Posted on 02/24/2015 2:50:53 PM PST by Nachum
Key portions of a critical classified document on which the US government has cited as justification for keeping Jonathan Pollard in jail have been declassified – and his lawyers say the government has been "dishonest" in "hiding behind the mask of 'classified information' to materially mischaracterize the nature and extent of the harm caused by Mr. Pollard."
Lawyers Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, who have represented Pollard for 15 years pro-bono, say the newly disclosed material shows that any harm possibly caused by Pollard was only "in the form of short-term disruption in foreign relations between the United States and certain Arab countries."
"That is not at all the same thing as harm to U.S. national security," they write in a World Net Daily op-ed, "and it was dishonest for the government to pretend that it is."
The government position for 30 years has been that Pollard must remain in prison because a secret note from then-Secretary of State Caspar Weinberger stated that Pollard caused greater harm to U.S. national security than had ever occurred previously.
"The government has been able to present this harsh characterization of the Weinberger declaration without fear of contradiction," Semmelman and Lauer write, because "no one representing Mr. Pollard [was ever] allowed to see the Weinberger declaration since the day Mr. Pollard was sentenced" – until now.
...The lawyers state that the U.S. government's "deception had its most blatant and prejudicial impact at Mr. Pollard's parole hearing held in July 2014, during which the government invoked the Weinberger declaration and - without showing it to the parole commission - urged the commission to accept its representation that the document substantiated more harm to the national security of the United States than had ever occurred previously."
Hang your heads in shame chickens**t American Jews. Maybe you should worry more about why your government has been holding an American Jew imprisoned for 30 years for a crime that normally carries a 2-4-year sentence than you worry about accusations that you hold dual loyalties (as if any of you holds any loyalty to the Jewish state)."In its decision denying parole, the commission took the government at its word and essentially parroted the government's characterization of the Weinberger declaration when it wrote that Mr. Pollard had caused 'the greatest compromise of U.S. security to that date,'" noted the lawyers.
"That is an outright falsehood," the lawyers write, "and the recent revelations prove it... [It] is now revealed that Mr. Pollard provided Israel with information concerning the 'political-economic affairs of Middle Eastern nations,' various 'Middle Eastern orders of battle,' and the 'technology of Soviet weapons and radar systems' used by various Arab governments."
"The potential consequence [thereof] is described by Mr. Weinberger as 'a high probability of harm to the foreign relations of the U.S. with friendly Arab nations'" – and nothing more than that.
The op-ed details the type of information Pollard gave Israel, and the modest and temporary damage it caused to U.S. relations with some countries – but not to U.S. security.
Oooh, watch it. You’re going to get creamed for defending Pollard. Unfortunately, this is the one issue where most mainstream conservatives agree with the anti-Semites, and they don’t even know the facts of the case.
I know. It is like they didn’t bother reading the article. What part of lie do they not understand?
It doesn't matter to them. They just hate him because.
1. Pollard has never applied for a pardon. That itself should be a major indicator of what has gone on behind the scenes here. He wants to be released outright without going through the formal process because a lot of the information from his case would be made public in the event he applied for a pardon.
2. Joseph DiGenova, the Federal prosecutor in the case, was willing to make a plea deal with Pollard for lesser charges at the time of the case. Now, however, DiGenova is adamantly opposed to Pollard's release under any circumstances.
Here's a real eye-opening debate on the subject from a few years ago on CNN -- involving DiGenova and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Israel):
this is all just so much horse crap.
Pollard is a spy.
He deserves the death penalty.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.