Appeasement of Iraq Made Me A Spy (Pollard)

Wall Street Journal ^ | February 15, 1991 | Jonathan Pollard

[Ranger]

Bibbi tried to get Clinton to release Pollard by holding up any agreement when Clinton needed it for his reelection bid. And by the way, don't pull that 'hatred' BS with me.

[JohnathanRGalt]

Pollard gave a small ROOM of documents to the Israelis, who gave it to the USSR. It turned out that the USSR had been able to intercept and decrypt all US naval trasmissions (including those to nuclear submarines) for over 20 years.

Using the information that Pollard supplied, it is even conceivable that the Sovs would have been able to prevent or even to countermand a Presidential order to US submarines to launch a secondary strike against the Soviet Union. I hope that he dies in jail, and that before he does, he has become quite a popular girlfriend to have among the inmates there.

URL please. We need a reference on that unsubstantiated statement. Otherwise, we'll all have to assume you're blowing smoke -- we'll have no Al-taqiyya here at FreeRepublic.

Well, you don't have to wonder:

A Jewish immigrant of Yemeni extraction working on then-secret Israeli nuclear ambitions snapped some photos of the lab where he worked. . . .
For taking these few photos, the Israelis sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Did they have good cause? Of course they did. But what would they have done to him if he had pulled a "Pollard"?

Good Lord, it would have been a .22 below the ear...

No, not 20 years. I assume you are refering to Mordechai Vanunu who was sentenced to 18 years. He should be out in 2004 but he was up for parole (two years early) at the end of last month. Google news makes no mention of the outcome of his parole hearing one way or the other. Anyone know? I've sent a message to the webmasters of the Vanunu website to see if they know. I'll report back.

(By the way, I think Vanunu did the right thing too).

Jonathan Pollard is now in his 18th year of incarceration -- and will probably spend the rest of his life there. Vanunu has been in jail for the last 16 years.

[RCW2001]

You never saw a "Pollard should be shot" thread you didn't like...

Hell, I think I've posted most of them...glad to see others doing so for a change. ;)

[xJones]

Hell, I think I've posted most of them...glad to see others doing so for a change. ;)

Hell yes, you have. But Israel will stand, and the diaper heads will take a dump in their own head cloths. Jonathan Pollard is trash, but Osama and his kind are the real enemies.

[bulldog905]

If Jonathan Pollard is "sprung" by this administration, GWB will be on no higher moral grounds then Clinton's pardoning of tax cheat Marc Rich.

I don't think GWB is going to do it, no matter how much the pressure.

[montag813]

Perhaps a life sentence is a bit harsh, but 20 years is not not. Treason is treason. If he wanted to pass secrets to Israel, he should have left the country and renounced his citizenship first. We are a nation of laws, not men. His opinion on what should/should not remain protected by our intelligence apparatus was not relevant. If he wanted to blow the whistle he could have contacted the press. But he crossed the line when he offered classified information to a foreign country--it does not matter friend or foe--without permission.

[Jarhead_22]

Why the defense of Pollard? Is it because he spied for Israel?

If so, can you provide a list of other nations for which it's permissible to ignore security clearance requirements?

Is it because he is an American Jew?

If so, are there any other groups that should get special consideration when they break federal law?

[JohnathanRGalt]

Tell me this, if Pollard was an ethnic Iraqi and was paid by the Iraqi government to pass on classified information that they could use and sell to other countries hostile to the U.S., would the ethnic Iraqi Pollard deserve life in prison?

First, I know that Israel admitted that Pollard was a spy for them in 1998 in the hopes of increasing Pollard's chance of getting him released by the Clinton administration. We don't know how much he was paid (if at all) by the Israeli government.  Anyone know?

Second, I've already commented on a similar case -- Vanunu, an ethnic Moroccan who worked in a Israeli nuclear centre and blew the whistle on Israeli possession of nukes -- in the previous post. I think 18 years is too long, certainly not life.

The U.S. had pledged to share information with Israel -- and did not.  The U.S. betrayed it's ally before Pollard passed the first secret. Pollard thought it strange and dangerous that the data concerning the Iraqi poison gas operation was being withheld from Israel. "I was so scared about what was being withheld, and the more I dug, the more horrified I became about the extent of the betrayal."

Pollard's concerns were exacerbated when a superior officer told him, "Jews are too sensitive about gas."

[gaijin]

URL please. We need a reference on that unsubstantiated statement. Otherwise, we'll all have to assume you're blowing smoke -- we'll have no Al-taqiyya here at FreeRepublic.

In your post, you provided a link that defined "Al-taqiyaa".

I clicked on the link you provided, and I came up with the following definition:

Al-taqiyya and dissimulation are words used for a practice of Muslims blatantly lying to non-Muslims.

Is it your aim to somehow send me into a kind of intellectual panic?

In other words, when I state my feeling that this American traitor should be punished in America for hurting my country, America, is it your position that my feelings make me somehow muslim?

That seems odd.

Please explain.

Now, in view of your apparent ignorance that the Pollard take was, in fact, brokered to the USSR, I don't know if you're up to snuff regarding Israeli matters, but I'd like to ask you a question:

Are Israelis who support Israeli punishement of Israeli traitors similarly derided in Israel by other Israelis as being somehow MUSLIM?

