“For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.”
– Noam Chomsky, “Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World”
I’ve seldom been one to quote Noam Chomsky.
But he has moments of lucidity – and even brilliance.
And the quote above is an example of that.
I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t apply it the same way I do, but there’s a lot of truth to those nine words.
Let me give you a few illustrations of how “justice” has been ignored, abrogated, betrayed and undermined when it comes to “just us powerful people.”
- Sept. 8, 2005: President Bill Clinton’s good friend, political ally and national security adviser Sandy Berger was ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson to pay a $50,000 fine for illegally removing classified documents from the National Archives. If you recall, Berger had stuffed these secret files in his underwear and in his socks, yet, until sentencing, claimed it was “an honest mistake.” An honest mistake? A national security adviser hiding classified files in his boxer shorts? Interestingly, the nature of those files has never been revealed to the public, but it is almost certain he was attempting to steal public records that could have been damaging to the legacy of his former boss. He also destroyed some of the documents. If you think $50,000 is a light sentence, the government prosecutors in the case recommended $10,000! Ask yourself this question: What if you had managed to get access to classified material in the National Archives and attempted to steal it by hiding it in your underwear? Where do you think you’d be sleeping tonight?
- Jan. 20, 2001: On Bill Clinton’s last day in office, he issued an unconditional presidential pardon to former CIA Director John M. Deutch for any charges he might face concerning the mishandling of classified material. Deutch was, at the time, in the midst of negotiating a plea bargain with federal prosecutors. Clinton didn’t consult with George Tenet, the director of National Intelligence, or anyone else at the CIA about his action. Nor were any details released to the public of how this top national security official had breached national security. Those details are apparently a much more well-guarded secret than are America’s national security documents.
- Bringing it home and up to date: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was warned by government cybersecurity professionals not to use a private, unencrypted, insecure email server for conducting official government business – as if it should even be necessary to issue such a warning. She ignore the advice and did it anyway. She was warned not to use the server for disseminating classified information, and she later denied ever doing it. It turns out she lied and regularly used the server for communicating national security secrets. She was told explicitly not to use her office as secretary of state to raise money for the Clinton Foundation, a so-called “charity” that is nothing more than a tax-exempt slush fund for Hillary, her family and friends. She did exactly that, as the record now shows. All this has come to light as Hillary Clinton prepares not to go to prison for her offenses but to become president of the United States.
Why do we have laws against the mishandling of national security secrets? Are those laws intended to protect those secrets from people who don’t have access to them? Or are they on the books primarily to discourage those who do have access to them from misappropriating them, sharing them with unauthorized people or recklessly disregarding national security protocols?
I think we’re all clear on the purpose and intent of those laws. Yet look at the pattern of abuse that is emerging here with just a few examples. I could provide many more – all, by the way, revolving around one family named Clinton.
I’ve got to hand it to Chomsky this time. He nailed it: “For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.”
Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].
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