Deconstructing Elliott Abrams on Venezuela — Peter Bolton

On June 26, the Trump administration’s so-called “Special Representative for Venezuela,” Elliott Abrams gave a five-minute update to reporters about the development of the coup attempt against the government of Nicolas Maduro, followed by a brief Q&A session. The event, held at the US State Department in Washington, was textbook Abrams: full of lies, loaded language, double standards and breathtaking hypocrisy. Below, I deconstruct each of his points by providing rebuttals, context and regional comparison.

Elliott Abrams as hit man.

Counterpunch

Deconstructing Elliott Abrams on Venezuela

Peter Bolton

Andrew Buncombe — Official convicted over Iran-Contra scandal [Elliott Abrams] appointed to help 'restore democracy' in Venezuela

Bringing in the hit man. Remember Elliott Abrams of Latin America death squad fame? Now that is real chutzpah.

It also shows that there is zero accountability at this level of government. Of course, that is bipartisan. Obama gave torturers get out of jail free cards to "move forward."

For many Latin America watchers he will be associated with his denial of a 1982 massacre at El Mozote in El Salvador of hundreds of civilians by the military. Mr Abrams told a Senate committee that the reports of hundreds of deaths at El Mozote “were not credible.”

In 1993, after a UN truth commission which examined 22,000 atrocities that occurred during the twelve-year civil war in El Salvador, attributed 85 per cent of the abuses to the Reagan-assisted right-wing military and its death-squad allies, Mr Abrams said: “The administration’s record on El Salvador is one of fabulous achievement.”

The Independent (UK)
Official convicted over Iran-Contra scandal appointed to help 'restore democracy' in Venezuela

Andrew Buncombe

See also

Now the Trumpistas are recognizing that Trump is compromised, and not by Putin.

Breitbart
Trump Appoints Never-Trumper Elliott Abrams Envoy to Venezuela

Kristina Wong

Robert Parry — Neocons: The ‘Anti-Realists’

America’s neocons, who wield great power inside the U.S. government and media, endanger the planet by concocting strategies inside their heads that ignore real-world consequences. Thus, their “regime changes” have unleashed ancient hatreds and spread chaos across the globe, as Robert Parry explains.

Empire-building in the name of freedom, human rights, democracy and the American way.

Parry see President Obama as a reluctant (spineless) realist, who goes along to get along. I am not so sure he is not a card-carrying neocon that sometimes talks like a realist. But practically speaking, there is no discernible difference in behavior.

Consortium News
Neocons: The ‘Anti-Realists’

Robert Parry

Paul R. Pillar — Neocons Move to Exploit Ukraine Crisis

U.S. neocons are wasting little time in taking advantage of the Ukraine crisis that they helped to stoke, with former Reagan-Bush operative Elliott Abrams urging Congress to pass legislation that would impose new sanctions on Iran, notes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

ConsortiumNews
Neocons Move to Exploit Ukraine Crisis
Paul R. Pillar | Visiting Professor at Georgetown University for Security Studies