Excerpt:
Elliott Abrams agreed to cooperate with investigators and in return was allowed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges instead of facing possible felony indictments. He was sentenced to two years probation and one hundred hours of community service. He was pardoned by George H. W. Bush on December 24, 1992 along with five other former Reagan Administration officials who had been implicated in connection with Iran-Contra.[3]
NeoCon Elliott Abrams doesn't respect the Constitution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeB_gIgIB9Q
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110209/wl_nm/us_egypt
Excerpt:
U.S. and Egypt square off over protesters' demands
AP – Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations , testifies on … Excerpt: Elliott Abrams
Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations , testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on 'Recent Developments in Egypt and Lebanon: Implications for U.S. Policy and Allies in the Broader Middle East, Part 1' .« Read less
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) CAIRO (Reuters) – The government of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hit back on Wednesday at what it called U.S. attempts to "impose" American will on a loyal Middle East ally, saying rapid reforms would be too risky.
But as pro-democracy protesters consolidated a new encampment around Cairo's parliament building, the White House again said that Egyptian ministers must do more to meet the demands of demonstrators, who want an immediate end to Mubarak's 30 years of one-man rule and sweeping legislative changes.
Interviewed by U.S. broadcaster PBS, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit -- a survivor of the reshuffle Mubarak undertook in a vain attempt to staunch the protests -- said he was "amazed" by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who had urged an immediate end to the emergency law Mubarak has long used to curb opposition.
"When you speak about prompt, immediate, now -- as if you are imposing on a great country like Egypt, a great friend that has always maintained the best of relationship with the United States -- you are imposing your will on him," Aboul Gheit said.
Since protests began two weeks ago, partly inspired by the overthrow of another Arab autocrat in Tunisia, U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has trodden a sometimes hazy line between support for a key Arab ally in Washington's conflict with militant Islam and backing for those demanding democracy.
It has stopped short of endorsing calls for Mubarak, 82, to quit immediately. He said last week he would step down in September when an election is due. But U.S. officials have also voiced irritation with the pace of promised reforms, supporting the protesters in their hope of immediate, concrete change.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the number of Egyptians on the streets was still growing and that Mubarak's government needed "real, concrete" measures to satisfy them.
"What you see happening on the streets of Cairo is not all that surprising when you see the lack of steps that their government has taken to meet their concerns," Gibbs said.
STREET PROTESTS
A day after one of the biggest protests so far in the capital, the main focus of the opposition, Tahrir, or Liberation, Square remained crowded. Organizers were already looking forward to another major push on the streets on Friday.
Karam Mohamed, from Beheira province in the Nile Delta, said the protests were growing: "We are putting pressure on them little by little and in the end they will fall," he said.
Protesters said the Organizers were working on plans to move on to the state radio and television building on Friday.
Hundreds of others consolidated a new encampment on the street outside parliament. On the building's main gate hung a sign reading: "Closed until the regime falls."
The office of the new prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, is nearby. He met business leaders on Wednesday and told them that he was still seeking foreign investment to help expand the economy:
"But our immediate priority now is to pass this crisis with the least damage possible," his spokesman Magdy Rady said.
The impasse in Egypt, the most populous Arab state with 80 million people and on key transit routes for oil and cargo, has crimped its own economy and has had knock-on effects worldwide.
The price of benchmark Brent crude oil rose some 2 percent on Wednesday, to near $102 a barrel, partly on fear of political instability spreading to major oil producers like Saudi Arabia.
Analysts at Credit Agricole bank estimate the crisis is costing Egypt $310 million a day. The Suez Canal, a vital source of income, reported a 1.6 percent drop in revenue in January from December. But revenue was up from a year earlier, and officials say operations have been unaffected by the turmoil.
VIOLENCE
Four people were killed and several suffered gunshot wounds in clashes between security forces and some 3,000 protesters in a desert province far from Cairo on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It appeared to be the most serious such clash with official forces since January 28, when police all but disappeared from Egyptian streets after they had beaten, teargassed and fired on protesters. Last week, there was bloodshed in Cairo when Mubarak loyalists in plain clothes attacked protesters.
Al Qaeda's Iraq-based arm, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), attacked the Egyptian government for failing to implement strict Islamic law, and said it was better for Muslims to die fighting their government rather than live under its rule.
It called on Egyptian Muslims to free all prisoners from jails after Vice President Omar Suleiman said on Tuesday that militants linked to al Qaeda were among thousands who escaped from behind bars after January 28.
