It's tiring to hear ill-informed or ill-intentioned people keep repeating that the US had or has any obligation whatsoever to share classified intelligence with any foreign power, including Israel. This is nonsense; no country in the world has any such obligation. Even within the US intelligence community, members of one agency do not always have access to information in another (or even in departments of their own agency). This is called "compartmentalization." . Much information is classified "no foreign," meaning that it cannot be divulged to any foreign national, regardless of country. All intelligence-sharing "agreements" are informal and limited. This fact is known by all parties concerned. The US' closest intelligence ally is Great Britain, yet much information cannot be (and is not) shared with GB countries. If you think that Israel shares all of its information with the US, think again! Countries share information when, and only when, they consider it to be in their own best interest; obviously, this was not the case with the intelligence stolen by Pollard. As with all intelligence employees, Pollard was familiarized with the rules when he began his assignment. He broke them wilfully. He received cash for his merchandise. He is paying a heavy penalty. Too heavy, in my opinion. But he would be out of prison now were it not for his own delusional pig-headedness and incessant whining. That's simply not the way to get out of jail in the USA, and his friends and advisors have served him badly by encouraging his self-exculpatory behavior. Here, the only way out of prison (unless you can affford to bribe people in high places, as Marc Rich did with Clinton) is to show shame, remorse, contrition and self-abasement. It doesn't hurt, of course, if you sudddenly find Jesus...but I'm afraid that's not in the cards for Pollard.

Mordechai Vanunu was not in the pay of any foreign intelligence agency, yet he spent 18 years in prison. Was that, too, an excessive sentence?

Because of my background in USAF Intelligence (Top Secret Crypto Comint), I've been extremely reluctant to fault the punishing of Jonathan Pollard... until now. Those who betray their country *deserve* to pay the price, whether American or Israeli. All of the claims justifying Pollard's action can be tracked no further than two opposing propagandas playing out in the media... and I am fully aware of how what *really* goes on is often hilariously misrepresented by clueless and over-eager media reporters. Anyone who relies on the media as gospel instead of checking the reported "facts" for themselves deserves having been misled. That said, I've increasingly seen signs for several years that, consistently and ever more conclusively, suggested that Pollard's sentence, and particularly his current status, bore many unmistakable signatures of backroom intrigue having no relationship to his crime. Tenet's book put my last reservations to rest. The Clinton government, and Tenet in particular, was rotten, incompetent and despicable to the core. (Hillary is no exception.) Using Pollard's freedom -- the ability to live his life -- as a bargaining chip is reprehensible. Pollard is no terrorist threat who needs to be locked up for the safety of the public. Only Muslim terrorists -- and, apparently, the US Government -- capture and hold hostages for propaganda and bargaining chips. I have no conflict with being both a patriotic Israeli *and* a patriotic American. As a patriotic American vet and former American spook myself, however, I am **disgusted** with the Clinton administration and Tenet in particular! The American judicial system would ordinarily have released any other criminal -- or spy -- on these legal technical failures alone. It is despicable for the US Government -- including the Bush administration that inherited the problem -- to use Pollard as a bargaining chip. Both because Pollard has already paid a far heavier price than any comparable spy of his era -- he served his time -- and because the American government is holding the key to his cell in dirty hands, there is NO legal or moral justification to keep him in prison. The underhanded excessiveness of his punishment has become an injustice. Pollard is still an American citizen and, as such, has the right to sue for damages; not because he was wrongly convicted or punished, but because his punishment was made to far exceed his crime by dirty politics and dirty politicians. Those who betray their country *deserve* to pay the price. Those in the American government with dirty hands in this matter have betrayed their country no less. Those dirty politicians should now be made to pay the price of their crime no less than Pollard did. There's no justification for continuing to imprison Pollard. Release Pollard... now!

have you been in Antartica ? havent you heard about the plans of 2507 Antartica World Cup ? if not, let me save my breath ! and leave ! Walk The Line love Atilla Karagözoğlu King of Israel

While I agree that Pollard, obnoxious as he is, has nonetheless served enough time and should be released from prison, you make several points that are off the mark. First, moral arguments aside, the US government has EVERY legal justification to keep him in prison. If the were not the case, an appeals court would have ordered his release long ago. Second, while he of course has the right to try to sue the government for damages (in this country, anybody can try to sue anyone for anything), his case, if even accepted, would be laughed out of court. I repeat: Pollard has been his own worst enemy. Finally, I agree with you that the use of prisoners as political bargaining chips is reprehensible. At present, notably, three Israelis are being used in this manner, as are some thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Lebanese. This is no way to conduct diplomacy.

