What is the price for your child's life?

By Michael Rivero

No, seriously, how much would you charge me to let me kill your kid? I'll make up a whole batch of comfortable lies about it so you can assuage your guilt when your kid comes home in a cheap box with a cheaper flag draped over it, but, c'mon, let's talk money here. How much?

No?

Ummm, okay, how much will you charge me to let someone else's kids get killed? Better deal, huh? You don't have to know them, and I'll try to make sure you don't have to see them.

I know the above sounds absurd, but this deal had indeed been made. In exchange for money, a certain group of people have agreed to let your kids be killed. That group is the United States Congress. And for the last several years, many of them have been accepting money from AIPAC, a supposed lobbying group that stands exposed as a spy operation for a foreign government, in order to promote that foreign government's agenda, which includes war in the Mideast, waged against that foreign government's enemies.

It sounds bizarre, indeed this selling of America's children to a foreign government, to be that government's mercenaries, has to rank as the greatest single betrayal of a people by their government in all of history. So, let is take it one step at a time.

First off, let us follow the money. There is no question that US Congressmen have been accepting money from pro-Israel lobbyists, AIPAC chief among them. This is beyond doubt, as even the Congressional financial disclosure records record the amounts given and accepted.

There is no doubt that AIPAC exerts control over the US Government. Indeed back in 1992, the then-head of AIPAC, David Steiner, boasted that he had influence over who would be the next Secretary of State, and had already "cut a deal" with Baker for more aid to Israel. When the scandal became public, Steiner was forced to resign.

Despite this scandal, and despite the fact that the current AIPAC spy investigation has been going on for more than two years, US Representatives and Senators continued to accept money from an organization they knew was under investigation for espionage against the United States.

How does that money influence the US Government?

Let us look at what Israel wants.

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AIPAC is pushing for the USA to attack Iran for Israel

AIPAC spurring Congress to pass sanctions bill against Iran

Israel says Iran close to having a nuclear bomb

Israel warns on Iranian "nightmare"

Iran the next nuclear threat

Sharon stirs up conflict with Syria and Iran

Iran, Libya, Syria are next?

Israel instructs America to attack Iran and Syria

ISRAEL DEMANDS IRAN BE ATTACKED NEXT AFTER IRAQ

Syria's Next

US Assures Israel That Syria And Iran Are Next

War is not in U.S. interest

Sharon Recruits US Mercenaries Against Syria

Sharon Wants U.S. Action Against Syria

Iraqi WMD 'possibly in Syria'

Syria rejects Iraqi weapons claims

Sharon Says US Should Also Disarm Iran, Libya and Syria

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From the above, it is obvious that Israel wants war in the Mideast, a war that someone else will have to fight for them.

Is that why we are in Iraq? Because Israel wanted it?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, speaking through his creation Sherlock Holmes, said, "When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth.

So, let us take a closer look at the current war in Iraq, a war we were told was fought over weapons of mass destruction, to avenge 9-11, and to punish Saddam for supporting Al Qaeda.

First off, there never were any weapons of mass destruction. Bush and his Neocon (i.e. pro-Israeli) advisors openly admit that now, and try to claim it was all an honest mistake. Yet the recently leaked Downing Street Memo makes it clear that Bush simply issued an order to go to war, and (as the memo put it) "fixed" the intelligence around that decision. So, the war in Iraq is not about weapons of mass destruction. There weren't any. Saddam was not in defiance of United Nations Resolutions. The claim that he was was a lie.

As for 9-11, no evidence has surfaced linking Saddam to 9-11. Even if one accepts the official story of 9-11, none of the named suspects were Iraqi or had links to Iraq. So, the war in Iraq is not about 9-11. It never was.

Was it necessary to invade Iraq to punish Saddam for supporting Al Qaeda? In point of fact, Al Qaeda and Saddam were political enemies, with Al Qaeda favoring theocratic rule while Saddam's was a secular government. And, at least some of Al Qaeda are really Mossad agents playing deception games. So, the war in Iraq had nothing to do with Saddam's supposed links to Al Qaeda.

Was it oil? A very popular theory is that Iraq is an oil war, brought about by declining supplies and the inability of the US to meet rising prices (having lost much of its manufacturing capability over the last 30 years). Yet this explanation for Iraq is also deeply flawed, for Bush is spending $10 billion a month in Iraq to extract out only $150 million in oil. Were oil the true objective, it would have been far cheaper to simply buy it from Iraq.

So, what is left? We have eliminated the impossible, Dr. Watson? What is left? Look above the statements made by Israel's supporters! Who wanted this war?

