The Boldness of the President (Sandy Berger Op-Ed)

The New York Sun has an op-ed about Sandy Berger, his role in the Clinton administration, and possible reasons why hew might want to tinker with the National Archives.

The Boldness of the President
The New York Sun
Jul 23, 2004
Editorial & Opinion Page:10

In other words, according to the commission report, Mr. Berger was presented with plans to take action against the threat of Al Qaeda four separate times � Spring 1998, June 1999, December 1999, and August 2000. Each time, Mr. Berger was an obstacle to action. Had he been a little less reluctant to act, a little more open to taking pre-emptive action, maybe the 2,973 killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks would be alive today.

It really doesn�t matter now what was in the documents from the National Archives that Mr. Berger says he inadvertently misplaced. The evidence in the commission�s report yesterday is more than enough to embarrass him thoroughly.He is a hardworking, warm man with a wonderful family, but his background as a trade lawyer and his dovish, legalistic and political instincts made him, in retrospect,the tragically wrong man to be making national security decisions for America in wartime.That Senator Kerry had Mr. Berger as a campaign foreign policy adviser even before the archives scandal is enough to raise doubts about the senator�s judgment.

The article is definitely not flattering to Mr. Berger, but apparently considers his greatest embarrassments to be what is actually in the 9/11 Commission's report, not what was omitted.

Not a pretty picture, however one may spin it.

Edit: Added paragraph to quote to better illustrate article thesis, comments.



[edit on 7/24/2004 by Majic]