ENOUGH INJUSTICE: LET POLLARD GO!

By Professor Eugene Narrett

Injustice wounds society and offends the orderliness of creation. Its sting is especially toxic when joined to treachery, when a friend, ally or benefactor receives not gratitude but abuse beyond that given even an avowed enemy. Of the many cases of governmental treachery during the past 15 years, few cry out more loudly for redemption than the case of Jonathan Pollard.

Pollard was a respected Naval Intelligence Officer early in the 1980s when he learned that the CIA and Defense Department were withholding from Israel information about Iran, Iraq and Syria's development of chemical missile systems. When Pollard asked his superior officers why the intelligence was not being shared with Israel, he was brushed off with the remark "Jews are too sensitive about gas."

Shortly afterward, Pollard began giving Israel data on Syria and Iraq's biological weapons, Pakistan's atomic bomb program and Soviet arms shipments to the PLO and Iran. As a result, in the late 1980s Israel developed its "sealed room" security approach that provides all apartments and homes with a windowless room readily secured against chemical attack. Thanks to Pollard, Israelis were prepared when Saddam launched his Scuds in 1991.

Despite his heroic and lonely work (Pollard several times refused payment for his efforts), the Israeli embassy, always desperate to appease the State Department, literally shut its gates on him in 1985 and Pollard was arrested. The government knew he could not be convicted of spying, so they urged him to forego his right to a jury trial and plead guilty to theft of classified information in exchange for a lenient sentence.

Then came another betrayal. Secretary of Defense Weinberger, a Jewish apostate with an intense hatred of Israel personally intervened to break the bargain and demand a life sentence for Pollard. It was unconstitutional but that means little. Without trial, Pollard was sentenced to life in prison and has spent most of the past 13 years in solitary confinement.

It is instructive to compare this treatment to what our government gives to those who spy for other countries, friendly, not so friendly and outright hostile. Jean Baynes, who spied on America for the Philippines was sentenced to three years and served one. Abdul Helmy spied for Egypt was sentenced to four years and served two. Sharon Scranage spied for Ghana. Sentenced to two years she served eight months. Michael Schwartz, a non-Jewish American spied on America for Saudi Arabia. As a favor to our Saudi 'ally' he received no sentence at all, merely dismissal from the navy. Average jail term for those who have spied on America for enemies like North Vietnam, the former Soviet Union, East Germany and Iraq is four years. March 26, Peter Lee who gave laser and atomic weapons technology to Communist China was sentenced to one year in a halfway house.

It gets worse. At the time Pollard was sentenced, the Israelis had caught a CIA operative spying on Israel. Although the offense was far more grave, the Israelis offered to exchange him for Pollard, and also agreed to maintain the 'cover' of the CIA Bureau Chief they had exposed. The State Department refused but the Israelis protected the CIA Bureau Chief anyway.

In 1996, the leaders of several mainline Jewish institutions including B'nai Brith implored President Clinton to pardon Pollard and right this injustice. Mr. Clinton, who cannot open his mouth without lying, refused, citing "the gravity of his crime" [sic] "and the damage to American security." Since then, four petitions to the White House for parole have been returned unread.

Apologies are much in the news, but many of them are misdirected. This May a book will be published detailing how for 15 years Jimmy Carter served as unofficial media advisor to Yasir Arafat, drafting passages of speeches that challenged Israel's "occupation" of Judea and Samaria and equated Zionism with racism. In 1991, George Bush and James Baker blackmailed Israel by withholding computer codes that let allies coordinate flight patterns of their jets. At this very moment, Mr. Clinton's minions are pushing the Israelis to national suicide. Forget apologies; actions speak louder than words.

Three thousand three hundred and ten years ago the Jewish people went forth from Egypt. Pharaoh scorned many chances to relent. Wake up, Mr. Clinton! No need for apologies, bogus or sincere. Just keep your hands off the inheritance of Jacob and let Jonathan Pollard go.

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Comparison of Pollard's Sentence With Others

from http://www.interlog.com/~abrooke/jp/sentences.htm

The following tables show how grossly disproportionate the life sentence meted out to Jonathan Pollard is when compared with the sentences given to others who committed similar offences by spying 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, 1997, Pollard entered the 13th 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 .

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

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.

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 rigors 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.

THE FREEMAN CENTER SUPPORTS
THE SPEEDY RELEASE OF JONATHAN POLLARD

We also believe that Defense Department and CIA officials, who conspired to withhold vital security information from Israel, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.