Abrams Confirms His New Role

Elliott Abrams just confirmed that he will be official mouthpiece of Bibi Netanyahu and his Likud Party at the Council on Foreign Relations and on the pages of The Weekly Standard (and probably in the Wall Street Journal, too).

In reading the article, ironically entitled “The Path of Realism or the Path to Failure: Laying a Foundation for Peace in Palestine,” what can’t help but be struck by the coincidence in views between Abrams and the Likud leader on virtually every single issue regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from reviving the notion of a Jordanian option to seeing the conflict as “part of a broader struggle in the region over Iranian extremism and power.” Also noteworthy is the clarity with which he expresses his total opposition to his former boss’s (President George W. Bush) stated policy, particularly with respect to the Annapolis process (although it apparently didn’t occur to him to offer his resignation under the circumstances) and his explicit embrace of Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (”reliable and trustworthy”) and the PA’s U.S.-tutored security forces who “acted in parallel, and sometimes in concert, with Israeli forces” during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. I’m sure both Fayyad and the PA’s security forces appreciate such a fulsome endorsement from Netanyahu’s alter ego.

With friends like Abrams, who seems to think that democratic reform — remember, he was in charge of global democracy promotion, as well as the Middle East, in Bush’s National Security Council — consists mainly of building Palestinian security forces that can maintain Israel’s occupation indefinitely and fails to mention the word “settlements” in a 3,200-page essay on “realism” and laying a foundation for peace in Palestine, who needs enemies?

Author: Jim Lobe

Visit Lobelog.com for the latest news analysis and commentary from Inter Press News Service's Washington bureau chief Jim Lobe.

2 thoughts on “Abrams Confirms His New Role”

  1. Elliott Abrams–pardoned ex-con, rabid Zionist neocon–will be the spokesman for Benjamin Nuttyyahoo and his Likud lunatics. How nice.

    Speaking of Nuttyyahoo: I wonder if he’ll be giving his orders straight to Obama, the way Olmert gave his orders to the former Chickenhawk-in-Chief? Then again, it’s not as if Israel has no influence with the White House–Rahm Emanuel, that Zionist warmonger, is chief of staff.

  2. This guy is like Dracula. You just can’t get rid of him. A rabid neocon pushing war and and destruction to Obama and Rahm.

    1. These guys get to do whatever they want, because they are so adept at manipulating the ingrained American terror of being labeled anti-Semitic. We are all a bunch of trained dogs for Israel.

  3. Abrams and Rahmbo should be deported to Israel and, if he doesn’t like it, Obama as well- back to Chicago. Odds are Obama will not last out his term.

    1. Just wishful thinking, but ultimately a misguided wish. After all, if Obama leaves office early (whether as a result of impeachment or *ahem* “other circumstances”), we’ll simply suffer through three and half or more years of “President Biden”, an intolerable thought at best. This is why I always wondered why the “Impeach Bush” crowd never focused its sights any more broadly than it did, since the removal of Chimptard from office would have produced “President Cheney”, an even more hideous prospect. No matter who occupies the Oval Orifice, they will be just another puppet of the Establishment who will do nothing more than accelerate our current slide into economy collapse and tyranny.

  4. Several years ago, Elliot Abrams was quoted ” Every Jew in the world has an obligation to put the interests of Israel first, even ahead of his own country.” And he was running our Middle East policy, reporting first to Tel Aviv,then to Washington. It doesn’t matter what party is in power, the Zionist/Jewish money owns our spineless elected officials, ensuring that Israel will always receive billions of U.S. tax dollars and our deadliest weapons that they use to bomb Palestinian women and children in Gaza.

    1. US official: Gaza reconstruction aid to top $900M
      a U.S. official in the United States said Monday that the Obama administration’s donation will be at least $900 million in humanitarian and rebuilding aid to the Palestinian Authority to help Gaza recover from Israel’s offensive against Hamas last month.”

      http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090224/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_us

      Iraq was destroyed to be rebuilt,Lebanon was destroyed to be rebuilt,and so on!?

      1. But of course, our aid to Palestine can’t get through because of Israel’s blockade. And we don’t dare complain. Meanwhile, for years, Israel has been seizing and holding the Palestinians’ own tax money, collected from the Palestinians themselves. Maybe Israel needs it for more settlers’ swimming pools?

