The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Politics & RKBA => Topic started by: tombogan03884 on January 12, 2011, 12:22:57 PM
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A note on this, I follow this kind of stuff and this is the first I ever heard of him selling info to any one other than Israel.
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/01/12/jonathan-pollard/
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)
Wednesday, January 12th at 5:00AM EST
86 Comments
I have known Jennifer Rubin for a while and really like her, but I am terribly befuddled about her Washington Post blog “Right Turn.” It has descended into advocacy of getting the traitor Jonathan Pollard out of prison.
First, I have no idea why that has anything to do with coverage of conservatives and secondly, I think she’s gone a bridge too far now.
Certainly there are some noted people like George Shultz who are happy to have Pollard released, but Jennifer writes, “Conservatives in effect have offered Obama all the support he might need should he be inclined to pardon Pollard.”
Jonathan Pollard was a spy for hire who was hired by Israel, South Africa, and potentially other countries. He ratted out our intelligence and potentially cost people their lives because of it.
There are few conservatives within the actual conservative movement who are paying attention, but the bulk of those who are do not want Pollard released. They want him hanged or shot as a traitor to his country.
I realize there are people who believe our alliance with Israel outweighs every other consideration and they are forced to make logical leaps to defend or mitigate Jonathan Pollard’s actions. But let’s be clear that Jonathan Pollard is a traitor to his country and those defending him or mitigating what he did are defending a traitor with blood on his hands.
Were Barack Obama to release this traitor, it would not help him politically. It would yet again cause people to question his world view — something he is desperate to avoid.
Conservatives have offered nothing to Barack Obama in exchange for a Pollard pardon. To say so stretches the very definition of “conservatives” to the point that the word has no meaning. In this case, it appears “conservatives” means a handful of very old Cold Warriors. And Jenn Rubin.
Count the majority of conservatives out.
Closing point: I cannot fathom why right now when the right is having to defend itself from accusations of murder, Jenn Rubin is using a Washington Post platform to cover conservatives to claim conservatives want to help a traitor to this country.
Some quickie background, More at link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard
Jonathan Jay Pollard (born August 7, 1954 in Galveston, Texas) is a former civilian intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel. He received a life sentence in 1987.
Israel granted Pollard citizenship in 1995, while publicly denying, until 1998, that he was an Israeli spy.[1] Israeli activist groups, as well as high-profile Israeli politicians, have lobbied for his release.[2] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has voiced particularly strong support for Pollard, visiting the convicted spy in prison in 2002.[3][4]
Pollard's case was later linked to that of Ben-Ami Kadish, another U.S. national who pleaded guilty to charges of passing classified information to Israel in the same period.
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In 1979, after leaving graduate school, Pollard began applying for intelligence service jobs, first at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then the Navy. Pollard was turned down for the CIA job after taking a polygraph test in which he admitted to prolific illegal drug usage between 1974 and 1978.[9] He fared better with the Navy and was hired by the Naval Fields Operational Intelligence Office (NFOIO) as an intelligence specialist working on Soviet issues. A background check was required for the job as well as security clearances, but no polygraph test. In addition to a 'Top Secret' clearance, a more stringent 'Sensitive Compartmented Information' (SCI) clearance was required. The Navy asked for but was denied information from the CIA regarding Pollard, including the results of their pre-employment polygraph test showing Pollard's excessive drug use.[9] Pollard was given temporary security clearances pending completion of his background check, which was normal for new hires at the time.[9]
Within two months of being hired, the technical director of the NFOIO, Richard Haver, requested that Pollard be terminated.[9] This came after a conversation with the new hire in which Pollard offered to start a back-channel operation with the South African intelligence service and lied about his own father's involvement with the CIA.[9] Instead of terminating Pollard, Haver's boss reassigned him to a human-gathered intelligence operation. This was apparently because Pollard had a friend from graduate school in the South African intelligence service.[9] In the vetting process for this position, Pollard, it was later discovered, lied repeatedly: he denied illegal drug use, claimed his father had been a CIA operative, misrepresented his language abilities and his educational achievements, and claimed to have applied for a commission as officer in the Naval Reserve.[9] A month later Pollard applied for and received a transfer to the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) surface ships division while keeping his TF-168[clarification needed] position.
