March 29, 2024

Statement of European-American Conference in the European Parliament

Statement of European-American Conference in the European Parliament 

February 7, 2012 

A European-American Conference was convened on invitation of the Friends of Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament on February 7, in relation to the current political situation in Iran and the region, and the necessity of protecting Ashraf residents, members of the Iranian opposition. The conference was presided over by Jim Higgins, member of the European Parliament’s Bureau. Dozens of EU parliamentarians, including Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Struan Stevenson, head of the Delegation for Relations with Iraq in the parliament, and many prestigious American personalities such as Howard Dean, former US Presidential candidate and Chairman of the Democratic National Convention, Senator Robert Torricelli, former US Congressman Patrick Kennedy and John Bruton Former Prime Minister of Ireland spoke at the event. The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect, Mrs Maryam Rajavi, was the keynote speaker of the event. Participants underlined the following points: 

1. As the uprising in Syria has placed that country’s dictator on the verge of collapse and the tide in the region is rapidly turning against the Iranian regime and its puppet government in Iraq, the Iranian regime’s leader, Khamenei, declared war on the international community on Friday, February 3, in Tehran’s Friday prayer meeting and announced that his regime, in disregard of all international sanctions, will continue its nuclear weapons program and meddling in the region, and will push to establish Islamist regimes in the region. He once again called for the destruction of Israel and claimed that the United States is on the verge of collapse. 

2. Such posturing is not from a position of power but reflects the depth of the Iranian regime’s crisis and weakness that prevents it from showing any flexibility. Any compromise by this regime is tantamount to its accelerated downfall and implosion. Khamenei threatened his internal rivals to submit to the will of his Guardians Council as Iranian society seethes with dissent and economic crises engulf the regime. His aim is to forestall yet another round of internal uprisings on the eve of the regime’s sham parliamentary elections. The Guardians Council is comprised of members appointed directly or indirectly by Khamenei himself. 

3. The Iranian regime is bent on the destruction of Ashraf residents, members of the main Iranian opposition, before the tide of change reaches Iraq and Iran from Syria, so that it can face that challenge easier. The regime knows very well that the Iranian Resistance movement is the main force that can lead and transform the enormous dissent inside Iranian society towards a fundamental change to democracy. 

4. The experience of the uprisings of 2009 and 2011 showed that former members of this regime that are now presenting themselves as the Green movement have never had the political capacity or the moral courage to lead the people’s uprising and in effect provide service to the Khamenei regime to dampen and stifle dissent by sowing seeds of despair among the people. They seek to maintain the current regime structure and constitution without the slightest price and to implant themselves within the institutions of power.

5. The conference  agreed that the international community, especially the EU and US, should recognize the Iranian Resistance and its President-elect as the legitimate opposition and democratic alternative to the Iranian regime and protect Ashraf residents. This is not only a political and moral obligation but a necessity to achieve world peace. Mrs Rajavi rightfully pointed out that although the sanctions are very necessary, but the lasting solution to rid the world of religious fascism that seeks nuclear weapons is regime change and the establishment of a secular democracy with a non-nuclear stance. This change can only be achieved at the hands of the Iranian people and resistance. 

6. The conference condemned any pressures applied to Ashraf residents to force them to transfer to Camp Liberty and stressed that the prerequisite of any transfer of Ashraf residents to Liberty was providing the minimum assurances to the residents – assurances that are legitimate and reasonable and without which Liberty would be nothing more than a prison. The freedom to transfer moveable property and vehicles to Liberty, the lack of a police presence inside of the small Camp Liberty area, freedom of movement, provision of minimum living area, are the minimums that if the Iraqi  government is not ready to provide, will show a sinister intention and would therefore preclude any transfer by the residents. 

7. The conference expressed great appreciation for Mrs Rajavi’s courageous and goodwill initiative to transfer 400 residents with their moveable property and vehicles to Liberty in order to prepare the way for the transfer of the rest of the residents. The conference expressed hope that the Iraqi government accepts this generous initiative and reciprocates with goodwill. Without providing these conditions, the transfer of the rest of the residents will not be possible. 