        1. $900 million for Gaza reconstruction? I can almost guarantee that the money, if it materializes, will be routed threough Israeli banks, who will clip off the lion’s share; any actual construction will be done by Israeli contractors; and huge chunks will be spent for the Palestinian’s “security” (i.e. for IDF goons to abuse them). Any actual jobs created will be filled by newly arrived Russian Jews or third world laborers recruited from Bangladesh, etc. so as not to fill any Palestinioan stomachs.
          Some sweet day, America will wake up to face the fact that Israel is an absolute
          racist, land-stealing monster. I would hope that the eventual shame of our alliance will linger for decades.

        2. Added note: If any think that I exagerate with the statement that so great is the Israeli hatred of the Palestinians that they can’t even stand the idea of “filling any Palestinian stomachs”, I wish they would read the post on this site from McClatchey News regarding the charity, Mercy Corps being forbidden by Israel to bring boxes of maccaroni into Gaza. Seems the Israelis claim that pasta is not an “essential food” and they are afraid that Hamas may get their hands on it. (I guess if the Palestinians had any cheese they would have mac and cheese – if they had any mac).
          I will not look to see Brian or Katy talking about this on TV tonight at 6:30. Maybe something about Hamas and dangerous rockets, but nothing about this gross inhumanity. I am becoming a crazy old man screaming obscenities at my TV every night.

  5. Wouldn’t one think it is appropriate for the American people to know if their diplomatic corps members have dual citizenship? I would. The supreme court (sic) (nine political lawyers with government jobs & perks) supposedly “ruled” that it was OK to be a “dualie”. But how come the oath, to become a citizen, requires a person to renounce any other citizenship? I guess it’s just like the Constitution — a quaint little thing from long, long, ago. What a tragedy. Remember, the only things that ever made the USA better than any other hell hole on the face of this earth were the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. But the two absolute, cartel/monopolies that operate here in the USA, (the legal racket — including all judges, and the private federal reserve — neither fereral nor a reserve) have made sure the Constitution is a dead letter. Now the tail wags the dog.

  6. The most damning line from Abrams was “they(Fatah) acted in parallel, and sometimes in concert, with Israeli forces…” during “Operation Cast Lead”. This is tantamount to claiming Abbas and the PA were a part of the IDF assault on Gaza!

    Abbas put off the elections knowing that Fatah wouldn’t stand a chance so close to an Israeli assault on Gaza. After this “endorsement”, Abrams has guaranteed a Hamas victory no matter when the election is in Gaza and the West Bank.

  7. During this time, Abrams clashed regularly with church groups and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch[8][9] and Amnesty International, over the Reagan administration’s foreign policies. They accused him of covering up atrocities committed by the military forces of US-backed governments, such as those in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, and the rebel Contras in Nicaragua.

    [edit] El Salvador
    In early 1982, when reports of the El Mozote massacre of civilians by the military in El Salvador began appearing in U.S. media, Abrams told a Senate committee that the reports of hundreds of deaths at El Mozote “were not credible,” and that “it appears to be an incident that is at least being significantly misused, at the very best, by the guerrillas.”[10] The massacre had come at a time when the Reagan administration was attempting to bolster the human rights image of the Salvadoran military. Abrams implied that reports of a massacre were simply FMLN propaganda and denounced US investigative reports of the massacre as misleading. In March 1993, the Salvadoran Truth Commission reported that 5000 civilians were “deliberately and systematically” executed in El Mozote in December 1981 by forces affiliated with the Salvadoran state.[11] Also in 1993, documentation emerged suggesting that some Reagan administration officials could have known about El Mozote and other human rights violations from the beginning.[12] However, in July 1993, an investigation commissioned by Clinton Secretary of State Warren Christopher into the State department’s “activities and conduct” with regard to human rights in El Salvador during the Reagan years found that, despite the department’s mistakes handling El Mozote, its personnel “performed creditably and occasionally with personal bravery in advancing human rights in El Salvador”.[13] Abrams himself claimed that Washington’s policy in El Salvador was a “fabulous achievement.”[14]

    [edit] Nicaragua
    When Congress shut down funding for the Contras’ efforts to overthrow Nicaragua’s Sandinista government with the 1982 Boland Amendment, the Reagan administration began looking for other avenues for funding the group.[citation needed] Congress opened a couple of such avenues when it modified the Boland Amendment for fiscal year 1986 by approving $27 million in direct aid to the Contras and allowing the administration to legally solicit funds for the Contras from foreign governments.[15] Neither the direct aid, nor any foreign contributions, could be used to purchase weapons.[16] Guided by the new provisions of the modified Boland Amendment, Abrams flew to London in August 1986 and met secretly with Bruneian defense minister General Ibnu to solicit a $10-million contribution from the Sultan of Brunei.[17][18] Ultimately, the Contras never received this money because a clerical error in Oliver North’s office (a mistyped account number) sent the Bruneian money to the wrong Swiss bank account.[19]

