Berger Gives Up Law License. Why?

oldreliable67 · 06-04-07, 09:57 AM

Ordinarily, only finding oneself in the most dire of circumstances would force one to give up one's professional certification, be it a law license, medical license, CPA, etc. Berger gave his up. Why? RCP discusses it here.

Quote:

On May 17th, Sandy Berger, President Bill Clinton's National Security Adviser, voluntarily gave up his law license and with it the right to practice law. That is a stunning move for an accomplished lawyer, one of the nation's most influential public officials. Someone should take note. In fact, everyone should.

Berger previously entered a deal with the Department of Justice after he was caught stealing and destroying highly sensitive classified material regarding the Clinton Administration's handling of terrorism issues. That deal allowed him to avoid jail time, pay a modest fine, and keep his law license. It also allowed him to avoid full explanation of what he had taken and why he had taken it.

What information was worth risking his reputation, his career, and his freedom to keep hidden? And who was he risking that for?

Recently, the Board of the DC Bar, which had granted Berger his license, began asking those questions. There was only one way to stop that investigation, to keep from answering questions about what he did and why he did it, to keep the Bar from questioning his colleagues in the Clinton Administration about what had been in the documents Berger destroyed.

Berger took that step, surrendering his license, and stopping the investigation.
[...]
For Berger to risk jail and disgrace, to then give up the right to practice his profession merely in order to avoid having to answer questions, he must be hiding something important. And if it is that important to him, it is also important to us.

The most likely explanation is that the material Berger destroyed points to a terrible mistake by Berger himself, by President Clinton, or by both. In dealing with al-Qaeda, did they overlook a critical piece of information or miss a chance to stop 9/11? Did the Administration's failure to take a more aggressive posture encourage al-Qaeda's later attacks?

When Fox News' Chris Wallace raised the possibility that Clinton's Administration might have done something more to prevent 9/11, Bill Clinton went into an inexplicable rage on national television. Wallace touched a nerve. So did the DC Bar.

So what is Berger hiding?

Stinger · 06-04-07, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldreliable67

Ordinarily, only finding oneself in the most dire of circumstances would force one to give up one's professional certification, be it a law license, medical license, CPA, etc. Berger gave his up. Why? RCP discusses it here.

So what is Berger hiding?

Why haven't we had a congressional investigation as to why Berger et al tried to defraud and congressional inquiery?

Iriemon · 06-04-07, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stinger

Why haven't we had a congressional investigation as to why Berger et al tried to defraud and congressional inquiery?

Same reason the Bush DOJ under Ashcroft didn't prosecute. Democratic favoristism.

Gladiator · 07-10-07, 09:01 PM

Sandy Berger:

I saw a dramatization on TV, maybe a couple years ago.

Sandy Berger was in the white house, or at some CIA command center.

Some CIA agents or contractors had found Bin Laden, in Afghanistan, I think, and were asking for permission to open fire.

Sandy kept delaying and kept asking more questions and "Are there civilians nearby?" "Can you be sure not to hit any children?" "I really don't want to wake up the President about this."

The dramatization showed the marksmen, CIA , contractors, military, I am not sure who they were, but they were saying, "Doesn't anyone in Washington have any courage?" "This is supposed to be the NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR?"

Sandy kept delaying, and then the oportunity to shoot with a reasonable chance of escape passed, as more people arrived, and the shot was never attempted.

Sandy Berger was made to appear like a wimp in the dramatization, but in another sense, avoiding the temptation to assasinate a plitical leader is not entirely without moral character.

Many lawyers have waived into DC, and have a law license in more than one state. Sandy Berger still may have a license to practice law in other states, I don't know.

I think is is more ethical to work at eroding the base of an enemy politician, rather that assasinating a political leader. Some people believe the CIA was invovled in coups in Vietnam, Iran, Bolivia, Cuba, Guatemala. Trying to stand for freedom, while killing inconvenient people, is sometimes a tough sell. Some actions in Iraq and Afghanistan could have given arrest more of a chance, before calling in air strikes.