U.S. could free Israeli spy in deal to save peace talks: source close to talks

[alp227]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - An Israeli spy serving a life sentence in the United States and groups of Palestinian prisoners could be freed under an emerging deal to salvage Middle East peace talks, sources close to the negotiations said on Monday.

The sources, who spoke as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said under the proposed arrangement that Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy analyst caught spying for Israel in the 1980s, could be released by mid-April.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/31/us-israel-palestinian-talks-idUSBREA2U17L20140331

[The Stranger]

1. Why the fuck does Israel want Pollard back so badly?

They've been trying to get him back now for decades.

[atreides1]

2. He's a hero in Israel

Of course this is after Israel tossed him under a bus when he got caught! Now he's a hero to the Israelis, because he was willing to sell out the United States!

And personally I don't believe the Israelis will uphold their part of any bargain...especially if it means ceding any territory to the Palestinians!!!

[JackRiddler]

41. Yes. Obviously...

There's no way this is going to make a deal on territories. It's just the usual attempt to get him out.

[mikeysnot]

52. Yes, how dare any Palestinians get their land back...

God did not give it to them.

[HERVEPA]

77. How far back do you wabt to go.

[LiberalEsto]

3. He's a piece of shit

but he's THEIR piece of shit.

Pollard is lucky he wasn't executed for treason.

[4dsc]

35. He should rot in jail

not be given some cushy jail cell in Israel.

[Half-Century Man]

4. They see it as a travesty of justice.

Persons convicted of spying for our actual enemies have served less time and been released. Pollard who pass some information along to one of our allies is apparently more odious for some reason.

[LiberalEsto]

5. He betrayed his own country, regardless of who he spied for

and I think it's even uglier that a supposed ally like Israel finds and pays traitors in our government to spy on the U.S., when they accept billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

[leftynyc]

6. I see you totally ignoring

that others, who were caught spying for actual enemies, got a more lenient sentence than Pollard. Wonder why that is.

[The Stranger]

7. I see you totally ignoring

the fact that if Israel were an actual ally, they wouldn't be spying on us (their supposed ally, remember?) IN THE FIRST PLACE!

[Half-Century Man]

10. Just like us and Germany.

Last edited Mon Mar 31, 2014, 04:20 PM - Edit history (1)

or us and England, Canada, Australia

[The Stranger]

15. When did Germany spy on the U.S. (post WWII)?

Links please.

[LeftishBrit]

16. It was the other way round (though Germany might well be doing the same)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/angela-merkel-nsa-spying-allies-not-on

[The Stranger]

18. I didn't ask you "the other way around." I asked you when did Germany spy on the U.S.

and you didn't come up with a single thing.

[JDPriestly]

21. The point of the post was that the US spies on its friends, Germany for example.

So it should not be shocking that Israel spied on the US.

No one claimed that Germany spied on the US.

[The Stranger]

67. You have no valid point and your post is irrelevant.

This has to do with Israel spying on the U.S.

Try to stay with us here.

[JDPriestly]

70. You asked when did Germany spy on us?

I answered.

[The Stranger]

71. No -- you said "Us and Germany"

Then you couldn't even come up with an example of Germany spying on us.

[JDPriestly]

73. That's because we spied on Germany. Germany did not spy on us.

The analogy is that the US and Germany are friends. But the fact that we are friends with Germany did not prevent us from spying on Germany. If we spy on our friends, why should we expect our friends to refrain from spying on us?

I realize that the analogy is a bit complicated, but hopefully I have made myself clear enough to be understood. It isn't that important. But you asked, so I answered.

[leftynyc]

11. Riiiiight - no allies

spy on others. That's why the NSA story has gone nowhere.

[The Stranger]

17. Yeah, this isn't a tapped phone line, and you know it.

This was described as the greatest compromise of U.S. secrets in history.

[leftynyc]

19. If you think Israel is the only country

that spies while also being an ally, you're delusional.

[The Stranger]

68. I asked for examples, links, of other countries spying on the U.S.

No one has come up with a single one.

[leftynyc]

69. Ooooh - it's only countries

that spy on the US that are the devil. I understand now. I also still think it's delusional to think other countries don't spy on us but honestly don't care enough to provide you with links. I really don't care what you believe.

