President Joe Biden has decided to nominate Elliott Abrams,
a man with a horrific past in Latin America,
to his advisory commission on Public Diplomacy.
And diplomacy is not the type of word I would use to describe what Abrams
stands for.
In fact, nominating a guy who literally backed death squads and
who most recently acted as Trump special envoy to Iran and
Venezuela kind of runs counter to diplomacy.
He directed the fail coup attempts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
And as we all know, US relations with Iran devolved significantly during his
tenure with the Trump administration.
Trump escalated tensions and paved the way for
Iran to develop nuclear weapons after he tore up the Iran nuclear deal.
And while you don't really have to travel too far in history to discover that Abrams
has a gross past in support of some of the most brutal foreign policy imaginable.
It is worth noting how he was involved in one of the largest scandals
in American history the Iran-Contra operation.
He even pleaded guilty for the crimes he committed.
The Republican insider's long history in foreign policy is marked by a 1991
guilty plea for withholding information about the Iran-Contra affair.
That earned him two misdemeanor counts, two years probation, and
100 hours of community service.
Though his crimes were, of course, later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.
The secret Iran-Contra operation, which took place during Abrams's
time as an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration.
Involved the funding of anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua using the proceeds
from weapons sales to Iran, despite a congressional ban on such funding.
In fact, here's more on the scandal and why it was a huge deal.
>> In 1985,
an Iranian backed terrorist group held seven American hostages in Lebanon.
Reagan insisted his advisors find a way to bring the hostages home, saying, I want
you to do whatever you have to do to help these people keep body and soul together.
So, with permission from Reagan, McFarland made a deal.
The US would give Iran weapons, and Iran would broker the release of the hostages.
This happened even though Reagan publicly insisted he would not negotiate with
terrorists and despite the fact that there was a trade embargo with Iran.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The deal with Iran didn't just secretly secure the release of the hostages in
exchange for weapons, there was money involved.
While $30 million had been allocated for the weapons,
the CIA funneled a portion of that money to the Contras in Nicaragua.
The group Reagan supported in their guerrilla fight against
the Sandinista government.
In 1986, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Shiraa reported the arms deal, and
everything began to unravel.
That prompted an investigation by the US Attorney General, who discovered that only
12 million of the $30 million actually went toward weapons for Iran.
The rest of the money was sent to the Contras in Nicaragua.
>> Anything to fight the Sandinistas, right?
Now luckily,
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar confronted Abrams about this during a 2019 House hearing.
I think it's worth watching.
>> In 1991, you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding
information from Congress regarding your involvement in the Iran-Cortra affair.
For which you were later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.
I fail to understand why members of this committee or
the American people should find any testimony
that you give today to be truthful.
>> If I can respond to that.
>> It wasn't a question.
>> [CROSSTALK] >> I reserved the right to my time.
>> It is not right.
>> That was not a question.
>> [CROSSTALK] >> On February 8-
>> Who is not permitted to reply.
>> He was free to respond to her, but tough statements by Ilhan Omar are pretty
difficult to answer to, especially when you're in the wrong.
And there's more to Abrams's damning history that Representative Omar asked
about, including his actions in El Salvador.
But before we get to that exchange, the historical context is worth
getting familiar with if you aren't already familiar with it.
In February of 1982, while working under the Reagan administration.
Abrams provided Senate testimony downplaying reports of US trained and
equipped military units massacring nearly 1000 people in El Mozote.
The horrific December 1981 massacre, which targeted leftists in the country and
was described as the largest mass killing in recent Latin American history.
>> The story of one of the worst massacres in
the modern history of Latin America began in December 1981.
It was in the midst of a Cold War.
The United States was supporting the government
of El Salvador's fight against communist backed rebels known as the FMLM.
>> There was a lot of risk involved.
There were targeted killings of people who organized peasants,
organized labor, organized within their churches.
>> We walked into a tiny pueblo that was completely evacuated.
All the houses had been burned to the ground.
You saw the remains of people.
You felt like it was a ghost town.
It was eerie.
It's like time was frozen.
>> The village was called El Mozote.
I remember their bodies lying in the cornfield.
It was clear this had been a scorched earth policy, if you will.
