Why Pollard Should Never Be Released (The Traitor)

The New Yorker Magazine | :January 18, 1999, pp. 26-33 | SEYMOUR M. HERSH

[ozzieba]

Saying Israel is not an ally because they have spied on the US is an obviously false argument considering that the US just like most other countries spies on just about every country in the world. The article itself talks of the US spying on Israel and other allies.
Another question to ask: Did his actions actually have any negative effect? Even if information was given to the Soviets, that doesn't mean actual harm was caused other than America losing points in the intelligence game of the Cold War. Also, legally, can the government go back on a plea offer? What did they offer him that persuaded him to plead guilty? Or was he stupid enough to plead with no actual promise?

[veronica]

You are pinging me...why??

[dfwgator]

.But he spied for Israel, So what?

And then Israel passed the info onto the Chicoms. Spying is spying. Period.

[Joe Boucher]

S.E. Florida here where you from Gator fan?

[dfwgator]

S.E. Florida here where you from Gator fan?

DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth)

[Joe Boucher]

dfwgator, pretty slow here huh gator?
You take care and just watch the Gators in football this year.

[sobieski]

It's not up for him to decide which secrets foreign countries should receive. It's up to his superiors, and it's his job to ensure that their decisions are put into place.

[behindthesehazeleyes]

But why did he get life sentence when other spies, spies for enemies, have gotten only 20 years or so?

[Billthedrill]

Because that is the maximum sentence for what he did.

Why did you join today to resurrect this six-year-old thread? Are you associsted with Pollard?

[VOA]

bump

[VOA]

for reference:

Capturing Jonathan Pollard: How One of the Most Notorious Spies in
American History Was Brought to Justice
by Ronald J. Olive

http://www.amazon.com/Capturing-Jonathan-Pollard-Notorious-American/dp/1591146526/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3752257-9350300?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174355846&sr=1-1

I (VOA) haven't read the book, but did hear the author on BookTV (C-Span2
weekends).
He gave a very interesting rendition of the tracking down and
capture of Pollard.

And how Pollard's superiors let him run wild (or at least on
an excessively long leash).

[wideminded]

I saw that guy too. Fascinating. Good speaker.

I get the impression that Pollard is practically viewed as a saint in Israel. So I wonder what effect the broadcast of Olive's speech on Israeli TV had on public opinion there. If you google him you can see how the pro-Pollard people tried to trash him in the Israeli press.

[behindthesehazeleyes]

I'm doing a report on him. ANyway, I didn't realize the dates of this thread.

[behindthesehazeleyes]

Why did he get the mazimum? He had committed a crime, yes, but it still was for an ally, not an enemy, and other spies who have been for enemies have gotten a considerable amount smaller of a sentence.

[Billthedrill]

Please don't interpret it as criticism, but this topic has really been beaten to death on this board. I won't presume to speak for others, but my view is that (1) he knew absolutely what the penalties for releasing that information were when he signed the releases that are mandatory for that sort of classified access; (2) it is immaterial whether he gave it to an "ally" or to his mother or to Vladimir Putin; (3) his sentencing wasn't done with respect to other cases but strictly to his own. He got the maximum because it was the maximum. What others got they got for reasons specific to their separate cases. There is no mandate for "fairness" in sentencing.

I don't speak entirely in a vacuum - for a time I did a similar job with similar access. There is no excuse, there is no justification, and he can expect absolutely no slack from me. Your own opinion, I am sure, may vary.

[Billthedrill]

Oh...and a belated welcome to FR.

[dfwgator]

Israel may not be an enemy but some of that information eventually fell into the hands of the ChiComs.

[Dixie Yooper]

According to a friend of mine who served in the IDF in the 60’s, Pollard gave Israel information that allowed them carry out the attack on Iraq’s breeder reactors that the French had built for them. The timing of this attack was at a point when most of the money had been spent on the reactor and it was going to be on line in less than a year. Why the United States didn’t provide this information is unknown, and perhaps they did provide it through Pollard. He wouldn’t be the first scapegoat ever used by our government.

[BuffaloJack]

Hanoi Jane and John Kerry should be in the cells adjacent to this traitor.

[palmer]

The article is timeless and comprehensive. All things lacking from the recent apologist dribble.

Still timeless six years later. Also noticed Veronica, the Pollard apologist, is gone with the rest of the Rudybots. Sweet.