8- The conference stressed considering all limitation and dangers that exist in Liberty, it strongly supports a solution that following transfer of the first 400 residents to Liberty, the second group would be transferred only when the first group has left Liberty to third countries. In other words, in Liberty, there will never be more that 400 people. 

9- The conference, recognizing the efforts of the Special Representative of the United Nation Secretary General, Ambassador Martin Kobler, regarding Camp Ashraf, stresses that he should consider the fact that Ashraf residents, the leadership of the camp and Mrs. Rajavi have shown maximum flexibility and cooperation and have relinquished many given rights in doing so.  It is now time that Mr Kobler took an impartial position and bravely defended the minimum rights of Ashraf residents disregarding reactions of the government of Iraq and Iranian regime.  He has the international community on his side and undoubtedly can achieve the minimums if he puts aside political considerations.

The conference regretted the fact that the Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 25 December without the agreement or awareness of the residents, and that Camp Liberty was announced to be ready in a statement released on 31 January, again without the knowledge of residents while the camp does not meet international human rights and humanitarian standards. In this regard the conference, in order to clarify any misunderstanding, called for an “Executive Document of the Arrangements of Transfer” to be signed by the Special Representative, the representatives of residents, and government of Iraq to prevent Iraq from violating oral commitments as it has done in the past. 

10- The conference applauded the stance of the UN Commissioner for Refugees and called on the UNHCR to start the reaffirmation of refugee status of Ashraf residents objecting imposed limitation by the government of Iraq.  For over 5 months this process, which is necessary to resettle Ashraf residents, has been stalled. 

11- The conference welcomed and appreciated valuable considerations by the Un Secretary General about Ashraf and asked him and the UN Security Council to condemn limitations imposed against UNAMI and the UNHCR by the government of Iraq and help the Special Representative to take powerful and effective steps toward a peaceful solution for the issue of Ashraf, disregarding pressures of the government of Iraq and the Iranian regime. 

12- The conference also called on the European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton, Secretary Clinton and the government of United States to take a more active role in this regard, support the United Nations and Ambassador Kobler, provide necessary sources to the UNHCR, and start the process of accepting Ashraf residents specially the ill and wounded in a swift manner.  The U.S. government was specifically called on to remove the illegal and illegitimate terrorist tag against the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, MEK, in order to remove the main obstacle on the way of resettlement of residents in third countries and eliminate al-Maliki’s main excuse for suppressing them.  With the economic and political leverage available, the international community and specifically the United States should not allow the government of al-Maliki, which has come to power and maintains it with the aid of the United States, to massacre the defenceless residents of Ashraf that the United States accepted the responsibility of their protection legally and officially in 2003. 

Friends of a free Iran

European Parliament

Brussels 

EU Parliament hosts conf. on situation in Iran

KUWAIT NEWS AGENCY
 
BRUSSELS, Feb 7 (KUNA) — A European-American Conference was convened at invitation of the Friends of Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday on the current political situation in Iran and the region, and the Ashraf camp in Iraq, The conference was presided over by Jim Higgins, member of the European Parliament’s Bureau.

According to a statement released by the organisers, dozens of EU parliamentarians, including Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Struan Stevenson, head of the Delegation for Relations with Iraq in the EP, and many prestigious American personalities such as Howard Dean, former US Presidential candidate and Chairman of the Democratic National Convention, Senator Robert Torricelli, former US Congressman Patrick Kennedy and John Bruton Former Prime Minister of Ireland spoke at the event.

The Paris-based leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, was the keynote speaker of the event. Friends of a Free Iran intergroup was formed in 2004 and consists of over 100 MEPs from various political groups.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2220071&language=en

The message we need to send Iran

FOX News

Several years ago, a political leader from the war torn country of Lebanon observed that in his part of the world it is better to be respected than liked. 

When it comes to Iran, the U.S. is neither. 

On the contrary, Iran’s leadership is hateful and disdainful of Western values and the United States. President Obama, time is running out. It is time to act unilaterally and decisively, and publicly support the democratic opposition in Iran.

