There are 58 Senators who are now co-sponsors of the bill S. 1881: Nuclear Weapon Free Act of 2013. This bill makes war with Iran more likely and peace less likely. Its aim is to jettison the successful negotiations between the U.S. and Iran that have already occurred and make further progress less likely. This bill has war against Iran as its underlying aim.
AIPAC is a very prominent anti-Iran lobbying organization.
55 of the 58 Senators who are co-sponsors of this pro-war bill have received money from AIPAC totaling $7.3 million (2007-2012). 39 non-sponsors have received AIPAC money too, their total being $5.4 million. These amounts are drawn from a list of the top Senate recipients of AIPAC funds. The per-Senator average money is almost the same for the two groups. It’s $132,795 for the sponsors and $138,024 for the non-sponsors. These distinctions are not that important, because we know that in 2012 the Senate voted 90-1 on an anti-Iran resolution and 94-0 to tighten sanctions. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to observe that the co-sponsor group, who tend to be the most vocal and hawkish and the most willing to promote war, is the group that has been paid the most money by AIPAC.
I’ve been writing articles against the U.S. policy on Iran for 7 or 8 years now. I have to admit that when the current administration began talking with Rouhani, I thought that this pretty much ended the threat of war. Never did I dream that the American warmongers, right and left, would meet these negotiations by attempting to pass new sanctions! Never did I dream that the neocons and Israeli interests had such influence in the U.S. Senate that they would seek to counter a peaceful foreign policy conducted by a sitting President. The hand that they have chosen to play has surprised me, but that’s because I did not fully appreciate the perfidy of the neocon policies. Having seen them already in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, I should have known better than to think that reason and the interests of the American people might prevail for a change. It is crystal clear at this point that we are looking at evil policies being promoted with unremitting vigor. They are every bit as evil as the expansionist and anti-communist policies of Adolph Hitler. We are looking at large numbers of traitorous Senators promoting very dangerous ideas that are expansionist and interventionist in nature. They have built up a structure of lies, falsehoods, exaggerations, false enemies, false threats, impossible aspirations for dominance, and misperceptions. We are looking at people who feign respectability, reasonableness, honesty, loyalty and intelligence but who, when they promote war against a President who is succeeding in bringing a degree of peace, must be counted as among the lowest of the low, people that we must revile and reject as “leaders”, people that we must see as enemies of the interests of the peaceful pursuit of happiness. These same people will, by and large, turn their guns against the American people and be most supportive of the national security state.
The following senators are Senate co-sponsors of this bill. Beside each name is the dollar amount of AIPAC contributions to that senator in the years 2007-2012.
Mark Kirk $925,379
John McCain $771,012
Mitch McConnell $430,925
Robert Menendez $344,670
Kirsten Gillibrand $326,937
Mary Landrieu $296,409
Benjamin Cardin $267,542
Charles Schumer $248,149
Robert Casey $192,550
Roger Wicker $158,861
Mark Warner $149,151
Susan Collins $139,518
Mark Pryor $138,250
John Thune $123,725
Roy Blunt $120,500
Joe Manchin $117,110
Pat Roberts $116,900
Bob Corker $114,770
David Vitter $112,619
Kelly Ayotte $111,899
Michael Bennet $109,126
John Cornyn $107,000
Saxby Chambliss $103,650
John Barrasso $99,050
Orrin Hatch $91,500
Jeff Sessions $86,550
Marco Rubio $86,200
Lisa Murkowski $85,900
Lindsey Graham $84,515
Daniel Coats $82,733
Richard Blumenthal $80,640
Joe Donnelly $72,911
Dean Heller $71,100
Richard Burr $70,850
Robert Portman $68,815
John Hoeven $67,535
Mike Johanns $63,635
James Inhofe $60,000
Charles Grassley $57,600
Jerry Moran $53,400
Thomas Coburn $47,445
Michael Crapo $45,750
Mike Lee $45,030
James Risch $41,750
Patrick Toomey $40,500
Ted Cruz $39,354
Mark Begich $36,727
John Boozman $34,250
John Isakson $31,600
Michael Enzi $31,600
Richard Shelby $27,250
Deb Fischer $26,400
Chris Coons $20,774
Tim Scott $15,310
Ron Johnson $10,400
