WH says no to polygraph test for Sandy Berger

[sabra]

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=20327

White House Mum on Davis’s Call To Give Berger Lie Detector
by John Gizzi

Not convinced that Sandy Berger acted alone in the theft and destruction of top secret documents while on the 9-11 Commission, Rep. Tom Davis (R.-Va.) and seventeen other Republican House members recently called on the Department of Justice to administer a polygraph examination to the one time Clinton National Security Advisor asking him about his admittedly illegal behavior at the National Archives in 2002 and ’03.

But George W. Bush’s Justice Department as well as his own White House have given Davis and the other lawmakers the cold shoulder on administering a lie detector test to Berger, who pled guilty to removing highly classified documents from the National Archives relating to the Clinton Administration’s record on terrorism.

In responding to a January 22 letter from Davis and the Republican lawmakers to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting the polygraph test for Berger, Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Hertling cites a separate letter to House Committee on Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D.-Cal.) stating that "we believe there are no facts that would justify a polygraph of Mr. Berger at this time." (Hertling’s letters to Waxman and to Davis and the GOP congressmen were both dated February 16).

At this morning’s gaggle (early morning briefing) for White House reporters, I asked Acting Press Secretary Tony Fratto if the President supports Davis’s position that Berger did far more harm to national security than initially realized when he made his guilty plea and should therefore be given a lie detector test.

"I don’t think that question has been put to the President so I don’t know his views on it," Fratto told me, "and it’s really a question you want to leave with the Attorney General at this point on how to deal with it."

:rofl:

[bryant69]

1. Presumably they don't want to open any doors that might be used against them

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[wolfgirl]

12. Not only due

they not want to open any doors....is Berger passes the polygraph it shoots another hole in their talking points.

[babylonsister]

2. Theft and destruction of 9/11 documents? That's news to me,

and now I'll consider the source. But :wtf:

[SmokingJacket]

5. They were copies, anyway, not original documents.

This is all a charade to push the "corrupt" label onto Democrats.

[Sadie4629]

11. Copies of handwritten documents

but with handwritten notes in the margins. This is actually more serious than we would like to believe. If the documents weren't important, why did he steal them and hide them?

And what would your opinion be if a Republican administration official had done the same thing?

Whatever Berger's motives, we shouldn't give him a pass just because he's on our side.

[firefox_fan]

3. polygraph is useless anyway

[flyingfysh]

4. I have to agree with the WH on this

Polygraph tests have no scientific basis, and are extremely unreliable. That's why they can't be used in court. Passing or failing such a test means nothing.

The government should not be using these tests anywhere. They force many highly-qualified people out of government work for no good reason, and a real spy can easily learn to fool them.

[Snotcicles]

6. I don't think anybody thought that would go anywhere, but it's enough

of a seed for corporate media to create a long diversion and be fodder for the bullshit talking heads
to feed on.

[NewJeffCT]

10. They'll still be bringing this up in a decade!

The story about Clinton being offered the head of Osama bin Laden on a platter by the Sudan 3 times, only to be turned down, has been debunked many times. But, it doesn't stop Sean Hannity from bringing it up all the time...

[Canuckistanian]

7. Theft and destruction of COPIES, they must mean

No self-respecting security archive would EVER let an original walk out of the building.

I'm sure they'll issue a correction.

[AuntPatsy]

8. Sheesh, have to agree with the wh on this one, don't believe them to

be accurate enough, real criminals pass them all the time...they are a joke.

[underpants]

9. Thanks-this knocks Edwards haircut down a notch on the RW BS ladder

the Oil for food BS is now third

[zbdent]

13. and, of course, if he passes the test with flying colors ...

it destroys the WH's point that Sandy Berger did something far worse than Bush's fanaticl henchmen ...