While transferring to his new job at the NIS, Pollard again initiated a meeting with someone far up the chain of command, this time with Admiral Sumner Shapiro, about an idea he had for TF-168 and South Africa (the TF-168 group had passed on his ideas). After the meeting, Shapiro immediately ordered that Pollard's security clearances be revoked and that he be reassigned to a non-sensitive position. According to The Washington Post, Shapiro dismissed Pollard as a "kook," saying later, "I wish the hell I'd fired him".[10]
Because of the job transfer, Shapiro's order to remove Pollard's security clearances slipped through the cracks. However, Shapiro's office followed up with a request to the TF-168 that Pollard's trustworthiness be investigated by the CIA. The CIA found Pollard to be a risk and recommended that he not be used in any intelligence collection operation. A subsequent polygraph test was inconclusive, although it did prompt Pollard to admit to making false statements to his superiors, prior drug use, and having unauthorized contacts with representatives of foreign governments.[11] The special agent administering the test felt that Pollard, who at times "began shouting and shaking and making gagging sounds as if he were going to vomit", was feigning illness to invalidate the test, and recommended that he not be granted access to highly classified information.[11] Pollard was also required to be evaluated by a psychiatrist.[11]
Pollard's clearance was reduced to secret.[11] Pollard subsequently filed a grievance and threatened lawsuits to recover his SCI clearance.[12] Pollard had made the most of his work when having his Secret clearance, and subsequently began receiving excellent performance reviews. By 1982, after the psychiatrist concluded Pollard had no mental illness, Pollard had his clearance upgraded to SCI once again. In October 1984, after some reorganization of the Navy's intelligence departments, Pollard applied for and was accepted into a position as an analyst for the NIS.
[edit] Espionage
Shortly after Pollard began working at the NIS he met Aviem Sella, an Israeli Air Force combat veteran who was at the time a graduate student at New York University, on leave from his position as Colonel in order to gain a master's in computer science. Within a few days, in June 1984, Pollard started passing classified information to Sella and received, in exchange, $10,000 cash and a very expensive diamond and sapphire ring, which Pollard later used to propose marriage to his girlfriend Anne. He also agreed to receive $1,500 per month for further espionage.[13]
Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigator Ronald Olive has alleged that Pollard passed classified information to South Africa,[14] and attempted, through a third party, to sell classified information to Pakistan on multiple occasions.[15] Pollard also stole classified documents related to the People's Republic of China on behalf of his wife, who used the information to advance her personal business interests and kept them around the house, where they were discovered by investigating authorities when Pollard's espionage activity came to light.[16][17][18]
During Pollard's trial, the government's memorandum in aid of sentencing challenges "defendant's claim that he was motivated by altruism rather than greed", asserting that Pollard had "disclosed classified information in anticipation of financial gain" in other instances:
The government's investigation has revealed that defendant provided to certain of his acquaintances U.S. classified documents which defendant obtained through U.S. Navy sources. The classified documents which defendant disclosed to two such acquaintances, both of whom are professional investment advisers, contained classified economic and political analyses which defendant believed would help his acquaintances render investment advice to their clients... Defendant acknowledged that, although he was not paid for his unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the above-mentioned acquaintances, he hoped to be rewarded ultimately through business opportunities that these individuals could arrange for defendant when he eventually left his position with the U.S. Navy. In fact, defendant was involved in an ongoing business venture with two of these acquaintances at the time he provided the classified information to them...[19]
During the course of the Pollard trial, Australian authorities reported the disclosure of classified American documents by Pollard to one of their own agents, a Royal Australian Naval officer who had been engaged in a personnel-exchange liaison program between the U.S. and Australian Navies.[20] The Australian officer, alarmed by Pollard's repeated disclosure of NOFORN data to him, reported the indiscretions to his chain of command which in turn recalled him from his position in the U.S., fearing that the disclosures might be part of a "CIA ruse."[20] Confronted with this accusation after entering his plea, Pollard only admitted to passing a single classified document to the Australian; later, he changed his story, and claimed that his superiors ordered him to share information with the Australians.[20]
The full extent of the information he gave to Israel has still not been officially revealed. Press reports cited a secret 46-page memorandum, which Pollard and his attorneys were allowed to view.[21] They were provided to the judge by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who described Pollard's spying as including, among other things, obtaining and copying the latest version of Radio-Signal Notations (RASIN), a 10-volume manual comprehensively detailing America's global electronic surveillance network.[22][23]
Surveillance video frame of Pollard in the act of stealing classified documents.
