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To: liberallarry
My view is that the Rosenbergs were a small piece of the Cold War. Many spies were operating. . .

Yes. Which was why it was imperative to do almost anything to get the Rosenbergs to talk. Venona had uncovered "349 citizens, immigrants, and permanent residents of the United States who had had a covert relationship with Soviet intelligence agencies."1 But the our intelligence services had no idea who most of them were. Nearly 200 were tucked away under cover names. They were doing incalculable harm and we knew it. The recently unsealed executive McCarthy transcripts are astounding. The radar lab at Ft. Monmouth, N.J. was a nest of suspected Soviet agents (many of whom had been classmates of Julius Rosenberg at City College). But people were taking the fifth and were lawyered up way beyond their salaries. McCarthy didn't care if someone had been a communist or not. He made that clear during the executive sessions. Those who did admit they had joined and who cooperated were never exposed by the committee until the transcripts were opened this month. No one ever did get to the bottom of the treason at Ft. Monmouth. Too many high paid lawyers telling everyone to shut up. In disgust, Eisenhower shut the facility, let most every go and Goldwater passed legislation opening a new lab in Arizona.

As the Moynihan commission reported, most of the spies were Russian or Central European immigrants or their grown children. As did Rosenberg, many had attended City College and recieved educations which allowed them to prosper. Was it too much to ask them not to try to overthrow the government which gave them shelter? They should have kissed the American flag and told everything they knew about a regime and a party, the CPUSA, which was engaged in the worse atrocities the world had ever seen.

But they didn't. I have zero sympathy for any of them. For 50 years they and their defenders have castigated and demonized the good guys--those trying to end communist terror. If there is justice, there is a hell and those who claim taking the fifth protected civil rights and was the patriotic thing to do are in it.

1Chapter One: Venona and the Cold WarJohn Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr. Yale University Press.

92 posted on 06/15/2003 10:43:28 PM PDT by DPB101 ("Smearing good people like Alger Hiss and Lauchlin Currie is . . .unforgivable"---Eleanor Roosevelt)
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To: DPB101
Which was why it was imperative to do almost anything to get the Rosenbergs to talk...Venona had uncovered "349 citizens, immigrants, and permanent residents of the United States who had had a covert relationship with Soviet intelligence agencies."1 But the our intelligence services had no idea who most of them were...They were doing incalculable harm and we knew it

If that's true then a good case can be made for abrogating constitutional protections. I'm not up on the current evidence and can't argue it with you. Sorry.

96 posted on 06/15/2003 11:03:16 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: DPB101
http://Michael Meeropol Statement on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 1995 09:26:30 -0700

Subject: Michael Meeropol Statement on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg


PLEASE NOTE: THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT WAS ISSUED BY ROBERT AND MICHAEL MEEROPOL, SONS OF JULIUS AND ETHEL ROSENBERG, AS AN INITIAL REACTION TO THE RELEASE BY THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY OF THE "VENONA" DOCUMENTS PURPORTING TO PROVE THAT THEIR PARENTS WERE INDEED SOVIET SPIES. THE STATEMENT WAS ISSUED JULY 17 and AS FAR AS WE KNOW, HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED BY THE MAINSTREAM PRESS.
ROSENBERG FUND FOR CHILDREN
1145 Main Street
Suite 408
Springfield, Ma. 01103
(413) 739 - 9020
FAX: (413) 746-5767

RELEASED "VENONA" DOCUMENTS DEMONSTRATE GOVERNMENT DUPLICITY.

     Nothing in the 49 VENONA documents released by the National
Security AGency and the CIA (The Agencies) on July 11 cause us to
alter our positions that:  1. our parents Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg were not guilty as charged; 2. their conviction was based
upon perjured testimony and fabricated evidence; 3. that government
agents and agencies orchestrated our parents' frame-up which
resulted in their execution.

     We have sought the release of these documents sicne 1975.  The
Agencies explanation that they were not used at our parents' trial
for national security reasons does not explain why they have
refused to release them to us for the last 20 years.  It is much
more plausible that the documents were only released now becauset
htye prove nothing and do not helpt justify our parents' execution.

     Thew documents' nature and contents explain why They Agencies
kept them secret for over 40 years.  The Agences have released no
physcal evidence to support their claims. The public is asked to
accept just upon their say so that the documents really are
translations ofr encrypted Soviet diplomatic communications that
the translations faithfull reflect those communications, and that
the individuals referred to in code n the documents are the people
The AGencies say they are.  None of this should be taken for
granted.  The Agencies are some of the major architects of our
parents' legally sanctioned murder and so have a tremendous stake
in justifying their execution.

     The booklet The Agences released to "explain" the documents
("Introductory History of VENONA and Guide to the Trnaslations),
demonstrates that they have even lied about the contents of these
documents in this carefully staged effort to misinform the public.
For example the following statements appear on page 10 of the
Guide:

     "These messages disclose some of the clandestine activities of
     Julius and Ethel Rosenberg ..." and "KGB officer Leonid
     Kvasnikov ... like the Rosenbergs ... had many other high-tech
     espionage targets..." (emphasis added)

     Our mother is barefly metnioned in the 49 documents The
Agencies claim are KGB transmissions, and nowhere in them is it
stated that she engaged in clandestine activities.  TAhe major
reference to her states:  "Knows about her husband's work and the
role of METR and NIL.  In view of delicate health does not work.
Is characterized positively and as a devote dperson."

     Our father's name never appears in any of the documents.

     The Agencies would have us believe that they identified many
spies long before our parents' arrests and did nothing about it but
give the FBI a few tips while the vast majority of them either
disappeared or were never prosecuted.  They can not explian why
neither the CIA nor the FBI acted as if it had this information
prior to our parents' arrests.  Therefore, we suspect thyat The
Agencies "cooked" whatever information they had after the arrests
and trial to bolster the government's scenario.  While we can't
prove this, The Agencies certainly had the motive, means and
opportunity to do so.  This helps explain why the "Guide" is so
vague about the timing of the "decoding" of thses "transmissions."

     The Federal Judiciary, the FBI, the Departmnet of Justiec, the
CIA and other government agencies ahve engaged in a course of
misconduct concerning our parents' case for over 40 years.  Unlike
the Agencies, we, as private citizens have not had the media access
necessary to present our side.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact:  Robert Meeropol:  413 - 739 - 9020.
There is a documentary film on the Rosenberg case.


SEARCH | 50s HOME | READING LIST | NEWS | FILREIS HOME

Document URL: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/meeropol-on-rosenbergs.html
Last modified: Monday, 22-Mar-1999 10:43:49 EST

99 posted on 06/15/2003 11:51:08 PM PDT by I_Love_My_Husband (We're still fighting the same old war against the left they haven't changed)
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