Who's next? American Traitor and Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard? Don't be surprised if it happened. Remember that Bill Clinton had his Marc Rich.
Bush pardons man who helped Jewish resistance in 1940s
Charles Winters, who died in the 1980s in Florida, was convicted of violating the Neutrality Act for using his planes to transport arms to Palestine. Spielberg: There are probably many unsung heroes of America and of Israel, but Winters is surely one of them
Associated Press
Before leaving for the holidays, US President George W. Bush on Tuesday commuted the prison sentence of a drug offender and granted 19 pardons, including one to a man who helped the Jewish resistance in the 1940s.
With this latest batch, which includes forgiveness for convictions ranging from gun and drug violations to bank and mail fraud, Bush has granted a total of 191 pardons and nine commutations. That's fewer than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their two terms.
Included in the latest list is Charles Winters, who is considered a hero in Israel.
Winters, who died in the 1980s in Florida, was in the airplane business after World War II. He bought up former military cargo planes and used them to transport fruit and other products. He later started helping his Jewish friends who were shipping arms to Jews trying to found their own state in the Middle East.
Winters, a Protestant from Boston, could fly his planes in and out of the region without interference from authorities. In 1948, three of his planes left Miami, picked up weapons in Azores and Czechoslovakia and then left the planes and arms in Palestine.
Winters was convicted of violating the Neutrality Act, fined $5,000 and sentenced to serve 18 months in prison. The act is designed to ensure that financial assistance and arms are not provided to parties in foreign conflicts where the US has not taken sides.
Two others, Herman Greenspun and Al Schwimmer, also were convicted of violating the act, but they did not serve time. President Kennedy pardoned Greenspun in 1961. President Clinton pardoned Schwimmer in 2000.
'Punishment unduly harsh and unjust'
Reginald Brown, an attorney who worked on the Winters pardon, said Bush's pardon "rights a historical wrong and honors Charlie's belief that the creation of the Jewish state was a moral imperative of his time. ... Charlie Winters helped shape human history for the better."
Film director Steven Spielberg wrote a letter to Bush appealing for a pardon for Winters.
"There are probably many unsung heroes of America and of Israel, but Charlie Winters is surely one of them," wrote the director of "Schindler's List" and other Oscar-winning movies. "While a pardon cannot make Charlie Winters whole, and regrettably he did not live to see it, it would be a fitting tribute to his memory and a great blessing to his family if this pardon is granted."
The only other pardon granted posthumously in recent years was given to Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point. Flipper was drummed out of the Army after white officers accused him of embezzling about $3,800 from commissary funds. Flipper initially discovered the funds missing from his custody and concealed their disappearance from superiors, hoping the money would return.
He was court-martialed, acquitted of embezzlement but convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer, and dishonorably discharged. Flipper went on to a successful civilian career as an engineer and expert in Spanish and Mexican land law. He wrote several books and worked as a special assistant to the US interior secretary.
In 1976, an Army board commuted Flipper's dismissal to a good conduct discharge, concluding that his conviction and punishment were "unduly harsh and unjust." In 1999, Clinton granted him a full pardon.
Published: 12.23.08, 22:40 / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3643336,00.html
Bush Pardons Zionist Traitor To The USA
December 24, 2008
WASHINGTON – In a gesture of forgiveness for a decades-old offense, President George W. Bush on Tuesday granted a pardon posthumously to a man who broke the law to supply aircraft to Jews fighting in Israel’s 1948 war of independence.
Charles Winters, a Miami businessman considered a hero in Israel, was listed in a batch of 19 pardons and one commutation that Bush issued before leaving for Camp David to spend the holidays. No high-profile lawbreakers were on the list.
Winters’ son, Jim, had found out about his father’s daring missions and imprisonment only after his death in 1984.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Jim Winters, a Miami maker of artistic neon signs, said in a telephone interview. “It happened 16 years before I was born. He went to jail and he didn’t want his kids to know. He was old-school and proud.”
