McCain’s surrogates, Max Boot and Richard Williamson, told a gathering of the hawkish Washington
Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) in Virginia last weekend that the Republican candidate, if
elected, would not become actively engaged in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and discourage Israeli
-Syrian peace efforts, according to an important article by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s excellent
Ron Kampeas. Consistent with my last post, Abrams’ influence on both McCain positions is apparent.
As noted by Kampeas, Williamson’s endorsement of those positions “signified how closely the McCain
campaign has allied itself with neo-conservatives.” Frankly, the position of those foreign-policy
realists who have endorsed McCain and who, according to the mainstream media, are supposed to be
advising him — I’m thinking of James Baker or Richard Armitage as examples — is becoming
increasingly untenable in this campaign.
Not terribly surprising, but I have it from a reliable source that Elliott Abrams, currently Deputy
National Security Adviser for Global Democracy Strategy who also heads the NSC’s Near East office, is
regularly briefing the McCain campaign — Randy Scheunemann appears to be the main contact — and has
told friends and colleagues that he is confident that he will get a top post in a McCain
administration. Now, assuming Abrams is not talking through his hat, I very much doubt that a
Democratic-majority Senate would confirm Abrams, who pleaded guilty to essentially lying to Congress
during the Iran-Contra affair, to any position that required confirmation (especially as long as Chris
Dodd, who clashed frequently and bitterly with Abrams when the latter served as Assistant Secretary of
State for Inter-American Affairs under Reagan, remains alive). That would leave his current abode —
the NSC — as his most likely destination. But he is already a deputy national security adviser. Does
that mean that he thinks he will be THE Deputy National Security Adviser — in charge of the day-to-day
operations of the NSC — or even THE National Security Adviser in the McCain White House?
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