Kissinger joins effort to free Pollard

Gil Hoffman - The Jerusalem Post - March 7, 2011

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger joined the long list of current and former senior American and Israeli officials calling for the release of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard on Monday when a letter he wrote US President Barack Obama was released to the press.

Kissinger, who served under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, told Obama that he had given much thought to the question of clemency for Pollard and decided to back the effort after speaking to fellow former secretary of state George Schultz.

The following is the text of Henry Kissinger's letter to President Obama:

March 3, 2011

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I would have written this letter sooner but for a long trip abroad, from which I have just returned. While I was gone, I gave much thought to the question of clemency for Jonathan Pollard. At first I felt I did not have enough information to render a reasoned and just opinion. But having talked with George Shultz and read the statements of former CIA Director Woolsey, former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman DeConcini, former Defense Secretary Weinberger, former Attorney General Mukasey and others whose judgments and first-hand knowledge I respect, I find their unanimous support for clemency compelling.

I believe justice would be served by commuting the remainder of Pollard's sentence of life imprisonment.

Respectfully yours,

Henry A. Kissinger

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