Newt Gingrich: U.S. should consider clemency for Jonathan Pollard

Haaretz ^ | Dec. 8, 2011 | Natasha Mozgovaya

[wvcon]

"Leading Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich discusses Jonathan Pollard in an Interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN Wednesday. Gingrich says he is leaning towards clemency in the case of Jonathan Pollard, but hasn’t all the information needed to make up his mind. . . ."

[jim22]

The following is the text of Henry Kissinger’s letter to President Obama:

March 3, 2011

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I would have written this letter sooner but for a long trip abroad, from which I have just returned. While I was gone, I gave much thought to the question of clemency for Jonathan Pollard. At first I felt I did not have enough information to render a reasoned and just opinion. But 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 judgments and first-hand knowledge I respect, I find their unanimous support for clemency compelling.

I believe justice would be served by commuting the remainder of Pollard’s sentence of life imprisonment.

Respectfully yours,
Henry A. Kissinger

[jim22]

Former US Secretary of State George Schultz has called on President Obama to release Jonathan Pollard:

I am writing to join with many others in urging you to consider that Jonathan Pollard has now paid a huge price for his espionage on behalf of Israel and should be released from prison.

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.

I find the letter you received from former Attorney General Michael Mukasey of the Bush administration particularly compelling.

[hosepipe]

What is Newt smoking?..
Has he been to Mexifornia lately?..

[Hugin]

From

http://www.jonathanpollard.org/sentences.htm

Comparative Sentences
The following tables indicate how grossly disproportionate Pollard’s life sentence is when compared to the sentences of others who spied for allied nations.
Pollard’s life sentence is also disproportionate even when compared to the sentences of those who committed far more serious offences by spying for enemy nations.

---

Table I: American Allies
Jonathan Pollard is the only person in the history of the United States to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally.
On November 21, 2011, Pollard entered the 27th year of his life sentence, with no end in sight.
The maximum sentence today for such an offence is 10 years.
The median sentence for this offence is 2 to 4 years.
Name Spied For Sentence/Punishment Time Served
Before Release*
Jonathan Pollard Israel Life imprisonment
Michael Schwartz Saudi Arabia Discharged from Navy No time served.
Peter Lee China† 1 year in halfway house No jail time.
Ronald Montaperto China 3 months
Xiaodong Sheldon Meng China 2 years
Samuel Morison Great Britain 2 years 3 months
Phillip Selden El Salvador 2 years
Sharon Scranage Ghana 5 years; reduced to 2 years 8 months
Steven Baba South Africa 8 years; reduced to 2 years 5 months
Jean Baynes Phillipines 3 years and 5 months 1 year and 3 months
Geneva Jones Liberia 3 years and 1 month
Frederick Hamilton Ecuador 3 years and 1 month
J. Reece Roth China and Iran 4 years
Abdul Kader Helmy Egypt 4 years 2 years
Joseph Brown Phillipines 6 years
Michael Ray Aquino Phillipines 6 years and 4 months
Michael Allen Phillipines 8 years
Robert Kim South Korea 9 years 7 years
Leandro Aragoncillo Phillipines 10 years
Thomas Dolce South Africa 10 years 5.2 years
Steven Lalas Greece 14 years

* Time served before release is shown where known. Other cases of early release exist.
† U.S. government foreign policy deems China to be an American ally.

---

Table II: American Enemies
Jonathan Pollard spied for an American ally. This chart shows that Pollard’s life sentence is far harsher than most of the sentences received by those who spied for enemies, and thereby committed much more serious offences and treason.
Name Spied For Sentence Time Served
Before Release†
Alberto Coll Cuba 1 year
Mohammad Reza Alavi Iran 15 months
James Wood Soviet Union 2 years
Sahag Dedyan Soviet Union 3 years
Elsa Alvarez Cuba 3 years
Randy Jeffries Soviet Union 3-9 years
Amarylis Santos Cuba 3½ years
Joseph Santos Cuba 4 years
Carlos Alvarez Cuba 5 years
Mariano Faget Cuba 5 years
Brian Horton Soviet Union 6 years
Alejandro Alonso Cuba 7 years
William Bell Poland 8 years
Alfred Zoho East Germany 8 years
Nikolay Ogarodnikova Soviet Union 8 years
Hassan Abu-Jihaad Al-Qaida 10 years
Francis X. Pizzo Soviet Union 10 years
Daniel Richardson Soviet Union 10 years
Ernst Forbich East Germany 15 years
William Whalen Soviet Union 15 years
Edwin Moore Soviet Union 15 years
Troung Dinh Ung North Vietnam 15 years
Ronald Humphrey North Vietnam 15 years
Kurt Alan Stand East Germany 17½ years
Robert Lipka Soviet Union 18 years
David Barnett Soviet Union 18 years
Svetlana Ogarodnikova Soviet Union 18 years
Albert Sombolay Iraq & Jordan 19 years
Richard Miller Soviet Union 20 years 6 years
Theresa Maria Squillacote East Germany 21.8 years
Sarkis Paskallan Soviet Union 22 years
Harold Nicholson Soviet Union 23 years
David Boone Soviet Union 24 years
Ana Belen Montes Cuba 25 years
Clayton Lonetree Soviet Union 25 years 9 years
Michael Walker Soviet Union 25 years 15 years
Bruce Ott Soviet Union 25 years
Kelly Warren Hungary &
Czechoslovakia 25 years
Earl Pitts Soviet Union 27 years
H.W. Boachanhaupi Soviet Union 30 years
Roderick Ramsay Hungary &
Czechoslovakia 36 years
James Hall Soviet Union
& East Germany 40 years
Christopher Boyce Soviet Union 40 years
William Kampiles Soviet Union 40 years 19 years
Veldik Enger Soviet Union 50 years
R.P. Charnyayev Soviet Union 50 years
Marian Zacharski Poland Life 4 years
Aldrich Ames Soviet Union Life
Robert Hanssen Soviet Union Life