[The Stranger]

72. Then stop posting in response.

[leftynyc]

80. No (n/t)

[Adrahil]

29. Allies certainly spy on each other....

... but if the spy is caught, they are still a spy and treated as such.

[LiberalEsto]

8. And I see you totally ignoring what I wrote

about his betrayal of his own country to a nation that's supposed to be friendly to the US.

What upset me at the time -- and continues to upset me -- is that Israel has no business hiring American government employees to spy for them, when our tax dollars are providing billions in aid to them. That is a far bigger betrayal in my opinion.

Maybe Pollard should be freed and kicked out of the US permanently, and US aid to Israel sharply cut instead, because they don't seem to appreciate it.

[leftynyc]

12. I have no problem with Pollard

dying in prison for what he did. The government cannot force someone to give up their citizenship so you can forget that fantasy along with the one that cuts foreign aid.

[LTG]

47. The law does allow the revocation of the citizenship of natural born citizens.

I agree that the revocation of citizenship will not, and in fact can not, happen in this case. However, simply as a slight expansion on your statement I would point out the following:

It is true that the government can not force a person to renounce their citizenship. There are acts that a citizen may undertake that can appear to be a voluntary renunciation of citizenship, but U.S. laws have a presumption that no such intent existed. The presumption can be overcome if sufficient evidence can be presented. This is extremely difficult to prove, but a court action can be brought by the government seeking to effectuate the supposed renunciation.

There are, however, specific acts by a citizen that permit the government to bring a case in court seeking the revocation of citizenship, regardless of the intent of the respondent. The law specifies a small number of acts by a citizen which, if proven, can lead to loss of citizenship. These include serving in the armed forces of a nation at war with the U.S., becoming naturalized in another country, swearing an oath of allegiance to another nation, and being convicted of treason against the U.S. by a court of competent jurisdiction.

A conviction for espionage is not the same as the conviction for treason as, in this case, the espionage was not on behalf of an enemy of the U.S. To get this type of action the "enemy" would have to be a nation at war with, or who has committed an act of war against, the U.S. Depending upon the political atmosphere at the time it might also include a nation directly and overtly threatening the security, citizens, and/or territorial integrity of the United States.

[leftynyc]

48. Thanks for the information

I'm going to do a little research to see if this has been done as I had no idea an American citizen could get their citizenship revoked for any reason. Thanks especially for writing in a language that is not legalese so it was easy to understand.

[Deuce]

51. I share your sentiments...

[Ash_F]

13. Pollard consistently violated is plea agreement not to disclose further info,

before and throughout the trial.

That's pretty rare, and frankly hard to understand. Probably there is no similar case to make a solid comparison. I am sure the defiance infuriated the judge come sentencing.

That said, life without parole for a non-violent crime is barbaric.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard

[amandabeech]

66. Pollard is eligible for parole next year.

The date is late in the year, perhaps November.

Nonetheless, his early release under these circumstances is absolutely galling.

If Pollard is to be released early to reward Israel for finally settling the West Bank issue on terms acceptable to the Palestinians as well, then the release must come after the settlement deal is signed and fully implemented.

Anything else is just a futile gesture.

[Xithras]

25. Pollard is in prison longer than other spies by his own choice.

Other spies cooperated with damage assessments, turned over the names of their handlers, other spies they were working with, their recruiters, and the full scale of their disclosures after conviction. Pollard did not.

When offered a plea deal, Pollard chose instead to continue to cite classified documents when talking to foreign press, continuing his illegal behavior. Pollard has never applied for parole because he will be required to cooperate with investigators and finally turn over information that he STILL stubbornly refuses to divulge as one of its terms.

Pollard has never acknowledged his crimes or apologized for them, and stonewalls attempts to close out the investigation. He is in prison because of the choices he still continues to make today. It's not racism, or anti-Israel political dealings, or a vendetta. If he wants to be treated like everyone else in his position, he needs to ACT like everyone else in his position.

[LiberalEsto]

59. I didn't know all that, but it's definitely important to keep in mind

Today's Washington Post article said he's never shown any kind of remorse for his actions.

[JackRiddler]

42. "Actual enemies."

So you say. I don't agree that the Israeli state is an ally.

