Freedom Rider: Obama Obliterates Iran

What Israel wants from the Americans, Israel gets - and in spades from Barack Obama. Along with Hillary Clinton and John McCain, Obama bent his knees to the breaking point to please the annual conference of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC represents the rightwing politics of a small nation, but the fawning behavior of America's top politicians gave the impression of an Israeli empire, demanding tribute. Obama was generous with the U.S. treasury. "As president I will implement a Memorandum of Understanding that provides $30 billion in assistance to Israel over the next decade," he vowed, earning thirteen rounds of sustained applause.

How fortunate for Senator Barack Obama that the AIPAC convention took place immediately after he clenched the Democratic nomination for president. It was a great opportunity for the victor to show his true colors to an extremely powerful Democratic constituency, the pro-Israel lobby.

Obama didn't disappoint his audience, many of whom had feigned concerns about his candidacy. Phony hand wringing about emails claiming that Obama is a Muslim extremist was nothing but a ploy to insure that the Israeli government would get whatever it wanted in an Obama administration.

The Israelis should be rejoicing about the prospect of an Obama victory. Not only did the Senator repeat the litany of trite pro-Israeli phrases "only democracy in the Middle East," "special friendship" and so on, but he promised extra cash to Israel's already bulging United States bank account. "As president I will implement a Memorandum of Understanding that provides $30 billion in assistance to Israel over the next decade - investments to Israel's security that will not be tied to any other nation."

Not that there was ever a reason to worry. AIPAC always makes sure that Israel gets what it wants from American presidential administrations. Obama's victory shows that he knows the rules of the game backwards and forwards. By the time he finished his address at the AIPAC convention, he had been interrupted by sustained applause thirteen times and walked away holding the audience in the palm of his hand.

Part of keeping Israel and its American lobbying force happy is to repeat what they want to hear, whether true or false. Dire warnings about a nuclear Iran attacking Israel are lies. Only Israeli government officials speak openly of attacking Iran and only Israel has nuclear weapons. Iran has never threatened Israel in any way, but that unimpeachable and inconvenient fact is not allowed on the American political campaign trail, and certainly not at an AIPAC convention.

So lying is the order of the day, and the Senator did not disappoint. "It (Iran) pursues a nuclear capability that could spark a dangerous arms race, and raise the prospect of a transfer of nuclear know-how to terrorists. Its President denies the Holocaust and threatens to wipe Israel off the map."

Iranian president Ahmedinajad never said anything about wiping Israel off the map and doesn't say that the Jewish holocaust never took place. These lies have been repeated so often and are so useful in justifying the threat of military action that neither Obama nor anyone else who repeat them are ever called bold faced liars. The prospect of Iran giving hypothetical nukes to terrorists makes no sense whatever. If Iran does pursue a nuclear capability, it will be no different than American allies Pakistan and India, whose acquisition of nukes has already created an arms race of its own.

Obama's speech not only proved that AIPAC is powerful, but it proved that he and his recently defeated opponent are as alike as Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Hillary Clinton was pilloried for saying that "we would obliterate" a nuclear Iran. As always, Obama was less clumsy and ham fisted, but said the same thing. "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," is a lot smoother than talk of obliteration but says exactly the same thing. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are indeed political twins.

Just a few days after Obama pledged to give Israel carte blanche, one of its cabinet ministers, Shaul Mofaz, felt emboldened to say that an Israeli attack on Iran was "unavoidable." Bush has been itching to attack Iran and now both major party presidential nominees are on record as saying that killing is fine with them. The only difference between the two is that Obama didn't join John McCain in singing songs about killing human beings. When it comes to foreign policy and Israel, Obama and McCain are also political twins.

It was left to the government of Iran to succinctly sum up the problems that the United States and Israel create for the rest of the world. In a letter to the United Nations Secretary General, Iran's representative had this to say.

"Such a dangerous threat against a sovereign State and a member of the United Nations constitutes a manifest violation of international law and contravenes the most fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and, thus, requires a resolute and clear response on the part of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council."

Lots of luck Iran. Even if the Security Council takes action the United States will use its veto power to silence the world body. That is what happens in the Bush administration and that is what will happen in January 2009, whether the next president is named Obama or McCain. Evil twins still call the shots in American politics.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms. Kimberley maintains an edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com. More of her work is also available at her Black Agenda Report archive page.

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