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Kerry reportedly says he will consider freeing Jonathan Pollard as part of prisoner swap
foxnews.com ^ | 12/29/13 | foxnews/ap

Posted on 12/29/2013 11:17:16 AM PST by ColdOne

Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to the Middle East in the first week of the new year amid a flurry of reports in the Israeli press that he has said he would consider freeing convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.

Israel's Channel 10 TV station first reported Friday that Kerry offered to free Pollard as part of an exchange for the release of a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as peace talks resume between the two sides. The third of four groups is scheduled to be released Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported.

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: israel; nsa; pollard; turnaboutfairplay; waronterror
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To: JSteff
Probably nothing. His refusal to apply for parole is likely based on one or both of the following:

1. If he applies for parole he is implicitly acknowledging that he was guilty of the crimes.

2. If he's paroled he would still have to live under the supervision of the Federal justice system and probably won't be able to travel outside the country. He may consider himself at risk in the U.S. if he's not in custody behind bars.

21 posted on 12/29/2013 12:10:29 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: ColdOne

trade for Palestinian prisoners??? wth


22 posted on 12/29/2013 12:16:00 PM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: Stepan12
Correction: I think Theresa Heinz Kerry said now shove it instead.

I regret the error.

23 posted on 12/29/2013 12:20:12 PM PST by Stepan12 (!)
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To: ColdOne

I trust John F. Kerry’s word as much as I trust Iran


24 posted on 12/29/2013 12:21:38 PM PST by Nifster
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To: Nifster

I’m only gonna believe it when I see him in his CIA hat.


25 posted on 12/29/2013 12:26:50 PM PST by onedoug
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To: ColdOne
Kerry reportedly says he will consider freeing Jonathan Pollard as part of prisoner swap

Say wut?
Since when has John Kerry been in a position to free Pollard, as Secretary of State or in any other capacity?

I have also in the last few years wondered how the Hillary and now Kerry have the legal ability to give away tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to any foreign group or country without the express action of the House?

Can anyone explain this?
Serious question.

26 posted on 12/29/2013 12:27:31 PM PST by publius911 ( At least Nixon had the good grace to resign!)
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To: Stepan12

What the hell are you talking about? Caspar Weinberg wanted all the Jews in Israel gassed? Like Hell.


27 posted on 12/29/2013 12:30:01 PM PST by Williams (No Obama)
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To: Stepan12

Wow....put the tin foil hat back in the closet

Weinberg wanted Saddam to gas the jews...!!!


28 posted on 12/29/2013 12:41:30 PM PST by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: ColdOne
For a brief moment, I thought that Kerry was actually working towards the release of Americans. This article says he's trading for Palestinians?

-PJ

29 posted on 12/29/2013 12:50:36 PM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: ColdOne

A prisoner swap? Israel is holding prisoners the USA wants sprung?


30 posted on 12/29/2013 12:55:22 PM PST by Salman
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To: gitmo

Not for calling Kerry a liar, but for saying Pollard didn’t do anything worthy of keeping him in prison for the rest of his life. He was betrayed and used - he admitted he passed secrets to Israel that should have been done as a matter of course. I have gotten flamed for saying this in the past by people who are attributing to Pollard what Aldrich Ames did.


31 posted on 12/29/2013 6:16:05 PM PST by Sioux-san
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To: Stepan12

I agree with you. Pollard suffered a royal bait & switch by Weinberger. Reagan’s administration was full of Israel haters/Pro-Muslims. James Baker comes to mind.


32 posted on 12/29/2013 6:17:40 PM PST by Sioux-san
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To: Sioux-san

It is really a pity. With Richard Allen and Alexander Haig gone, there were no friendly views toward Israel to steer Pres. Reagan in the proper direction. George Schultz, a Sec. of State and Bechtel owner, was warming up to Israel, but how much influence that relative newcomer to the Reagan Administration had, I am not sure. At least the greatest President of the 20th Century did not personally hate Israel as Jimmy Carter and the Jimmy Carter on steroids, Barack Hussein Obama, do. The Reagan Administration recognized the PLO because George H. W. Bush (Bush 41) asked him to do so.


33 posted on 12/29/2013 7:33:47 PM PST by Stepan12 (!)
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To: Alberta's Child
Their may be another reason in that it may be an absolutely useless exercise to apply for parole. Weinberger and maybe the Justice Department asked that Pollard not be paroled and parole boards do not usually go against what the government recommends.

They didn't do it with the Walker spy ring and they won't do it with Pollard either

34 posted on 12/29/2013 7:41:51 PM PST by Stepan12 (!)
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To: Stepan12
I'm sorry, but I think that's a lame excuse. As a criminal serving time in prison you can't complain that you've spent 20+ years behind bars ... while at the same time you refuse to apply for parole.

This video clip is very interesting:

Click Here

The back-and-forth between U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel and Joseph DiGenova (the prosecutor in the original case) tells me everything I need to know. DiGenova schools the smarmy Engel right there on television.

35 posted on 12/30/2013 4:14:31 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: Sioux-san
The only "bait & switch" in this case was Pollard's.

1. He pleaded guilty to avoid a trial where all of the evidence against him would have been public.

2. This ensured that the most damning evidence came out behind closed doors in the damage assessment Weinberger provided to the judge in the case. This means that the entire debate about Pollard's release over the last 15 ears has been held without any public discussion about this critical information.

3. After all the denials by both Pollard and the Israeli government, they later admit that he was an Israeli agent anyway.

4. Some years after his sentencing, Pollard files an appeal of his original sentencing and tries to get his original guilty plea withdrawn. That appeal was turned down.

5. After that appeal was rejected, Pollard then files another appeal claiming that he was the victim of incompetent counsel. That appeal was turned down, too.

This guy's whole posture from the beginning was aimed at keeping a full, objective assessment of his crimes out of public view. He's been very successful at it, but he's been burned by his own legal strategy because he'll spend 25 years behind bars. This is why what had been a legal issue is being turned into a political one ... because Pollard, his attorneys, and the Israeli government came out on the wrong end of the legal side of it.

36 posted on 12/30/2013 4:43:12 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: Alberta's Child

murderers are out on the street in less time - I wish there would be a full airing of what Pollard is alleged to have done as an agent of a friendly nation, an ally that America betrays on a daily basis to suck up to the muslims.


37 posted on 12/30/2013 8:02:02 AM PST by Sioux-san
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To: Stepan12

And then there’s that wonderful photo of GWB holding hands and strolling with the Saudi prince or king or whatever the heck he is.

Clinton used Pollard to get Israel to agree to a bunch of suicidal things and then reneged. Don’t remember the issue coming up with Bush 2. Now we have Kerry dangling the Pollard carrot. That will go nowhere as well. This is less about Pollard and way more about my country’s leaders, whom I despise even more.


38 posted on 12/30/2013 8:06:20 AM PST by Sioux-san
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To: Alberta's Child
It appears that my intuition was correct and this no parole for Pollard link I found merely confirms the information I read about how parole boards behave (lifted from me reading a book about the John Walker spy ring) is correct.

And if he asks for parole, Pollard cannot asks for executive clemency for 15 years if I remember the link correctly.

39 posted on 12/30/2013 4:59:33 PM PST by Stepan12 (!)
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To: Sioux-san

If you talk to anyone who worked in U.S. intelligence back in those days, they’ll tell you that Israel was no more trustworthy than the Soviet Union.


40 posted on 12/30/2013 6:25:28 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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