Michael Meeropol Statement on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>forwarded by Michael Hoover
<snip>
>RELEASED "VENONA" DOCUMENTS DEMONSTRATE GOVERNMENT DUPLICITY.
<snip>
>     The documents' nature and contents explain why they Agencies
>kept them secret for over 40 years.  The Agencies have released no
>physical evidence to support their claims. The public is asked to
>accept just upon their say that the documents really are
>translations of encrypted Soviet diplomatic communications that
>the translations faithful reflect those communications, and that
>the individuals referred to in code in the documents are the people
>The Agencies say they are.  None of this should be taken for
>granted.  The Agencies are some of the major architects of our
>parents' legally sanctioned murder and so have a tremendous stake
>in justifying their execution.
>
>     The booklet The Agences released to "explain" the documents
>("Introductory History of VENONA and Guide to the Trnaslations),
>demonstrates that they have even lied about the contents of these
>documents in this carefully staged effort to misinform the public.
>For example the following statements appear on page 10 of the
>Guide:
>
>     "These messages disclose some of the clandestine activities of
>     Julius and Ethel Rosenberg ..." and "KGB officer Leonid
>     Kvasnikov ... like the Rosenbergs ... had many other high-tech
>     espionage targets..." (emphasis added)
>
>     Our mother is barefly mentioned in the 49 documents The
>Agencies claim are KGB transmissions, and nowhere in them is it
>stated that she engaged in clandestine activities.  The major
>reference to her states:  "Knows about her husband's work and the
>role of METR and NIL.  In view of delicate health does not work.
>Is characterized positively and as a devoted person."
>
>     Our father's name never appears in any of the documents.
>
>     The Agencies would have us believe that they identified many
>spies long before our parents' arrests and did nothing about it but
>give the FBI a few tips while the vast majority of them either
>disappeared or were never prosecuted.

Perhaps the virtue of VENONA lies in its ability to prove what little
evidence it takes to execute individuals whose political convictions are
guilty beyond doubt in American criminal justice.

Yoshie