When Netanyahu Could Help Get Pollard Out of Jail - He Didn't
By Ronen Bergman
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The heads of the American intelligence community drafted their opinion on the [Pollard] affair in a classified document that came out in a letter from the head of the CIA to Clinton [time frame around 1995-6]. The document summarizes the stubborn opposition to Pollard's release claiming:
- Pollard is still a walking library of
secret information. What he has in his head
can cause damage.
- Pollard is light headed and would easily
become talkative if he were released.
- American intelligence experts believe
there is another Israeli spy in the system,
far senior to Pollard, and think that Pollard
knows this person's identity. After Pollard
was arrested the FBI and naval intelligence
officers found tiny pieces of paper concealed
in Pollard desk. The papers had lists of
classified documents that Pollard was ordered
to obtain. The lists included a series of
letters used to describe the documents and the
right code names for them. This is the main
reason that the Americans suspect that the
Israelis had another agent who could not
transfer the classified documents but did know
enough to describe their file numbers.
- The Americans claim that Israel has still
not returned all the material that Pollard
transferred, and in addition also want to
question Aviam Sela (The Israeli air force
officer implicated in the affair).
- Pollard continued to distribute classified
material from jail. To prove this the American
Justice Department bought as an example a
letter Pollard sent to Dr. Julian Unger in
1987. Despite a warning Pollard did it again
in 1991.
- The deterrence factor: Why should Pollard
be punished less than other spies?
- The Americans claim that the argument that
Pollard spied for a friendly country does not
hold water since there was a danger of him
spying under a "false flag" - in other words
spying for another country for agents who
represented themselves as Israelis.
- The Americans claim they have proof that
Pollard offered his services to other
countries.
- The Americans claim that estimates from
Israel and Pollard on the amount of damage he
caused and the supposed disproportion between
the punishment and crime are spurious lies.
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