Following Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, recent events further demonstrate the impotence of five years of UN Security Council Resolutions and the West’s economic sanctions to stop the Mullahs’ terrorist regime from achieving nuclear breakout: 

– International monitors confirmed that Iran has begun enriching uranium at the new underground Fordo facility near Qom.

– An Iranian court sentenced a former U.S. soldier, Amir Mizaei Hekmati, to death on specious charges of spying for the CIA 

– Mobs chanting “Death to America” accompanied the funeral procession of an Iranian nuclear scientist killed by a bomb as he was en route to his nefarious work.

Clearly, diplomatic engagement has failed to halt Tehran’s nuclear drive. Sanctions have been insufficient. I

In this era of the Arab Spring it is time to support regime change in Iran, from within. 

The Obama administration should support the democratic aspirations of the people of Iran and their most effective opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).

Regrettably, and without justification, the State Department continues to maintain that MEK, a declared democratic ally, on its list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” (FTO) even though it meets none of the criteria. 

The Clinton administration initially added MEK to the State Department’s blacklist in 1997 as part of a political ploy to appease Iran—this came at a time when the country was mistakenly thought to be moving towards moderation. 

The mullahs, who hate and fear MEK as an existential threat, demanded that the group be listed as a precondition for potential negotiations with the U.S. Those negotiations never materialized and today the mullahs’ regime in Tehran is the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism, responsible for countless American deaths.

The unjust designation was maintained by subsequent administrations in an effort to persuade Iran to abandon their nuclear program. 

Sadly, we now see the results of that failed policy: Iran is no closer to moderation, having recently plotted to assassinate, in full view of the world, the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil; The IAEA warns that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are actually closer to fulfillment, and the failure to de-list MEK, absent any legal or factual basis, continues to stymie prospects for democratic change in Iran.

This folly has given Iran and its proxies a license to kill thousands of MEK members, including a massacre on April 8 of last year that killed or wounded hundreds of unarmed members of the MEK living in Camp Ashraf, Iraq—each and every one of whom was given written guarantees of protection by the U.S. government. 

Now that U.S. troops have left Iraq, Iran is determined to extend its influence in the region and has justified its brutality by categorizing them as “terrorists.”

Whatever way Tehran’s propagandists characterize MEK’s political prospects, culture, or history, it is clear to me that the defenseless Iranian dissidents at Camp Ashraf are committed to non-violent regime change and a democratic, nuclear-free Iranian future. 

MEK has provided the West with valuable intelligence on the location of key Iranian nuclear sites and the organization poses no security threat whatsoever to the United States. Their charismatic leader, Madam Maryam Rajavi, whom I know and admire, embraces human rights for all, the same principles every American cherishes.

Courts throughout the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States have concluded that there is no legal justification maintain MEK on the foreign terrorist list. 

Every one of the residents of Camp Ashraf was interviewed by the FBI and by U.S. military services and there has never been a scintilla of evidence anyone in that camp was motivated by, interested in, or capable of conducting acts of terrorism against this country. Remember, they surrendered all means of self-defense in exchange for America’s promise to provide their safety and security.

Some100 members of Congress, in a bipartisan initiative, have called for MEK to be de-listed. The unfounded MEK designation only serves as a license to kill for both the Iraqi forces and the kangaroo courts in Iran, who regularly arrest, torture, and kill people on the basis of MEK affiliation. 

It shames the State Department designation process that has wrongly maintained the blacklist for misguided political reasons. Consider this: the MEK is on the list — the Taliban is not. 

Nearly two years after a U.S. Court of Appeals found that the State Department violated MEK’s due process rights, and ordered a re-evaluation, Secretary of State Clinton is still “reviewing” the designation.

As an emboldened Iran moves ever-closer to nuclear breakout, MEK’s unfounded designation is a lynchpin in the critical test of wills between Iran and the West — a test the Obama administration can ill afford to fail. 

The designation has been and continues to be the single greatest obstacle to the United Nations efforts to resettle the residents in other countries. No country is anxious to welcome any member of a group the United States has designated as a terrorist organization. 