>> Now, look, any non sociopathic person would see that brutality and
in the very least, object to it.
But not Abrams,
he insisted that the number of reported El Salvadorian victims were made up and
even lavished praise on the military battalion behind the mass murders.
In fact, Raymond Bonner, a former New York Times correspondent in El Salvador,
wrote for The Atlantic in 2019.
That the Reagan administration, with Abrams as point man, routinely
defended the Salvadoran government in the face of evidence that its regular army.
And allied right-wing death squads,
were operating with impunity killing peasants, students, union leaders and
anyone considered anti-government or pro-guerrilla.
Abrams went so far as to defend one of the death squad's most notorious leaders.
A guy who had the nickname Blowtorch Bob, who was responsible for
the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero while he was saying Mass in March of 1980.
Even Americans, including four churchwomen who were doing humanitarian
work in the country, were killed by these death squads.
>> Reported today from El Salvador that four Americans had been killed there.
>> This was the first time that Americans seemed to have been singled out by
a death squad.
They were shot, execution style, bullets to the back of the head.
>> Later, their bodies were found in a shallow grave.
>> Apparently victims of a terrorist attack.
>> That was a wake up call.
There was a great outcry.
>> Now, considering all of this death and destruction,
Abrams decided to double down on the US's involvement.
While being questioned by Representative Omar during a 2019
House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
Let's watch.
>> On February 8, 1982, you testified before
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about US policy in El Salvador.
In that hearing, you dismissed as communist
propaganda report about the massacre of El Mozote.
In which more than 800 civilians, including children
as young as two years old, were brutally murdered by US trained troops.
During that massacre, some of those troops bragged
about raping a twelve year old girl before they killed them.
You later said that the US policy in El Salvador was a fabulous achievement.
Yes or no, do you still think so?
From the day that President Duarte was elected in a free election,
to this day, El Salvador has been a democracy.
That's a fabulous achievement.
>> The instability in El Salvador and the individuals seeking asylum here in
this country from El Salvador would say otherwise.
Now, following the unspeakable brutality Abrams was part of, and
continues to be an apologist for in El Salvador.
He went on to become the Senior Director of the National Security Council.
Later, he served as the deputy assistant to the President and
Deputy National Security Adviser under George W.Bush,
which makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
Now, currently, Abrams works as a Senior Fellow for
Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Isn't it just incredible how these death hungry low lives move up the political
ladder, even when they've committed crimes and have pleaded guilty to it?
Forget corn pop, Abrams was a bad dude, and he runs with a bunch of bad boys.
So why would Biden nominate him?
What does this say about Biden?
The president can only appoint four out of the seven members of
the Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.
So why waste a nomination on someone as toxic as Abrams?
When you read the State Department's mission statement for
this particular agency, Biden's nomination is even more insane.
The commission appraises the US government activities intended to understand,
inform, and influence foreign publics.
And may assemble and disseminate information and issue reports and
other publications to the Secretary of State, the President, and the Congress.
Can you imagine taking advice from that guy?
Someone who not only knew about and
green lit the massacres of thousands of people in El Salvador,
innocent civilians in some cases, but then went on to just show us how he feels.
No shame about it, how he thought that it was a wonderful accomplishment.
I mean, the lack of humanity and
the cruelty that this guy represents is incredible.
And Biden nominating Abrams is an even bigger problem when you consider
how much Biden likes to escalate his rhetoric against China and
the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Look, we need leaders and we need them to have advisors who
can think strategically to prevent and end wars peacefully.
Abrams is the antithesis of that.
Abrams must be confirmed by the Senate in order to serve on this commission.
And it would be a massive mistake if the senate's
democratic majority voted in favor of doing so.
I'm curious what you all think about it.
So share your comments either in the members comments or super chats.
I am going to read one quick comment from Stinky Stinky Feet,
who makes a point that I wanted to make.
But I'm glad you're making it, Stinky, stinky feet.
Not substantive,
but anyone else think that Abrams guy looks like one of the evil Muppets.
The eyebrows are wild bruh.
No, you're 100% right.
I've been thinking that all day as I've been producing and researching for
this story.
Just so on point,
I almost feel like the Muppets had that character made after Abrams.
Who Knows?
Look at that guy.