SANDY BERGER UPDATE: Really, a rather sordid story of deliberate misconduct that deserves close attention:
The terms of Berger's agreement required him to acknowledge to the Justice Department the circumstances of the episode. Rather than misplacing or unintentionally throwing away three of the five copies he took from the archives, as the former national security adviser earlier maintained, he shredded them with a pair of scissors late one evening at the downtown offices of his international consulting business.
The document, written by former National Security Council terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke, was an "after-action review" prepared in early 2000 detailing the administration's actions to thwart terrorist attacks during the millennium celebration. It contained considerable discussion about the administration's awareness of the rising threat of attacks on U.S. soil. . .
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Berger's archives visit occurred as he was reviewing materials as a designated representative of the Clinton administration to the national commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The question of what Clinton knew and did about the emerging al Qaeda threat before leaving office in January 2001 was acutely sensitive, as suggested by Berger's determination to spend hours poring over the Clarke report before his testimony.
So Berger stole, and destroyed, classified documents as part of a politically motivated cover-up. Let's just be clear about that. Criminal penalties, aside, the man's career in public life should be over, and he certainly should never have access to classified documents again. Unfortunately, the penalty he'll actually receive looks rather light -- certainly lighter than most folks who stole and destroyed classified documents would undergo. That makes it all the more important that the details of his misbehavior get plenty of attention, and that they're remembered long-term.
Martha Stewart goes to jail and Sandy gets a slap on the wrist. Can you say "What a crock of shit?"
WMD REPORT RELEASED
A presidential commission on weapons of mass destruction released its report yesterday, and the report absolves the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq. It puts the blame for the bad intelligence squarely at the feet of the intelligence community.
Naturally, the left is already up in arms about the report, because it does not blame the administration for anything. The Bush-haters are out for blood, and they're upset because they're not getting it. First up with his panties in a knot is Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. He complained that the report did not review how the administration used the intelligence they were given. In perhaps a breakdown in his own intelligence, Mr. Reid apparently doesn't realize that wasn't the purpose of the commission.
Next in the "Get Bush" receiving line is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She decided it was time to break out her Michael Moore talking points, saying "The president's decision to go to war in Iraq was also dead wrong — the intelligence never supported his claim that Saddam was an imminent threat to the United States." Actually, that is a lie and she is a liar. But we knew that.
Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States and his neighbor. He possessed weapons of mass destruction, used them and had the capability to restart his program at any time. He also possessed nuclear technology and the capability to produce a nuclear weapon that he could then sell to terrorists.
The decision to remove him by force was the right one and the left can't stand it.
HANOI JANE COMES CLEAN
The former Mrs. Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, has come out with a new book. She is making the rounds doing publicity...and she has given an interview to '60 Minutes' that will air this Sunday. In it, she admits (sort of) that she was wrong to go to North Vietnam and visit an anti-aircraft gun site used to shoot down U.S. pilots. Well isn't that nice....but she's a bit late, don't you think?
Fonda says that her trip to the gun site some 33 years ago was a "betrayal" of the U.S. military, its soldiers and "the country that gave me privilege." She calls the picture of her sitting on the enemy gun barrel the largest lapse of judgment she can imagine. Really. So what about the whole decision to visit North Vietnam in the first place? She won't apologize for that. No, Hanoi Jane will only apologize for posing for pictures with enemy weaponry. She won't apologize for being photographed with American POWs, nor will she apologize for going on Radio Hanoi and being a propaganda mouthpiece for the Viet Cong.
Jane Fonda gave aid and comfort to the enemy of the United States during a time of war. We used to call that treason, and there are people sitting in prison for it. Somehow, Jane Fonda got away with it...and now she wants us all to relieve her of her guilty conscience.
Question:
Why transfer what has been produced by some to others when you could spread the productivity that produced this wealth, making everyone better off? Knowledge is one of the few things that can be given to others without reducing the amount you have left.
CANADA GETS IT RIGHT FOR A CHANGE
Finally a reasonable decision from our near-socialist neighbors to the north. Since the war in Iraq began two years ago, a small number of U.S. soldiers have decided that they didn't want to go to Iraq. They just didn't seem to understand that joining the U.S. armed forces meant that they might actually find themselves in harm's way. Some tried and failed to become conscientious objectors, others were just AWOL. So they fled to Canada, thinking that they would be able to hang out there and request asylum.
Well, starting last week, it's not working. U.S. Army paratrooper Jeremy Hinzman decided he was going to live in Toronto and apply for asylum, telling the Canadians that if he were to perform his duties in Iraq, he would be forced to commit atrocities against civilians. The Immigration and Refugee board didn't buy it. They singled out his stance that he would be willing to return to the Army, so long as he didn't have to serve in combat. Bad move.
The ruling from the board read, in part: "I find Mr. Hinzman's position to be inherently contradictory. Surely an intelligent young man like Mr. Hinzman, who believes the war in Iraq to be illegal, unjust and waged for economic reasons, would be unwilling to participate in any capacity, whether as combatant or noncombatant." Oops. Hinzman is going to appeal the ruling, but he probably won't get very far.
The truth is that Hinzman is a coward. Nothing more, nothing less.
The United States has an all-volunteer Army for a reason. Unless you want to face the possibility of fighting and dying in a war, don't join. Hopefully the next step will be shipping this pantywaist back to his unit to be prosecuted.
67 Days ago:
Lt. John Kerry promised Tim Russert on national television (Meet The Press) that he woud sign form 180 and release his full military record.
He hasn't!
Why?
Here's why:
I [DONALD L. NELSON, CAPT, JAGC, USNR] was on active duty as a U.S. Navy lawyer when all of this was going on some 25 to 30 years ago, and so was Mark F. Sullivan, who at all relevant times was the personal lawyer to J. William Middendorf, then the Secretary of the Navy. We remember.
We are trying to break this absolutely true story nationwide, i.e., Fox News, C Span, and hopefully all the major networks. We are positive that John Kerry was one of those dishonorably dismissed from the Navy for collaborating with the Viet Cong, after he was released from active duty but still in the Navy, and for a totally unauthorized trip to Hanoi. He later got an "honorable" separation in 1978, some 12 years after joining the Navy, under President Carter's "Amnesty Program" for draft dodgers, deserters, and other malcontents who fled to Canada and Holland, among other places, to avoid military service to our country.
This is why he has refused, and continues to refuse, to release all of his Navy records: they reflect that he was Dishonorably Dismissed from the United States Naval Service. If they do not (which they do), he would have released them to the public. Again, he has not done so, because he well knows that the truth would kill his challenge to President Bush.
