’s so cold in here, yeah that’s it, so cold in here.”"you would’t be interested in this two dollar rolex watch would you?”
Comment by ratso ferrari — 04.05.05 @ 6:05 pm