[VIDEO] Rep. Ilhan Omar grills Elliot Abrams over Central American interventions

[Jim Morrison]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZvtMyeUhNc

If you don't know who this guy is, he's a neoconservative warmonger as bad as John Bolton. Directed coups in Latin America, heavily involved in Iran-Contra, one of the chief architects of the Iraq war, etc. He belongs in prison but he was just made Special Representative for Venezuela.

[Sgman91]

She's such an idiotic demogue, but hey, that's the nature of modern politicians. So she'll fit right in.

1) This guy was convicted for withholding evidence and was only given two years probation as punishment. He was not convicted for anything else in the Iran-Contra affair.

2) The massacre that she cites most definitely happened, but it was almost certainly 200+ civilians, not 800+. (This is based on the UN Commission on the Truth of El Salvador)

3) He said the success in keeping El Salvador democratic was a success, not that every action done by the El Salvadoran army was a success.

4) She then brings up genocide... out of nowhere? There certainly wasn't a genocide in El Salvador, and there's no reason to think this guy would support it. To even ask if he would support a genocide is just to baselessly attack him.

I'm not going to pretend that this guy is some human rights champion. He's clearly said and done some bad things in the past, but this is not a good example of bringing those things out.

[Jim Morrison]

1) You don't see a problem with that? It's a slap on the wrist for withholding information about illegally funding paramilitary death squads who killed countless people.

2) Source please. The UN commission states at least 500 identified victims, many more unidentified. All the reports are in the ballpark of some 800 people.

3) She asked him whether the US foreign policy of using right-wing militias to overthrow governments and install dictators was a success. He danced around the question and made up some bullshit about "democracy." El Salvador was not democratized under the policies he pushed for. They actively supported and funded the junta that held power. She also asked him straight up if he would supported militias who commit war crimes if they served US interests. He threw a tantrum and refused to answer. Because the answer is obviously yes, he's done it multiple times before.

4) There was a genocide in Guatamela against the indigenous Mayans, and Abrams pushed to aid the dictator, Efraín Ríos Montt. It's not baseless, it's public record.

How would you bring them out, then? I didn't realize there was a proper way to discuss war crimes other than bringing them up in a hearing about foreign policy positions. This guy is an enemy of democracy and human rights.