[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Mr. Berger' s Incredible Misadventure

[michael at intrafi.com]

The article below from NYTimes.com 
has been sent to you by michael at intrafi.com.



/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\

THE CLEARING - NOW PLAYING IN SELECT CITIES

THE CLEARING stars ROBERT REDFORD and HELEN MIRREN as Wayne
and Eileen Hayes - a husband and wife living the American
Dream. Together they've raised two children and struggled to
build a successful business from the ground up. When Wayne
is kidnapped by Arnold Mack (WILLEM DAFOE), and held for
ransom in a remote forest, the couple's world is turned
inside out.

Buy tickets now at:
http://movies.channel.aol.com/movie/main.adp?mid=17891

\----------------------------------------------------------/


Mr. Berger's Incredible Misadventure

July 23, 2004
 


 

Exactly why Samuel Berger removed copies of classified
documents from the National Archives last October is not
clear. Mr. Berger, the former national security adviser to
President Clinton who was a Kerry adviser until Tuesday,
wasn't going to be able to alter the records or give John
Kerry an edge. The missing documents were copies of memos,
which Mr. Kerry would have had access to anyway. 

If, as Mr. Berger says, the removal was simply a blunder,
it was inexcusably careless legally and daft politically.
Senator Kerry can't be too happy that Mr. Berger compounded
his initial sin by not informing him of the Justice
Department's inquiry when it began in January. Mr. Berger
and his lawyers may be indignant about the investigation
being leaked, but they must have known it would get out. 

Meanwhile, the Republican hyperventilating is overdone. The
same Congressional leaders who shrugged at the leaking of a
C.I.A. agent's identity to punish her husband, a critic of
administration policy, demand hearings on Mr. Berger. The
politicians should all let the Justice Department do its
job. 

Of real concern is that bleeding, yet again, of politics
into criminal justice. After initially claiming it knew
nothing of the case, the White House has had to admit it
was informed. That sort of heads-up taints both sides. It
leaves the White House open to questions about whether it
timed a leak to the release of the 9/11 panel's report, and
it feeds cynicism about the independence of federal
prosecutors. Mr. Kerry, by the way, ought to stop stoking
that cynicism with groundless claims that the prosecution
of Kenneth Lay was improperly delayed. 

For its part, the White House's denials about this leak
would sound more credible if it assigned some urgency to
solving the C.I.A. leak case. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/opinion/23fri3.html?ex=1091603093&ei=1&en=c6dd1770ed4c5401


---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine
reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!
Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy
now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&ExternalMediaCode=W24AF



HOW TO ADVERTISE
---------------------------------
For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters 
or other creative advertising opportunities with The 
New York Times on the Web, please contact
onlinesales at nytimes.com or visit our online media 
kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to 
help at nytimes.com.  

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company