Doug Ross @ Journal

Sandy Berger's Plea

Lorie Byrd of PoliPundit reprised a post that she originally wrote just before the '04 Democratic National Convention, regarding Sandy Berger and his self-admitted theft and destruction of classified documents. Anticipating that the media would casually ignore the Berger story, given the impending convention, she wrote:

If the former National Security Advisor has such disregard for the integrity of documents and the rules and laws pertaining to their treatment, what can be said for his regard for the security of the nation and the safety those rules applying to classified documents protects? And what can be said about that former NSA’s boss who regards the entire matter as a joke? I think we can rightly conclude that for many in that administration, that is exactly what national security was – a joke.

Powerline's Hindrocket adds:

It is undisputed that Berger illegally stuffed original documents relating to America's response to the threat of Islamic terrorism into his coat, pants and briefcase. Berger then destroyed a number of these top-secret documents, so that they will never see the light of day. The idea that this was "an honest mistake," as Berger now claims, is ridiculous. Obviously, he was trying to destroy documents that showed the negligence of the Clinton administration--of which he was a key member--in dealing with the threat of terrorism. Key documents relating to our government's inadequate reaction to the threat of Islamic terrorism prior to Sept. 11 are now gone forever, successfully purged from the historical record by one of Bill Clinton's most loyal servants. This plea bargain appears, on its face, to be a disgrace.

Disgrace, indeed. And, it appears the Clinton administration, once again, got away with it.

Having carefully read Buzz Patterson's Dereliction of Duty, an unimpeachable (no pun intended) eyewitness account of the Clinton administration's egregious disregard of national security, the entire Berger affair simply piles more offal on a stinking dungheap of failures. Certainly the administrations of Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 had their security gaffes: the cut-and-run tactics of the Beirut barracks bombing, for instance.

But the Clinton administration's history of obfuscation, evasion of decision-making responsibilities, dismantling of military and intelligence capabilities, and so forth -- ad nauseum -- forces us to contemplate an ominous future in the event that Hillary were to win the '08 election.

PoliPundit's Lori Byrd: Berger Flashback