Berger Exonerated in Withholding of Information From 9/11 Commission
By Scot J. Paltrow
The Wall Street Journal
Friday 30 July 2004
Officials looking into the removal of classified documents from the National Archives by former Clinton National Security Adviser Samuel Berger say no original materials are missing and nothing Mr. Berger reviewed was withheld from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Several prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, have voiced suspicion that when Mr. Berger was preparing materials for the 9/11 Commission on the Clinton administration's antiterror actions, he may have removed documents that were potentially damaging to the former president's record.
The conclusion by archives officials and others lay to rest the issue of whether any information was permanently destroyed or withheld from the commission.
Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said officials there "are confident that there aren't any original documents missing in relation to this case." She said in most cases, Mr. Berger was given photocopies to review, and that in any event officials have accounted for all originals to which he had access.
That included all drafts of a so-called after-action report prepared by the White House and federal agencies in 2000 after the investigation into a foiled bombing plot aimed at the Millennium celebrations. That report and earlier drafts are at the center of allegations that Mr. Berger might have permanently removed some records from the archives. Some of the allegations have related to the possibility that drafts with handwritten notes on them may have disappeared, but Ms. Cooper said archives staff are confident those documents aren't missing either.
Daniel Marcus, general counsel of the 9/11 Commission, said the panel had been assured twice by the Justice Department that no originals were missing and that all of the material Mr. Berger had access to had been turned over to the commission. "We are told that the Justice Department is satisfied that we've seen everything that the archives saw," and "nothing was missing," he said.
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Seems like Hastert and DeLay were a bit premature in their judgements of Berger.
DeLay won't be as lucky when the House Ethics Committee finishes with him. DeLay apparently learned nothing from the probe of Newt Gingrich's illegal fund raising and disbursement schemes while president of GOPAC, America's crookedest PAC under the guise of "educational activities." He went right out and did the same thing, supplying illegal funds to Republican candidates from his PAC.
Gingrich paid over $350,000.00 in fines and had to resign from GOPAC. Later, an unpopular Gingrich resigned as speaker of the house amd ultimately from Congress. These conservatives are slimy. And they are criminals. Even the sincere ones are sworn to replace the constitution with Biblical Laws and are biding their time until George Bush leads them to a Christian Theocracy.