Pollard used his courier position to demand the desired material for Israel rather than clandestinely acquire it. NCIS wrapped the documents Pollard requested, and he in turn passed them on to the Israelis. He would transfer the documents to suitcases, drop the documents off with the Israelis for copying, and retrieve whatever documents needed to be returned days later, along with orders for what types of information to get over the next week.
Pollard's espionage was discovered in 1985 when a co-worker anonymously reported his removal of classified material from the NIS. The co-worker noted that he did not seem to be taking the material to any known appropriate destination, such as other intelligence agencies in the area. Although Pollard was authorized to transport documents and the coworker did claim the documents were properly wrapped, it appeared out of place that Pollard would be transporting documents on a Friday afternoon when many workers were focused more on the upcoming weekend rather than intelligence work. Pollard's direct superior, having to complete extra work at the office on a Saturday, had walked by Pollard's desk and noticed unsecured classified material. Taking the initiative to secure it, the supervisor glanced over it and saw it was unrelated to antiterrorism matters in the Caribbean, which is what the section focused on. Looking at more unrelated documents, the supervisor believed foreign intelligence may be involved, but was unable to determine which nation would be interested.[24] Supervisors began investigating, and upon finding the enormous amount of material checked out by Pollard, and that it was outside of his area of responsibility, asked the FBI to begin an investigation.
Pollard was stopped and questioned about a week later while removing classified material from his work premises. He explained that he was taking it to another analyst at a different agency for a consultation. During the voluntary interview, his story was found to be false. Pollard requested to make a phone call to his wife telling her where he was. As he was being interrogated and not under arrest the investigators had no choice but to grant the request. During the call to Anne he used the code word 'cactus', meaning that he was in trouble and that she should remove all classified material from their home, which she attempted to do, enlisting the help of a neighbor. After some time, Pollard agreed to a search of his home which turned up no classified documents due to Jonathan's code talk and Anne's prompt removal. At this point, the FBI decided to drop the case and leave it as an administrative action for Pollard's supervisors, since there only seemed to be some mishandling of documents and at this point, was no proof that Pollard was passing classified documents.
The case broke wide open a few days later when Pollard was asked to take a polygraph. Instead, he admitted to illegally passing on documents, without mentioning Israel. The FBI again became involved. A short time later Pollard's neighbor began calling around the military intelligence community (he was a naval officer) asking what to do with the 70 lb suitcase full of highly classified material that Pollard's wife, Anne, gave him. After being unable to contact Anne or Jonathan Pollard he became concerned about safeguarding the documents. He cooperated fully with the investigation and was not charged with any crime.
After his partial confession, Pollard was surveilled but not taken into custody. He and his wife then attempted to gain asylum at the Israeli embassy, only to be rebuffed by the Israeli guards and taken into custody by FBI agents who swarmed the perimeter as soon as Pollard set foot off embassy property. Until this point, investigators could not confirm that Pollard had been spying for Israel; their only lead having been the speculation of Pollard's superiors.
[edit] Investigation
Pollard eventually cooperated with investigators in exchange for a plea agreement for leniency for himself and his wife.
At the time, Israel claimed that Pollard worked for an unauthorized rogue operation, a position they maintained for more than ten years. Israel agreed to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for immunity for their people. They needed the agreement since many of the Israelis involved lacked diplomatic immunity. However, according to Ronald Olive, the NCIS investigator responsible for capturing Pollard and a member of the delegation that traveled to Israel for debriefing, the Israelis failed to live up to their agreement.