The ISI's links to Egyptian militants and the strength of its influence are unclear, but some analysts said the group may have inspired a deadly attack on an Egyptian church last month.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's mass Islamist movement, renounced violence as a means to achieve political change decades ago and has warned that government efforts to stamp out its influence could push some toward more radical ideas.
With Mubarak refusing to step down before his term ends in September, the government has tried to portray itself as a bulwark against militant Islam and called for a return to normality for the sake of the economy.
Suleiman, who has been spearheading talks with opposition groups including the Brotherhood, has said there was now a road map to hand over power, but protesters have been unmoved.
A constitutional committee, appointed by Mubarak, has agreed on six articles that should be amended and said further articles could also be changed, the official news agency reported.
The articles including those governing presidential elections and terms of office. Opposition groups do not want new elections held under what they say are unfair existing laws.
The Muslim Brotherhood said "real talks" on handing over power had yet to begin. It said it was sticking to its demand that Mubarak step aside immediately.
(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul, Tom Perry, Dina Zayed, Marwa Awad, Andrew Hammond, Alexander Dziadosz, Yasmine Saleh, Sherine El Madany, Patrick Werr, Edmund Blair, Jonathan Wright and Alison Williams in Cairo, Erika Solomon and Martin Dokoupil in Dubai, Arshad Mohammed in Washington, David Stamp in London and Brian Rohan in Berlin; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1076
Excerpt:
But with a few admirable exceptions, news stories about Elliot Abrams, John Negroponte and Otto Reich have largely relied on past reporting and he-said, she-said soundbites by the usual supporters and critics, rather than in-depth investigations into their complicity in one of the bloodiest scandals of the past 20 years. And their guilt is based not on speculation or gossip, but on hard evidence that they aided torturers and death squads,circumvented Congress and the Constitution, and deceived the American people.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3341.htm
Excerpt:
By William Bowles05/11/03: (Information Clearing House) Unless you were around and following events in the 1980s, especially Central American affairs and later, the Iran-contra scandal, you probably won’t know who Elliot Abrams is. More’s the pity too. As Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs he used to oversee US foreign policy in Latin America, and was active in covering up some of the worst atrocities committed by the US-sponsored Contras. According to congressional records, under Abram's watch, the Contras "raped, tortured, and killed unarmed civilians, including children," and that "groups of civilians, including women and children, were burned, dismembered, blinded and beheaded."
But as pro-democracy protesters consolidated a new encampment around Cairo's parliament building, the White House again said that Egyptian ministers must do more to meet the demands of demonstrators, who want an immediate end to Mubarak's 30 years of one-man rule and sweeping legislative changes.
Interviewed by U.S. broadcaster PBS, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit -- a survivor of the reshuffle Mubarak undertook in a vain attempt to staunch the protests -- said he was "amazed" by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who had urged an immediate end to the emergency law Mubarak has long used to curb opposition.
"When you speak about prompt, immediate, now -- as if you are imposing on a great country like Egypt, a great friend that has always maintained the best of relationship with the United States -- you are imposing your will on him," Aboul Gheit said.
Since protests began two weeks ago, partly inspired by the overthrow of another Arab autocrat in Tunisia, U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has trodden a sometimes hazy line between support for a key Arab ally in Washington's conflict with militant Islam and backing for those demanding democracy.
It has stopped short of endorsing calls for Mubarak, 82, to quit immediately. He said last week he would step down in September when an election is due. But U.S. officials have also voiced irritation with the pace of promised reforms, supporting the protesters in their hope of immediate, concrete change.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the number of Egyptians on the streets was still growing and that Mubarak's government needed "real, concrete" measures to satisfy them.
"What you see happening on the streets of Cairo is not all that surprising when you see the lack of steps that their government has taken to meet their concerns," Gibbs said.
STREET PROTESTS
A day after one of the biggest protests so far in the capital, the main focus of the opposition, Tahrir, or Liberation, Square remained crowded. Organizers were already looking forward to another major push on the streets on Friday.
Karam Mohamed, from Beheira province in the Nile Delta, said the protests were growing: "We are putting pressure on them little by little and in the end they will fall," he said.
Protesters said the Organizers were working on plans to move on to the state radio and television building on Friday.
Hundreds of others consolidated a new encampment on the street outside parliament. On the building's main gate hung a sign reading: "Closed until the regime falls."
The office of the new prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, is nearby. He met business leaders on Wednesday and told them that he was still seeking foreign investment to help expand the economy:
"But our immediate priority now is to pass this crisis with the least damage possible," his spokesman Magdy Rady said.