I'd like you to answer that.

Let me frame it up in more specific terms:

If a couple Israeli soldiers are brought up on charges of selling ammo to Hezbollah (another recent item), can Israelis who support the punishment of such traitors expect to be tarred by other Israelis with the "MUSLIM" brush?

And I would like you, JohathanRGalt, to answer that question.

[gaijin]

The U.S. had pledged to share information with Israel -- and did not. The U.S. betrayed it's ally

I'll admit that an invitation to dinner does, strictly speaking, constitute an invitation to share something. It's an invitation to share some food.

If you should accept this invitation to share, and following dinner I discourage you from heftying my silverware away in a pillowcase, have I, too, betrayed you?

[Howlin]

If he were to do that, I personally would take to the streets in front of the White House and actively work to get him out of office.

Pollard is a whiney puke who should have been executed.

[CatoRenasci]

Give it a rest. Pollard was a traitor to the United States for money, whatever his other motivations. He was an American citizen and swore an oath of secrecy when he undertook his employment. He should never see a single day outside of prison alive.

[gaijin]

We don't know how much he was paid (if at all) by the Israeli government. Anyone know?

Glad you asked. Some yokels really are uppity, aren't they? But let's read:

"Eitan, together with Sella and Yagur, gave detailed instructions to Pollard about the classified data that they wanted him to obtain. They also discussed payments to Jay. The spy would receive a salary of $1,500 per month. Other gifts would follow, including reimbursements for Pollard’s trips and an expensive diamond and sapphire ring that ended up on Anne’s finger as her engagement ring..."

http://www.crimelibrary.com/spies/pollard/5.htm

Pollard was quite a well motivated patriot, wasn't he...?

[xJones]

Pollard

I don't think you understand. It's like we're speaking two different languages. Pollard is not the "American Dreyfuss". Captain Dreyfuss in France was framed and sent to Devil's Island. Pollard was guilty and deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison for betraying his country. It makes no difference that he is Jewish by ethnic background, don't you see that his disagreements with American foreign policy didn't allow treason? Are we speaking the same language?

Pollard's concerns were exacerbated when a superior officer told him, "Jews are too sensitive about gas."

That comment does not excuse his treasonable acts against his country, and Americans don't feel guilt about gassing Jews, why should we?

Hello! Let's stop playing around and start reading from the same page, shall we?

[gaijin]

The Washington Post, June 9,1986:

"One senior (Israeli) official, pressed on the question of whether the $300,000 Pollard allegedly was promised over a 10-year period by his Israeli control agents did not suggest something wider than a small 'renegade' spying operation appeared annoyed when he retorted: 'Thirty thousand a year is peanuts. . .' ."

[gaijin]

Some more URLs from this "MUSLIM", as you, JohnathanRGalt, called me:

http://www.foreigncorrespondent.com/archive/pollard.html

"According to CIA sources, Pollard provided Israeli intelligence with names of important American agents inside the former Soviet Union and Russia who had supplied information on East Bloc weapons and war plans. How the agent's names were linked to the secrets they supplied - a major breach of basic intelligence security - remains a major mystery. Some of the enormously sensitive secrets stolen by Pollard were reportedly either sold, or bartered, by Israel to the Soviet Union.

"A number of key CIA agents in the East Bloc were reportedly executed as a result of Pollard spying. KGB likely gained access to top-secret US codes - either directly from Israel, or through spies in Israel's government. In short, Pollard's treachery caused one of the worst security disasters in modern American history.

"FBI investigators discovered Pollard was being directed to steal specific secret data by a senior Administration official, known as "Mr. X." But the White House, unwilling to stir up a domestic political storm, quashed the investigation. To my knowledge, three previous cases of high-ranking US government officials caught passing top secret information to Israel have been similarly hushed up. Two were senior defense department officials under Reagan, one a top State Department official in a previous administration. None were prosecuted."

http://www.foreigncorrespondent.com/archive/pollard.html

[gaijin]

Hey, I'm talking to you.

[American in Israel]

Sorry Eric, the russians would need the hardware to commmunicate with the subs, not just know about the hardware. If they could have countermanded the order to fire from washington It would now be called New Russia.

If what Polard is saying is true, he was buried to cover a politicans arse, a much more dangerous crime than selling military secrets to our direct enemies like Clinton did.

I have always wondered why they buried this boy where the sun dont shine, while open traitors are elected president. I also wonder about the fury of people to hate Polard so on a case we have no information about when real traitors walk free.

I always chalked it up to an excuse to wear the KKK hood.

[American in Israel]

If I might add, in most countrys they just kill spys. So the guy is lucky to be alive. But I also do not understand why they have this guy in social isolation for life. That is intentional torture. A life at hard labor I understand but a lifetime sentance of torture? He pissed off somebody who is a cold calculating bastard that is sure.

[Jarhead_22]

I also wonder about the fury of people to hate Polard (sic) so on a case we have no information about when real traitors walk free.

I always chalked it up to an excuse to wear the KKK hood.

Israel has acknowledged that Pollard turned over top secret material to them in violation of his security clearance agreement. Why is it you can't do the same?

American in America, for America.