Society / Elliott Abrams: Convicted Liar, Defender of Dictators, Accomplice to Genocide—and Foreign Policy Wise Man Elliott Abrams, former special representative for Iran and Venezuela at the US Department of State, listens during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on September 24, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Susan Walsh / AP Photo and Bloomberg via Getty Images) The name "Elliott Abrams" has been popping up a great deal of late in the news coverage of Israel's war in Gaza. This should come as no surprise, as Abrams is an eager source for mainstream media journalists and a reliable defender of everything Israel does.
When quoted, reporters tend to describe him as a "veteran American conservative" (The New York Times), a "Middle East specialist" (The New York Times), a "deputy national security adviser under Bush" (The Washington Post), or "a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations" (The Washington Post). These descriptions are not untrue, but they miss the point. The proper ID for Elliott Abrams should read: "The US official under Ronald Reagan who engendered what a UN Truth Commission specifically termed 'genocide' in Guatemala, defended mass murder in El Salvador, lied repeatedly to Congress about his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, and having returned to government under George W.
Bush after having been pardoned for his crimes by George H.W. Bush, proceeded to also undermine democracy among the Palestinians and to empower Hamas.
" Abrams is the US forei.
