MuD & PHuD

That's my personal favorite for what's going on with Berger and the stealing of Classified material.

This topic is worth yet another post (here is my original post) because of some (potentially) explosive info that has (potentially) been posted by Hog on Ice:

Kerry Suspected in Pants Scandal?

I'm Almost Like a Journalist Today

I have been cleared to reveal the following info. I'm not allowed to say where I got it.

I have a reader who is involved with the government's efforts to fight terror, and he has connections who tell him the big suspicion is that Berger took things he thought would help Kerry in the Presidential campaign. Also, the grapevine says not all of the documents taken were copies. Furthermore, I am told that an FBI agent described Berger as "a total asshole" who is not as cooperative as he claims.

As a number of commentors on this post have pointed out, there is a lot of connections, big suspicions and I'm not allowed to say where I got its.

Regardless, as the Left so often likes to say, it's the seriousness of the charge that's important, not the nature of the evidence.

So now it's time for the Kerry spin machine to kick into high gear. Obviously, they will make the claim (as they already have) that 1) the documents weren't even all that important 2) copies of the documents in question were already widely avaliable 3) it was a mistake 4) the VRWC stuffed the documents down Berger's pants.

Will this all blow over? Most likely not in the blogosphere...I just hope that once the truth is uncovered here that the "mainstream" Media will finally get their pants on and let the rest of the world know.

Update:

The Command Post informs us (via the AP) that Berger has stepped down from the Kerry campaign:

“Mr. Berger does not want any issue surrounding the 9/11 commission to be used for partisan purposes. With that in mind he has decided to step aside as an informal adviser to the Kerry campaign until this matter is resolved,” said Lanny Breuer, Berger’s attorney. (emphasis added)

Scoff! Yeah, as if the 9/11 Commission hasn't already been used for partisan purposes.

This should not be the end of the story...but I'm afraid that the Bush Admin is going to let it all go to avoid being called meanies. We'll see...I hope I'm wrong. The truth deserves to be aired (or at least blogged)...but I'd settle for it having its day in court.

Update 2:

I think Berger has been damned by those trying to defend him. Try this on for size:

One Berger associate said Berger acknowledges placing his handwritten notes into his pants pockets, and perhaps into his jacket as well.

National Archives' policy requires that if someone reviews classified documents and wants to take out handwritten notes, those notes must first be cleared by archivists.

Berger said Monday that he returned everything he had after the National Archives told him documents were missing, "except for a few documents that apparently I had accidentally discarded."

Now let's see...we know that it's illegal to remove Classified documents and notes taken about Classified documents. Now we have "One Berger associate" telling us the Berger admitted to breaking that rule! And...reading somewhat between the lines...Berger also admitted to being aware that he had the documents by saying he had "accidently discarded" a few of the documents.

Am I really supposed to believe that he shredded (God, I hope he shredded them...) his notes and, miracle of miracles, he managed to shred the Classified documents also? Jeeze, I wonder if he has a whole team of people working to shread Classified document...oops, I mean...to shread (quote-unquote) his notes.

Makes a guy wonder.

Update 3:

Citizen Smash has a bit to say about 1st-hand experience with Classified material:

Every time I go up for a periodic security review, the inspector impresses upon me the seriousness of not violating security protocols. At the end of the review, I sign a document acknowledging the criminal penalties for mishandling or unauthorized disclosure of classified information: up to $50 thousand in fines and 10 years in prison for each incident.

[...]

If I ever did something like this, I would not only lose my job, but I’d almost certainly go to prison. Berger, on the other hand, simply shrugs it off and attributes it to “sloppiness.”

Unbelievable.

I hate to disagree with the Indepundit, but this is higly believable. This is the MO of people from the Clinton Admin and their ilk. Anything goes, as long as it goes in their direction. Let's see if the JD shrugs it off...I hope not.

Update 4:

Glenn, again, has some extremely interesting info on what, exactly, Berger may be guilty of:

...having knowledge that the same [i.e., Classified material] has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer -

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

It would seem to me, by Berger's own public admissions, that he has committed the following boo-boos:

1) illegally removed from it's proper place
2) abstracted (i.e., taking notes, I think)
3) destroyed
4) failed to make prompt report of such...

So the Woops defense cited above is really not all that useful here. From what I can tell the laws and regulations governing National Security with respect to Classified material don't seem to be written will a person's intent in mind but rather his or her actual actions. While not surprising, definitely enlightening.

Update 5:

I just finished typing the last update, and happened over to Drudge to find this:

CLINTON SAYS BERGER-DOCUMENTS FUROR IS JUST POLITICS: 'WE WERE ALL LAUGHING ABOUT IT'
Tue Jul 20 2004 20:54:50 ET

Former president Bill Clinton defends his embattled national security advisor as a man who "always got things right," even if his desk was a mess.

"We were all laughing about it," Clinton said about the investigation into Sandy Berger for taking classified terrorism documents from the National Archives. "People who don't know him might find it hard to believe. But ... all of us who've been in his office have always found him buried beneath papers."

MORE

DRUDGE has learned: In an interview set for publication Wednesday in the DENVER POST, Clinton questions the timing of the Berger flap less than a week before the Democratic National Convention and two days before a presidential commission is slated to release its final report on the Bush administration's handling of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Clinton tells the POST he has known about the federal probe of Berger's actions for several months, calling the news a "non-story."

"I wish I knew who leaked it. It's interesting timing," he added.

"I feel terrible for Sandy. But I just believe his explanation because I know how much he cared about this ... terrorism business," Clinton said, describing his former security advisor as a "workaholic" who has "always been up to his ears in papers."

Developing...

I am dang happy to hear that they're all having a good chuckle over at Casa de Clinton. Does anyone else see something in Clinton's comments that stinks of contradicting something I just said?

But I just believe his explanation because I know how much he cared about this ... terrorism business

Oh, so he offically cares about this terrorism business...and now we should all not only stop questioning his motives, not only forgive him, but forget the whole thing?

Again, let's picture what this situation would look like if Condi had been the one shoving Classified documents into her socks...

Update 6:

Glenn has a piece at MSNBC.com about this Berger (and Wilson) situation. Give it a read.
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