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Is Pollard Caspar Weinberger's Revenge on the Jews?
IsraeliNationalNews Arutz Sheva ^ | Dec 23, 2010 | Prof. Phyllis Chesler

Posted on 12/23/2010 8:33:25 AM PST by TPOOH

Why is this man still in jail? Why was this man forced to spend seven years in solitary? Why is still confined, languishing, festering in jail for a total of twenty five years?

Solitary confinement is the most barbaric of punishments. Few people can withstand this form of torture without becoming very ill, both physically and mentally.

Am I talking about the Soviet Gulag? Or about some hell-hole in Afghanistan or Iran?

Last year, The New Yorker ran a piece about solitary confinement. The article concludes that this punishment amounts to torture, that it can even induce “acute psychosis with hallucinations.” The article describes the cases of two political prisoners or prisoners-of-war: AP’s Middle East correspondent, Terry Anderson, who was put into solitary by Hezbollah in Lebanon for six years. Anderson “felt himself disintegrating”; his mind went blank; he had hallucinations; he started to become “neurotically possessive about his little space”; he felt his brain was “grinding down.” He also describes Senator John McCain who said -----------

(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: 1967liberty; aldrichames; ames; anything4money; boohoo; boohooboohoo; boohooboohooboohoo; getoverit; hangthebastard; herecomestheanticrap; israel; nsa; paid2percenter; pollard; pollardapaidtraitor; selloutamerica; special; spiesshouldbehung; traitor; turnaboutfairplay; waronterror; wearesospecial
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To: Elwood P. Doud

And he doesn’t have the remorse, or decency to off himself.


21 posted on 12/23/2010 9:54:43 AM PST by Leisler (They always lie, and have for so much and for so long, that they no longer know what about.)
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To: TPOOH

The dude should be thankful he didn’t get what he deserved....the death penalty.


22 posted on 12/23/2010 10:09:09 AM PST by kenmcg (jUS)
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To: Mr. K

“Pollard got US spies killed”

That’s actually not true. That was Ames.

Pollard gave US intel on Israeli enemie that the US had not shared with Israel, which Israel used to kill terrorists that our State Department was coddling.

Which is pretty cool, but still illegal.

Pollard needs to rot in jail for the rest of his life, but he also needs a medal.


23 posted on 12/23/2010 10:28:42 AM PST by TheThirdRuffian (Nothing to see here. Move along.)
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To: WaterBoard

“Pollard also spied for Communist China”

Ah, I did not know that. That changes a lot.


24 posted on 12/23/2010 10:30:26 AM PST by TheThirdRuffian (Nothing to see here. Move along.)
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To: TPOOH

I am perfectly OK with giving him Bradley Manning as his cellie/prison bitch.


25 posted on 12/23/2010 10:42:39 AM PST by LouD ("against all enemies, foreign and domestic...")
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To: devere

Confusing spies with traitors?

If you betray this country, you are a traitor. Traitors deserve death.


26 posted on 12/23/2010 10:46:33 AM PST by LouD ("against all enemies, foreign and domestic...")
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To: TPOOH

Bunch of morons chiming in to defend Pollard.

I’m calling IBTZ, just in case.


27 posted on 12/23/2010 10:47:57 AM PST by PLMerite (Fix the FR clock. It's time.)
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To: Mr. K

“Pollard got US spies killed”

I don’t think there’s any proof for this and, in fact, some good reasons to think that it’s not true and that it was Aldrich Ames who got our guys killed.

Do you have a source for the allegation?


28 posted on 12/23/2010 10:55:39 AM PST by JewishRighter ( Multiculturalism is killing us.)
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To: LouD

I suggest that you study article 3 section 3 of the US constitution.

Not all traitors are spies, and not all spies are traitors, a fact that some people seem to have difficulty understanding.

Pollard was convicted of spying for a friendly country, but was then accused of being a traitor in a sentencing memorandum written by spy and traitor Aldrich Ames and conveyed to the judge by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.


29 posted on 12/23/2010 10:59:17 AM PST by devere
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To: Mr. K

BTW, there is a huge qualitative difference between espionage that costs lives and espionage that doesn’t, IMHO, which goes to the reasonableness of the sentence.

By comparison to any espionage case, Pollard has received much harsher treatment, starting with the government breaking its plea agreement with him through the conditions and length of his confinement.

No. I’m not saying he’s a hero, a patriot or whatever. I’m not saying what he did was right. On the contrary, what he did was very wrong. But his punishment has been way out of proportion to the crime.


30 posted on 12/23/2010 11:02:08 AM PST by JewishRighter ( Multiculturalism is killing us.)
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To: Nachum
They should let him go.

As long as he goes through a trap door with a rope around his neck I'm fine with it.

31 posted on 12/23/2010 11:02:40 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: JewishRighter
starting with the government breaking its plea agreement

Pollard broke it, not the government. His wife went on TV whining about the entire affair after they'd promised, as a condition of the plea agreement, not to speak publicly about the case.

32 posted on 12/23/2010 11:04:12 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: PLMerite

Rather than engage in ad hominem attack, why not respond with a reasoned argument against the points people are making?

