Friday, September 12, 2008

Confession of a co-conspirator

The Rosenbergs' rear their head... from beyond the grave. From the New York Times

Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits to Soviet Spying

In 1951, Morton Sobell was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. He served more than 18 years in Alcatraz and other federal prisons, traveled to Cuba and Vietnam after his release in 1969 and became an advocate for progressive causes.

Through it all, he maintained his innocence.

But on Thursday, Mr. Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy.

And he implicated his fellow defendant Julius Rosenberg, in a conspiracy that delivered to the Soviets classified military and industrial information and what the American government described as the secret to the atomic bomb.


Of course, The Rosenberg's son get quoted:

The Rosenbergs’ younger son, Robert Meeropol, described Mr. Sobell’s confession Thursday as “powerful,” but said he wanted to hear it firsthand. “I’ve always said that was a possibility,” Mr. Meeropol said, referring to the question of his father’s guilt. “This is certainly evidence that would corroborate that possibility as a reality.”


And to this day this commie tool says what he did wasn't so bad. Surprisingly, the NYT puts the lie to his statement:

In the interview, Mr. Sobell drew a distinction between atomic espionage and the details of radar and artillery devices that he said he stole for the Russians. “What I did was simply defensive, an aircraft gun,” he said. “This was defensive. You cannot plead that what you did was only defensive stuff, but there’s a big difference between giving that and stuff that could be used to attack our country.”

(One device mentioned specifically by Mr. Sobell, however, the SCR 584 radar, is believed by military experts to have been used against American aircraft in Korea and Vietnam.)

(Emphasis mine)

We've known for sure about the Rosenbergs since the VENONA intercepts were made public. Little known fact: Julius Rosenberg's cover name was changed from ANTENNA to LIBERAL. I kid thee not.

As we learn more about the Rosenbergs, the "controversy" takes on a new narrative: Julius was the spy, but only a low level spy... And the atomic bomb secrets he communicated to the Soviet Union were nearly useless. But Ethel was railroaded by aggressive prosecutors. VENONA makes clear that Ethel was an active partner, helping with recruiting other American Communists to spy for the Soviet Union. It does not matter how or even IF the secrets passed by the Rosenbergs helped the Soviets... it's the fact that they passed secrets of any kind.


The Rosenberg's son gets the last word... and he uses it to say its not the last word:

Robert Meeropol, the Rosenbergs’ son, said that even if he were to accept Mr. Sobell’s verdict, “It’s not the end of what happened to my mother and it’s not the end of understanding what happened to due process.”


I'm going to type this slowly so he can understand this: Your daddy was a commie spy, your momma was a commie spy; they were executed for their crimes. It is sad to me that you grew up without your biological parents, but that was due to their decisions.

But there's probably no point in asking Mr. Meeropol to move on... He is firmly ensconced in the far left. I stumbled upon this reference to him ... on a poetry website:

In August 1995, Mumia came within ten days of being executed by lethal injection. He is seeking a new trial. Robert Meeropol, the younger son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, says: "Mumia is the first political prisoner in the U.S. to face execution since my parents."


And, surprise, both Robert and his older brother Michael are part of a 501(c)(3) organization - the Rosenberg Fund for Children, Inc. So if you are a political prisoner, your kids can get a Wii, or something.

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