AIPAC and foreign-agent registration
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John Kiriakou identifies the exemption of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the Foreign Agents Registration Act as the structural fact underlying its influence: AIPAC "is the only group of its kind that does not have to register as a foreign agent."

The op-eds

His contrast is drawn from his own record. Around 2008 Kiriakou took a small contract, he puts it at five or six thousand dollars, to write four op-eds in support of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce: pieces arguing that Abu Dhabi was business-friendly, welcoming to Americans, and a place where everyone made money. Because he was publishing in support of a foreign entity, he was required to register as a foreign agent.

His question follows directly from the comparison: "what the heck is AIPAC doing 24/7?"

The mechanism of fear

Kiriakou describes elected officials as "very afraid" of the organisation, and locates the fear specifically in the threat of being primaried. Pressed on why a member would not simply absorb one primary loss, his answer is that the threat is larger than a single race: "they're saying you will never work in politics ever again, we will hound you for the rest of your career."

Asked who among them has the courage to go first, he names Thomas Massie, whom he saw about a week before that primary. He counts Marjorie Taylor Greene as a partial case who did not see it through, saying she quit halfway.

See also

- AIPAC
- Thomas Massie
- John Kiriakou