The impasse in Egypt, the most populous Arab state with 80 million people and on key transit routes for oil and cargo, has crimped its own economy and has had knock-on effects worldwide.
The price of benchmark Brent crude oil rose some 2 percent on Wednesday, to near $102 a barrel, partly on fear of political instability spreading to major oil producers like Saudi Arabia.
Analysts at Credit Agricole bank estimate the crisis is costing Egypt $310 million a day. The Suez Canal, a vital source of income, reported a 1.6 percent drop in revenue in January from December. But revenue was up from a year earlier, and officials say operations have been unaffected by the turmoil.
VIOLENCE
Four people were killed and several suffered gunshot wounds in clashes between security forces and some 3,000 protesters in a desert province far from Cairo on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It appeared to be the most serious such clash with official forces since January 28, when police all but disappeared from Egyptian streets after they had beaten, teargassed and fired on protesters. Last week, there was bloodshed in Cairo when Mubarak loyalists in plain clothes attacked protesters.
Al Qaeda's Iraq-based arm, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), attacked the Egyptian government for failing to implement strict Islamic law, and said it was better for Muslims to die fighting their government rather than live under its rule.
It called on Egyptian Muslims to free all prisoners from jails after Vice President Omar Suleiman said on Tuesday that militants linked to al Qaeda were among thousands who escaped from behind bars after January 28.
The ISI's links to Egyptian militants and the strength of its influence are unclear, but some analysts said the group may have inspired a deadly attack on an Egyptian church last month.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's mass Islamist movement, renounced violence as a means to achieve political change decades ago and has warned that government efforts to stamp out its influence could push some toward more radical ideas.
With Mubarak refusing to step down before his term ends in September, the government has tried to portray itself as a bulwark against militant Islam and called for a return to normality for the sake of the economy.
Suleiman, who has been spearheading talks with opposition groups including the Brotherhood, has said there was now a road map to hand over power, but protesters have been unmoved.
A constitutional committee, appointed by Mubarak, has agreed on six articles that should be amended and said further articles could also be changed, the official news agency reported.
The articles including those governing presidential elections and terms of office. Opposition groups do not want new elections held under what they say are unfair existing laws.
The Muslim Brotherhood said "real talks" on handing over power had yet to begin. It said it was sticking to its demand that Mubarak step aside immediately.
(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul, Tom Perry, Dina Zayed, Marwa Awad, Andrew Hammond, Alexander Dziadosz, Yasmine Saleh, Sherine El Madany, Patrick Werr, Edmund Blair, Jonathan Wright and Alison Williams in Cairo, Erika Solomon and Martin Dokoupil in Dubai, Arshad Mohammed in Washington, David Stamp in London and Brian Rohan in Berlin; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1076
Excerpt:
But with a few admirable exceptions, news stories about Elliot Abrams, John Negroponte and Otto Reich have largely relied on past reporting and he-said, she-said soundbites by the usual supporters and critics, rather than in-depth investigations into their complicity in one of the bloodiest scandals of the past 20 years. And their guilt is based not on speculation or gossip, but on hard evidence that they aided torturers and death squads,circumvented Congress and the Constitution, and deceived the American people.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3341.htm
Excerpt:
‘Frauds-R-Us’
The Bush Family Saga
By William Bowles05/11/03: (Information Clearing House) Unless you were around and following events in the 1980s, especially Central American affairs and later, the Iran-contra scandal, you probably won’t know who Elliot Abrams is. More’s the pity too. As Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs he used to oversee US foreign policy in Latin America, and was active in covering up some of the worst atrocities committed by the US-sponsored Contras. According to congressional records, under Abram's watch, the Contras "raped, tortured, and killed unarmed civilians, including children," and that "groups of civilians, including women and children, were burned, dismembered, blinded and beheaded."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/aug2001/cont-a01.shtml
Excerpt:
The convicted liar
The selection of Abrams is the most provocative appointment by Bush since his nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general. Appearing frequently at press forums and congressional committee hearings in the 1980s, Abrams was one of the most belligerent defenders of Reagan’s policy of arming the Contra fascists, who waged terrorist assaults on the Nicaraguan population for nearly a decade, killing an estimated 10,000 people.
Excerpt:
The convicted liar
The selection of Abrams is the most provocative appointment by Bush since his nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general. Appearing frequently at press forums and congressional committee hearings in the 1980s, Abrams was one of the most belligerent defenders of Reagan’s policy of arming the Contra fascists, who waged terrorist assaults on the Nicaraguan population for nearly a decade, killing an estimated 10,000 people.
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