Recently, we expressed our dismay that the Administration has offered the release of traitor and spy Jonathan Pollard as a consolation prize to the Israelis, for getting Tel Aviv nuked at some future date, which is the intended outcome of his Iran deal. (Intended, at least, by the Iranians, who are not being subtle or dissembling about their intentions, at least, by Iranian standards of dissembling, which are at variance with those of the civilized world).

Now, the President does not read WeaponsMan.com (although rather a lot of his underlings come here, some to support us, some looking to undermine us). And he probably doesn’t much care what former Secretaries of Defense say, but the last President who was looking to spring the egotistical turncoat got this letter:

pollard letter

Even Nixon’s relatively ineffectual SecDef, Mel Laird (never to be forgotten in SF circles over the initial Green Weenie for the Son Tay Raid participants) signed the thing.

In the early days of the Bush Administration, Israel lobbyists tested the waters again, producing another letter, this one from Rummy alone:

pollard letter2

We were reminded of the letters by the brusque, abrasive — and brilliant — former SecDef Don Rumsfeld himself, who tweeted:

Releasing Pollard was a bad idea in 1998 & 2001. It is not a better idea today.

Warming to the idea, and perhaps missing the Snowflakes he used to distribute to his stressed minions at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld tweeted again:

Releasing spy Jonathan Pollard doesn’t make the any less of a disaster for Israel & the free world.

And again:

WRT release of notorious spy, Jonathan Pollard, remember: if u want more of something, reward it & if u want less of something, penalize it.

That is a sentiment that anyone who has ever been in the beaten zone of Rumsfeld has heard a few (dozen) times. (We have a friend who was at the Pentagon and loathed Rummy as a person even as he mostly agrees with him on policy).

And again:

Spying ought not to be rewarded.

You know, Washington never had anyone bugging him for the release of #MajJohnAndre. 
As Rummy might put it, If you penalize something (like, say, letting spies live) you get less of it (as Americans grow weary of those with divided or foreign loyalties pleading for spies, and take more resolute action against future spies); if you reward something (say, arguendo, hanging them, removing them as a symbol for the disloyal) you get more of it.
And the incentives work another way, also. It’s indisputable that if you make the penalty for espionage a short walk off a long platform, attenuated only by a noose affixed to a solid object overhead, or the opportunity to personally close a high-voltage circuit, you get less spying from that individual and from any other rational actors who are paying attention.

This entry was posted in Unconventional Warfare on by Hognose.

About Hognose

Former Special Forces 11B2S, later 18B, weapons man. (Also served in intelligence and operations jobs in SF).

10 thoughts on “Rummy on Pollard”

Gray

Hognose,

“That is a sentiment that anyone who has ever been in the beaten zone of Rumsfeld has heard a few (dozen) times. (We have a friend who was at the Pentagon and loathed Rummy as a person even as he mostly agrees with him on policy).”

Would love to hear your elaboration on Rummy.

Wes

What the glossed over stories fail to cover (usually with the, “well, it’s ok, it was Israel” stool softener) is that the information he provided to Israel made its way in bushel baskets at the time, from Israel all the way to the Kremlin which caused them to relook their own penetrations. I mean, Ziva wasn’t in charge, ya know? It was espionage, and it put ships’ deployments, systems, and people’s real breathing lives, at risk.

What about Pollard? Smaller cage & may he live forever.

Jim Scrummy

Unfortunately, we live in an upside down world these daze. I guess it is the bread and circus phase of the republic? Not sure?

I do miss Rummy, just because he made things interesting in the 5-sided wind tunnel. I was lucky enough to watch him play squash on a late Friday afternoon in the PAC. I was thinking to myself that I hope I can move as good as he did at 74-75 years old. The man was relentless on the squash court.

Y.

Brilliant.

Was he not one of the guys who pushed hard for blaming Iraq for 9/11, and thus directly responsible for wasting a couple of hundred billion $?

If brilliant men support such blunders, humanity is truly doomed.

Doubletrouble

Off topic, but do you have a pm address?

I can’t find one on site.

Or, shoot me an em to my addy.

I’ve an invite for you…

Tom Stone

Israel is a foreign state that looks after its own interests and they are certainly not always congruent with US interests.

I haven’t forgotten the USS Liberty or Pollard.

Pollard should not be released, he is a convicted traitor.

There is a price to pay for Treason.

I don’t like the influence AIPAC has in the beltway and I do not conflate criticism of the actions of the State of Israel with anti semitism.

I wonder how long it will be before the Federal Government becomes so corrupt that it simply stops functioning ?

“Greg”

Your comment: “I wonder how long it will be before the Federal Government becomes so corrupt that it simply stops functioning ?” got me thinking for a response… “stops functioning?” you say? It will stop functioning when it is FORCED to stop functioning, such as what stops a serial killer from killing? or any living animal from breathing? In the abscence of a stopping force, it will continue as it can, being corrupt where it can be, and trying to expand it’s corruption where it has not yet corrupted. On the other hand, those that do not wish to support this corruption may try what they might – try to elect representatives that will stop the corruption, share other ideas on how to stop it, perhaps simply to report the corruption that happens to be discovered…

Boat Guy

Was stashed in the Pentagon when he came in; those whose oxen were rightly gored (and there were some collaterally-damaged good oxen) despised him and fought him eveery step of the way – some continue to do so.

I had a few brief interactions with SecDef Rumsfeld a couple of years later and came away VERY impressed. This letter does nothing to diminish that

68Whiskey

“…for getting Tel Aviv nuked at some future date”

Don’t tempt me with a good time. As some earlier commentator noted, “People have friends, nations have interests.” The Izzys have been pretty aggressive about applying this philosophy, extensive and unwavering US support notwithstanding.

Seriously, fuck those guys.

S

It’s not like you’ve given them reason to trust you, now. Don’t forget their Independence Day lies 3000 years in the past, and there are many cultures and nations in between that were alternately friend and foe. Foe invariably seals the deal (Genesis 12:3); Israel has a Friend in a high place, and He means to finish the story He started. They might be wayward sheep for now, but they’re still His. You’re turning on them now, courtesy of your Abomination-in-Chief, and there will be US military forces of some sort in the Valley of Jehoshaphat along with all the other nations. Your nation has diverging interests too, and not for the first time. Study Joel’s Book, and remember the others before you that stenciled “Gott mit Uns” on their harness and learned that it might not turn out so well as promised by the professional liars. He surely is with us, but is He for us? Even Joshua asked that question and got a humbling answer (Joshua 5:14). Don’t forget Who is in charge.