twk said:

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TheEternalPessimist said:

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Was he a Communist?

He continued spying after the Soviet Union fell.

Seems to me he was self-interested and loyal to nothing.

Even so - good riddance.

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He was an odd duck. Extremely arrogant, believed that American was going to hell (he was a devout Catholic), and that his superiors were incompetent--spying was a way to prove that.

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While hindsight is 20/20, he was probably right.
Even his own brother-in-law (also FBI) suggested to his own superior that Hanssen was a mole - after Hanssen's wife found hoards of cash in his drawer.
And the FBI superior did nothing. There were other signs and missed opportunities too.

His first words when arrested were "what took you so long"

TxTarpon said:

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Quote:

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Robert Hanssen, ex-FBI agent who spied for the Soviet Union and Russia, found dead in prison cell

Robert Hanssen, the former FBI agent who was serving a life sentence for being a Soviet and Russian spy, was found dead in his prison cell Monday.

Hanssen, 79, was found unresponsive at the Federal Correctional Complex in Florence, Colorado around 6:55 a.m. Monday, a BOP spokesperson said.
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Over the previous two decades, Moscow paid Hanssen with two Rolex watches and $600,000 in cash and diamonds, and promised that $800,000 more had been deposited in a bank there on his family's behalf. The FBI also recovered $50,000 from the Russians when it arrested Hanssen in February 2001.

Hanssen's spying peaked at the height of the Cold War, and officials said his activities were at least in part responsible for the deaths of at least three spies overseas. They included a Soviet Army general code-named "Top Hat" who was one of America's best intelligence sources and who was executed in 1986.

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He caused great damage.
Unlike the Soviets, we just put spies in prison.
They executed them.



He sold out America.

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I wonder what the Rosenbergs would have to say about that

We have a legit legal system and he may a plea bargain that kept him from the death penalty.

wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

TriAg2010 said:

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LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

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right but we ask others to do that against their country as well no? So ours is more noble?

LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Our country doesn't suck.

LarryElder said:

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TriAg2010 said:

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LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

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right but we ask others to do that against their country as well no? So ours is more noble?

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Now your just trying to apply logic to an illogical situation.

Don't try to reason with some of these clowns. They think the Hoover administration was the gold standard.

LarryElder said:

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TriAg2010 said:

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LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

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right but we ask others to do that against their country as well no? So ours is more noble?

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Really?

I remember him wearing burnt orange and marketing rainbow bu** plugs.

My goodness. Some of you never let a crisis is wasted for you to ***** and moan about today.

aggiehawg said:

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LarryElder said:

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TriAg2010 said:

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LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

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right but we ask others to do that against their country as well no? So ours is more noble?

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Really?

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And we often celebrate them. Weird game nations states play.

I think the dude chose wrong to plea for life. 20+ years 23 hours a day. You eat in your cell, you **** in your cell, you shower in your cell. Light is on all day except for sleeping hours. Extremely limited contact. No tv except for religious and educational ***** Letters and reading materials are censored and reviewed.

It really is a disgusting thing that we cage people like this. I understand maybe cooling a violent criminal off for 6 months or isolating a terrorist, but a nonviolent offender at 79 years of age? What was the purpose? He wasn't going to escape. That's cruel and unusual punishment. I don't care what he did.

I really think we need to reconsider our use of these types of prisons. I'm not a death penalty bro but if someone is some terrible and such a threat that they need to be put away in a coffin for 30 years, then they're probably good to execute.

twk said:

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TheEternalPessimist said:

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Was he a Communist?

He continued spying after the Soviet Union fell.

Seems to me he was self-interested and loyal to nothing.

Even so - good riddance.

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He was an odd duck. Extremely arrogant, believed that American was going to hell (he was a devout Catholic), and that his superiors were incompetent--spying was a way to prove that.

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By spying for communists?

I fail to see how that is beneficial for Catholicism -- especially given that Pope John Paul II was a strident anti-communist and was Pope during this era.

The Green Dragon said:

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aggiehawg said:

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LarryElder said:

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TriAg2010 said:

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LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

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right but we ask others to do that against their country as well no? So ours is more noble?

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Really?

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And we often celebrate them. Weird game nations states play.

I think the dude chose wrong to plea for life. 20+ years 23 hours a day. You eat in your cell, you **** in your cell, you shower in your cell. Light is on all day except for sleeping hours. Extremely limited contact. No tv except for religious and educational ***** Letters and reading materials are censored and reviewed.

It really is a disgusting thing that we cage people like this. I understand maybe cooling a violent criminal off for 6 months or isolating a terrorist, but a nonviolent offender at 79 years of age? What was the purpose? He wasn't going to escape. That's cruel and unusual punishment. I don't care what he did.