[leftynyc]

45. You do realize that your opinion

carries absolutely no weight when it comes to foreign policy, don't you?

[JackRiddler]

53. As opposed to yours?

You can agree with the status quo as much as you like. It's easy, but it doesn't mean the policymakers care what you think, either. So let's just all shut up and let them do their work in peace, right?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

49. Spying is one thing. He was a US citizen and employee

That is a huge difference

[Half-Century Man]

9. And the fact that the US was concealing secret negations

with the enemies of a treaty partner means nothing.

This was done by the same people who conducted secret negotiations with the revolutionary council of Iran and sold the weapons in exchange for not releasing the Embassy hostages until Reagan won and assumed the presidency. The same group of people who lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

We can spy on anyone, including our very own citizens, with impunity. And we expect a different standard from every other human being (be they singular or in a group)?

[Blue_Tires]

23. Nobody's hands are clean

and Israel, for all their bluster, doesn't have a square inch of moral high ground to stand on...

[Adrahil]

30. Every power spies. But if spies get caught, they are punished. NT

[kelliekat44]

38. BINGO!!! And Israel has never shown it can be trusted. nt

[yurbud]

65. in that sense, the condition even coming into play is bad PR for Israel

[Jesus Malverde]

40. Israel took these secrets and traded/sold them to the Soviets

As a bargaining chip to let soviet Jews emigrate to Israel.

The damage done was enormous.

Israel is not a trustworthy partner. Whether selling our highest technology to China or bargaining with the soviets, time and time again they only look after their own interests and provide nothing in return.

With chutzpa they insult the United States and President Obama and then demand we bail them out politically and economically.

Its a lop sided relationship with very little upside for the United States.

Israel is currently controlled by a crazy right wing, we bargain and partner with these religious nut jobs at our peril.

[Half-Century Man]

44. I have been addressing this level of hatred for Israel for 30+ years.

No matter which political party happened to be the Majority at the moment.
Not all Jews are fundamentalists.
Not all Israelis are Jewish
Johnath Pollard told Israel about

Soviet arms shipments to Syria, Iraqi and Syrian chemical weapons, the Pakistani atomic bomb project, and Libyan air defense systems

(wiki); The USSR knew about the weapons they already sold.

As far as any zeal to get remaining Jewish persons out of the old USSR; Ask Latinos if they would like to get their families reunited.

The damage done was tiny, at least according to all these people

Pollard's supporters argue that his sentence was excessive. Although Pollard pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain for himself and his wife, he was shown no leniency and was given the maximum sentence with the exception of death, because he allegedly broke the terms of that plea agreement even before the sentence was handed down.[80]

The issue of his imprisonment has sometimes arisen amidst Israeli domestic politics.[81] Benjamin Netanyahu has been particularly vocal in lobbying for Pollard's release, visiting Pollard in prison in 2002.[6] Netanyahu raised the issue with President Bill Clinton during the Wye River peace talks in 1998.[82] In his autobiography, Clinton wrote that he was inclined to release Pollard, but the objections of U.S. intelligence officials were too strong:

For all the sympathy Pollard generated in Israel, he was a hard case to push in America; he had sold our country's secrets for money, not conviction, and for years had not shown any remorse. When I talked to Sandy Berger and George Tenet, they were adamantly opposed to letting Pollard go, as was Madeleine Albright.[83]

Alan Dershowitz has been among Pollard's high-profile supporters, both in the courtroom as a lawyer and in various print media. Characterizing the sentence as "excessive", Dershowitz writes in an article reprinted in his bestselling book Chutzpah, "As an American, and as a Jew, I hereby express my outrage at Jonathan Pollard's sentence of life imprisonment for the crime to which he pleaded guilty."[84] Dershowitz writes:

[E]veryone seems frightened to speak up on behalf of a convicted spy. This has been especially true of the Jewish leadership in America. The Pollards are Jewish... The Pollards are also Zionists, who—out of a sense of misguided "racial imperative" (to quote Jonathan Pollard)—seem to place their commitment to Israeli survival over the laws of their own country... American Jewish leaders, always sensitive to the canard of dual loyalty, are keeping a low profile in the Pollard matter. Many American Jews at the grass roots are outraged at what they perceive to be an overreaction to the Pollards' crimes and the unusually long sentence imposed on Jonathan Pollard.[84]

