Hillary's New Foreign Policy Advisor- Sandy Berger

Former National Security Advisor Sandy "Burglar" Leaving the National Archives


Just when you thought a Clinton couldn't be any more brazen, Hillary goes out and outdoes herself. This week it has been announced that former National Security Advisor (under Bill Clinton), Sandy Berger has joined Hillary's team as a foreign policy advisor. This news has provoked a storm of outcry from the right considering Mr Berger's performance in the Clinton cabinet, and more importantly, his actions after leaving office.

You may remember that Berger is the hapless character who, according to a recent movie dealing with pre-911 events, squashed the killing of Osama bin Laden when American forces had in him literally in their gun sights. (Berger denies this charge.) As National Security Advisor, he was pretty much a lackluster figure. In 1998, he joined with Madelyn Albright and William Cohen to go on a speaking tour to alert the nation to Saddam Hussein's program to develop weapons of mass destruction. That hit a snag at Ohio State University when, during a CNN hosted appearance, anti-war students disrupted the event. The push to win public support for war against Saddam pretty much ended at that point.

What really makes the Berger hiring shocking is his actions in 2003 while preparing to testify before the 9-11 Ccmmission. Berger made vists to the National Archives to review Clinton Administration documents pertaining to terror. While inspecting the documents, which were classified, Berger invented excuses to get the Archives employees to leave the room, whereupon he proceeded to stuff documents down his pants and beneath his socks. On one occasion, he laid the documents he had smuggled out of the building under a trash dumpster while he went back into the Archives to get more. (This is the former National Security Advisor, folks!). He then took said documents home and shredded them. When contacted a couple of days later by the Archives, who confronted him with his theft, he initially denied it. Confronted with undeniable proof, he eventually fessed up.

In 2004, Berger (now referred to by many as Sandy Burglar), pleaded guilty to the charges, got probation and a fine, then had the effrontery to go before the press cameras and state that he had made "an honest mistake". Honest mistake? Mr Berger, an honest mistake is like when you cross the street on a red light because you are color-blind and you thought it was green. Stuffing classified documents down your pants and under your socks and hiding them under a dumpster for later retrieval (if some homeless person doesn't find them first) is not an honest mistake.

So the stupid question of the day is why did Berger do this? Well, part of his plea agreement was that he would submit to a polygraph test for investigators. As of this writing, this has not been done to my knowledge. So "conspiracy theorists" like myself have to assume that it was done to protect Bill Clinton against charges that he was negligent in protecting the country against terrorists. Others have suggested that many of the documents may have had handwritten notes on the margins from Berger, Clinton et al, a frequent practice within administrations-notes that would have embarrassed someone.

Alas, as things stand now, we will never know the whole truth, for example, who asked Berger to do this. Remember John Huang and the other Clinton money men who arranged all those illegal campaign contributions in 96? Same thing. Come in, plead guilty, accept a fine and probation, a little community service maybe-and oh, don't worry about ratting out on your higher ups. When it comes to the corruption of the Clinton gang, not even the Bush Administration wants to investigate it. That would be perceived as being politically motivated. Can't have that.

At the time that the scandal broke in 1994, Berger was acting as a foreign policy advisor to presidential candidate, John Kerry, who at least had the decency and common sense to cut him loose. Now Ms Clinton brings this totally discredited character back. Of course, the famed Clinton Spin Machine has now stated that Berger is only an "unofficial advisor"- a casual acquaintance if you will. Nonsense. Is this the kind of person we can expect to see in a Clinton Administration? Old Bill pretended to be a moderate, but look at the worker bees he put into cabinet positions and on the bench. Big time liberals, and in many cases, crooks. Hillary wants us to think she is a moderate too, so pay attention to her underlings.

Watch carefully as this story plays out. Will Hillary stand by Berger under the heat, hide him, make him Secretary of State, or just ask him to disappear when she finally realizes that this doesn't pass the smell test.