Elliott Abrams: Kerry's Mideast Talks 'Will Not Go Anywhere'

Thursday, 25 Jul 2013 

By Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walter

Former presidential adviser Elliott Abrams tells Newsmax that
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks being arranged by Secretary of
State John Kerry "will not go anywhere" — and predicts Israel
could strike Iran in just six months.

Abrams also says he opposes imposing a no-fly zone in Syria,
and supports the administration's decision to suspend delivery
of fighter jets to Egypt, saying the Egyptians "need bread" more
than jets.

Abrams served in the State Department under President Ronald
Reagan and as special assistant to the president and deputy
national security adviser for global democracy strategy under
George W. Bush. He is now a senior fellow for Middle Eastern
Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV, Abrams said of
Kerry's getting the Israelis and Palestinians to agree to restart
peace talks, "They’ve gone back to the table mostly as a favor
to Secretary Kerry and because they don’t want to be blamed.

"Frankly, these talks will not go anywhere. Israel's not going to
go back to those '67 [borders]. Talks may start, and I hope they
don't break down quickly, but I don't really see the basis for
getting to a peace agreement here. I don't know why Secretary
Kerry is optimistic about this."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently suggested
that time is running out to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions. Asked if
he foresees an Israeli military action in the near future, Abrams
responds: "I wouldn’t say the near future but the Israelis are
determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

"We're going to have some negotiations in August with this new
Iranian president and the Israelis realize time is running out. So
if the United States cannot prevent Iran from moving steadily
forward toward a nuclear weapon, the Israelis will strike maybe
within the next six or nine months," Abrams says.

Abrams also said suspending delivery of four F-16 jets to Egypt
is "the right thing to do. For one thing, our law says when there's
a coup, when the military removes an elected president, we should
suspend aid. And there was a coup — the military in Egypt threw
out a president.

"We may not have liked him. He may have been unpopular. But
it was still a coup so we need to follow our law," Abrams says.
"And whatever the Egyptians need now, they need bread, they
need oil, they need economic reform, they don't need more
F-16s."

U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey says the Obama administration
is deliberating whether to use military power in Syria and to perhaps
impose a no-fly zone.

But Abrams says: "I'm not in favor of a no-fly zone."

"The amount of people and planes and money that it takes, and
the risks that we would run, are very great and it doesn't do what
you're trying to do," said Abrams. "You're trying to stop this kind
of terrorist activity by the Assad regime but a lot of the damage
is done by artillery, when they fire shells into neighborhoods and
apartment houses and homes. That wouldn't be touched at all by
a no-fly zone."

As to whether Dempsey should be reconfirmed for a second term
as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Abrams says: "I'm really
 concerned about Gen. Dempsey because the way he's handled
Syria has been really unacceptable.

"He suggests we have no options, everything we'll do will get us
into an Iraq-type war, will cost billions, there's nothing we can do.
Those are policy questions and the things he's been saying have
really tied the president's hands and been meant to tie his hands
and that's inappropriate for the military. The policy should come
from the civilians," Abrams says.

The National Security Agency’s phone records and data gathering
program, revealed recently by NSA contractor Edward Snowden,
has survived a legislative challenge in the House.

"I'm glad it has," Abrams says of the vote.

"I really side with those that think the invasion of privacy here
is minimal because they're not listening to the content of the
calls, they're just seeing the numbers. We need it if we want to
avoid another 9/11-type tragedy.

"We're all concerned about invasions of privacy but the invasion
here would be if some guy in a federal office were listening to your
phone calls. That is not happening. This is just computers gathering
the numbers and trying to see relationships among the numbers,"
Abrams says. "I don't think people should be so worried about this
and we have really good testimony from former counterterrorism
officials that this helps keep us safe."

President Barack Obama was critical of President Bush's policies
on terrorism, but some say his record in fighting terrorism reflects
the same approach he campaigned against. For example, he’s
expanded the drone strikes program as well as the phone records
and data program, and he hasn't closed Guantanamo Bay.

"It is accurate to say there is a [Bush-Obama] continuum because
the threats did not change on Inauguration Day in 2009, and what
President Obama has found out is that a lot of the things he said
during the campaign were just wrong," Abrams tells Newsmax.

"What he's finding out is that we need to do many of these things.
He has expanded the drone program and kept Guantanamo Bay open.
So this is a continuum that shows that some things are above
and beyond politics."

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com 
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/abrams-kerry-mideast-talks/2013/07/25/id/517066?s=al&promo_code=144D1-1#ixzz2a5iP4600