Unshackling the MEK from an unjust blacklist and living up to U.S. guarantees to protect the Iranian opposition at Camp Ashraf will send the mullahs’ terrorist regime in Tehran exactly the message it needs to hear: The mullahs do not run foreign policy in the United States and America keeps its promises.

Tom Ridge was the first Secretary of Homeland Security for the United States of America. He is the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/26/message-need-to-send-to-iran/#ixzz1kcpb2UEs

Move Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Former U.S. base in Iraq could shelter Iranian resistance until resettlement.

Is Iran serious in threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz or is this simply saber-rattling? Whatever the motives, inaction is not an option – not any more.

Fearful of the impact of expanded U.S. sanctions, Iran’s first vice president Mohammad Reza Rahimi told the official news agency IRNA on Dec. 27, “If they impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz.” This could spell disaster for the whole region as skyrocketing oil prices would wreak havoc on the global economy.

In any contingency planning, it is imperative to establish who our allies are and who our foes are. My firsthand experience tells me that the best-organized, formidable opponents of Tehran, a group known as Mujahedin-e-Khalq, could be quite helpful. Yet our attitude toward the group has been misguided.

During my first tour in Iraq in 2003, I first learned of the existence of a group of Iranians seeking democracy in Iran. I researched the group; interestingly, women played a vital role and held a majority of the senior leadership positions. I deployed my military police brigade to Iraq during Christmas 2003 and assumed responsibility for many missions: the rebuilding of the Iraqi police and protecting that very group of Iranians I had read about, a group the State Department had listed as a foreign terrorist organization.

I was there when they consolidated at Camp Ashraf, their home in Iraq, when all 3,400 members of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, male and female, were biometrically identified, thoroughly investigated and personally interviewed by a Joint Interagency Task Force and a board of officers adjudicating each case. Did we find terrorists, criminals, undesirables among the several thousand men and women living at Camp Ashraf? No. Not one was identified as having links to any criminal acts.

Following the conclusion of the investigation into the background of the residents of Camp Ashraf, I was given the mission to inform Mujahedin-e-Khalq leadership that they were now classified as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and that my unit was charged with their safety and security – a mission which, to this day I take very seriously and still feel morally responsible for.

I really had to step back and wonder why are they identified as terrorists. What have they done? My soldiers repeatedly asked the same question. I tried very hard to find some credible evidence, a substantiated allegation, some overt or covert criminal act, anything as to why this group was designated as a foreign terrorist organization. I could not, nor could my staff. The group espouses democracy, freedom and especially equal rights for women. And this wasn’t just their propaganda or rhetoric. I witnessed it firsthand, spending a significant amount of time living and working at Camp Ashraf from 2003 until early 2005 and again in 2007 and 2008.

I brought other senior leaders of the coalition forces to Camp Ashraf in order to raise the issue. Each was stunned by what they discovered. They didn’t find a terrorist camp, but instead a small self-sustaining city.

After we handed over the security of Camp Ashraf to the Iraq government, the miseries of the residents began. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, at the behest of Iran, violently attacked the camp twice in 2009 and 2011, killing 47 defenseless residents and wounding more than 1,000.

Pressured by Iran, the Iraqi government vowed to close Camp Ashraf by year’s end and disperse the residents to other camps in Iraq. That was tantamount to their immediate or phased massacre. As the deadline loomed last week, under extensive international pressure, Mr. Maliki finally relented. He publicly announced the extension of the deadline for six months, although his forces still hold the residents at gunpoint.

Maryam Rajavi, the charismatic leader of the Iranian resistance, campaigned tirelessly for a peaceful solution to the Camp Ashraf crisis. I personally witnessed her determined efforts to save the lives of residents, one of whom is her very own daughter. Her active intervention persuaded the residents to agree in principle to relocate to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad International Airport. They would remain there until the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees could resettle them outside of Iraq.