For instance, when asked to return the stolen material, the Israelis handed over a few dozen lowly classified documents.[25] At the time, the Americans knew that Pollard had passed tens of thousands of documents, possibly over a million.[citation needed] The Israelis created a schedule designed to wear down the Americans, including many hours per day of commuting in blacked out buses on rough roads, and frequent switching of buses.[25] This left the Americans without adequate time to sleep and prevented them from sleeping on the commute.[25] The identity of Pollard's original handler, Sella, was withheld. All questions had to be translated into Hebrew and answered in Hebrew, and then translated back into English, even though all the parties spoke perfect English.[25] The Americans were treated with hostility from the moment they arrived in Israel to the moment they left.[25] Commander Jerry Agee remembers that, even as he departed the airport, airport security made a point of informing him that "you will never be coming back here again"; Agee found various items had been stolen from his luggage, upon his return to the United States.[25] The abuse came not only from the guards and officials, but also the Israeli media.[25]
Aviem Sella, Pollard's initial Israeli contact, was eventually indicted on three counts of espionage by an American court.[26] Israel refused to allow him to be interviewed unless he was granted immunity. America refused because of Israel's previous failure to cooperate as promised. Israel then refused to extradite Sella, instead giving him command of a prestigious air force base. The U.S. Congress responded by threatening to cut aid to Israel, at which point Sella stepped down.[27]
[edit] Plea agreement and trial
Pollard's plea discussions with the Government sought both to minimize his chances of receiving a life sentence and to enable Anne Pollard to plead as well, which the Government was otherwise unwilling to let her do. The government, however, was prepared to offer Anne Pollard a plea agreement only after Jonathan Pollard consented to assist the government in its damage assessment and submitted to polygraph examinations and interviews with FBI agents and Department of Justice attorneys. Accordingly, over a period of several months, Pollard cooperated with the Government's investigation, and in late May 1986, the Government offered him a plea agreement, which he accepted.
By the terms of that agreement, Pollard was bound to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government,[28] which carried a maximum prison term of life, and to cooperate fully with the Government's ongoing investigation. He promised not to disseminate any information concerning his crimes or his case, or to speak publicly of any classified information, without first submitting to pre-clearance by the Director of Naval Intelligence. His agreement further provided that failure by Anne Pollard to adhere to the terms of her agreement entitled the Government to void his agreement, and her agreement contained a mirror-image provision. In return for Pollard's plea, the Government promised not to charge him with additional crimes.
Three weeks before Pollard's sentencing, Wolf Blitzer, at the time a Jerusalem Post correspondent, conducted a jail-cell interview with Pollard and penned an article which also ran in The Washington Post headlined, "Pollard: Not A Bumbler, but Israel's Master Spy." published on February 15, 1987.[29] Pollard told Blitzer about some of the information he provided the Israelis: reconnaissance satellite photography of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headquarters in Tunisia, specific capabilities of Libya's air defenses, and "the pick of U.S. intelligence about Arab and Islamic conventional and unconventional military activity, from Morocco to Pakistan and every country in between. This included both 'friendly' and 'unfriendly' Arab countries." Some commentators identified this interview as a blatant violation of the plea agreement.[30]
Also prior to sentencing Pollard and his wife Anne gave further defiant media interviews in which they defended their spying, and attempted to rally Jewish Americans to their cause. In a 60 Minutes interview, Anne said, "I feel my husband and I did what we were expected to do, and what our moral obligation was as Jews, what our moral obligation was as human beings, and I have no regrets about that".[22]
On June 4, 1986 Jonathan Pollard pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government. Prior to sentencing, speaking on his own behalf, Pollard stated that while his motives "may have been well meaning, they cannot, under any stretch of the imagination, excuse or justify the violation of the law, particularly one that involves the trust of government... I broke trust, ruined and brought disgrace to my family."[31] He admitted and apologized for taking money from the Israeli government in exchange for classified information.[31] Anne Pollard, in her own statement, stated that she did "what at the time I believed to be correct", in helping her husband and attempting to conceal stolen documents, adding "And I can't say that I would never not help him again. However, I would look for different routes or different ways."[32]
The prosecution answered these statements by saying that the Pollards had continued to violate numerous nondisclosure agreements even as the trial was taking place. The prosecutor noted one in particular, which had been signed in June 1986, alluding to Pollard's interview with Wolf Blitzer.[33] The prosecutor concluded,
n combination with the breadth of this man's knowledge, the depth of his memory, and the complete lack of honor that he has demonstrated in these proceedings, I suggest to you, your honor, he is a very dangerous man.[33]
[edit] Sentencing and incarceration