For example, if his punishment is way out of proportion by any comparison to other espionage cases, why is that not a fair reason to advocate for clemency after 25 years?

If it turns out he was blamed for things he didn’t do, such as turning over information that caused the death of American spies, why is that not a fair reason to consider clemency?

Again, so you don’t feel compelled to call me a moron, I am not saying Pollard is a good guy, a hero, a patriot or someone who did not deserve to be punished. I’m just saying, there is a punishment that fits the crime and Pollard has paid that price with interest.


33 posted on 12/23/2010 11:08:02 AM PST by JewishRighter ( Multiculturalism is killing us.)
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To: junta

Pollard is a hero to Israel that fights Islamic Jihad every day. So given your insulting remark I rate him a better man than you. I read the whole article before commenting. Did you?


34 posted on 12/23/2010 11:08:38 AM PST by dennisw (- - - -He who does not economize will have to agonize - - - - - Confucius)
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To: Lurker
Source? On the point of who broke the deal, I suggest you review the dissent in the original appeal of the sentence by judge Steven Williams, beginning with:

"I agree with the majority that the "plea wiring" was not an unlawful coercion of Pollard's guilty plea and that Chief Judge Robinson did not abuse his discretion in refusing to recuse himself or to conduct a hearing into the claim of ex parte contacts. But 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.

Neither his dissent nor the majority opinion recite any facts about Pollard breaking the agreement or Mrs. Pollard's public statements violating any plea agreement.

35 posted on 12/23/2010 11:21:50 AM PST by JewishRighter ( Multiculturalism is killing us.)
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To: MplsSteve; TPOOH
The only reason he’s not doing life in prison (like Aldrich Ames and Richard Hanssen) is because Israel was an ally and the secrets he revealed didn’t rise to level of those Hanssen and Ames gave away.

I'm not sure the latter statement is true. Pollard gave away a vast volume of classified documents. I've heard that these included the very top secrets of signals intelligence. Probably it can't even be stated what he stole. Evidently the people who know think that it is so serious that he should not be freed even if it helps achieve peace in the Middle East.

Also it's not clear that Pollard was acting altruistically (as if that would be an excuse). IIRC he was selling documents to other countries such as South Africa and he was paid by Israel.

Also the fact that Israel is an "ally" is not that relevant since once they had all our secrets they traded them to other countries such as the Soviet Union to achieve their own interests, which are not always the same as ours. No matter what Pollard's motives, he grievously harmed the United States.

One of the reasons that there is so much pressure from Israel to free him is that Israel wants to send a signal to all their potential spies that they will never be abandoned. Also this seems to have become a domestic political issue in Israel. But the US should be concerned about about the message we are sending to potential traitors and spies.

36 posted on 12/23/2010 11:25:21 AM PST by wideminded
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To: JewishRighter
Here's what Pollard himself had to say at his sentencing:

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."[28] He admitted and apologized for taking money from the Israeli government in exchange for classified information.[28]

He also blabbed to Wolf Blitzer:

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.[26] 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.[27]

I agree that Pollard shouldn't be in prison. He should already be dead.

37 posted on 12/23/2010 11:30:10 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: Lurker

“Some commentators identified this interview as a blatant violation of the plea agreement.[27]”

I guess your quote of otherwise irrelevant information was to get to the quote above. Is the fact that he admitted taking money and apologizing for it supposed to support your point?

Some commentators did not include the prosecution which did not argue that point on appeal and the judges who heard the appeal and made no mention of it. Hmmmmmm.

I’m still waiting for a source for the accusation that Pollard broke the plea deal, which is why he should die in your opinion.


38 posted on 12/23/2010 11:38:10 AM PST by JewishRighter ( Multiculturalism is killing us.)
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To: JewishRighter
I’m still waiting for a source for the accusation that Pollard broke the plea deal,

I just gave it to you old chap. The fact the Judge didn't cite it means nothing.

Some commentators did not include the prosecution which did not argue that point on appeal and the judges who heard the appeal and made no mention of it.

Which means they feel that the sentence fits the crime regardless of whether or not he broke the deal. Hummmm.

Pollard has been free to file for parole after serving 8 years but hasn't. Hmmmmmm.

Pollard has appealed his conviction all the way to SCOTUS and has been denied every single time. Hmmmmmmm.

He committed Espionage and sold our country out for a handful of Judas gold. He sold Classified material not only to the Israeli government but at least 3 other Governments. He admitted it in open court.

Screw Pollard. Let him rot.

39 posted on 12/23/2010 11:47:22 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: Lurker

One note for accuracy: the government did make a claim that Pollard breached his agreement in his interview with Wolf Blitzer, then a Jerusalem Post correspondent. But this claim was “mentioned” in “extensive presentencing submissions” the government made to the court. (quotes from the decision.

It does not appear that the issue was the basis for the ruling by the trial court and it was not a factor in the decision on appeal.


40 posted on 12/23/2010 11:49:14 AM PST by JewishRighter ( Multiculturalism is killing us.)
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