A Reminder: Elliot Abrams: defender creator of death squads to direct US “democracy” crusade in Iraq
10 February 2005
On February 2, the same day he delivered his State of the Union speech vowing to “stand with the allies of freedom” in “ending tyranny in our world,” George W. Bush named Elliot Abrams as his deputy national security advisor. Nothing could more clearly expose the real aims of the US president’s worldwide crusade for “democracy” than this appointment.
Perhaps more than any other political figure, Abrams personifies the criminal, deceitful and thuggish character of the current US administration. He has been tapped to serve as Bush’s principal advisor on democracy and human rights.
A senior State Department official during the Reagan administration, Abrams was infamous for his lying on behalf of US-backed military dictatorships and his zealotry in attacking any regime that failed to submit to Washington dictates, as well as in defaming any individual who dared question the administration’s policies.
In 1991, he pleaded guilty to two counts of lying to Congress under oath in relation to the secret and illegal operation mounted by the Reagan administration to fund the CIA-organized contra mercenaries’ war on Nicaragua. Abrams entered the plea agreement in order to avoid a felony prosecution and potential jail time. Within little more than a year, Bush senior pardoned him together with others convicted in relation to the Iran-Contra conspiracy.
After he spent a decade as a fixture within right-wing Republican think tanks, the Bush administration called Abrams back into government, placing him on the National Security Council. In June 2002, he was given the NSC portfolio for the “Near East and North Africa,” including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Senator Claiborne Pell (Dem.-Rhode Island) asked, "I was talking about cattle prods specifically. Would they be included or not?"
Undersecretary of State for Latin American Affair Elliott Abrams replied, "Well, I would say that in my view if the police of Costa Rica, with their democratic tradition, say that for crowd control purposes they would like to have 50 shot [sic] batons, as they are called in a nonagricultural context, I would personally want to give it to them. I think that government has earned enough trust, as I think we have earned enough trust, not to be questioned, frankly, about exporting torture equipment. But I would certainly be in favor of giving it to them if they want it.
Senior Director on the National Security Council for Near East and North African Affairs. ... CIA
Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy...CIA
In 1991, he pleaded guilty to two counts of lying to Congress under oath in relation to the secret and illegal operation mounted by the Reagan administration to fund the CIA-organized contra mercenaries’ war on Nicaragua. Abrams entered the plea agreement in order to avoid a felony prosecution and potential jail time. Within little more than a year, Bush senior pardoned him together with others convicted in relation to the Iran-Contra conspiracy.
"One Pentagon proposal would send Special Forces teams to advise, support and possibly train Iraqi squads, most likely hand-picked Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shiite militiamen, to target Sunni insurgents and their sympathizers, even across the border into Syria, according to military insiders familiar with discussions:' Newsweek reported.
Newsweek quoted one military source as saying, "The Sunni population is paying no price for the support it is giving to the terrorists . ... From their point of view, it is cost-free. We have to change that equation:'
Boy that worked out well.
Yet nobody thinks the CIA creates terrorist organizations. and these types of people are not still entrenched affecting policy within our government.
I'm sure the Senate will investigate the CIA ......
= new reply since forum marked as read
