Sammy the Burglar

Or so he's called in rightwing forums, where they expound that Sandy Berger, former WH advisor to that immoral Clinton, has gotten a slap on the wrist for stuffing classified documents in his underwear. Supposedly, filching the Richard Clarke memo, which has been reported to identify "glaring" problems with border security. I've also read the documents were related to airports. But said to be embarrassing information on the failings of the Clinton administration regarding terrorism.

Sandy B. aroused suspicion in the National Archives building because….he took "lots of bathroom breaks." Archive monitors told the FBI that Berger was seen stuffing his socks with handwritten notes about top secret files, files that were going to the 9/11 panel. A former National Security adviser, lurking underground among the nation's hidden history, stuffing top secrets in his underwear, and peeing too much.

Samuel R. Berger, founder and Chairman of Stonebridge, International (described as a Washington based global strategy firm). The same Samuel Berger who in May 2001 was named a senior advisor to Lehman Brothers, described as serving the financial needs of corporations, governments and municipalities, institutional clients, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Founded in 1850 by German immigrant brothers Henry, Emanuel and Mayer Lehman.

Lehman Brothers made news regarding their involvement in underwriting billions of student loans (which now cannot be included in bankruptcy). Lehman's headache was due to their involvement in the growing private prison industry, negotiating billions in deals with Corrections Corporation of America, Wackenhut Corrections, and Cornell. It seems some student activists were upset that Lehman Brothers were underwriting loans to low income and students of color, while at the same time busy incarcerating them. I read somewhere that Lehman believed there would be an increase in need for prisons after 9/11 but fortunately for us there wasn't a massive incarceration of citizen terrorists. Or maybe they planned on bringing back debtors prison for those defaulted student loans. Lehman was also fined 5 million a couple of years ago by a California court for backing fraudulent activities of companies involved in predatory lending. Lehman, that sounds familiar.

Oh yea, John F. Lehman, 9/11 commissioner and founder of J.F. Lehman Company. Lehman is a neocon and militarist, and dependable supporter of the Bush administration. A signer of PNAC letters, one letter to Bush nine days after the 9/11 attacks outlining the agenda for TWOT (the war on terrorism) and the letter from April 2003 that sketched out a post-Iraq invasion plan for the Middle East with Israel at its center.

My questions are: Who was pilfering for what? Was it Sandy Berger the former White House advisor or Samuel R. Berger the neocon businessman? Is there any difference? Was it political embarrassment or neocon businesses in those 9/11 related documents? Is there any difference?