Having received the assurances from the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Iraq, Martin Kobler, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mrs. Rajavi announced Dec. 28 that as a gesture of goodwill, 400 residents are prepared to go to Camp Liberty with their moveable property and vehicles at the first opportunity. The relocation is a test of the Iraqi government’s attitude toward the commitments it has given to the United Nations and the United States.

Yet, the threat is still very real. Camp Ashraf has come under repeated rocket attacks in the past few days by forces thought to be affiliated with the Iranian regime. The U.N. has mentioned the attacks to the Iraqi authorities, who confirmed that these attacks did indeed take place.

In order to prevent another violent attack by undisciplined Iraqi troops or terrorists against the unarmed residents of Camp Ashraf, minimum guarantees for safety and protection are necessary.

First, they should be able to move to Camp Liberty with their own vehicles and moveable properties, the falsified and forged arrest warrants against the residents should be annulled, and antagonists should be separated by barring the presence of Iraqi police inside the residential areas of Camp Liberty, specifically the ones for women and girls.

The 3,400 residents of Camp Ashraf were given a promise of protection. We must stand by that commitment. We must stress the requirement for these minimum guarantees in fulfillment of our promise.

Abandoning the residents of Camp Ashraf to the horrific whims of the current theocratic Iranian regime, after our promise to protect them, is counter to all of our values. And from the geopolitical perspective, in facing Iran’s rising threat, it is time to see the Mujahedin-e-Khalq and residents of Ashraf for what they are: a trustworthy ally.

Brig. Gen. David Phillips is the former commandant of the Army Military Police School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and former commander of all police operations in Iraq, which included the protection of Camp Ashraf.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/3/move-camp-ashraf-to-camp-liberty/

 

Political Turmoil in Iraq – Camp Ashraf

Fox News  “Special Report” with Shannon Bream

Special Guests: A.B. Stoddard, Steve Hayes, Charles Krauthammer

MICHAEL MUKASEY, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Now these people are in a camp where they are defenseless, and the United States troops have pulled out with the result that they are now at the mercy of the Iraqi government which is really doing the biding of the Iranian government. They’ve attacked them twice, both times when the U.S., then U.S. Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, was in country.

SHANNON BREAM
, GUEST HOST:
That is former Attorney General Michael Mukasey talking about a group of Iranian dissidents who actually live in Iraq, and now they’re losing their space where they’ve felt protected and they are moving elsewhere. Let’s talk about it with our panel. We’re back with Steve, A.B., and Charles. A.B., this Camp Ashraf situation is very delicate at this point.

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, THE HILL : This is really going to put us in a terrible position because we are going to get dragged into it. I mean, the U.S. government is trying to continue to partner with Iraq to secure — for their own security. But we’re trying at the same time to stay out of the sectarian tension and political chaos that is mounting there. We find the prime minister now, he wants these people out. They’re going to be moved to a temporary place, Camp Liberty, which is a former U.S. base. There is no final home. There’s plans for a transfer, or what they call resettlement, without U.S. troops, U.N. monitors. Everyone is concerned that they won’t be safe there. There will be violence. Do the residents of the camp even want to be moved to the interim place? He’s defending the sovereignty of Iran throughout.

This is going to be a mess, and we’re going to find ourselves having to take a side, and it’s going to be a very tough situation as we try to take this kind of hands-off approach now whenever trouble erupts in Iraq, as it did within days of us leaving.

BREAM: And this camp currently it sits 50 miles from the Iranian border inside Iraq. And as Jennifer Griffin did in her excellent reporting earlier tonight, talked about the fact the U.S. had an understanding for protection for these folks, Steve.

STEVE HAYES, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: This is one of the reasons that I think this is such a problem. There’s a human tragedy element to it and then there’s also the political implications of this. The human tragedy is obvious. If we don’t protect them, they could be very well the victim of collusion between these two governments. That would be tragic.

On the political side of thing, the United States unfortunately has a history doing this in Iraq. I mean, remember back to 1991 when George H.W. Bush went on the radio, and people throughout the country heard him, said rise up against your government, we’ve got your backs. The Shiites did this and the Kurds did this in the north, and then we walked away from them.