* Time served before release is shown where known. Other cases of early release exist.

Aldrich Ames: A Case In Point
Aldrich Ames who spied for an enemy nation (the Soviet Union), committed treason, and was responsible for the deaths of at least 11 American agents, received the same sentence as Jonathan Pollard. Pollard’s only indictment was one count of passing classified information to an ally. Pollard spent 7 years in solitary confinement, in the harshest unit of the harshest prison in the Federal system - FCI Marion.
Aldrich Ames’ treatment was far more benign, and (except for a relatively short period of time during debriefing) did not include the rigours of long years of solitary; nor was he ever subjected to the harsh conditions of “K” Unit at Marion - even though his offence was far more serious.

[Ax]

The info that Pollard gave (or sold) to Israel ultimately ended up on the internet. It contained some very sensitive SIGINT information. For that alone, he should do 25 years. He's almost there now, so maybe he should be stripped of his citizenship and deported to Israel. I would hope he'd be treated like a pariah.

From the Jewish Journal:

But all of this was dwarfed, according to a principal author of the Weinberger Declaration, by photocopying for Israel the massive 10-volume RASIN Manual. An acronym for Radio and Signal Intelligence [RASIN], the precious manual is known as "the Bible," according to the intelligence officer. The RASIN Manual details America's global listening profile, frequency-by-frequency, source-by-source, geographic slice by geographic slice. RASIN was, in effect, a complete roadmap to American signal intelligence. Informed sources say Pollard's RASIN Manual disclosure was the crux of a secret exchange in Judge Robinson's courtroom just moments before the outraged judge finally pronounced a life sentence. Some estimate the loss of the RASIN manual cost America billions of dollars and many years in completely restructuring America's worldwide eavesdropping operation. Though Pollard has sought to downplay the consequences to the U.S. of his actions, his crime was lasting and devastating to the U.S. intelligence community.

[trumandogz]

Pollard should only leave prison if he is in a pine box.

[Brilliant]

Agreed. But my point is that the only people who care about Pollard are the Republican Jews, which a very small group.

[beckett]

After allowing thoughts like “Hey Newt ain’t so bad” to insinuate themselves into my mind over the last few weeks, I started to come to my senses a day or two ago, first when Ramesh Ponnuru skillfully brought me back to the reality of Newt’s ego-show as Speaker, and what it augers for a Newt presidency, then when I saw him kissing the ring (and other body parts) of the “You’re Fired” guy from New York, and now when he adopts a coy, and typically Newtishly self-interested, defense of a traitor.

I can’t vote for Newt. I don’t like him. I never did. He doesn’t represent me. As president, at any given time, any manner of outlandish flights of fancy might overtake him, and soon he’d be holding the country hostage to the rarefied conceits of his “superior” mind.

[beckett]

After allowing thoughts like “Hey Newt ain’t so bad” to insinuate themselves into my mind over the last few weeks, I started to come to my senses a day or two ago, first when Ramesh Ponnuru skillfully brought me back to the reality of Newt’s ego-show as Speaker, and what it augers for a Newt presidency, then when I saw him kissing the ring (and other body parts) of the “You’re Fired” guy from New York, and now when he adopts a coy, and typically Newtishly self-interested, defense of a traitor.

I can’t vote for Newt. I don’t like him. I never did. He doesn’t represent me. As president, at any given time, any manner of outlandish flights of fancy might overtake him, and soon he’d be holding the country hostage to the rarefied conceits of his “superior” mind.

[randomhero97]

Wow, just wow.

It's scary that some here are okay with 'selling out' for Israel.

