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posted by n1 on Thursday April 03 2014, @08:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the back-to-spy-school dept.

Michele Chabin reports that the possible US decision to free spy Jonathan Pollard, an American Jew convicted in 1987 of spying for Israel, has politicians, settlers and activists on all sides in an uproar over whether the price is too high. Israel's news media reported that the Obama administration is weighing the release of Pollard in return for Israeli concessions to the Palestinians on settlement building and freeing of Palestinian prisoners. Pollard was arrested on November 21, 1985 after the conclusion of an investigation into suspicion he was spying for Israel. He was convicted in 1987 to a life sentence for one count of espionage.

Pollard is the only person in US history to receive a life sentence for spying for an ally and the only American citizen convicted of such a crime to be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Pollard is considered by many in Israel and the American Jewish community to be a national hero. Supporters of his release argue that his sentencing was disproportionately harsh and that he was acting out of loyalty to Israel, not mal-intent against the U.S., and that the documents he handed over to Israel were about Arab countries and the Soviet Union, not US intelligence methods. US officials claim the damage done by Pollard's spying is far worse than people realize. In an interview with Foreign Policy, retired Adm. Thomas Brooks, the former director of naval intelligence, said Pollard's actions have been "exceeded only by Edward Snowden," the NSA whistleblower. The last time US officials considered releasing Pollard during the Clinton administration, CIA Director George Tenet told Clinton he would resign if Pollard were released.

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday April 03 2014, @09:05AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday April 03 2014, @09:05AM (#25413) Journal

    No person can be loyal to two masters, and Pollard made his choice. Snowden also chose. His master is the American people. Israel makes a mistake to push for this.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by gishzida on Thursday April 03 2014, @09:28AM

    by gishzida (2870) on Thursday April 03 2014, @09:28AM (#25426) Journal

    Why? When the US has now been proved to be spying on everyone... even the US Senate. So how is it that Pollard should continue to serve time when our own spy agencies have been lying to the American people, to Congress, and to all of their allies? All while spending billions of dollars and having nothing at all to show for it? Can you say "Two Faced Liars?"

    Frankly Pollard has done enough time -- 30 years is enough... Israel never acted on any of the info they got. Snowden has done more real damage to the U.S Government than Pollard did. He exposed our Government is packed not only with torture specialists but liars and back stabbers with nothing at all to show for all of the things they've done... no credible threats were prevented. The saddest part is that the American people cannot do anything about it-- this was a set-up that started long, long ago and only got worse after 9/11... Pollard on the other hand was a paid professional.. and that is what rankles the Intelligence-Industrial Complex.

    Full Disclosure: I'm Jewish but I am not an Israeli... Understand that Jewish =! Israeli. In fact I am sure there are some nice orthodox American Jews that would not even consider me Jewish [but that is a whole different story].

    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday April 03 2014, @10:58AM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Thursday April 03 2014, @10:58AM (#25446) Homepage

      He exposed our Government is packed not only with torture specialists

      I don't recall hearing anything about torture in any coverage of Snowden's documents*.

      *meant as an observation only, not some sly attack on the rest of your comments.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by gishzida on Thursday April 03 2014, @11:41AM

        by gishzida (2870) on Thursday April 03 2014, @11:41AM (#25462) Journal

        You are correct a clarification is warranted.

        No when I mention the "torture specialists" [aka "waterboarding", sleep deprivation, etc, etc] I was speaking of what was already known as morally and legally questionable actions prior to Snowden's leaks. The intent of stating that was to assert the government has been on shaky legal and moral ground since the Bush administration-- It is disturbing that we have employed people who did horrible things supposedly in the name of protecting the United States but did not actually prevent any terrorist operation nor did it help find Osama Bin Laden. So the government and its spooks have already broken the law in the name of "liberty"... I'm not sure how doing hateful things in the name of something makes them any less hateful especially when they did not accomplish anything at all!

        Snowden revealed the real facts of what the Bush administration and later the Obama administration have been hiding. Facts we which we were unaware of and had been suppressed during the Bush administration [remember no-warrant wire tapping?] [wikipedia.org] or at least down played to lull us back to sleep with assurances only bad people are being watched. Only now we discover the extent to which the "surveillance government" had breached the fourth amendment. This was all prior to Snowden even being hired. Or Obama taking office... I am unconvinced that Obama actually knew the particulars of what the "spooks have been doing" until Snowden wiped his nose in it.

        Keep in mind that just because one has paranoia does not mean that that there is no real reason to be paranoid. The more I hear the less happy I am about what this nation is becoming. We are becoming the thing we wished to destroy.

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 03 2014, @02:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 03 2014, @02:35PM (#25582)

      Fuck you, Jewboy.

      The US is not Israel's puppet.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by gishzida on Thursday April 03 2014, @03:00PM

        by gishzida (2870) on Thursday April 03 2014, @03:00PM (#25608) Journal

        This reminds me of a jokeI once saw somewhere....

        It shows a poor Jewish schlemiel reading a white supremacist newspaper. His friend can't believe what he is seeing. "Moishe, why are you reading such a horrible paper? Don't you know it was written by people that hate us?" To which Moishe the Schlemiel replies. "But they say such good things about us... like how we are all so rich, and live in rich houses rather than slums, and drive big cars rather than public transportation, and control the media, and Washington, and all the big banks and financial institutions, They even say we control the world, and serially marry ten Shiksha wives. I did not know that, I, Moishe the poor Jew Schlemiel, control the world!"

        "Moishe you can't honestly believe that! You know that most of us are poor... They hate use for no good reason."

        "What you say is true Itzak... but it makes me *feel* so much better."

        Regards Mr. Troll. :)

  • (Score: 1) by Pherenikos on Thursday April 03 2014, @10:56PM

    by Pherenikos (1113) on Thursday April 03 2014, @10:56PM (#25916)

    I would agree that Snowden served the American people if he only released information pertaining to illegal spying on American citizens, however when he released information about our intelligence operations on foreign targets, it becomes much less clear. Even though it is unsavory, activities like tapping Angela Merkels phone was both good tradecraft and likely a good source of info.

    • (Score: 1) by glyph on Friday April 04 2014, @01:05PM

      by glyph (245) on Friday April 04 2014, @01:05PM (#26161)

      Snowden certainly didn't have the resources to pick and choose what has been released, but it was important he got it out there to be responsibly vetted by journalists. Also, I love how Merkel is considered a "foreign target" now. When should we expect the drone strike?