We can’t do this. If we want people to act on our own interests and our perceived interests, we need to be able to keep our word when we ask people to do things for us and when we make promises. It looks like in this case we’re not keeping a promise.

BREAM: The prime minister, al-Maliki said we’re not going to hand them over to Iran; we’re not going to kill them. We don’t want to oppress or starve them, but their presence here is illegal and illegitimate.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: What’s happening, it’s another event that we’re seeing as a result of the full evacuation that Obama decided on against the generals who wanted a residual force in Iraq that would be a counterweight essentially to Iranian influence. This is entirely Iranian influence.

The group that we are talking about are fanatically anti-regime in Tehran. They have actually helped us. They are the ones that revealed the information about the secret enrichment in Natanz. They have agents inside of Iran, and they are now defenseless.

Why we keep them on the terror list, I don’t understand. They have not engaged in terror in over 15 years, 30 year, and not against the United States. They are an asset. And as we heard in the report earlier in the show, we’ve given them written assurances of protection in return for them turning in their weaponry, of which they had a lot.

So I think it’s a matter of honor, a matter of strategic necessity. The least that we can do is to get them into these camps away from the border with Iran where Iran actually is shelling them occasionally, and to help them resettle. But you can’t do that. They’re officially listed as terrorists, so we have to take them of the list and at the least resettle them.

BREAM: And Steve, more broadly overall the environment in Iraq, a lot of violence in the last few days.

HAYES: Yeah look, Iraq is falling people. There’s no way to dress it up. That’s what’s happening. This is the logical consequence of three years of neglect. That’s what happened with the Obama administration. Phone calls from the Iraqi leaders went unreturned, requests went unfulfilled.

You had an administration, you had a president, a candidate, then Barack Obama, Senator Barack Obama, who ran against Iraq, wasn’t interested, had called it the dumb war. And now you have a president in Barack Obama who neglected this war from the beginning. He handed it off to his vice president who believed that Iraq should be partitioned and split into three different countries. This is the logical consequence of those policy choices.

And I think unfortunately we’re looking at a situation that it’s hard to imagine getting better. You’ve seen this kind of violence and it’s hard to imagine it getting better and probably will get significantly worse over the course of the spring.

STODDARD: It is true, now that we’re gone, Iran will continue to mettle. There’s all this Sunni-Shiite tension, that we’ve lost our leverage. However, leaving Iraq remains popular with the American people. So as things deteriorate throughout 2012, as we expect them to, there’s going to be a debate about whether or not that was the right thing to do. At this moment though, President Obama receives high approval for leaving completely. And so we’ll see if it changes at all.

KRAUTHAMMER: I suspect history be a lot less kind. The tragedy here is that he was handed a won war. The surge had succeeded. Even the Shiite government had taken on the Shiite militias and destroyed them. We had a country that had an election that had representation of Sunnis and Kurds and Shiites. In three years, this administration had one task, work out an arrangement where at least America remains in a noncombat role as we were for the last year-and-a-half to exert pressure, and we did not do that. And to have a won war kicked away as a result is truly tragic.

BREAM: All right, panel, thank you very much.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1348282835001/political-turmoil-in-iraq/

 

As U.S. Withdraws From Iraq, We Must Still Keep Our Promise to the Residents of Camp Ashraf

Fox News

Monday, President Obama welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to the White House with the declaration that U.S. troops were leaving Iraq with “heads held high.” But while administration spin-miesters are promoting the so-called deepening strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq, an emboldened and increasingly defiant Maliki is quickly moving forward with sinister preparations of his own that threaten to jettison President Obama’s mission-accomplished moment.

In collusion with the Mullahs terrorist regime in Tehran, the Iraqi Prime Minister is planning a Srebrenica-style massacre of 3,400 unarmed Iranian dissidents living in his country at Camp Ashraf—each and every one of whom was given a written guarantee of protection by the U.S. government. I was the general who delivered that promise to the residents of Camp Ashraf in 2004.

