The CIA, Gingrich and Pollard

October 24, 1998

The CIA hit Capitol Hill with a vengeance on Friday and stampeded legislators like Gingrich, Biden and Shelby with false information. These legislators spewed back what they heard. (See article below.)

One would have hoped that legislators might have known better. At very least they ought to have known that Jonathan did not commit treason. It kind of shows what a farce Israel's so-called lobbying effort on the Hill in September to prevent this from occuring was. It also shows how little lobbying has been done over the years both by Israel and the American Jewish leaders, if Capitol Hill could so easily swallow the old lies.

So here is the question: if we cannot trust the CIA to deal honestly with regard to one Israeli agent (Jonathan Pollard) how in Heaven's name can we trust them to monitor PLO compliance with security guarantees for all the nation of Israel?

Murray Kahl wrote:

Gingrich tells Clinton to forget about releasing Israeli spy Pollard

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (October 24, 1998 5:26 p.m. EDT ) -- Newt Gingrich said Saturday America should not put "traitors on the negotiating table as a pawn" and demanded that President Clinton forget about releasing Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.

"I hope the president will just decide to take it off the table. It should never have been there in the first place," Gingrich, the House speaker, said in this Atlanta suburb. "It is not something we should negotiate about in the middle of a peace conference."

As part of a U.S.-brokered land-for-security agreement reached Friday between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Clinton agreed to review whether Pollard can be released from his life sentence and sent to Israel.

A former civilian employee of the Navy's intelligence service, Pollard was sentenced to life in prison 11 years ago for spying for Israel.

Until recently, Israeli governments disavowed Pollard and called his espionage a "rogue operation." Netanyahu's government granted Pollard Israeli citizenship and acknowledged him as the Israeli government's agent.

Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton have refused appeals for Pollard's release, the latest by Netanyahu rejected by Clinton on Oct. 1.

"I think it would be a tremendous mistake for the United States to start putting traitors on the negotiating table as a pawn, and I hope the administration will now say they will not, under any circumstance, release Pollard," Gingrich said.

His release, Gingrich added, "may well endanger American security."

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Intelligence Committee, also demanded that Pollard not be released. In a letter, Shelby wrote Friday that "Pollard's treachery is a United States security matter. It touches on not merely the national security information revealed without authorization, but on the trust which underpins our system of safeguarding classified information." ...