Posted on 03/20/2006 7:56:46 AM PST by SmithL
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to give Jonathan Pollard, now serving a life sentence for spying for Israel, access to records that could bolster his case for a presidential clemency.
Pollard's lawyers wanted the justices to reopen his case, so that they could pursue secret documents the government submitted to the judge who sentenced Pollard in 1987.
Pollard sold military secrets to Israel while he worked at the Defense Department's Pentagon headquarters. He was arrested in 1985 and pleaded guilty. The Supreme Court had already refused to let the former Navy intelligence analyst withdraw the guilty plea.
The latest Supreme Court case was not about spying, but about government authority to keep records used in court sealed from the public.
A federal appeals court said last summer that it had no authority to review requests for the documents which Pollard contends will help his bid for presidential clemency.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The US should have suspended Israeli aid for a year as punishment.
This is good.
He always wants more.
Pollard did incalculable harm to the United States while in a position of trust.
Lock him up, throw away the key.
ONE year?
BFD
How about, "Until you apologize."?
And Pollard should have been stood up against a wall and shot.
$3 billion in aid loss is a pretty serious punishement. And, let's not try and pretend we don't spy on our friends either. But, for $3 billion we should be treated just a tad bit better.
The big difference with the U.S. is that we spy on "our friends" on our own behalf. If even a fraction of the things I've read about the Pollard case is true, then a substantial amount of the information he obtained for Israel was passed along to the Soviet Union and therefore had no inherent value to Israel.
$3 billion doesn't come close to paying for that kind of damage.
Bingo.
Pollard was an information broker--Israel was trading on its relationship of trust with the US in exchange for favors from Russia (and others).
I'm sure it won't be long now before the Pollard apologists show up and start calling everyone an anti-Semite.
The Israelis sold the take from Pollard to the Soviets. American agents in the Soviet Union died because of Pollard. Israeli blood is apparently worth more to the Israelis than American blood is. So much for our "allies." Can you imagine the Brits doing the same? I think not.
Whining-traitor-who-should-have-danced-at-the-end-of-a-rope-using-up-the-Courts-precious-time Bump.
Pollard should rot in prison....Israel SHOULD have apologized, we are NOT pure as the driven snow in the espionage arena and suggesting that we are is ridiculous...and those that see this as a "semitic" issue, are indeed "anti-semitic".
"Broker"? Don't "brokers" sell more than one item in their career? Pollard gave Israel information to which she was entitled under the 1983 memorandum of understanding, exactly once. The FBI's own investigation concluded that Pollard was not acting for profit.
You have heard of Philby, McLean, Burgess, Bount and Cairncross?
More inportant than the actual information this traitor SOLD is that foreign intel services could see how the information was gathered, processed, and presented. He basically gave away the recipe for the cake along with the cake.
Informing Israel of terrorist attacks planned against her did the US "incalculable harm"? I'd be interested to know the exact nature of that harm.
Just offer Israel this deal:
Pollard for $1 billion in aid.
See if they are any takers.
They were traitors, and didn't attempt to excuse their treason by saying they were really loyal to Britain did they?
The exact nature of the harm is irrelevant (even though American agents in the Soviet Union died because of Pollard's actions). When you get a security clearance you swear not to disclose the secured information to unauthorized persons. The Israeli agents he gave the info to were not authorized and he was not in a position to freelance the decision.
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