International News
See other International News Articles
Title: Newt Gingrich: U.S. should consider clemency for Jonathan Pollard
Source:
Haaretz
URL Source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-ele ... -for-jonathan-pollard-1.400408
Published: Dec 8, 2011
Author: Natasha Mozgovaya
Post Date: 2011-12-08 20:46:32 by A K A Stone
Keywords: None
Views: 440
Comments: 2
Leading Republican White House hopeful says he has a study under way comparing Pollard's sentence with comparable people sentenced for comparable deeds.’ Leading Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich discusses Jonathan Pollard in an Interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN Wednesday. Gingrich says he is leaning towards clemency in the case of Jonathan Pollard, but hasn’t all the information needed to make up his mind. “There are secrecy things involved here that I frankly don't - and I want to have access to as a candidate, and I don't think it's necessarily appropriate to have access to it,” he said. “But I am very cautious about what position I would take on that.” “I am prepared to say my bias is towards clemency, and I would like to review it. He's been in a very long time. But we are pretty tough about people spying on the United States.” Gingrich says he has a study under way “to compare his sentence with comparable people who have been sentenced for very long sentences for comparable deeds.” The former Speaker of the House is a declared supporter of Israel, opposed to the Palestinian Authority's bid for unilateral recognition of statehood, and has vowed to be aggressive in his approach to Iran's nuclear program. Pollard, who was convicted of espionage for Israel and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1986, has been suffering from many medical complications in his gallbladder and kidneys, undergoing an emergency operation in August of this year. In a statement released by the campaign for Pollard's release last month, Esther Pollard expressed fears that her husband could die as a result of his medical complications, saying: "I'm afraid he won't be able to survive another year of this." "In the last few months it has happened often that he could not garner enough strength to get to the phone and use the few minutes he has to contact the outside world. He has terrible kidney complications that are causing him excruciating pain," Pollard said, adding after "26 years all his systems are feeble and we both know that the next emergency hospitalization or operation are just a matter a time, and that no one is promising us he'll make it through." Pollard's lengthy prison sentence made headlines in October, when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden denied he said Pollard would be released "over his dead body," telling U.S. Jewish leaders, however, that the sentiment expressed in his rejection was his own. Referring to the convicted Israeli spy, Biden was quoted by the New York Times as telling Florida rabbis that U.S. President Barak Obama "was considering clemency, but I told him, ‘Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time.'’" However, U.S. Jewish leaders speaking with Haaretz said the U.S. vice president claimed that while the general thrust of the statement was correct, his exact phrasing was taken out of context.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: A K A Stone (#0)
(Edited)
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2010/06/23/israeli-rogue-operations-spying/ Let him rot in prison. Israel had no right to steal information to wheel and deal with. This guy is a scoundrel who caused serious harm, and violated his security clearance. If Jews freed from the Soviet Union was worth the lose of life and intelligence assets, surely his continuing his prison sentence falls under the same line of logic. He should not have done the crime if he can't do the time.
+1
"In this instance, secrets meant to defend NATO from Soviet invasion were useful to Israel who traded them in order to get Jews released from Russia and allowed to immigrate to Israel. Israel contended that it was their inherent right to that information because they had a vital need for it. In that information, along with locations of all vital NATO nuclear facilities, were the names of all CIA operatives working behind the Iron Curtain and details on their contacts. After this information went to Israel, then to Russia, all involved, CIA handlers, agents and their families were murdered, the biggest intelligence disaster in American history."
#2. To: Ferret Mike (#1)
Let him rot in prison.
Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]