THE WALL STREET JOURNAL writes that Sandy Berger is more of a clown than a conspirator:

The confusion seems to stem from the mistaken idea that there were handwritten notes by various Clinton Administration officials in the margins of these documents, which Mr. Berger may have been able to destroy. But that’s simply an “urban myth,” prosecutor Hillman tells us, based on a leak last July that was “so inaccurate as to be laughable.” In fact, the five iterations of the anti-terror “after-action” report at issue in the case were printed out from a hard drive at the Archives and have no notations at all.

This raises the possibility that Berger’s latest story — that he accidentally removed them and was afraid to try to return them — might actually be true. That scenario is less culpable, and certainly consistent with the bumbling record that Berger compiled on antiterrorism while in office. I think, however, that even on these facts if Berger had been, say, a Chief Warrant Officer, he would have received considerably harsher treatment.