    [edit] Panama
    On 30 June 1987, the United States State Department demanded the ouster of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Abrams, then the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, made the announcement. Abrams took note of a resolution passed on 23 June by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee demanding the creation of a “democratic government” in Panama, and officially concurred, thus making the toppling of Noriega the official U.S. policy.[cite this quote] Abrams also demanded that the Panamanian military be freed of “political corruption.”[cite this quote]

    [edit] Iran-Contra affair
    During investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair, the special prosecutor handling the case prepared multiple felony counts against Abrams but never indicted him.[20] Instead, Abrams entered into a plea agreement that ultimately led to a conviction without imprisonment on two misdemeanors of withholding information from Congress.[21] He was fined $50, placed on probation for two years, and assigned 100 hours of community service. Abrams was pardoned by President George H. W. Bush as he was leaving office following his loss in the 1992 U.S. presidential election.

    [edit] Involvement with Project For the New American Century
    Abrams was one of the signatories of the 26 January 1998 Project for the New American Century letter sent to President Bill Clinton which called for regime-change in Iraq.[22]

    [edit] Special Assistant to President Bush
    President George W. Bush appointed Abrams to the post of Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights, and International Operations at the National Security Council on 25 June 2001.[23] Abrams was appointed Special Assistant to the President and the NSC’s Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs on 2 December 2002.[24] Some human rights groups and commentators considered his White House appointment controversial due to his conviction in the Iran-Contra Affair investigation and his role in overseeing the Reagan administration’s foreign policy in Latin America.[25][26]

    [edit] 2002 Venezuelan coup
    The Observer has alleged that Abrams had advance knowledge of, and “gave a nod to”, the Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 against Hugo Chávez.[27] Other sources have alleged that Abrams and Otto Reich played an active role in planning the coup.[28] However, a review by the State Department’s Inspector General made the following conclusion: “Our government’s opposition to the use of undemocratic or unconstitutional means to remove President Chávez was repeated over and over again during the relevant period by key policymakers and spokespersons in Washington and by our representatives in Caracas in both public and private forums. And, far from working to foment his overthrow, the United States alerted President Chávez to coup plots and warned him of an assassination threat that was deemed to be credible.”[29]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Abrams

  8. ccording to Abrams,”..A Palestinian state will never be created by terror. It will be built through reform. And reform must be more than cosmetic change or a veiled attempt to preserve the status quo. True reform will require entirely new political and economic institutions based on democracy, market economics and action against terrorism.”

    Let see which state was established or created by terror ,and continues to terrorise its weak nighbors,it have never stopped its expansionist policies ,nor ever reformed !??

  9. typical…no one has mentioned the OTHER “elephant” in the “room”..

    The Council on Foriegn Relations (CFR)

    The Pavlovian NONACKNOWLEDGMENT of the CFR and its role in orchestrating and engineering domestic socialism and GLOBAL socialist intervention to achieve its AND ITS BiPARTISAN BACKERS and SHILLS like Abrams is typically breathtaking…and breathtakingly typical.

    Abrams and his ilk…bipartisan Mouths of Sauron…and the “conservatives” and POLITICAL Zionists continue the charade..and opponents of the pas de duex, like a LOT of posters here and on similar sites, continue to joust windmills that are diversionary tangents and, Thoreau-ian like “hack at branches” wile blitheyly and VOLITIONALLY Ignoring the ROOT(CFR/globalist socialists)…

    The megalomaniacs at Pratt House are probably chuckling at all of this…meanwhile the smothering by commission and ommission of those who point out the CFR globalist scheme continues…

    unabated??

    lets see any/if response(s)..

      1. and you’ve been reading too much Weekly Standard and National Review.

        You’re utter obliviousness to history/reality is apparently matched by your tired and feeble attempts at ‘humor’

        The globalism and socialism the the Council(go on – I dare you..visit their website)has peddled for 80 odd years is no secret….Google Socialism and CFR…you will Pavlovian retort “lies!”….or Skinnerite retort “So!”

        Your “patriotism’ and support of the “accidental” militarization of our country IN ADDITION TO THE REST OF THE WORLD…

        maybe you “care”…but it is not very apparent in your Jr High lunchtime reply.

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