Perfidy: Israel's Role in the Pollard Case A chronology of betrayal and abandonment bodes ill for the fate of all of Israel's captives. From Esther Pollard's Speech at Midreshet Moriah April 29, 2007 - Israel. + The information that Jonathan provided to Israel included Iranian, Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare capabilities - all being developed for use against Israel. He also provided information on ballistic missile development by these countries and information on up-coming terrorist attacks planned against Israeli civilian targets. + Israel was legally entitled to this vital security information according to a 1983 Memorandum of Understanding signed by both countries. But the information was deliberately being withheld from Israel as the result of an illegal intelligence embargo implemented by former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and former Deputy Director of the CIA Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, whose pro-Arab tilt did not jibe with declared US foreign policy....

TENET IS LYING ABOUT MANY OTHER THINGS IN HIS BOOK. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK HE IS BEING STRAIGHT ON THIS ONE???!! DUH!!

they were not so ironically true! Yes, Jonathan Pollard got a life sentence and some of the talkbackers here are complaining that it is too harsh in light of Islamist enemy combatants being released early from places like Gitmo. What the hell??! Who is fighting to get those Islamists released? None other than the liberals the Jewish lobby makes powerful in Washington, DC!! It has been proven more than once many of these radicals quickly return to combat! Once again, you have no one to blame but yourselves!

but did NOT Release Pollard From Esther Pollard's Speech at Midreshet Moriah April 29, 2007 ...What about Wye, you ask? Didn't Israel try to get Jonathan at Wye? Let's look at the facts: Jonathan was supposed to be the quid pro quo for the 750 murderers and terrorists that Israel released as part of the Wye Accords. The Knesset Record in the aftermath of the summit states that the deal that was made at Wye for the release of Jonathan Pollard was not a deal between two individuals (Clinton and Netanyahu) but between the two countries and the deal is still in effect. Nevertheless, Israel released the murderers and terrorists, but never collected Jonathan's freedom!... ARIK SHARON to Rechavam Ze'evi: "The only way I will ever agree to bring Pollard home is in a coffin." YITZHAK SHAMIR: former Prime Minister in separate meetings with Jonathan's attorney Larry Dub, and with his parents: "A sovereign state has to know how to abandon those who serve the state, if the need arises."...

What is the big deal...America can keep the fat slob...He was incompetant and deserved his punishement. He committed treason against the United States and made no effort to cover his tracks. Send him his Rosh H' Shanah Shwarmah and call it a day.

You raise good questions but I still don't think my points are off the mark. While Pollards imprisonment was legally justified, the excessiveness of his confinement beyond the norm is a result not of legal justification but of under-the-table, backroom intrigue. That same under-the-table, backroom intrigue is what prevents essential evidence from being permitted to be presented to the courts, thereby, **precluding** him from making his case in appeals court. That is a matter of public record. If the essential evidence were permitted to be presented to the appeals court and it led to his release, then a suit for damages would be a slam-dunk, far from being laughed out of court. Finally, as I mentioned in my first message (!), Arab terrorists are held for the safety of the public, not for bargaining chips. They are a threat, if released, to blow up buses, shopping malls, restaurants, etc. Like you, I strongly oppose using them for bargaining chips. They're locked up for an excellent reason and need to be kept there unless and until there is a full, final and comprehensive peace agreement -- and I don't see that happening. Our soldiers who are being held hostage, by contrast, were ALL within our borders and strictly defensive, defending our borders, when they were kidnapped. They were NOT intruding into Gaza or Lebanon to blow up buses or shopping malls, etc. To equate soldiers defending borders against terrorists with the terrorists who blow up buses, shopping malls, etc. is shameful and reprehensible. Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

You are digusting! USA always considered ISrael as ally but I cannot understand why. For heaven's sake, this spy gave seriously critical info about USA agents and military logistic secrets to Israel; and Israel sold them to the Sviet Union!!!!!!! That resulted in the death of several USA agents and in military failures! How dare you defend him? You are ungrateful people who bite the hand that feeds them.

If a Muslim was put in prison for the same crime, would any of you care? Pollard spied on the US. He stole documents for Israel, which already receives US support. He deserves his sentence.