Mideast Cracker Racism: Secret Elliot Abrams plan against HAMAS, promoting Civil War among Palestinians

It's a grim truism that the Bush White House doesn't care too much about the problems of Palestinians. And, um, well, basically chief nasty enforcer Elliot "Honduran Death Squad Organizer" Abrams dominates American policy, continuously ordering Condi Rice to put a sock in it. Abrams, an Iran-Contra veteran and convicted (but pardoned) felon, is master of the White House Mideast portfolio today.

Here's the basic idea: First, the White House assumes Arabs are a bunch of fucking morons who ought to be set against each other with violence. (See similar racist material among MS Word documents from the old Coalition Provisional Authority. More on that later.) Abrams is now trying to pour cash through Fatah figurehead Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who then would disperse patronage in an effort to build his own political base. Then the U.S. and Israel provide a mountain of weapons to Fatah gunmen, who will blow Hamas away in a tidy little move.

The problem is that this plan is like most Mideast efforts nowadays: it's a malign effort to kick the can a few yards down the field and avoid putting Israel on the spot for negotiations. It's been the same song-and-dance since at least 1982, when Sharon invaded Lebanon to prevent negotiations with the PLO.

Here is the sinister Abrams plan via Asia Times. Yet again another dumb policy designed to enhance the military-industrial complex that strangles Israel, while facilitating more West Bank settlement construction. Just another day in the Mideast. Here's part one, wherein we learn how the Jordanians have censored this news. Ian Welsh over at the Agonist calls it "the essential insanity." Correct sir! Here's more on the Elliot Abrams plan of doom. Tony Karon aptly notes that Gazan Fatah chieftain Mohammad Dahlan is probably getting into fighting HAMAS because of foreign encouragement. This guy is gearing up to become the U.S./Israeli cats-paw or instrument of power, gendarme, whatever you want to call it.

Matt Yglesias bitterly observed the open anti-Palestinian racism of New Republic editor Martin Peretz. (Those guys are supposed to be liberal!) And then 2 3 4 he goes on and on without noting this whole thing was a consequence of American policy. Ygs:

Gone missing from this analysis is any recognition of the extent to which the current terrible situation is the result of stupid American policy choices. The dynamic on the US-Israeli side has become one of self-fulfilling prophesies, where the failure of ham-handed policy initiatives to produce the desired Palestinian quisling regime becomes the reason for more ham-handed initiatives whose failure then becomes yet another reason there can be no serious push for peace.

There's no end-game. Just wasting more time and blood.