In 2012, Malcolm Hoenlein called for Pollards' release, saying "27 years - he's paid the price for his crimes. He has expressed remorse. Enough is enough. It's time that he be let go - there is no justification that we can see for keeping him any longer, there's no cause of justice, no security interest that could possibly be served."[1]

The Jerusalem City Council has also acted in support of Pollard, changing the name of a square near the official prime minister's residence from Paris Square to Freedom for Jonathan Pollard Square.[85] Tamar Fogel, a 12-year-old Israeli girl whose parents and three siblings were killed in the 2011 Itamar attack, visited Pollard shortly after the death of his father in June 2011.[86]

Pollard has at times claimed that he provided only information that, at the time, he believed was vital to Israeli security and that was being withheld by the Pentagon, in violation of a 1983 Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries regarding the sharing of vital security intelligence. According to Pollard, this included data on Soviet arms shipments to Syria, Iraqi and Syrian chemical weapons, the Pakistani atomic bomb project, and Libyan air defense systems.[87] According to the declassified CIA 1987 damage assessment of the Pollard case, under the heading "What the Israelis Did Not Ask For", the assessment notes that, according to Pollard, (page 43) the Israelis "never expressed interest in US military activities, plans, capabilities, or equipment". Many people claim that Israel had the legal rights to the information that Pollard passed to Israel based upon a 1983 Memorandum of understanding between the United States and Israel. [88][13]

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 that "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"."[89]

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: "We see clemency for Mr. Pollard as an act of compassion justified by the way others have been treated by our justice system." They stated how there has been a great disparity by the amount of time that Pollard has served and by others who were found guilty of similar activities.[90][91][92]

Former White house legal counsel, Bernard Nussbaum, wrote a letter on January 28, 2011, to President Obama stating that he extensively reviewed the Jonathan Pollard file while he served in the White House. In his letter he stated, "that a failure at this time to commute his sentence would not serve the course of justice; indeed, I respectfully believe, it would be a miscarriage of justice".[93][94]

Former Secretary of State George Shultz also wrote a letter to President Obama on January 11, 2011, urging that Jonathan Pollard sentence to be commuted. He stated, "I am impressed that the people who are best informed about the classified material he passed to Israel, former CIA Director James Woolsey and former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Dennis DeConcini, favor his release."[95][96]

In 2011, Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State declared that the time had come to commute the sentence of Jonathan Pollard. On March 3, 2011, Kissinger wrote a letter to President Obama stating, "having talked with George Shultz and read the statements of former CIA Director Woolsey, former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman DeConcini, former Defense Secretary Weinberger, former Attorney General Mukasey and others whose judgement and first-hand knowledge of the case I respect, I find their unanimous support for clemency compelling. I believe justice would be served by commuting the remainder of Jonathan Pollard's sentence of life imprisonment".[97][98][99][100]

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 U.S.-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.[101]

Former Vice President Dan Quayle wrote a letter to President Obama on January 31, 2011, urging President Obama to commute Jonathan Pollard's sentence.[102]

On February 16, 2011, Arlen Specter wrote a letter to President Obama, stating that, as the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he believed Jonathan Pollard should be pardoned and released from prison. Arlen Specter was the second Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (the first was Dennis DeConcini) to publicly call for the release of Jonathan Pollard.[103]

On March 22, 2011, more than one hundred New York State legislators signed a petition to President Obama stating, "that we see clemency for Mr. Pollard as an act of compassion justified by the way others have been treated by our justice system".[104]

Christine Quinn, Speaker of the New York City Council, wrote a letter to President Obama on December 26, 2012, formally requesting that he commute Pollard's severely disproportionate and unjust sentence. She stated that he has expressed great remorse. She wrote, "I know I share similar views with many past and current American elected officials" and "therefore, I respectfully urge you to use your constitutional power to treat Mr. Pollard the way others have been treated by our nation's justice system."[105]

In August 2011 Barney Frank sought permission from Congress to discuss the incarceration of Jonathan Pollard and called on Barack Obama to "answer the many calls for Pollard's immediate release". Frank said Pollard has paid a price much higher than anyone else that spied on a friend of the United States and more than many who spied for its enemies.[106]

