Ambassador To US Visits Pollard

The Jerusalem Post ^ | May 17, 2005

[Cecily]

Israel's Ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon met Jonathon Pollard in his cell in a North Carolina prison for the first time Tuesday.

It was the first official visit by an Israeli government representative since Pollard's incarceration some 19 years ago.

Sources in the embassy said that Ayalon was bringing a message of support and encouragement from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Army Radio reported.

[churchillbuff]

it is never mentioned in stories about him."""

If you google, I think you'll find reports that this is exactly what Caspar Weinberger was royally angry about -- that the info went from Pollard to his handlers and eventually was sold to Soviets. There are reports out there to this effect. Certainly SOMETHING persuaded Weinberger and the intelligence community to throw the book at this guy - - giving him, as his supporters point out, a sentence way beyond normal for what Pollard claims to have done.

[Cecily]

Here are two excerpts about Pollard from "Gideon's Spies" by Gordon Thomas. The claims are not footnoted, so take what he writes as you will:

"Rafi Eitan quickly obtained a clear picture of U.S. intelligence-gathering methods, not only in the Middle East, but in South Africa. Pollard had provided reports from CIA operatives which provided a blueprint for the entire U.S. intelligence network within the country. One document contained a detailed account of how South Africa had managed to detonate a nuclear device on September 14, 1979, in the southern end of the Indian Ocean. The Pretoria government had steadfastly denied it had become a nuclear power. Rafi Eitan arranged for Mossad to pass over copies of all material relating to South Africa to Pretoria, virtually destroying the CIA network. Twelve operatives were forced to hurriedly leave the county."

"During the next eleven months, Jonathan Pollard continued to asset-strip U.S. intelligence. Over one thousand highly classified documents, 360 cubic feet of paper, were transmitted to Israel."

and in a section about Yitzhak Shamir's supposed hatred of the United States (he considered the US partially responsible for the Holocaust):

"Nonsensical as the idea was, it had colored Shamir's views of the United States to the point of near hatred. He had personally authorized, 'as a gesture of goodwill'(another favorite phrase of Shamir's) to pass on to the Soviet Union a portion of the estimated five hundred thousand pages of documents Jonathan Pollard had stolen. Shamir hoped this would improve Israel's relationship with Moscow. The documents included current U.S. intelligence on Soviet air defenses and the CIA's annual review of the entire Russian capability to make war. One document included satellite photographs, communication intercepts, radar intelligence, and reports from CIA agents in the Soviet Union. When Shamir had been told by Nahum Admoni that the data would almost certainly enable Soviet counterintelligence to discover the spies, he had reportedly shrugged."

[WoofDog123]

You have made a very well-written post regarding the subject, thanks.

[WoofDog123]

"Certainly SOMETHING persuaded Weinberger and the intelligence community to throw the book at this guy - - giving him, as his supporters point out, a sentence way beyond normal for what Pollard claims to have done."

Agreed, while obviously none of us know what pollard did or didn't do, and what israel did or didn't do with it, the US response to it was so extreme that I cannot imagine it was the 'old chemical weapons secrets in muslim countries' secrets that israel claims.

The theory you mention certainly would fit how he was sentenced, as well as israel's continued efforts to get him freed.

[Doctor Stochastic]

"During the next eleven months, Jonathan Pollard continued to asset-strip U.S. intelligence. Over one thousand highly classified documents, 360 cubic feet of paper, were transmitted to Israel."

If the 11 months rounded up to a year, this is about 1 cubic foot per day, 7 days a week. A weekly meeting would have required carrying about 7.5 cubic feed per week. Did Pollard drive a front-end loader?

Light weight paper is .025 lb per cubic inch; that means 7.5*1728*.025 or 324 lbs per week. Even Sandy Berger couldn't stuff that much in his pants. It would be noticed. Of course, maybe it was; Pollard is in prison.