The Ghost and Mrs. Clinton

One of the ghosts from the Clintons' past just keeps showing up at odd moments. Sandy Berger, the Clinton adviser who was convicted of destroying the only copies of top secret documents about the terrorism threat to this nation, is now a campaign adviser to Hillary Clinton.

Even as the 9/11 Commission was in the process of requesting and using the documents in question to prevent another major attack, Berger was observed repeatedly going into the archives in Washington to retrieve official documents which he hid in his briefcase, coat, pants, and shoes.

According to the Court and by Berger's own admission, these documents were shredded and destroyed.

Berger was originally charged with criminal cover-up but avoided felony charges by agreeing to a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.

For this he received a slap on the wrist. A $10,000 fine and a 3-year suspension of his national security privileges was the extent of his 'punishment.'

Yet here is part of the original story in the Washington Post (hat tip to INDC Journal):

'Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, a former White House national security adviser, plans to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, and will acknowledge intentionally removing and destroying copies of a classified document about the Clinton administration's record on terrorism....

'The deal's terms make clear that Berger spoke falsely last summer in public claims that in 2003 he twice inadvertently walked off with copies of a classified document during visits to the National Archives, then later lost them.

'He described the episode last summer as "an honest mistake." Yesterday, a Berger associate who declined to be identified by name but was speaking with Berger's permission said: "He recognizes what he did was wrong. . . . It was not inadvertent."

'Under terms negotiated by Berger's attorneys and the Justice Department, he has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and accept a three-year suspension of his national security clearance. These terms must be accepted by a judge before they are final, but Berger's associates said yesterday he believes that closure is near on what has been an embarrassing episode during which he repeatedly misled people about what happened during two visits to the National Archives in September and October 2003. ...

'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.'

Removing and destroying classified documents concerning what the Clinton Administration knew of the growing threat of Islamic terrorism is no insignificant matter. In fact, there was a day in this nation's bright history when such actions were considered treason and were subject to the harshest of penalties.

Yet this is one of the individuals who now provides counsel to Hillary's campaign.

That dripping, gurgling noise you hear is the ooze of sleaze.