I've been largely absent from DKos for the last several months due to life-related issues. I meant to post something on this article from the Washington Post last month, but I couldn't find the time. There have been diaries on the subject (from Phoenix Woman, from MQAblog, and from bearhug, for instance), but all of them predate the Post article linked above, and there has been a striking lack of discussion of this issue here on DKos (the 3 diaries linked above netted a total of 32 comments).
For those of you who do not know what happened, Sandy Berger (Clinton's National Security Advisor) admitted, after initially denying all charges, to removing copies of documents from the National Archive in the leg of his pants during the run-up to his testimony to the 9/11 Commission. He also admitted to stashing these papers at a construction site, retrieving them later, and destroying some of them.
More follows...
Sandy Berger was fined $50,000 in 2005 and ordered to do 100 hours of community service. I anticipate the response, from those DKos readers who have bothered to read this far, will range from dismissive ("they weren't originals, but copies", "this all happened over a year ago... why dredge up a closed case?" -- Sandy Berger non-scandal, by Phoenix Woman) to hostile ("NO ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS ARE GONE. Read the fricking diary, please, GOP troll!" -- same link as above), so I'll answer those questions in advance.
First off, we now know that the 5 documents Berger acknowledged taking were copies, not originals. This does not excuse illegally removing (classified) documents from the National Archives, nor does it preclude the possibility that he took other documents at a earlier time--in fact, that is the contention of the Inspector General of the National Archives (see Washington Post article linked above, for example). Yes, this is in some sense old news, and it has certainly made for some stinging GOP talking points, but I get the distinct impression that I don't know the whole story here. WHY ON EARTH would Sandy Berger criminally remove and destroy copies of documents (some or all of which he himself had written) in advance of the 9/11 Commission investigation?
The aforementioned GOP talking points have lately involved comparing Sandy Berger's actions to those of Scooter Libby (see Krauthammer's particularly enraging opinion piece here), and noting that Berger got off relatively easy (he did). This strikes me as a bit of a silly comparison, since Berger's agreement to plead guilty to a misdemeanor (removing the classified paper) and acknowledge lying to investigators is a totally different situation from Libby's decision to insist on his innocence and force a trial on 5 felony charges. But, still, I am disturbed by the hypocrisy of downplaying the Berger offenses while going into a frenzy of outrage (I don't think that's too strong of a description of my own reaction) over the Plame affair.
The fact is, Berger's actions are inexcusable, incredibly fishy, and I don't feel sure that we ever got to the bottom of it. Maybe he is telling the truth (this time) and he only removed and destroyed the documents he has admitted to stealing. But the Inspector General of the National Archives (among others), feels that further investigation is warranted, and I would like to see this and other similar investigations followed to their logical conclusions, whatever they may be, EVEN IF IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE the target is one of our own.
Like I said, I've been a little creeped out by the silence on this matter around DKos, since we certainly (who can deny this?) would have lit up the boards had a member of the current adminstration been suspected of the same activity.