Members of the Jewish community, who adorned his father’s funeral with blue and white flowers symbolic of the Israeli flag, filled in details about his father’s past. His obituary in The Miami Herald read, “Charles Winters, 71, aided birth of Israel.”
In the summer of 1948, Winters, a Protestant from Boston who exported produce, worked with others to transfer two converted B-17 “Flying Fortresses” to Israel’s defense forces. He personally flew one of the aircraft from Miami to Czechoslovakia, where that plane and a third B-17 were retrofitted for use as bombers.
“He and other volunteers from around the world defied weapons embargoes to supply the newly established Israel with critical supplies to defend itself against mounting attacks from all sides,” New York Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Gary Ackerman, Jose Serrano and Brian Higgins said in a Dec. 15 letter urging Bush to pardon Charlie Winters. “Without the actions of individuals like Mr. Winters, this fledgling democracy in the Middle East almost certainly would not have survived as the surrounding nations closed in on Israel’s borders.”
The three B-17s were the only heavy bombers in the Israeli Air Force. It is reported that counterattacks with the bombers helped turned the war in Israel’s favor. In March 1961, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir issued a letter of commendation to Winters to recognize his contributions to Israel’s survival as an independent state.
Winters, a Protestant from Boston, was convicted in 1949 for violating the Neutrality Act for conspiring to export aircraft to a foreign country. He was fined $5,000 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Two others, Herman Greenspun and Al Schwimmer, also were convicted of violating the act, but they did not serve time. President Kennedy pardoned Greenspun in 1961. President Clinton pardoned Schwimmer in 2000.
“Rules are rules, but it’s interesting that my dad was the low man on the totem pole in the operation, but he’s the only one who had to serve time,” said Jim Winters, 44.
Reginald Brown, an attorney who worked on the Winters pardon, said Bush’s action “rights a historical wrong and honors Charlie’s belief that the creation of the Jewish state was a moral imperative of his time. … Charlie Winters helped shape human history for the better.”
Film director Steven Spielberg wrote a letter to Bush appealing for a pardon for Winters.
“There are probably many unsung heroes of America and of Israel, but Charlie Winters is surely one of them,” wrote the director of “Schindler’s List,” his Oscar-winning movie about the Holocaust. “While a pardon cannot make Charlie Winters whole, and regrettably he did not live to see it, it would be a fitting tribute to his memory and a great blessing to his family if this pardon is granted.”
After Winters died Oct. 30, 1984, half of his ashes were buried in a Christian cemetery near the Jewish cemetery of the Knights Templar in Jerusalem. The other half was scattered from the top of Mount Tabor in Israel. Jim Winters said the last words his father spoke to him were “Keep the faith” — something the young Winters said he did during more than a year that he sought the pardon.
The only other pardon granted posthumously in recent years was given to Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Flipper was drummed out of the Army after white officers accused him of embezzling about $3,800 from commissary funds. Flipper initially discovered the funds missing from his custody and concealed their disappearance from superiors, hoping the money would return. Clinton gave Flipper a full pardon in 1999.
With this latest batch, which includes forgiveness for convictions ranging from gun and drug violations to bank and mail fraud, Bush has granted a total of 190 pardons and nine commutations. That’s fewer than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Ronald Reagan issued during their two terms.
Well-known names were not on Bush’s holiday pardon list. There have been efforts to get Bush to pardon former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, who was convicted in 2000 with four others in a scheme to rig riverboat casino licensing; disgraced track star Marion Jones, who lied about using steroids; Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, former U.S. Border Patrol agents who were convicted of shooting a drug smuggler in 2005 and trying to cover it up; and Michael Milken, junk bond king who was convicted of securities fraud.
In his most high-profile official act of forgiveness, Bush saved Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, from serving any prison time in the case of the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.
Libby was convicted of perjury and obstructing justice. Bush could still grant him a full pardon, although Libby has not applied for one.