According to Philip Zelivow, a senior Bush aide, the war in Iraq was fought for Israel. That was the real reason all along. A foreign government wanted the US Government to send YOUR children off to fight in the deserts of Iraq. And the US Government agreed to, and worse, still does!

Recently, representatives Abercrombie and Kucinich introduced legislation into the US Congress to set an end for the Iraq war. One would assume that with the official reasons for the war lying in tatters that such legislation would pass immediately, but in a quite revealing move, the US House of Representatives voted down the measure, voting in essence to continue the war in Iraq which has cost so many lives. Why? What could motivate them to continue a war whose official reasons for being have been so thoroughly discredited?

Perhaps the following might prove enlightening. It is a list of many of the representatives who voted against ending the Iraq war, paired with the amount of money they have accepted from pro-Israeli PACS, including AIPAC, the group at the heart of the Israeli spy scandal.

Aderholt 13,500 Alexander 7,500 Andrews 35,250 Bachus 12,500 Bean 1,000 Berkley 201,455 Bishop (NY) 2,000 Bishop (UT) 2,500 Blunt 30,850 Boehlert 6,500 Bonilla 5,000 Brown, Corrine 8,600 Brown-Waite, Ginny 2,300 Burton (IN) 70,000 Cantor 74,980 Capito 4,250 Cardoza 16,000 Case 2,000 Chandler 13,500 Chocola 8,000 Cole (OK) 5,000 Costa 1,000 Cramer 44,800 Crowley 41,500 Culberson 1,500 Cunningham Davis (AL) 68,067 Davis (CA) 8,163 Davis (FL) 3,600 Davis (TN) 3,000 Davis, Tom 16,000 DeLauro 43,400 DeLay 81,050 Dent 5,000 Diaz-Balart, L. 10,000 Dicks 23,850 Edwards 18,350 Engel 137,918 Everett 15,000 Feeney 1,000 Ferguson 4,500 Fitzpatrick (PA) Forbes 2,000 Ford 10,000 Frelinghuysen 6,250 Graves 5,000 Harman 1,000 Herseth 12,900 Holden 9,500 Hoyer 92,275 Hunter 36,350 Israel 17,000 Jindal 1,500 Johnson (IL) 4,500 Kanjorski 16,600 Keller 5,000 Kennedy (MN) 67,120 Kirk 42,068 Knollenberg 23,750 Kolbe 43,000 Langevin 10,500 Lantos 107,250 Larsen (WA) 8,500 Levin 113,727 Lowey 109,738 Lucas 11,000 Mack 1,000 Marshall 8,000 Matheson 19,000 McCotter 10,000 Meek (FL) 7,000 Miller (FL) 2,500 Moore (KS) 26,176 Murphy 1,000 Pelosi 57,450 Putnam 4,500 Rehberg 1,500 Reichert Renzi Reyes Reynolds Rogers (AL) 8,000 Rogers (KY) 7,500 Rogers (MI) 2,250 Ros-Lehtinen 73,490 Ross 14,000 Ruppersberger 8,750 Sanchez, Loretta 36,700 Saxton 71,900 Schiff 23,417 Sessions 2,000 Shays 10,850 Sherwood 2,250 Simmons 14,500 Skelton 65,450 Smith (NJ) 51,750 Sweeney 2,000 Udall (CO) 11,250 Walsh 15,550 Wamp 2,000 Weller 26,400 Wilson (NM) 15,500

Now, to be honest, not everyone who voted against ending the war received money from pro-israel lobbying groups. Some voted out of party loyalty to Bush, and it may be assumed that some engaged in "log rolling", a practice whereby legislators will trade votes on legislation to avoid embarrassing vote records. Still others may be blackmailed. It should be noted that some of the representatives are first-term members for whom contribution data has not yet been collected together.

But it should be obvious that pro-Israeli PAC money has been spent on Congressmen in enough quantity to control the ultimate outcome, and each and every member of Congress who accepted money from AIPAC and then voted against ending the war has taken money from an organization that is spying for a foreign government, to sell YOUR children to fight and die in a war that foreign government desired.

We know that this is true because there is no other reason for the war. There were no WMDs. Iraq was neither linked to Al Qaeda nor linked to 9-11. The oil does not make economic sense. What is left?

What is left?

Now, you think about that as US politicians start to try to sell you a new war in Iran. Your kids, your brothers, your husbands, are a commodity that the US Congress (whose own family members are safe) are selling for campaign cash. That is slavery. That is NOT what our young men and women signed up to join the military to be; chattel to be bartered around the globe.

Is that not the ultimate betrayal?