Monday, August 1, 2005
Sandy Berger Blasts Bush for Security Failure?
Convicted 9/11 Commission document thief Sandy Berger is blasting the Bush administration for failing to bring security to Iraq after toppling Saddam Hussein.
As co-chair of a Council on Foreign Relations task force on the Iraq war, Berger and his colleagues are complaining that the U.S.'s failure to prepare for the period after the war had given "early impetus for the insurgency," according to quotes picked up by Reuters.
Despite pleading guilty in April to destroying top secret terrorism documents related to the 9/11 investigation, the former Clinton administration national security advisor was tapped to head up the CFR panel along with former Bush 41 National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft.
In a written report released last week, the Berger-Scowcroft panel concluded:
"The critical miscalculation of Iraq war-planning was that the stabilization and reconstruction mission would require no more forces than the invasion itself."
Berger and his colleagues cited the Bush administration's "inattention" and "misjudgments" as key reasons for the post-war security failure.
"Pre-war inattention to post-war requirements – or simply misjudgments about them – left the United States ill-equipped to address public security, governance and economic demands in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, seriously undermining key U.S. foreign policy goals."
Despite the seriousness of his crime, Justice Department prosecutors have recommended that Berger serve no jail time, and instead pay only a $10,000 fine and surrender his security clearance for three years.
His sentence is scheduled to be set by D.C. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson in September.
Convicted 9/11 Commission document thief Sandy Berger is blasting the Bush administration for failing to bring security to Iraq after toppling Saddam Hussein.
As co-chair of a Council on Foreign Relations task force on the Iraq war, Berger and his colleagues are complaining that the U.S.'s failure to prepare for the period after the war had given "early impetus for the insurgency," according to quotes picked up by Reuters.
Despite pleading guilty in April to destroying top secret terrorism documents related to the 9/11 investigation, the former Clinton administration national security advisor was tapped to head up the CFR panel along with former Bush 41 National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft.
In a written report released last week, the Berger-Scowcroft panel concluded:
"The critical miscalculation of Iraq war-planning was that the stabilization and reconstruction mission would require no more forces than the invasion itself."
Berger and his colleagues cited the Bush administration's "inattention" and "misjudgments" as key reasons for the post-war security failure.
"Pre-war inattention to post-war requirements – or simply misjudgments about them – left the United States ill-equipped to address public security, governance and economic demands in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, seriously undermining key U.S. foreign policy goals."
Despite the seriousness of his crime, Justice Department prosecutors have recommended that Berger serve no jail time, and instead pay only a $10,000 fine and surrender his security clearance for three years.
His sentence is scheduled to be set by D.C. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson in September.
