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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dougjn who wrote (10960)	10/23/1998 7:36:00 PM
From: mrknowitall	Respond to of 67261

Dougjn - are you only now concerned that someone with the character of Bill Clinton is the one who will be making this decision? Have you missed all of the other decisions Clinton has made in the best interests of himself and his foreign supporters? Knowing full well his penchant for placing his friends and his best interests above that of this nation, Why would this one be so outrageous? Pollard goes free - hey, Clinton is the great architect of peace in the middle east. What's interesting is how far other countries now think they can push; Netanyahu wouldn't have asked anyone he truly respected. Guess we'll have to wait and see what the polls tell him to do. Mr. K.

To: dougjn who wrote (10960)	10/23/1998 8:04:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 67261

Re: Wye Agreement & Pollard Nice to see you back, doug! But I am not quite clear what you mean by the "Pollard quasi deal." The Israeli attempt to link a Pollard deal with the latest Israeli-Palestinian agreement eventually failed. Quite properly, now that I think about it. Pollard is a problem in US-Israeli relations, not a problem in Israeli-Palestinian relations, and Netanyahu had no business trying to slip Pollard into the discussion of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. At the joint appearance of all the parties today, the President said only that he had "agreed to review" the case, but that had had "made no commitment." Is this what you mean by a "quasi-deal"? If so, why do you find it that upsetting? Every Israeli Prime Minister has raised the Pollard issue; Netanyahu started doing so last January. Sure, Pollard was a spy. But he was spying for a "friendly country." It is not our practice to execute such spies. All Pollard supporters have been hammering away at the point that Pollard has already served 13 years, more time than any other spy ever convicted for spying for a "friendly country." Besides, he technically qualifies for parole. So, there will be a high-level review. Probably the same thing will happen that reportedly happened during the last review: some parties will recommend releasing him, others will recommend against. So it may go nowhere, a political hot potato that Clinton will not feel in a position to handle, even if he wanted to. Or do you think he really has given a commitment in private? In other words: ?????? jbe

To: dougjn who wrote (10960)	10/24/1998 5:48:00 PM
From: Who, me?	Respond to of 67261

Gingrich wants Clinton to cancel Pollard case review LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Newt Gingrich said Saturday the United States 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.'' On another intelligence question, Gingrich said it is impossible for the CIA, as it is currently set up, to supervise the security plan mandated in the agreement. ''To allow the traditional CIA to be involved in this would be a very major mistake,'' Gingrich said. ''I believe without any question they will have to establish a new department ... so that it doesn't end up tainting the other intelligence-gathering operations.'' He said Congress will send a delegation to Israel to assist in implementing the plan, which stipulates that the CIA oversee the arrest of Palestinian terrorist suspects and the confiscation of weapons in areas under Palestinian Authority control. He gave no details on the delegation's mission. Gingrich said the agreement, achieved just 11 days before the Nov. 3 elections, has no impact on Clinton's impeachment inquiry and on domestic politics. ''I'd prefer to believe that all of us are in favor of the peace treaty being implemented,'' said Gingrich. ''We're in favor of the peace talks being successful, and I think the president was sincere in trying to get them to work. ''(But) this was not any climactic event.'' tampabayonline.net