Perhaps the strangest thing seen in the clash between Ilhan Omar and Elliot Abrams on whether he has any business working representing the U.S. abroad (he does not have any such business) was the reaction of CAP Foreign-Policy Vice President Kelly Magsamen: "Elliott Abrams... is a fierce advocate for human rights and democracy. Yes, he made serious professional mistakes and was held accountable.... we share goals..."

I am flummoxed and flabbergasted:

Charles R. Pierce: Ilhan Omar Questions Elliot Abrams Over El Mozote Massacre, Activities in El Salvador, Guatemala, Central America: "Ilhan Omar's Cross-Examination of Elliot Abrams Honored Thousands of Central American Dead: Someone in Congress finally asked a world-historical ghoul to answer for what he did...

Eric Alterman: An Actual American War Criminal May Become Our Second-Ranking Diplomat: "Elliott Abrams spent the Reagan years abetting genocide—now, he has been floated as Trump’s deputy secretary of state...

Eric Alterman: The Rehabilitation of Elliott Abrams: "In the Reagan State Department, Abrams (who also teaches foreign policy at Georgetown) repeatedly and purposely misled Congress about the government’s involvement with the death-squad-riddled Salvadoran military, the Nicaraguan Contra counter-revolutionaries and other Central American mass murderers. He whitewashed their massacres as well as the abuses of the Argentinean junta (who were kidnapping babies at the time and selling them) and the genocidal Guatemalan regime of Gen. Efrían Ríos Montt (currently on trial for crimes against humanity). Abrams did all this while casting aspersions on the motives of journalists and human rights workers who sought to tell the truth about these crimes. As a result of these offenses, among others, Abrams was forced to plead guilty to unlawfully withholding material information from Congress and to apologize to the Senate Intelligence Committee. He was also disbarred in the District of Columbia. After biding his time during the Bush I and Clinton administrations, Abrams resumed his previous patterns...


#noted

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