bs2
> When presidents such as #BillClinton, #BarackObama, #DonaldTrump, and #JoeBiden nominate individuals who clearly lack integrity, it creates #cynicism at the very institutions these individuals are asked to lead. This was certainly true at the #CIA in the cases of Woolsey, Gates, and #GinaHaspel, and it will be true at a less well-known institution such as the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/07/21/the-strange-rehabilitation-of-elliott-abrams/
#EIliotAbrams #USApresidents #PublicDiplomacy #BidenAdministration
The Strange Rehabilitation of Elliott Abrams

Democratic presidents have a way of reaching out to undeserving Republicans to protect their domestic flanks on the right.  Bill Clinton appointed James Woolsey to be the director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1993 in order to gain standing among national security conservatives.  Barack Obama retained Robert Gates as secretary of defense in 2009 in order to appease Pentagon professionals.  And now President Joe Biden has named Elliott Abrams to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.  Why in the world would anyone want to resurrect Elliott Abrams?

CounterPunch.org
Jul 25, 2023 at 3:02amWeb
Show threadBrian SmallJul 25, 2023

.> Why in the world would anyone want to resurrect Elliott Abrams?....> It is particularly risible that Abrams would be appointed to a position charged with maintaining integrity in U.S. public diplomacy.....> He was convicted in 1991 of two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully withholding information from Congress, but received a pardon from President George H.W. Bush. Lawrence Walsh, the independent counsel who investigated Iran-Contra, prepared multiple felony counts against Abrams, who eventually admitted that he knew more than he acknowledged in congressional testimony. Several years later, he was publicly sanctioned by the District of Columbia Bar for giving false testimony to Congress about Iran-Contra..> in the 1980s, Abrams regularly covered up atrocities committed by U.S.-backed military forces in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. He did the same for the Contras in Nicaragua, and, as a result, was heavily criticized by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The Lawyers Committee, Americas Watch, and Helsinki Watch collaborated on a report in the mid-1980s that charged Abrams with “undermining the purpose of the human rights bureau in the State Department.” #ElliotAbrams #USApolicy #USApresidents #PublicDiplomacy in #ElSalvador #Guatemala #IranContra #Honduras #HumanRightsWatch #AmnestyInternational #LawyersCommittee #AmericasWatch #HelsinkiWatch #HumanRights #USAstateDepartment #Nicaragua


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