Intel Analyst Offers Expert Testimony to Obama on Pollard
Hamodia Staff - Hamodia [NY] - December 18, 2013
YERUSHALAYIM - An American intelligence analyst who is fully familiar with all of the material in the Pollard file has offered to provide expert testimony to U.S. President Barack Obama that would demonstrate once and for all that the only offense Pollard is guilty of is the one that he was charged with: one count of passing classified information to an ally - a crime that usually has a sentence of 2 to 4 years.
In a letter strongly urging the president to release Pollard, Prof. Angelo Codevilla, who was on the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time of the Israeli agent's arrest, noted:
"Pollard is the only person ever sentenced to life imprisonment for passing information to an ally, without intent to harm America, a crime which normally carries a sentence of 2-4 years; and that this disproportionate sentence in violation of a plea agreement was based not on the indictment but on a memorandum that was never shared with the defense. This is not how American justice is supposed to work."
"Having been intimately acquainted with the materials that Pollard passed and with the 'sources and methods' by which they were gathered, I would be willing to give expert testimony that Pollard is guilty of neither more nor less than what the indictment alleges."
The Campaign for Justice for Jonathan Pollard issued a statement on Tuesday explaining the significance of Codevilla's offer:
"Over the years, by keeping the file secret, the U.S. government has been able to subvert all attempts by Jonathan Pollard to clear his name by clarifying the record about what he did and did not do. As a result, some elements of the public continue to harbor the suspicion that he is guilty of far more serious crimes than have been openly admitted or publicized."
"Professor Codevilla is aware that this three-decades-long government smear campaign against Pollard which continues to hide behind a veil of secrecy is totally unfounded, unfair and unsupported by the classified documents.
"It is a matter of public record that no charges against Pollard were dropped by the plea agreement and the only thing he was charged with was one count of passing classified information for the benefit of an ally with no intent to harm the US. There was no evidence to support any other charges," the statement said.
In the closing sentence of his letter, Codevilla asks President Obama to "exercise your Constitutional right to commute Pollard's sentence to time served," which brushes aside the recent official attempts to suggest that the president is legally unable to intervene.