Category: News

TO: ALL PEACE ADVOCATES
FROM: THE STAFF OF ANTIWAR.COM
RE: STOP ELLIOTT ABRAMS!

Dear friend of Antiwar.com,

The news that President Trump is seriously considering neoconservative Elliott Abrams for the key position of Deputy Secretary of State should alarm all Americans who want to "avoid the mistakes of the past," as Trump put it in his major foreign policy speech. Abrams stands for everything the President said he opposes: regime change, globalism, hostility to Russia, endless wars on behalf of ungrateful "allies."

No matter what you think of Trump, Abrams in a key State Department position represents a grave threat to peace.

In addition, Abrams was indicted and convicted in the infamous "Contra-gate" scandal of the 1980s, when he collaborated in a plot to cover up paying ransom to Iran for the hostages they had taken.

Although he was pardoned by George HW Bush, this hardly alters his criminal status – and that’s the least of his crimes. During that same period he was instrumental in supporting not only the Nicaraguan contras, but also the terrorist "death squads" that wreaked devastation on El Salvador – a horrific phenomenon that led directly to the chaos that has turned that country into a killing field ruled by criminals.

Tens of thousands of Salvadorans are today showing up at our southern border due to Abrams’ activities in the Reagan era.

Abrams is a prominent member of a faction that has been responsible for most of the devastation that the United States has wrought throughout the Middle East and the world since 9/11. He supported the Iraq war: he supports regime change in Syria. His entire career exemplifies all that is wrong with the conduct of US foreign policy in recent times.

In short, Abrams must be stopped.

The post of Deputy Secretary of State is subject to confirmation by the Senate. Although as of this writing Abrams’ appointment is by no means certain, now is the time to act.

No matter what you think of Trump, this must be stopped. Contact the White House and call your Senators. Tell them: No on Abrams!

It is often not fully understood just how ignorant most US Representatives are when it comes to the finer details of foreign policy. Members get their news from an even narrower pool of information than many Americans, who are by and large abandoning the mainstream media. They read the Washington Post or they rely on their staffers, who read the Washington Post. Most Members enjoy being considered experts in the issues upon which they are voting, but the fact is they are very poorly informed.

However, there are gradations of moderately badly informed to “whaaat??!?? Did she really say that???” badly informed.

Those are the murky waters we often navigate when we sample the wit and wisdom of Rep. Maxine Waters, a 13-term Democrat from Los Angeles.

Continue reading “Rep. Maxine Waters: Trump Must Be Impeached Because Putin Invaded Korea!”

In a recent interview at CNN, David Stockman, who is a Ron Paul Institute Advisory Board member and was director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Reagan administration, critiqued the Trump administration for pushing militarism and the drug war that fuel the problems they are supposedly fighting.

Stockman explains that “we’re bombing, droning, we’ve destroyed the whole Middle East,” resulting in blowback against Americans, increased terrorism, and the creation of refugees. He further criticizes the immediate Trump administration action to expand the militarism inherited from the Obama administration – instead of curtailing it – by “huffing and puffing” toward, and “drawing red lines” regarding, Iran. Stockman succinctly summarizes the problem: “We have too many wars.”

Continue reading “David Stockman Challenges Trump Administration’s Militarism: Video”

The last two weeks have been quite a disappointment for those who expected President Trump to make a clear break with the interventionist, warmongering foreign policy of his two immediate predecessors. The Trump Administration threatened Iran several times – including bizarrely putting the country “on notice” – conducted more than 150 drone strikes, launched a disastrous commando raid in Yemen that killed scores of civilians, threatened continued sanctions on Russia over Crimea, and threatened China over the South China Sea. Warmongers seem to be in the driving seat, driving the President toward more, not less, American bombs overseas. Can the President return to his campaign promises? Today on the Ron Paul Liberty Report.

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

Shortly after the President Trump-authorized commando raid on Yemen, Fox News led the mainstream media in reporting on the great “treasure trove” of intelligence that was seized at the compound. With the claimed killing of a senior al-Qaeda official, the mission was proclaimed a success.

Soon the initial triumphalist reporting on the raid gave way to a much darker reality: an American was killed, millions of dollars in US military equipment destroyed, at least a dozen innocent women and children were killed, US military cover had been blown before the attack, the mission was poorly planned, the mission had been turned down twice by President Obama only to be dusted off by President Trump, and so on.

Continue reading “About That Intel ‘Treasure Trove’ From Trump’s Yemen Raid…”

What a week in US foreign policy! First President Trump approves a commando raid in Yemen that was a total fiasco, leaving one US soldier and scores of innocent women and children dead. Then Trump’s Iran-obsessed National Security Advisor, Gen. Michael Flynn, hijacks a White House Press conference to put Iran “on notice” over its legal testing of a missile and the false claim that it is involved in the Yemen war.

But today marks an own-goal hat trick! Today, President Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley used her first appearance before the UN Security Council to condemn Russia for the renewed violence in eastern Ukraine.

Continue reading “New UN Ambassador Threatens Russia Over Ukraine Violence, Demands ‘Return of Crimea’”