OxBlog

Tuesday, December 03, 2002

# Posted 6:45 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

AMBASSADOR TO UTOPIA: NSC official Zalmay Khalilzad is now the United States' "ambassador at large for free Iraqis". Elliot Abrams, until now the NSC's director for democracy and human rights, will take Khalilzad's place as NSC director for the Middle East. This is very good news because Abrams was one of the few Reagan administration officials who demonstrated an uncompromising commitment to promoting democracy abroad. Having him as director for the Middle East means democracy will have a voice. If you want evidence of Abrams' views, think of it this way: Robert Kagan keeps an autographed photo of Abrams in his office. (Kagan worked for Abrams at the Reagan State Department.)

One should note, however, that Abrams is a divisive partisan figure who played a significant role in the Reagan administration's efforts to cover up the Iran-Contra scandal. Off hand, I can't remember if he was convicted or just indicted for lying to Congress. I guess you might say Abrams needs to work on promoting democracy at home as well as abroad.

UPDATE: Israpundit provides a slightly different perspective, focused on -- you guessed it -- Israel.
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