[bvw]

We were at best *intense* competitors with the Soviets. That does NOT make spying on their behalf -- even against our interests -- treason.

While you do hang enemy spies during wartime -- because we had never declared a war on the Soviets, but had in fact fought the most recent "official" war alongside of them, they wre not our *official* enemy.

[MEG33]

Yawn

[HISSKGB]

Espionage is a crime.

Why are you using word games to minimize their guilt?

[youngjim]

You're splitting hairs. So we don't kill all spies anymore--wasn't Jonathan Pollard (Jewish) a spy for Israel--our ally? That we were "at best" intense competitors with the Soviets is completely laughable. The Rosenbergs gave them the atomic bomb. Many were worried at the time that the Soviets would give the Chinese the bomb to blow up our troops in Korea. Against that backdrop, the lives of two malcontent spies meant little. They could have cooperated, they chose not to and sealed their own fate.

No doubt, yer knickers are in a knot since we haven't found the WMD yet.

BTW the show will be rebroadcast @ 11:00 CDT.

[youngjim]

You're splitting hairs. So we don't kill all spies anymore--wasn't Jonathan Pollard (Jewish) a spy for Israel--our ally? That we were "at best" intense competitors with the Soviets is completely laughable. The Rosenbergs gave them the atomic bomb. Many were worried at the time that the Soviets would give the Chinese the bomb to blow up our troops in Korea. Against that backdrop, the lives of two malcontent spies meant little. They could have cooperated, they chose not to and sealed their own fate.

No doubt, yer knickers are in a knot since we haven't found the WMD yet.

BTW the show will be rebroadcast @ 11:00 CDT.

[PPHSFL]

"Intense" competitors? At the time of the trial, the Soviets were actively supporting the North Koreans with material and pilots against us. They were developing nuclear weapons with the threat that they would use them against us in order to destroy the United States. I would say that that is a little more than "intense" competition.
As far as the Rosenbergs, they were guilty and got exactly what they deserved for being traitors. The only thing that I have a problem with is that we haven't executed more since. People like the Walkers, Ames, and that FBI guy should have also been executed.

[lasereye]

We were at best *intense* competitors with the Soviets. That does NOT make spying on their behalf -- even against our interests -- treason.

While you do hang enemy spies during wartime -- because we had never declared a war on the Soviets, but had in fact fought the most recent "official" war alongside of them, they wre not our *official* enemy.

You seem to be arguing from a legalistic standpoint. The Soviets were an extremely dangerous enemy, far more than Al Qaeda for example. Why did the Soviets want the A-bomb? They were behind the North Korean invasion, whose army killed lots of our troops. Then there was Vietnam a decade later. They put nukes in Cuba and blockaded Berlin. Your argument is absurd.