Camp Ashraf is home to members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) who are “protected persons” under the Geneva Conventions. As the main Iranian opposition movement, MEK is committed to non-violent regime change in Iran and a democratic nuclear-free Iranian future. MEK has provided the US with valuable intelligence about the existence of multiple nuclear sites scattered in different parts of Iran. For these reasons, the Mullahs’ regime in Iran considers MEK an existential threat, and is enlisting a willing Maliki in their evil enterprise to annihilate the residents of Camp Ashraf.

So it’s no surprise that Maliki set the stage for his White House visit by refusing U.S., EU, and U.N. demands to postpone the arbitrary and illegal deadline he imposed for closing Camp Ashraf and making it impossible for UNHCR to register and resettle the residents safely in other countries.

That Maliki’s deadline coincides perfectly with Obama’s date for withdrawal of the US presence in Iraq—Dec 31–, is no accident: It sends a clear and unmistakable message to Washington that the Obama-Maliki relationship is a litmus test for the President’s legacy in Iraq and American credibility throughout the region.

“Closing” Camp Ashraf, is Maliki’s euphemism for dispersing these defenseless men women, and children throughout Iraq where they can be more easily killed out of sight of the international community or kidnapped and brought to Iran where they face execution.

Both Maliki and the Mullahs rationalize the atrocities at Camp Ashraf with the excuse that America has maintained MEK as a listed Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997. The Clinton administration initially added MEK to the State Department’s blacklist as a good will gesture to Iran—mistakenly thought at the time to be moving towards moderation, and the designation was subsequently maintained in an effort to persuade Iran to abandon their nuclear program. But today, we can plainly see that Iran is no closer to moderation; its nuclear ambitions are actually closer to fulfillment, and Obama’s failure to de-list MEK, in the absence of any legal or factual basis, continues to stymie the prospects for democratic change in Iran.

It was about ten years ago that I first learned of the existence of the MEK. Little did I know then that in a very short time I would be personally involved with this group and its fight for survival. With a looming deadline coming on December 31, my fond memories of these Iranians might turn out be just that… memories. But this could be averted.

I know first-hand what it means to suffer at the hands of terrorists – I was the director of security for the Army at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Shortly thereafter, I deployed as the senior military policeman responsible for many missions in Iraq, including the safety and security of the residents of Camp Ashraf.

I was there when they voluntarily disarmed in return for U.S. promises of protection. I saw what remained of their other facilities after they were looted and destroyed by Maliki’s forces. I was there when each and every person of the MEK was biometrically identified, vetted, screened, and interviewed by the U.S. military. Did we find any terrorists or criminals or undesirables among the several thousand men and women? No. Each was thoroughly investigated and not one was identified as having any linkage to criminal acts. A few had unpaid parking tickets. That might seem frivolous, but I mention it to show how thoroughly we investigated each member of the MEK at Camp Ashraf.

I really had to step back and wonder why they are identified as terrorists by the State Department. I tried very hard but I could not find any credible allegation, any overt or covert crime, any reason why this group carried the FTO designation that Maliki and the Mullahs cite as a rationale for their atrocities.

I witnessed firsthand equal rights in action at Camp Ashraf. I spent significant time living and working at Camp Ashraf. I got to know almost every senior leader of the MEK at Ashraf, and many of the residents. After the vetting process was completed I brought the message back to the leadership of Ashraf that they were now classified as protected persons under the Geneva Convention and I was personally charged with their safety and security. And, even though I’m no longer directly responsible for safety and security at Camp Ashraf, I still feel morally responsible, as all of Americans who take pride in our country and our word should be.

I had open and unrestricted access to every area of Camp Ashraf. I staged independent, unannounced inspections and never, discovered any indication of anyone being kept there against his or her will by the Camp’s leadership, as some detractors mistakenly allege. And I really tried to uncover proof of those allegations. But the only thing I was ever able to prove without a doubt was that the allegations were false. Were there any issues between my units, my forces, and the MEK at Ashraf? Of course! But they were few and far between, and all were resolved by simple discussions and mutual understanding.

