Following the resignation of Iran’s ambassador by Brian Hook on Thursday, President Donald Trump has named as his replacement current Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams, a notorious warmongerer and proponent of the Latin American death corps who was convicted in 1991 of withholding information from the Congress during the Iran -Contra scandal.
Abrams will now serve in both roles at the same time, alarming anti-war groups that say someone with a plate is as bloodthirsty as his ‘life should be burned off government positions and recognized as the war criminal that he is.’
“From El Salvador to Guatemala, Nicaragua to Panama, the life work of Elliott Abrams has been defined by the worst impulses of U.S. foreign policy: waging war, ignoring gross human rights abuses, and supporting horrific authoritarian regimes,” Stephen said. Miles, executive director of Win Without War.
The appointment of Abrams as special envoy for Iran comes days after he confirmed during a hearing in the House of Representatives that he was still “working hard” to oust Venetian President Nicolás Maduro. Sina Toossi, senior research analyst at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), warned that the installation of Abrams’ Trump administration as top US diplomat to Iran shows that President and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is “doubling down” on her pressure for regime change in Iran as well.
“Like most Trump nominees,” Toossi said, “he is not fit for the position, and will continue to harm US interests by implementing a failed strategy that will only succeed in spreading chaos and misery. “
In a statement last Thursday, anti-war group CodePink provided a snapshot of Abrams’ views and record dating back to his time in the Reagan administration:
- In the 1980s, he defended the infamous Guatemalan general Efraín Ríos Montt, whose violent collapse on Guatemala’s indigenous Ixil Maya people was so brutal that it was classified as genocide by the United Nations.
- He denied that the Salvadoran was militarily responsible for the devastating massacre at El Mozote, where in 1981 a U.S.-trained battalion killed more than 500 civilians, and struck the throats of children along the way. Not only did Abrams deny the massacre and press for continued American support for the notoriously brutal Salvadoran government, but he even claimed in a 1994 interview that “the U.S. administration’s record in El Salvador is one of fantastic achievements.”
- He is fiercely anti-Palestinian and shamelessly supports Israel. With the help of George Bush in the National Security Council, Abrams did everything he could to fight peace talks. He repeatedly stressed any US pressure on Israel to stop building settlements, citing the Holocaust as a justification for the killing of Palestinians by Israel (Jews are “a people who have learned from history what happens to Jews without safely “). In 2015, he applauded then-speaker John Boehner’s decision to invite Netanyahu to address Congress without President Obama’s approval. He praises Evangelical descriptions of Israel such as the belief that “Israel is connected to the idea that God favors and protects Americans.”
- In 1991, Abrams pleaded guilty to withholding congressional information related to his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal, the secret and illegal fraud in the 1980s, to siphon Iranian arms sales profits to the right-wing Contra rebels to support those seeking the Sandinista to reverse government.
- Abrams was a key proponent of the disastrous invasion of Iraq. In 1998, he issued a letter to President Clinton urging him to oust Saddam Hussein. As Deputy National Security Adviser on Global Democracy’s strategy in the second term of George W. Bush, Abrams was at the forefront of advancing Bush’s strategy of ‘advancing democracy abroad. ‘
- Abrams was promoted on the U.S. cover of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, questioning the tactics used by the neocons for intervention in Iraq.
- Abrams’ opposition to Iran’s Nuclear Deal is fueled by his efforts to encourage Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites before negotiations become too serious. He expressed concern that Israel’s capacity to curb the transgression was “already severely curtailed by diplomatic action, because it is one thing to bomb Iran when it appears hopelessly isolated and to bomb a whole other than many of the world – especially the United States – is optimistic about the prospect of talks. “
- In January 2019, Abrams was appointed the U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela, using his position to support a coup attempt, end diplomatic talks and increase brutal sanctions, even during the pandemic.
“The dangerous conflict that is escalating through Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal will be exacerbated by a man committed to Washington’s failed policy of regime change,” CodePink said. “Elliott Abrams has made a career of lying and committing criminal acts that have led to the death and suffering of innocent people from Guatemala to Iraq. He embraces militarism, commits gross human rights abuses and has a history of supporting authoritarian regime. “