Congressman Allen West from Florida, wrote a letter to President Obama on June 2, 2011, stating, "After serving 26 years behind bars, Jonathan Pollard's health is deteriorating, as is his wife's. If we can consent to the release by the British of the Lockerbie bomber back to Libya due to health concern, how can we justify keeping Mr. Pollard behind bars when his crimes were clearly not as serious as a terrorist who murdered hundreds of Americans?"[107][108]

On October 26, 2011, a bipartisan group of 18 retired US Senators wrote to President Obama urging him to commute Jonathan Pollard's prison sentence to time served. The letter included senators who initially opposed his release. In the letter it stated, "Mr. Pollard will complete his 26th year of incarceration on November 21, 2011 and begin his 27th year of an unprecedented life sentence (seven of which were spent in solitary confinement). He was indicted on one count of passing classified information to an ally without intent to harm the United States - an offense that normally results in a 2 - 4 year sentence. He plead guilty under a plea agreement with which he fully complied but which was ignored by the sentencing judge. Mr. Pollard is the only person in the history of the U.S. to receive a life sentence for passing classified information to an ally." They conclude, "it is patently clear that Mr. Pollard's sentence is severely disproportionate and (as several federal judges have noted) a gross miscarriage of justice." [109][110]

In a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal, published on July 5, 2012, James Woolsey wrote that he now supports release of the convicted spy for Israel, citing the passage of time: "When I recommended against clemency, Pollard had been in prison less than a decade. Today he has been incarcerated for over a quarter of a century under his life sentence." He pointed out that of the more than 50 recently convicted Soviet and Chinese spies, only two received life sentences, and two-thirds were sentenced to less time than Pollard has served so far. He further stated that "Pollard has cooperated fully with the U.S. government, pledged not to profit from his crime (e.g., from book sales), and has many times expressed remorse for what he did." Woolsey expressed his belief that Pollard is still imprisoned only because he is Jewish.[111][112]

Angelo Codevilla, who has followed the Pollard case since serving as a senior staff member for the Senate intelligence committee from 1978 to 1985, argued that the swarm of accusations against Pollard over the years is implausible. On November 15, 2013 Professor Codevilla wrote a letter to President Obama stating," Others have pointed out that Pollard is the only person ever sentenced to life imprisonment for passing information to an ally, without intent to harm America, a crime which normally carries a sentence of 2-4 years; and that this disproportionate sentence in violation of a plea agreement was based not on the indictment but on a memorandum that was never shared with the defense. This is not how American justice is supposed to work." [113]In an interview to the Weekly standard, Codevilla stated, “The story of the Pollard case is a blot on American justice,” The life sentence, "makes you ashamed to be an American.” [114]

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has expressed support for releasing Pollard.[115]

(wiki Johnathan Pollard)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

50. Quayle knows how to write? Well, I'll be.

Well if Kissinger and Dershowitz are for it, it must be a great idea. NOT.

[Half-Century Man]

55. I hope you are judged with greater compassion than you give.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

57. Judged, as in by some higher being?

Fuck that. Ain't going to happen.

Judged by you? I have a similar answer.

What does compassion have to do with the fact that Kissinger is a bloody warmonger with hundreds of thousands of deaths on his hand? What does compassion have to do with the fact that Dershowicz is a lying, self-promoting ass who is a reliable barometer. If he is for something, I can find a gaggle of better reasons to be against it.

[Half-Century Man]

58. Judged as in , by your fellow human beings.

Hatred so intense burns both ways.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

75. You are certainly half of something

Although it might be slightly below the waist.

[Half-Century Man]

78. I'm sure you feel better now.

That I am so severely chastised.

[Jesus Malverde]

28. Pollard is a cautionary tale to all who might betray their country.

They want the traitors to know that Israel has their back and will support them in their betrayal of the countries of their birth.

There have been many spying cases since, think AIPAC scandal, Harmon scandal etc. all were handled with extreme deference to Israel.

There are many Americans confused about what is our best interest, because they are only thinking of Israel, unfortunately many of those people have power in government and politics.

