The lies that are told about Pollard
Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, who serve as his lawyers, clear up some of the misstatements about Jonathan Pollard that are common in the media. Martin does a disservice to his readers by fabricating facts. For example, Martin refers confidently to Pollard's "trial," and says that during his "trial," Pollard was accused of attempting to pass classified information to Pakistan and other countries.Read the whole thing. The original piece to which Lauer and Semmelman are responding is here.
Perhaps Martin doesn't know that Pollard never had a trial. This fact could have easily been found through a Google search. And Pollard was never charged by the United States with passing (or attempting to pass) classified information to any country other than Israel, for the very simple reason that he never attempted to do so. Martin invents putative facts to support his opinion.
Likewise, Martin writes of Pollard's purported "treason." But he was never charged with (much less convicted of) treason. Nor could he have been, as treason requires aid to an enemy of the United States.
Martin notes gravely that "treason" is addressed in the U.S. Constitution. If Martin had bothered to read that document, he would have seen that the Constitution says that "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." Israel is not an enemy of the United States. Once again, a basic check of the facts would have revealed that Pollard did not commit treason.
What should be equally disturbing to Martin's readers are the critical facts he withholds. Martin makes it seem as if it is mostly the people and leaders of Israel who want Pollard to receive clemency. Martin fails to mention that George Shultz, the U.S. secretary of state at the time of Pollard's activities, has come out publicly in favor of clemency. Similarly, Robert "Bud" McFarlane, who was U.S. national security adviser at that time, has also come out publicly in favor of clemency.
It is safe to say that these gentlemen know more than anyone about Pollard's conduct. The fact that they have come out in favor of clemency speaks volumes. But Martin chooses not to mention this. Nor does he mention that numerous distinguished Americans have come out publicly in favor of clemency, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former Vice President Dan Quayle, former CIA Director James Woolsey, former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dennis DeConcini, dozens of members of Congress and many others.
I think that a lot of people who do support Israel are closed to Pollard, either because they fear charges of dual loyalty in the future, or because they hear 'spy' and have a visceral reaction. Pollard did something wrong, but he has more than paid his debt. Holding him at this point as 'political barter' and refusing to admit that Pollard's sentence was so severe in the first place due to Caspar Weinberger's anti-Semitism is cruel and unusual punishment.
Labels: Jonathan Pollard
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:29 AM
3 Comments:
It seems that the original article by Roland Martin has been 'corrected'! Did you, by chance, save the original?
I agree with this statement of Carl's: "Pollard did something wrong, but he has more than paid his debt."
I'm totally confused about this case at this point. I've read what happened. Isn't he American? So Israelis writing that they want him to "come home" to Israel is gumming up the works among ordinary people. They could say that Pollard is welcome to make Aliyah or move to Israel, but he is American.
A very effective argument that I've seen made only once, and by some unlikely source, can't remember who, is that a normal life sentence is 20-25 years. And he has already served that. I don't believe that he got "life without parole", so parole should have happened by now. It isn't a matter of clemency; it is a matter of parole. Now I'm out of my legal depth. A lawyer needs to write this up with stats.
(And every blog post on this topic should mention Dennis Ross, if in fact, he recommended using Pollard as a bargaining chip after the point where he should have been visiting the parole board to be released like a normal case.)
"A very effective argument that I've seen made only once, and by some unlikely source, can't remember who, is that a normal life sentence is 20-25 years. And he has already served that. I don't believe that he got "life without parole", so parole should have happened by now. It isn't a matter of clemency; it is a matter of parole. - Sunlight"
Excellent point, Sunlight. What nobody is saying, which in itself is mysterious, is that under the prison regulations in effect when Pollard was sentenced, Pollard is scheduled to be paroled on November 21, 2015, which would be 28 years served. That can be confirmed by looking at his prisoner profile at the federal Bureau of Prisons website. His prisoner ID is #09185-016.
Incidentally, you might want to read Pollard's extensive, detailed bio at Wiki, with particular attention to the footnotes and references. Pollard as "victim" is nonsense.
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