AIPAC Lobby Myth 5 – Third Party, Fifth Column Progressives

Americans, progressives in particular, love the AIPAC lobby myth. This myth claims that Israel controls American foreign policy through its AIPAC lobby. Israel bears the blame for USA’s miserable and regrettable actions overseas. The red-white-and-blue good guys are forced to do horrible things because they are pressured by AIPAC’s power and money.

The myth appeared again—for the umpteenth time—a few days ago in Information Clearing House (Aug. 25, 2016) and was picked up and promoted by Paul Craig Roberts. Under the title ”AIPAC And The Treaty (with Iran); An Illustration Of The Demise of Democracy”, Joe Clifford writes,

”Any political expert would confirm, the strongest lobbying group in the nation, is by far AIPAC, a group that represents the right wing interests of Israel.”

This obviously false statement is presented as a truism; ”any political expert” … ”strongest lobbying group” … ”by far”. It’s ridiculous! AIPAC isn’t even in the major leagues of the lobbyists. The following quote is from my fourth post on the lobby myth,
The Tale of the Tail (AIPAC myth 4)

Can little Israel determine the policy of the USA? Can a tail wag the dog? Of course not. The so called “powerful” AIPAC spends about $24 million a year lobbying. Compare this to Boeing $90 million, Northrop Grumman $88 million or Lockheed Martin $79 million. These three weapons corporations are merely three players (albeit major) in the military lobbying conglomerate. General Electric, for example, weighs in with its $134 million lobbying budget. Many more corporations swim in the military pool, but this should be enough to put the AIPAC influence in perspective. Would anyone, unless thinking like the opening beneath a dog’s tail, suppose that AIPAC/Israel has more influence on the US government than the USA military and the corporations equipping it? We might also remind ourselves that most of the $3 billion that Israel receives in “aid” every year goes to the US weapons industry.

Clifford’s claim that AIPAC ”represents the right wing interests of Israel” illustrates the shallowness of his political expertise. Israel has been a vicious colonial conquistador enterprise since day one. Talking about its ”right wing” is like talking about the vegetarian wing of the wolves.
(See: Count Bernadotte Street 1, Gaza)

The heart (or should I say ass) of Clifford’s propaganda piece advances the theory that AIPAC prevents Congress from ”doing what is best for the US public and for the world.”
Please tell us, Joe, when did Congress/USA do ”what is best for the US public and for the world”? Was it AIPAC that caused the USA to kill three million Vietnamese to save them from Vietnam; that toppled the democratic government of Chile; that killed and terrorized the Nicaraguans; that … (long list of countries violated by Uncle Sam)? How about torture, Gitmo and the American prison population? AIPAC? Is AIPAC preventing Congress from demanding a livable minimum wage for the people of the US? Are they behind militarizing the police and killing unarmed minorities? What about all the much larger than AIPAC lobby groups? Big Pharma, t.ex. is probably the main cause of the epidemic of veteran suicides, not to mention elevating medical treatment to the third most common cause of death for Americans.

How did AIPAC get the US to establish over 700 military bases throughout the world? Speaking of military bases, Israel is for all practical purposes USA’s foremost military outpost while posing as an third-party independent entity taking the heat off America’s military. Those who propagate the AIPAC lobby myth are—whether conscious of it or not—acting as fifth column agents against the ”US public” that Joe Clifford pretends to be so concerned about.
_______

Next in the AIPAC series:
AIPAC Lobby Myth 6 – The Third-Party Technique

*

“The coward speaks bravely for bully’s demands.”
Dartwill Aquila

*

*