I really think we need to reconsider our use of these types of prisons. I'm not a death penalty bro but if someone is some terrible and such a threat that they need to be put away in a coffin for 30 years, then they're probably good to execute.

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We may not agree on the death penalty..... but you are right on this post. It would have been far better for him to have been executed.

LarryElder said:

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TriAg2010 said:

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LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

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right but we ask others to do that against their country as well no? So ours is more noble?

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Nobility has nothing to do with it. People turn spy for any number of reasons, many of them ignoble. Plenty - like Hassen - volunteer their services without being asked. As a matter of loyalty, we uphold those whose actions help us and we condemn those whose actions hurt us. Robert Hassen's betrayal hurt a great many people.

The FBI has a pretty sordid history. The whole rotten organization needs to be disbanded and some of their agents should be in GITMO for the rest of their lives.

TheEternalPessimist said:

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twk said:

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TheEternalPessimist said:

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Was he a Communist?

He continued spying after the Soviet Union fell.

Seems to me he was self-interested and loyal to nothing.

Even so - good riddance.

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He was an odd duck. Extremely arrogant, believed that American was going to hell (he was a devout Catholic), and that his superiors were incompetent--spying was a way to prove that.

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By spying for communists?

I fail to see how that is beneficial for Catholicism -- especially given that Pope John Paul II was a strident anti-communist and was Pope during this era.

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You're oversimplifying it. He wasn't spying for the Pope and he wasn't a Communist. He was arrogant and felt under appreciated and he was going to "show them". He was a member of Opus Dei, I believe.

Ironic. Just watched the smithsonian channel spy show episode about hanssen about an hr ago.

FBI knew there was a mole in their operation, and they put HIM in charge of the mole hunt, for over 10 yrs. Colossal failure. He was finally busted when commie double agent offered up a voice recording of him, for the price of ... $7m, which FBI paid. Unbelievable.

Dude was ahead of his time. He'd probably be in line for director today.

All his shenanigans happened right around my neighborhood her in NoVa.

Walk by one of the bridges across a dry creek into Idylwood Park off the W&OD trail almost every day.

Creepy dude and a traitor, too boot!

LarryElder said:

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TriAg2010 said:

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LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

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right but we ask others to do that against their country as well no? So ours is more noble?

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Absolutely. You know how you can tell who is bad? By seeing which side builds walls on their border with inward facing guns to keep it's people from escaping. When one side is fighting to tyrannize the world, and the other is fighting for freedom, then the latter is absolutely more noble than the former.

JSKolache said:

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Ironic. Just watched the smithsonian channel spy show episode about hanssen about an hr ago.

FBI knew there was a mole in their operation, and they put HIM in charge of the mole hunt, for over 10 yrs. Colossal failure. He was finally busted when commie double agent offered up a voice recording of him, for the price of ... $7m, which FBI paid. Unbelievable.

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I don't think we will ever know the full extent of the damage Hanssen and Aldrich Ames did to this country. Heck, the FBI built a tunnel under the Soviet Embassy, and the Russians knew about it before it was finished because of Hanssen.

They would have said "Comrade"

Psycho Bunny said:

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LarryElder said:

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TriAg2010 said:

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LarryElder said:

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wait so dont we have natives that spy on behalf of the USA in other countries? whats the difference?

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Betraying our country is the difference.

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right but we ask others to do that against their country as well no? So ours is more noble?

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Now your just trying to apply logic to an illogical situation.

Don't try to reason with some of these clowns. They think the Hoover administration was the gold standard.

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Silence Comrade.
Get back with your two.*


*(In the Soviet days you had to have three people do any administrative task: one to read, one to write and one to keep an eye on the intellectuals.)

TheEternalPessimist said:

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twk said:

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TheEternalPessimist said:

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Was he a Communist?

He continued spying after the Soviet Union fell.

Seems to me he was self-interested and loyal to nothing.

Even so - good riddance.

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He was an odd duck. Extremely arrogant, believed that American was going to hell (he was a devout Catholic), and that his superiors were incompetent--spying was a way to prove that.

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By spying for communists?

I fail to see how that is beneficial for Catholicism -- especially given that Pope John Paul II was a strident anti-communist and was Pope during this era.

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The guy was a loon. I guess you could say that his religious views informed his belief that America was going to hell, but I wouldn't say that his motivation for spying was religious -- that was more his idea that he would prove how smart he was by spying and getting away with it. I don't know that the ideological philosophy of our enemy made much difference to him.