© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A petition filed in the Israeli Supreme
Court exposes for the first time the titles of unclassified documents used
as evidence against convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.
The titles counter the claim that information passed to the Jewish state
damaged U.S. security, asserts the petition, submitted Sunday by Pollard's
attorney, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
"The unclassified titles of the evidence used against Pollard explode all
the myths about what he supposedly gave to Israel and the damage he is
alleged to have caused," said a statement by an activist group formed to
support Pollard, Justice4JP.
Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, was convicted in 1985
of one count of passing classified information to an ally, Israel, and
sentenced to life imprisonment in spite of a plea agreement that was to
spare him a life sentence.
Pollard told WND in an interview last year the information he passed to
Israel forewarned the Jewish state about the build-up of unconventional
weapons of war in neighboring Arab countries, including the build-up of arms
by Saddam Hussein for use against Israel.
He says Israel legally was entitled to this vital security information
according to a 1983 Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries,
"but certain elements within the American administration had imposed an
embargo on this information."
Pollard asserts the newly revealed document titles, received through a
Freedom of Information Act request, show that rather than doing damage to
the U.S., they gave Israel the ability to defend itself from enemies.
The statement by Justice4JP says, "None of the documents which the U.S.
used as evidence against Pollard concerned American agents, codes,
installations, war plans, troop dispositions, or programs. In fact, they
were not about America at all!"
Instead, the documents were about war preparedness and weapons systems
obtained by enemies of Israel, for use against the Jewish state.
The titles include:
- SPECIAL TECHNICAL REPORT ON THE SOVIET SA-13 MISSILE SYSTEM.
NAVAL SAM SYSTEM TRENDS – USSR
RADIATED NOISE LEVELS OF SHIPS AND SUBMARINES WORLDWIDE.
NAVAL FORCES INTELLIGENCE STUDY – ISRAEL
PORT FACILITIES STUDY: TUBRUG PORT COMPLEX, LIBYA
IRAN-IRAQ ELECTRONIC WARFARE CAPABILITIES
MILITARY IMPLICATIONS OF LOGISTICAL INFRASTRUCTURAL EXPANSION IN SOUTH
YEMEN
UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE AND THE LIBYAN ARAB NAVY
The petition asks the Israeli Supreme Court to investigate the alleged
violation of a commitment the U.S. made to Israel not to use the documents
Israel returned in the prosecution of the agent. When the U.S. immediately
used the documents against Pollard "to coerce a guilty plea and to force him
to accept a plea agreement," Israel never protested, the petition argues.
Also, Pollard contends, Israel never informed him of the agreement or its
violation by the U.S. so that he could use the information to defend
himself.
Pollard's petition is based on the
EBAN Commission
Report, the result of an investigation of the affair nearly 20 years
ago.
The report documents the commitment made by the U.S. not to use the
returned documents against Pollard, his legal team points out.
Justice4JP says the titles raise "troubling questions," such as:
- "Why was the U.S. so angry that Pollard let Israel know about the war
capabilities and weapons systems obtained by her enemies?"
"Why was the U.S. withholding this information, instead of sharing it
with Israel, as it was obliged to according to a 1983 Memo of
Understanding signed by the two nations?"
"Did Pollard 'damage' U.S. national security, as the Americans have
claimed … or did Pollard simply 'damage' an American pro-Arab policy that
preferred a weak Israel, deprived of vital information, and unable to
defend herself?"
Pollard's sentence is considered by many to be disproportionate to the
crime for which he was convicted – he is the only person in the history of
the United States to receive a life sentence for spying for an ally. The
median sentence for this particular offense is two to four years.
Pollard's sentence largely was thought to have been driven by a
last-minute secret memorandum from Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger,
in which he accused Pollard of treason – a crime for which he was never
indicted – and claimed Pollard harmed America's national security.
But even Weinberger now says the sentence may be about something else.
Weinberger said in a recent interview that the Pollard issue "is a very
minor matter, but made very important. ... It was made far bigger than its
actual importance."
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