Did Berger's <font color=blue>"stocking stuffing"<font color=black> work? Just one minute blog
One Cryptic Reference, One Less So
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One of Glenn Reynolds' many intrepid readers found what may be a cryptic reference to Sandy Berger in the 9/11 Commission Report......
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(A reader sends this passage from page xvii of the 9/11 Commission Report:
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We have not interviewed every knowledgeable person or
found every relevant piece of paper.)
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Here is another reference that is a lot less cryptic, and might easily prompt many follow-up questions about documents, after-action reports, and Sandy Berger.
From the footnotes on p. 482:
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46. NSC email, Clarke to Kerrick,<font color=red>“Timeline,”<font color=blue> Aug. 19, 1998; Samuel Berger interview (Jan. 14, 2004).
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We did not find documentation on the after-action review
mentioned by Berger.
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On Vice Chairman Joseph Ralston’s mission in Pakistan, see William Cohen interview (Feb. 5, 2004). For speculation on tipping off the Taliban, see, e.g., Richard Clarke interview (Dec. 18, 2003).
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And to what does footnote (46) refer? On p. 117, Chapter 4, we find this:
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Later on August 20, Navy vessels in the Arabian Sea fired their cruise missiles. Though most of them hit their intended targets, neither Bin Ladin nor any other terrorist leader was killed. <font color=red>Berger told us that an after-action review by Director Tenet concluded that the strikes had killed 20–30 people in the camps but probably missed Bin Ladin by a few hours. <font color=blue>Since the missiles headed for Afghanistan had had to cross Pakistan, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was sent to meet with Pakistan’s army chief of staff to assure him the missiles were not coming from India. Officials in Washington speculated that one or another Pakistani official might have sent a warning to the Taliban or Bin Ladin. (46)
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How about that? How many times have we heard Clinton say that he missed Bin Ladin by just a few hours? <font color=red>Yet the after-action report is missing, so the Commission relied on Sandy Berger's testimony.
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My guess is that someone would have asked about that, and once on the subject of Berger and missing after-action reports, the story of the criminal investigation could hardly be kept quiet. Hence, a pre-emptive leak by someone close to the commission to avoid distraction.
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