[CTRL] Elliott Abrams- A Shameful Choice

[William Shannon]

http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/07/11/opinion/ONEWED11.htm A shameful choice Abrams' past should have prevented Bush from naming him to security post. President Bush has just hired a guy who made headlines in the 1980s as a deceitful, scheming coddler of Latin American tyrants. Elliott Abrams is a poster-boy for America's shameful history of propping up dictators from Santiago to Mexico City - so long as they were anticommunist. Two years ago, President Clinton went to Guatemala and vowed a clean break with this disgraceful legacy. By installing Mr. Abrams at the National Security Council, President Bush seems to be saying: Never mind. It is hard to imagine someone less suited to be the council's senior director for democracy, human rights and international operations. Manuel Noriega? Don King? The hiring of Mr. Abrams - who makes Jesse Helms seem like a milquetoast - mocks the President's saccharine pledge of civility. Elliott Abrams was assistant secretary of state for Latin America for most of the Reagan years. In that role, this high official pooh-poohed the slaughter of civilians in war-torn El Salvador and Guatemala and mocked his critics as "vipers" and worse. He played an important role in the funding of contra rebels fighting to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government. He didn't just try to end-run the U.S. law that prohibited U.S. military aid to the contras. He actively deceived three congressional committees about what was going on. Facing felony charges based on his testimony, Mr. Abrams pled guilty in 1991 to two misdemeanors and was sentenced to a year's probation and 100 hours of community service. But a year later, President George H.W. Bush, whose own role in the Iran-contra scandal has remained murky, handed the uncontrite peddler of lies a full pardon. Elliott Abrams has no business being awarded any position of public trust. For this ethically challenged zealot to be given duties involving democracy and human rights - in an administration pledged to "restore honor and dignity" to the White House - is especially odious. Unfortunately, his appointment - a sop to the Republican right - doesn't require approval by the Senate. The President should realize his error and tell Mr. Abrams' most recent employer, the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center, to take him back for more rehab.