On his last full day as President, Mr Bush,stayed out of sight at the White House, placed a dozen telephone calls to current and former world leaders to thank them for working with him over the past eight years and for their hospitality when he visited.
The only world leader to comment on Mr Bush's outreach, Mr Peres, praised Mr Bush's support for Israel and the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying: 'Had the world acted against Hitler the way you did against Saddam Hussein, the lives of millions would have been spared.'
Because of Peres's role - as the Prime Mnister during most of the time that Pollard engaged in espionage, and as the Prime Minister who helped ensure that the US government could successfully prosecute Pollard - Peres had the moral obligation to do more than his predecessors to get Pollard out of prison. Peres's high standing in the Western world gave him the unique ability to win the ear of an administration that had not shown any interest in softening its position as to Pollard. It is apparent that Peres voice was silenced onthe Pollard affair when Mr. Bush telephoned. The saddest part is that the Israeli public ilet him get away with it. On January 19, 2009, Jonathan Jay Pollard was not listed on President George W. Bush's final list of Presidential Pardons.
Jailed For 23 Years, An Old Spy Asks For a Fresh Start
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In a spectacular case of criminally divided loyalties, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former U.S. naval intelligence analyst, was sentenced to life in prison 23 years ago for selling to Israel some of America's most guarded secrets. Ever since, Israeli leaders, including current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have lobbied for his release. Now Pollard himself is asking too. His lawyers and the Justice Department tell NEWSWEEK that he would like President Bush to commute his sentence to time served—the first time Pollard has submitted such a request. He's already figured out what he plans to do if the president grants his wish. "Upon his release, he intends to work on helping to develop alternative sources of energy so that the U.S. can reduce its dependence on foreign oil," Pollard's pro bono attorney, Jacques Semmelman, said in an e-mail. Pollard studied political science before taking his civilian job with the Navy in 1979.
Much of the U.S. intelligence community remains against a commutation. Pollard, a Jewish American, says he acted out of concern for Israel's security after noticing that potentially vital information was not being shared with the Jewish state. But Ronald Olive, the former Navy counterintelligence officer who oversaw the investigation against Pollard, says the spy handed over hundreds of thousands of secret documents, including information on sources and methods of intelligence gathering. "He gave Israel the ability to analyze the holes and weaknesses in our security system," Olive says. He said Pollard would automatically be eligible for early release for good behavior in 2015.
But former CIA director James Woolsey told NEWSWEEK he would support Pollard's release on two conditions: that he show contrition and renounce any profits from books or other projects linked to the case. In the mid-1990s, Woolsey advised President Bill Clinton to dismiss appeals by Israeli leaders on Pollard's behalf. But at that point, Pollard had been behind bars for just a decade. "We're now coming up on a quarter of a century," Woolsey said, a duration typically reserved for "only the hard-line Soviet bloc spies." (When Pollard was caught in 1985, Israel initially described his operation as rogue but then made him a citizen.) He said Pollard's release would send the right message at a time when Hamas is firing rockets on Israel. Semmelman would not say if Pollard's petition for early release contained an expression of remorse. The White House refuses to comment on pardon and commutation requests.
© 2009
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