[Mr Rogers]

You nailed it. Newt has LOTS of ideas, and doesn’t have the wisdom to keep his mouth shut until he vets those ideas.

[Ax]

How did Ronald W. Pelton not get included on this list of scoundrels?

[MrEdd]

Pollard has photographic recall.

The US should consider that it is cheaper to execute him than to keep him incommunicado for however many decades his life drags on, as those are the only two rational options.

[org.whodat]

I can end pollard sentence with one well placed 22 round. that should fix it to time served, and I will work cheap.

[man_in_tx]

Pollard is a traitor
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Right: And if weighs the same as a duck, he is made of wood, right?

Okay: Pollard did wrong; he was tried and convicted; and he has paid more than enough time.

Besides, do you know that the day the (seriously ailing) Pollard is pardoned, he is on a plane to Israel — never to return to these shores again? Pollard’s wife and family have already emigrated to Israel. And, no, I do not admire Pollard.

I hear people on this forum rail constantly that Bill Clinton or Barack Obama are traitors. I would argue that Bill Clinton’s supplying the Chicoms with (among other things) rocket telemetry skills far outweights ANY damage that Pollard did (not that Pollard did not do damage).

How much harm has Obama done (with the help of many — in both parties) to undermine this country?

How much time have Clinton and Obama done?

Your raving that Pollard is a traitor when the likes of Soros and Bill Gates do far greater harm without paying any price reminds me of a cop working over time to send a black guy to jail for holding a kilo of pot while ignoring the Mexican Mafia suppliers (because they play hardball).

How about Senator Lieberman virtually single-handedly resurrecting (successfully so) the repeal of DADT from our military’s code of conduct. Do you think perhaps he deserves some jail time, as well? (Trust me: He is not doing any.)

Furthermore, it has been pretty well established that Pollard took a plea deal — was offered a deal in return for pleading guilty. Pollard kept his side of it, but DoD welshed on its end of the bargain.

Not only that, but it has been stated by at least one former high official of that era that the ONLY reason Pollard got as severe a sentence as he did, was because Cap Weinberger (a man I admired and whose hand I once shook) was so anti-Semitic.

Finally, let me assure you that the treatment our Government affords the cut-throats living in Club Gitmo FAR more privileges than they have Pollard these past 30-or-so years.

What do we gain by keeping Pollard in prison in a time when anti-Semitism is once again rising across both Europe and the US in a fashion not seen since circa 1933.

Newt is correct on this issue: If I were on Newt’s staff (should he somehow win the White House), I should advise him to pardon Pollard.

[xrmusn]

Newt is definitely unbelievable.

Just when I figure I can somewhat back him, he comes out with another ridiculous statement about something that has nothing to do with the mission at hand.

Don’t we call this pandering for votes?

I do want him to run his mouth etc but in the right circumstances, pushing the right buttons.

The only thing I have against Pollard and Walker is that they are still being fed and sustained by us.

Don’t misread that to mean I think they should be released.

[JoeFromSidney]

That does it. Newt is pandering to the Jewish vote. No way I'll vote for him. Pollard is a traitor.

[man_in_tx]

Yes he is. But I think that 24 years imprisonment is enough and, providing he is stripped of his American citizenship and deported immediately upon release, we should let Israel have him.

I do not condone in any way shape or form what he did, but enough is enough. Nobody died, the secrets he passed to Israel were not that critical, and we have plenty of other fish to fry.

Giving up Pollard would be a low-cost goodwill gesture that an incoming Republican President could make to Israel by way of apology for the four years of hell they have had to put up with during the despotic, Jew-hating Obama regime.
////////////////////////////////

You get it, Ronin.

I do pray that the newly-accepted Jew- and Israel-hatred that is sweeping the Left in both Europe and the US has not already begun — however slightly or subtly — to seep into the minds of some of the commenters here a FR.

[the_daug]

Jonathan Pollard was not convicted of treason. He spied for Israel and he has served enough time the life sentence was not the recommendation of the prosecutors. Pollard spied at a time when James Baker was our secretary of state under Ronald Reagan. It just amazes me the mob mentality here on FR.
I like the fact that Gingrich answers to tough questions as this and illegal immigration. I am not going to ignore the fact the government failed our responsibility to both cases

[man_in_tx]

That does it. Newt is pandering to the Jewish vote. No way I’ll vote for him. Pollard is a traitor.

////////////////////////////
Newt is hardly pandering to the Jewish vote.

He is giving Jewish voters a signal that he is not crypto-Marxist Muslim as is the current occupant of the White House.

Whatever harm Pollard did to America, it pales in comparison to the Armageddon-like change of political scenery in the Middle East with which the current occupant of the White House has gifted the Israelis - changes that hurt our security almost as much as they do Israel’s.