Pollard was sentenced to life in prison on one count of espionage on March 4, 1987. The prosecutor complied with the plea agreement and asked for "only a substantial number of years in prison"; Judge Aubrey Robinson, Jr., not being obligated to follow the recommendation of the prosecutor, and after hearing a "damage-assessment memorandum" from the Secretary of Defense, imposed a life sentence.[34] In 1987, Pollard began his life sentence, which he is still serving. Pollard's wife, Anne, was sentenced to five years in prison but was paroled after three and a half years because of health problems. Following the end of Anne's parole, she emigrated to Israel. Jonathan divorced Anne, citing that he believed he was going to be jailed for the remainder of his life and did not want Anne to be bound to him.[24]
At the time of Pollard's sentencing there was a rule that mandated parole at thirty years for prisoners like him if they had maintained a clean record in prison. That parole date would be November 21, 2015. Also, Pollard was eligible to apply for parole after eight years and six months, though he has never done so.[35]
Pollard has the Federal Bureau of Prisons ID #09185-016 and is incarcerated in FCI Butner Medium at the Butner Federal Correction Complex near Butner, North Carolina. His projected release date is November 21, 2015.[36]
[edit] Appeals
In United States of America v. Jonathan Jay Pollard[37] 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11844, Pollard's attorney filed a motion to withdraw the plea, among other things. The motion was denied. Several parts of the plea agreement are mentioned in the appeal, United States of America v. Jonathan Jay Pollard 295 U.S. App. D.C. 7; 959 F.2d 1011; 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 4695. The appeal was also denied. Several years later, with a different attorney, Pollard filed a Habeas Corpus petition. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled two-to-one to deny Pollard's petition, primarily due to the failure of Pollard's original attorneys to file his appeal in a timely manner. The dissenting judge, Judge Stephen F. Williams, stated that "because the government's breach of the plea agreement was a fundamental miscarriage of justice requiring relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, I dissent."[38]
In July 2005, the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Pollard's latest appeal. Pollard had sought a new trial on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel, and he sought to receive classified documents pertinent to his new lawyers' efforts in preparing a clemency petition. The Court of Appeals rejected both arguments, however, and Pollard remains imprisoned. On February 10, 2006, lawyers for Pollard filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court to attempt to gain access to the classified documents. The brief was based on the notion that the separation of powers doctrine is a flexible doctrine that does not dictate the complete separation of the three branches of Government from one another. The brief argued that the Court of Appeals violated this principle in asserting sua sponte that the judiciary has no jurisdiction over the classified documents due to the fact that access was for the ultimate purpose of clemency, an executive function. In fact, the President's clemency power would be wholly unaffected by successor counsel's access to the classified documents, and the classified documents were sealed under protective order, a judicial tool. The Supreme Court denied the cert petition on March 20, 2006.
[edit] Israel and Pollard
Pollard applied for Israeli citizenship 1995; his petition was granted the same year on November 22.
For thirteen years Israel publicly denied that Pollard was an Israeli spy. Their official position was that he worked for an unauthorized rogue operation. In 1997, Pollard initiated legal action with the High Court of Israel to force the government to admit he was its agent. On May 11, 1998 Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Pollard was a known and sanctioned agent, handled by high ranking officials of the Israeli Bureau for Scientific Relations (Lekem).
The Israeli government has paid for at least two of Pollard's trial attorneys—Richard A. Hibey and Hamilton Philip Fox III—and continues to ask for his release.[22] Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, in 1999 in the context of the Israeli elections, exchanged barbs in the media over who was more supportive of Pollard.[4]
In 2002, Netanyahu visited Pollard in prison.[39][40] In 2007, Netanyahu claimed that if he was elected Prime Minister he would bring about the release of Jonathan Pollard.[41]
In September 2009, Israeli State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss released a report stating that the Israeli government has made concerted efforts for years to gain Pollard's release, but the American government has refused to budge.[42] The Pollards rejected the findings of the report, calling it a "whitewash" of the Israeli government.[43] However, they did agree with another finding of the report that stated Pollard had been denied due legal process in the United States. Israeli officials at one point considered offering to exchange the American spy Yosef Amit for Jonathan Pollard, but rejected the idea.
[edit] Official requests for clemency
Yitzhak Rabin was the first Israeli prime minister to ask for the release of Pollard, requesting US President Bill Clinton to pardon him in 1995.[44] Among the many requests for Pollard's release was one at the 1998 Wye River conference, where Netanyahu recalls, "if we signed an agreement with Arafat, I expected a pardon for Pollard".[1][22] Clinton and Netanyahu worked out an agreement to release Pollard, but the deal was scuttled after George Tenet, CIA director at the time, threatened to resign.[45]
Another Israeli request for Pollard's release was made in New York on September 14, 2005 and was declined by President George W. Bush. A request on Pollard's behalf that he be designated a Prisoner of Zion was rejected by the High Court of Justice of Israel on January 16, 2006. Another appeal for intervention on Pollard's behalf was rejected by the High Court on June 8, 2006.
