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Shallow Support
Hurt Pollard Movement
CI inton's decision not to free the spy for Israel was
based on figuring the political pluses and minuses.
JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
W
hy did the movement
to win White House
commutation of con-
victed spy Jonathan
Jay Pollard's life sentence fail?
According to sources within
the administration, President
Bill Clinton's decision last week
not to grant clemency stemmed
above all else from a perception
that Jewish community support
for Mr. Pollard, while broad,
was basically shallow.
That being the case, Mr. Clin-
ton stood to accrue no signifi-
cant political gain from granting
clemency, just as he faced no
significant political loss for not
doing so, the sources explained.
The president's decision came
only one day after Attorney
General Janet Reno submitted
her long-awaited report argu-
ing that the damage caused by
Mr. Pollard's actions warrant-
ed his continued incarceration.
Mr. Pollard, who is serving a
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consequences for President
Clinton, he had no reason to
buck his defense and intelli-
gence agencies on the Pollard
issue.
"What inhibited the Presi-
dent was the fact that the gov-
ernment spoke with one voice,"
said David Blumenthal, a pro-
fessor of Judaic studies at
Emory University in Atlanta
and a supporter of the commu-
tation movement. "You had the
Justice Department, the intel-
ligence agencies, the Defense
Department, all speaking out
against commutation. It is very
difficult to go against all that."
The president's decision,
added Kenneth Lasson, a law
professor at the University of
Baltimore and a Pollard sup-
porter, "showed that President
Clinton is more of a political an-
imal than I thought.
"I'm surprised and disap-
pointed. I really thought Clin-
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Molly and Morris Pollard
life sentence, was accused of
providing thousands of secret
documents to Israel while he
was a civilian intelligence ana-
lyst for the Navy.
Ms. Reno's recommenda-
tions, observers noted, reflect-
ed the view of an intelligence
community that insists that
spying — even if done for an
ally — can never be justified,
and that stifflegal penalties are
the surest deterrent to poten-
tial spies.
Given the lack of political
ton would stand up to his own
Justice Department. Appar-
ently he felt too much pressure
from his cabinet, not enough
pressure from the Jewish com-
munity."
`The administration was nev-
er convinced that the Jewish
community was really behind
this effort," said Seymour Re-
ich, president of the American
Zionist Movement and another
longtime Pollard backer. "I've
heard this from a number of
people in the administration.