[question everything]

32. Human decency?

He spied for it. He got a worse sentence than others who spied for the USSR and other countries. A result of apparently personal vendetta by Caspar Weinberger and, in contrast to many spy movies where "you are on your own should you get caught.." Israel does take responsibility. At least in this case.

[LiberalEsto]

74. He has never shown remorse for his actions

and he stole an unprecedented amount of sensitive material, according to the Washington Post today

"In a January opinion piece in the New York Times, M.E. Bowman, a former Defense Department liaison officer to the Justice Department and the coordinator of an investigation into the damage done by Pollard, wrote that “there are no other Americans who have given over to an ally information of the quantity and quality that Mr. Pollard has” — material that included the top secret Radio Signal Notations manual, which listed all the known communications links then used by the Soviet Union."

Link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/kerry-detours-to-middle-east-to-try-to-rescue-peace-talks/2014/03/31/b119a5e8-b8c7-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html

[yurbud]

64. maybe he has some info that he didn't get to them

[1000words]

14. What are the odds:

Israel gets Pollard, and still undermine the talks, so they go nowhere?

[Paulie]

20. I would say pretty high

[giftedgirl77]

76. I would put in on that bet & dbl down that they will

turn around & start some other bullshit also.

[Blue_Tires]

22. And what is Israel giving up? Just a handful of Palestinians?

Funny how they always seem to give the least but gain the most out of these deals...

[karynnj]

24. Haaretz says that the deal would also include a freeze on settlements

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.583059

Keep in mind that ALL of this is rumor and might be balloons being floated - by either the US or Israel.

[Purveyor]

26. kick. Thanks for posting. +1 eom

[Jesus Malverde]

27. Kerry is insane if he put that on the table

Israel once again pushing around he united states. Lopsided relationship is discusting. When you stack state and the peace talks with Neocons like indyk, you cannot expect them to negotiate in good faith.

Wow wow wow.

[karynnj]

33. If as Israeli accounts say, Israel agrees to stop building settlements AND release prisoners -

many of whom are as hard or harder emotionally for them to release it is very likely worth it.

The man has already spent a long time in prison and he is reported to be ill. So, in addition to maybe being the key to getting Abbas what he needs to continue (the settlements not increasing), it can be defended as compassionate.

Now - if talks still fail, what is lost - not really that much.

[nilesobek]

31. It would be interesting to see

if the same people clamoring for Snowden's head in a basket are the same ones advocating for the release of this dirtbag traitor.

[karynnj]

34. Or conversely - those demanding amnesty for Snowden may be among those saying no here

I doubt Putin would make amnesty for Snowden as issue.

[Tx4obama]

36. Kick n/t

[kelliekat44]

37. I hope they don't do it. Israel control us too much with its bribery and BS.

This would be a big mistake and after he is released, nothing would change. And the Israeli government would mock Obama until he was out of office.

[alp227]

43. careful what you say,

because TOS says that posts should not claim there is "nefarious influence by Jews/Zionists/Israel".

[Pterodactyl]

39. I think Pollard is a criminal and should not be released.

I'm pro-Israel, but the guy broke the law and violated the trust of the United States.

[sendero]

46. One of the more ridiculous..

... ideas I've ever heard. "talks" are just that, talk. No amount of talking will ever make Israel reasonable.

[kelliekat44]

56. That deal promises nothing except to keep the talks going. Palestinians will be released only to

be rearrested in some other raid by Israel. They really get nothing from this deal and Israel once again demonstrates how they can manipulate our government.

[riverwalker]

54. he should NOT be released

he is a traitor, and worthless treasonous asshole.

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.[28]
Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigator Ronald Olive has alleged that Pollard passed classified information to South Africa,[29] and attempted, through a third party, to sell classified information to Pakistan on multiple occasions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard

[MosheFeingold]

60. Pollard is a criminal

I don't have a problem with him rotting in prison.

I do, however, have a problem with him being treated disproportionately over other spies simply because he is Jewish.

"Friendly" countries spy on each other all day long. Heck we are spying on Germany, etc. and even USA citizens with the NSA.

The normal course of business is for the person to get sentenced, spend a year or two in prison, then get deported/exported back to the country for which he or she spied.

For various reasons related to some extreme anti-Semites in the State Department of years ago, this did not happen with Pollard.

