From an article by Scott Paltrow in today’s unlinkable Wall Street Journal:

Officials looking into the removal of classified documents from the National Archives by former Clinton National Security Adviser Samuel Berger say no original materials are missing and nothing Mr. Berger reviewed was withheld from the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks….

The conclusion by archives officials and others would seem to lay to rest the issue of whether any information was permanently destroyed or withheld from the commission.

Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said officials there “are confident that there aren’t any original documents missing in relation to this case.” She said in most cases, Mr. Berger was given photocopies to review, and that in any event officials have accounted for all originals to which he had access.

That included all drafts of a so-called after-action report prepared by the White House and federal agencies in 2000 after the investigation into a foiled bombing plot aimed at the Millennium celebrations. That report and earlier drafts are at the center of allegations that Mr. Berger might have permanently removed some records from the archives. Some of the allegations have related to the possibility that drafts with handwritten notes on them may have disappeared, but Ms. Cooper said archives staff are confident those documents aren’t missing either.

It probably ruined Sandy’s career, but it was hardly as sinister as some hysterics tried to portray it. Stupid and inexplicable, yes. A risk to national security and a crime worthy of imprisonment, no.

Via pie.

Amazing, that on July 7 Josh Marshall wrote:

From TNR’s new piece, ‘July Surprise’…

A third source, an official who works under ISI’s director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed tnr that the Pakistanis “have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs [i.e., high-value al Qaida targets] before [the] election is [an] absolute must.” What’s more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: “The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during [ul-Haq’s] meetings in Washington.” Says McCormack: “I’m aware of no such comment.” But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that “it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July”–the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Imagine that …

Right on schedule, the Pakistanis have indeed come through for us, only hours before Kerry speaks. Amazing. Do I think the whole thing was choreographed? Yes, I do. Like everything else we’ll see from now until election day, it’s pure show, scripted by Karl Rove to help george win again.

We may have captured an important al Qaeda man; it’s the timing that’s choreographed. It’s vintage Rove, just like yesterday’s whisper campaign about Kerry’s “re-eneacted” Vietnam movies, just a few hours before Edwards spoke. Distract, distort, demolish — it’s been Rove’s winning formula for decades, and he’s not changing it now.

[Marshall link is via Kos.]

Update: Here’s what Marshall says.

This is just the latest, but perhaps the most blatant, example of how this administration has placed politics and, really, political dirty tricks above national security itself, and along the way persisted in defining political deviance down until tactics we used to associate with banana republics start to seem commonplace here.

And while we’re at it, this is yet another example of how truly important it is that we democratize the Middle East. Because once we have, some of them will be able to come back here and redemocratize us.

Update 2: I am not, as a couple of commenters think, alone on this one. Paul Krugman writes it up at the end of his column today, and Kevin Drum has more than one post about it.

Before reading Kevin Phillips’ American Dynasty I may have been a skeptic about this type of story. Not anymore. The Bush’s I and II thrive on covert operations and trickery like this; it is the norm.. It is not a matter of conspiracy but of documented fact. Just like the whisper campaigns against John McCain and Max Cleland, these things are always coordinated and intentional. According to the WaPo:

Pakistani officials have rejected allegations that they delayed the announcement for four days to obtain maximum publicity. Hayat said the delay was a result of “double checks and even triple checks in such cases.”

But in the arrests of other high-profile al Qaeda targets in Pakistan, including Abu Zubayida, Khalid Sheik Mohammad and Ramzi Bin al Shibh, the news media received word almost immediately.

He’s just a state senator, and already somebody’s working 24/7 to destroy his reputation over at Obama Truth Squad. Somebody obviously sees him as a big threat.

Should I keep George’s comments or delete them all and ban him from the site? I’m inclined to keep him on for entertainment value, but he’s crossed a lot of lines today and is clearly out of control. Majority rules; let me know what you think.

I’ll never forget a post by Andrew Sullivan just a few days after the 9/11 attacks. I was living in Hong Kong ath the time, and I could scarcely believe what I was reading.

So far relatively few have used this terrible tragedy for political points. Here is what Jerry Falwell said on the 700 Club: “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way – all of them who have tried to secularize America – I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen.'”

Do you fathom just how low, how vile and profane these words are? Can you imagine the hatred and bigotry that inspired them? Jerry Falwell, to use one of Conrad’s phrases, is a true moral pigmy, his malignant obsessions made even more disturbing by his cloaking himself in religion, and speaking as one in touch with Christ.

So why do I bring all this up now, nearly three years after the fact? Simple: It appears that Jerry Falwell, the man who represents the very worst, most ugly side of Evangelical Christianity in America, the self-righteous Bible-thumper who dares equate huge and innocent portions of America’s populace to psychotic terrorists — this man will be delivering the invocation that kicks off the Republican Convention in New York City.

Forget Iraq, Forget the lies and the dirty tricks. Forget even the staggering deficits America must now live with for generations. This one catastrophe, bush’s alignment of American politics with the right-wing Christian agenda, is the most profound sin that the republican party must bear on its conscience. And it is a huge, ugly, metastasizing sin — and I firmly believe that America has had quite enough of it.

I’ve never liked or trusted Al Sharpton. I think he’s shallow and sneaky and deceitful and the ultimate opportunist. And he can be downright dangerous.