On January 10, 2008, the subject of Pollard's pardon was again brought up for discussion, this time by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, during President George W. Bush's first visit to Israel as President. Subsequently, this request was turned down by President Bush. The next day, at a dinner attended by several ministers in the Israeli government (in addition to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice), the subject of Pollard's release was again discussed. This time however, Prime Minister Olmert commented that it was not the appropriate occasion to discuss the fate of the convicted Israeli spy.[46][47]
As President Bush was about to leave office in 2009, a worldwide[citation needed] campaign from Israel to Europe was made to the USA requesting and pleading with President Bush to give clemency to Jonathan Pollard while he was still chief executive. In an interview to Newsweek former CIA director James Woolsey endorsed Pollard's release on two conditions: that he show contrition and decline any profits from books or other projects linked to the case. Bush did not pardon him.[48]
The New York Times reported on 21 September 2010 that the Israeli government (again under Netanyahu) informally proposed that Pollard be released as a reward to Israel for extending by three months a halt to new settlements in occupied territories.[49]
In 2010 representatives Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) wrote a letter which "notes the positive impact that a grant of clemency would have in Israel, as a strong indication of the goodwill of our nation towards Israel and the Israeli people,"[50]
On November 18, 2010, 39 members of Congress submitted a Plea Of Clemency to the White House on behalf of Pollard, asking the president for his immediate release: "Such an exercise of the clemency power would not in any way imply doubt about his guilt, nor cast any aspersions on the process by which he was convicted".[citation needed]
Lawrence Korb, former assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan, has called on the Obama Administration to grant clemency to Pollard:
Some now argue that Pollard should be released because it would improve US-Israeli relations and enhance the prospects of success of the Obama administration’s Middle East peace process. Although that may be true, it is not the reason I and many others have recently written to the president requesting that he grant Pollard clemency. The reason is that Pollard has already served far too long for the crime for which he was convicted, and by now, whatever facts he might know would have little effect on national security.[45]
On December 21, 2010, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would formally and publicly call for Pollard's release.[51] This was the first formal request made by Israel. On January 4, 2011 Netanyahu formally submitted a letter to President Obama requesting clemency. The White House issued a statement saying the letter would be reviewed.
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a spy is a spy..........
doesn't matter who he was spying for, even our allies (if you can call them that) want our secrets.
Not saying Israel isn't an ally, but we have our secrets, they have theirs.
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I do tend to sympathize with Israel and would agree probably the man has no threat left in him, and if he went back to Israel, he might meet more threat than he had in prison, but let the courts take their course. Like in Burn notice ( Spies, bunch of whiny little bitches ) but I digress.
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The only way he should get out is if we need something of value from the Israelis and they'll trade a broken down old spy for it. Otherwise? Let him stay in prison.
FQ13
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The only way he should get out is if we need something of value from the Israelis and they'll trade a broken down old spy for it. Otherwise? Let him stay in prison.
FQ13
I am quite inclined to agree with the Quaker on this point. Pollard actively spied for a foreign power. Of this there is no question. The laws of our nation define this as a crime worthy of the death penalty--or at the least, life in prison. If Israel has someone/something of value that we simply can't get any other way, then trade the "broken down old spy." If not, let him rot in prison. He earned his spot. Frankly, I don't see Israel making that sort of a deal--they likely don't want him either.
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Actually, a failure by Israel to at least attempt to gain the release of Pollard is harmful to their intel efforts everywhere.
Notice that nearly all Soviet agents caught, if at all possible were in Russia with in 5 years ? They even broke George Blake out of Englands High Security prison at Wormwood Scrubs.
Who wants to spy for an agency that will hang you out to dry if caught ?
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Actually, a failure by Israel to at least attempt to gain the release of Pollard is harmful to their intel efforts everywhere.
Notice that nearly all Soviet agents caught, if at all possible were in Russia with in 5 years ? They even broke George Blake out of Englands High Security prison at Wormwood Scrubs.
Who wants to spy for an agency that will hang you out to dry if caught ?
And we've caught and publically tried how many Israeli spys since Pollard? I think you are right here.
FQ13