[Sunlei]

61. should let Pollard go home, he's been in prison for decades. even if he was a spy in the olden days

There is no reason at all for the man to spend life in a US Federal prison.

[Mosby]

62. Time To Put the Pollard Case to Rest—by Demanding He Be Set Free

It should be ever more difficult for patriotic Jewish Americans—or anyone else, for that matter—to believe that Jonathan Pollard, who has spent 29 years in prison for passing secret intelligence documents to Israel, is being punished for the very real crime to which he pleaded guilty in 1986. Pollard, a former naval intelligence analyst, has spent nearly three decades in prison for a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years under current U.S. law—more time than any other convicted spy in American history. He is the only person in American history to receive a life sentence for the crime of spying in a case involving a friendly country, and the only person convicted of such a crime to be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.

And what you are about to read is not a knee-jerk, tribalist defense of Pollard—you will be subjected to no whining about his health, no assertions about how serving time in a maximum security prison is hard, or the like—but is rather an argument about a newly clear and deeply problematic aspect of the case.

In an op-ed published this week in the New York Times, M.E. Bowman, former deputy general counsel for national security law at the FBI and coordinator of the investigation that put Pollard behind bars, did his best to revive the idea that the spy deserved his extreme sentence and should remain in prison. Yet the logic of Bowman’s argument is so tenuous, and so noxious, that it only magnifies the perception that Pollard was railroaded by an American national security establishment animated by a very personal animus towards one particular spy—and one that has spent the past three decades trying to cover up its own failures.

According to Bowman, Pollard pleaded guilty to a statute that deals with the disclosure of information that might result in the death of a U.S. agent or that “directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, early warning systems, or other means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack; war plans; communications intelligence or cryptographic information.” The suggestion that passing satellite photos or communications intelligence to a friendly country is a crime on a par with causing the death of a U.S. agent in the field defies common sense. But that is because Bowman’s confusion is quite deliberate—and revealing, as is his suggestion, based on an allegation made by Seymour Hersh in 1999 that Israel traded information it obtained from Pollard to the Soviet Union in exchange for “Jewish emigrés.” If Pollard didn’t actually kill anyone or harm America directly, the innuendo goes, then Israel must have—in deadly collusion with America’s then-worst enemy.

Behind Bowman’s dark farrago of half-baked rumors and theories it is possible to glimpse the real basis of the sealed case that he and his associates presented in court. At the time that Pollard was convicted of passing satellite and communications intelligence to Israel, a string of American agents in the former Soviet Union was in fact discovered by the KGB, and they were shot dead. Bowman and the rest of the national security establishment believed that Pollard and the Israelis were somehow responsible—because Pollard was the only spy they knew of within the American national security establishment. Maybe, the theory went, in addition to passing information about Iraq and ships in the Mediterranean Sea to the Israelis, Pollard was somehow able to access the names of American agents inside the Soviet Union and pass them to the Israelis, who in turn passed them to the Russians in exchange for facilitating Soviet Jewish immigration to Israel.

The main problem with this theory is that we have known for a fact since the mid-1990s that it is false. Jonathan Pollard was not the mole who passed the names of American agents to the Soviet Union in the 1980s. In fact, the Soviet Union had two high-ranking moles in the American national security apparatus working simultaneously to pass along huge quantities of information about American spies and spying techniques. The first was Bowman’s superior on the FBI organizational chart, Robert Hanssen. In 1987, the year that Pollard was convicted, Hanssen was put in charge of discovering why American agents were being blown at such an alarming rate. Needless to say, Hanssen didn’t identify himself as a mole—or let Bowman and his colleagues in the FBI’s legal department in on his secret. The second Soviet agent was Aldrich Ames, a CIA legacy case and counter-intelligence specialist who, in 1985, began passing information to the Soviets that led to the apprehension and execution of at least 10 American agents, including Dmitri Polyakov, a general in the Soviet armed forces who had functioned as an American double-agent for 20 years.

-snip-

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/159670/set-pollard-free?all=1

[Larry the Cable Dude]

63. Let's look forward

Not backward.

[no_hypocrisy]

79. Perfect

Release Pollard and add years of imprisonment for Don Siegelman.