All that said, he gave a damned good speech tonight. Certainly a lot better than Dean or Kennedy. The audience was transfixed, and some were crying openly. It seemed like he was ad-libbing a lot, and his 6-minute speech went on for more than 20 minutes. It was lot more intense and damning of Bush than any other speaker so far.

Where will it end? Here’s the latest outburst.

Calling the cross-strait situation grim, a senior Chinese official yesterday warned that China has made full preparations to thoroughly defeat Taiwanese separatist forces.

It is extremely dangerous and a mistake for the separatist forces to believe that China would tolerate them because of its desire to hold a successful Olympics and to develop the economy, Taiwan Affairs Office vice-director Wang Zaixi said.
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‘To resolutely attack and effectively contain Taiwan independence separatist activity relates to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, to our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, to the future of peaceful unification, and has become the most urgent task of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,’ he said.

He added that Taiwan independence forces and separatist activity were becoming the biggest threat to peace and stability of the strait.

Of course, Wang tempered it all by assuring us China will first seek a peaceful solution (which I believe is true — who the hell wants to go to war?). He also pointed out, correctly, that Taiwan is enjoying huge economic benefits from China’s boom, and that Taiwanese businessmen who support independence will be banned from doing business in China.

For all the bluster, it sounds as if China is still trying to appear reasonable. But there’s no negotiating on this issue, no rationalizing or bargaining. If it were up to me, Taiwan would have its independence. But looked at through the lens of realpolitik, I have to say the best Taiwan can hope for is to hold on to its current obscure status, accepting the fact that at some point unification is inevitable. Hopefully that time will be off in the distant future, when the motherland is a freer and more magnanimous place.

So much fuss has been made out of bloggers covering the Democratic convention right alongside the “real journalists,” but what has their presence there yielded? I would have to say very little.

Ever since he arrived in Boston, Josh Marshall’s blogging has gone straight downhill, as has Atrios’ — they are only interesting when they stop covering the convention and get back to what they do best, i.e., punditizing about what’s going on in the media. When they try to be the media it falls flat. Pandagon’s doing a lot better, maybe because they are younger and less jaded and their energy is contagious. But all in all, this experiment tells me that sending bloggers into the front lines is a not-so-inspiring failure. I would much rather read Marshall’s analysis of the speeches and the news about them as opposed to how he’s trying to feel his way around the huge convention hall. I’d rather get their take on events as opposed to who went with them to dinner and what famous reporters they saw on the lunch line.

I found one “convention blog,” however, that stands out for originality and wit. I’m not sure if he’s really at the convention or not, but it doesn’t matter — this is some of the most original and humorous blogging I’ve ever seen. Whatever you do, be sure to check it out. I’ll take this over the monotonous recitations of the other convention bloggers anytime. A most precious sample:

I am touchin Atrios’s laptop right now!

Well here we are at the Democratic National Convention! I woulda blogged about the speeches last night but we had a slight medical mishap as I almost got trampled by Sidney Blumenthal while tryin to touch the hem of Bill Clinton’s garment. I could not help it he is just too beautiful!

Just five minutes ago I got to see THE Newsweek’s Howard Fineman! He is even shorter an pastier an more pathologically blase about the status of American democracy in real life! I tried to engage him in insightful commentary but I was overcome by girlish squealin and mobbed him along with some of the understaff of the New Republic. I came back with two teeth and an eyebrow!

But none a that matters right now cause I AM TYPIN ON ATRIOS’S LAPTOP RIGHT NOW. He musta left it out or somethin cause here I am an he even left his Blogger window open I can totally post to his blog an everythin!

Wooooooo I’m Atrios blah blah blah, phony wars are bad, blah blah blah, the media is corrupt an stupid blah blah blah

aaaaaa here he comes runawayrunaway

It gets even funnier than that.

Update: John Dvorak, the in-house curmudgeon at CBS Marketwatch, has this to say about the convention bloggers:

Many of these posts are vapid observations combined with simple Kerry boosterism or knee-jerk Limbaugh-Republicanist complaints.

Some are simply an undecipherable mess. Hopefully a few professionals will come in and publish some thoughtful pieces before the exercise is over, but this looks laughable thus far.

Heh.

Writer and journalist Doug over at Wrong Place Right Time has managed to land a very hot interview about blogging and the media, and he’s requested help.

It is not all set in stone, yet. However, Robert Kaiser, an associate editor of The Washington Post, has agreed to talk with me about blogs, journalism, and his recent work at the Democratic National Convention.

Here’s where I would like your help. If you wish, provide questions either straight or snarky that I can ask Mr. Kaiser about his work, his paper, and the emergence of a crossover involving blogs and old school media.

I will even provide you a few links so that you can check them out yourself. You have to register, but I think it’s worth it if you are a newshound or a blogger interested in the new styles found in old journalism….

My idea is to generate discussion about where blogging is taking old media. As it seems to me that blogging has had a sharp influence on some editor’s positions in writing material that was previously known only as “information.” Now there seems to be a life in it, something more on the ground and editorial in its comments, and even acting as a foundation for new theories about old things and current events.

Check out Doug’s entire post and lend him a hand if you can. Thanks.

Hats off, gentlemen — a political genius. Obama just established himself as the foremost young politician in America, a true star in the ascendant. Tragic, that our network television stations couldn’t take a break from their sitcoms to share something this historic with the American people.