NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/soc/culture/jewish/20663

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-21 | 5.8 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!darwin.sura.net!ukma!cs.widener.edu!dsinc!ub!galileo.cc.rochester.edu!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!bfoo_ltd
From: [e-mail] (Brian E. Foont)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Jonathan Pollard...
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 21 Nov 92 20:58:36 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)
Lines: 86
Nntp-Posting-Host: uhura.cc.rochester.edu

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mark Ira Kaufman) writes:
>
>   Jonathan Pollard is a man who is condemned to prison, for the
>rest of his life.  He was condemned to this fate for passing off
>intelligence information to Israel.  It has been noted that this
>data involved the increased efforts by Iraq to increase chemical
>and biological warfare capabilities.  Much of the buildup in the
>areas of Israeli civil defense was due to information which came
>from Jonathan Pollard.  Our government's reaction to Pollard was
>not only swift, but stunningly cruel.  And the sentence that was
>handed down for his espionage was beyond previous sentencing for
>similar crimes.  Israel is an ally of the United States.  It has
>always been an ally.  In spite of the hysterical reaction on the
>part of Mr. Casper Weinberger, Pollard NEVER committed the crime
>of treason.  This dispicable crime is the act of selling secrets
>to the enemy.  It is a crime that is considered so grave that an
>individual can be put to death for it.  It is the crime that was
>committed for years by the Walker family.  The Walker family was
>engaged in the selling of defense secrets to the USSR for eleven
>years.  The nature of what they sold to the Russians was of such
>a comprimising nature that defense experts stated we wouldn't be
>able to undo the damage for years.
>   Jonathan Pollard provided information which the United States
>had promised to provide Israel anyway.  What he gave to our ally
>in the mideast was information necessary for Israel to provide a
>measure of security for itself.  In no way did Pollard engage in
>any sort of activity against our country.  And yet he recieved a
>sentence equal to that of people who committed treason.
>   Jonathan Pollard is a criminal.  He engaged in espionage, and
>was convicted of this crime.  And though, as a Jew, I am glad he
>did it, he must be recognized as a criminal.  As it is noted, if
>you can't do the time, don't do the crime.  But the time must be
>somewhat proportional to the crime.  The wrath of Weinberger was
>enough to bring the weight of the federal geovernment down on an
>individual who would never knowingly harm his country.  His fate
>was the same as that of a genuine traitor's.
>   I am at a loss to come up with what can be done at this point
>in time.  But I do know that Jonathan Pollard must never be left
>to rot away in prison, as if he was an American back-stabber, as
>if he was a traitor like the Walker family.  We must continue to
>seek a solution to this miscarraige of justice.

Let us discuss this "discarriage" of Justice.  We are generally led to
believe that this was a miscarriage of justice by people like Rabbi A. Weiss
of Riverdale, New York (Hebrew Institute of Riverdale) by comparing his
sentence with that of Walker.  This is COMPLETELY WRONG.  Please let me
explain why.  When Walker took secrets from the United States and sold
them to the Soviet Union no specific American individuals were placed
in danger.  (Secondly, and less importantly, most of the stuff that Walker
gave the Soviets were codes and potential tactics and operational plans,
both of which become outdated every so often.)  Pollard was different.
Firstly, it was established at his trial that he has a photographic
(or very close to it) memory.  Thus he still remembers virtually everything
he was, much of it considered sensitive in the long term.
    More importantly is the intelligence concept of "Sourcing."  If
I suddendly knew the first word you ever spoke, it would be reasonable
to suspect you mother or father of giving me that information.  Thus,
if I were to act on that information you could "suspect" you parent of
"espionange."  Similarly, when information, obtained from an illicite
source is acted upon there must be more than one plausible source,
otherwise that foreign government will discover that source, and in
most cases will insure that the source is terminated.  The information
that Pollard gave the Israelis was not properly sourced, hence it had not
been passed on YET.  By giving it to the Israelis, and their acting on it
the United States lost between 120 and 150 of its operative in Iraq, many
of whom were "sleepers."  Pollard's treason/espionage was tantamount to
murder.  In his profession, as an intelligence analyst, he should have
known full where that this would be a consequence of his actions.
    Justice has been almost served.  He should stay right were he
is for a good long time.  Think about the at least 120 people who DIED
because of his greed and lack of loyalty.  The intelligence community
maintains its integrity through the security of its structure, this includes
the loyalty from one member to another.  He violated this trust.  Perhaps
justice will be served by his permanent lodging in a prison cell.  He should
consider himself lucky.  In almost every other country in the world he would
have been executed (generally without a public trial) and most probably
tortured before hand.
    I do not mean to respond so harshly, but Pollard is not a martyr
for the Israeli cause, he is a murderer of those who dedicated themselves
to the security of the United States.  If an Israeli Mossad agent were to
do the same their demise would have been almost assuredly been immediate.

Brian E. Foont
[e-mail]

My opinions are my own, but you may share them.