I spent well over a year seeking definitive guidance regarding a way to resolve the humanitarian crisis at Camp Ashraf. I brought many senior leaders of the coalition forces to Ashraf. They were all stunned that we were keeping these defenseless men, women and children in such limbo. I left Iraq frustrated after that tour, and a year later when I returned, I saw that there had been no change. There was still no definitive guidance. During that tour I was charged with rapidly rebuilding the Iraqi police, and simultaneously I was General Petraeus’s expert on all police and security operations, including security at Camp Ashraf.

We gave the people at Camp Ashraf a promise of protection following a very thorough vetting process—and I know this for a fact because I delivered that promise. I feel so strongly about it that even now, I would return to Ashraf to be an intermediary to ensure the safe relocation of the residents.

I fear that unless we have some type of intermediary, some type of initiative very soon, some due resolve, given the December 31 deadline imposed on Ashraf by the government of Iraq at behest of Tehran, another tragedy will occur. We’ve seen members of this organization viciously attacked in the recent past and dozens of them, young and old killed and about 1,000 wounded by the Iraqi armed forces. In a few weeks, if the deadline to close Camp Ashraf is not postponed, we could see an even greater tragedy.

A cry must be sounded loud and clear—the very same cry that was sounded by thousands of Iranian Americans who stood outside the White House on December 12 as the President was meeting with Maliki, that we will not stand for violence against the defenseless people of Camp Ashraf. Maliki’s arbitrary and illegal deadline must be postponed, his plans for forcible dispersion of Ashraf residents in Iraq shelved, and the U.N. refugee agency encouraged to find the residents sanctuary in third countries.

Evil thrives in darkness, so let’s shed some light on Camp Ashraf: I tried to find a terrorist at Camp Ashraf and I could not. I tried to find people held against their will at Camp Ashraf. I could not. All I found there were people committed to non-violence and a free and democratic Iranian future.

I only hope the world is listening. The time to act is now. This is more than a local issue: the people of “Camp Ashraf,” have relatives in the United States and Europe who care deeply about their fate.

As we exit from Iraq, the Obama White House should take care not to undercut the West’s fight against Iranian nuclear breakout by giving Iraq’s Shia prime minister the impression that the U.S. is a paper tiger that will easily abandon its solemn promises to Ashraf residents by sending them to face certain death in the Iraqi desert.

General David Phillips (ret.) is the former Chief of Military Policy at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and forme commander of all police operations in Iraq which included the protection of Camp Ashraf.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/12/13/as-withdraw-from-iraq-must-still-keep-our-promise-to-residents-camp-ashraf

The noose tightens around Iranian refugees at Camp Ashraf

 

The Iraqi government has announced that it plans to close Camp Ashraf, home to more than 3,000 Iranian dissidents by the end of the year. But the decision has put the international community in a difficult position.

During his visit to the US this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has a number of issues on the agenda, primarily the December 31, 2011, withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq. But at Camp Ashraf – home to more than 3,000 Iranian dissidents in Iraq – all eyes are set on whether Maliki’s visit could bring a resolution to a looming crisis over the future of the refugee camp.

December 31 also happens to be the deadline set by Maliki’s government to dismantle the camp, which is situated in Iraq’s Diyala province about 60 kilometres north of Baghdad.

A sprawling camp that emerged in the mid-1980s, Camp Ashraf is a base of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), a resistance group opposed to the Iranian theocratic regime and reviled in Tehran. Under former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the group – which is also called the Mujahideen Khalq – mounted attacks against the Iranian government.

Following the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the camp was disarmed and secured by US troops until 2009, when the US turned the camp over to the Iraqi government.

Since the handover to the Iraqi government, human rights groups have criticised the Iraqi military of regularly targeting “unarmed dissidents in the camp”. The most recent incident occurred in April, when 34 camp residents were killed, according to the UN.

“Considering the previous dramatic incidents in the camp against its unarmed inhabitants, we can expect the worst, which would mean a new bloodbath if Baghdad implements its [December 31 camp dismantling] decision,” warned Afchine Alavi, a spokesman for the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is composed mainly of Mujahideen Khalq members.

Alavi was speaking at an international conference in Paris over the weekend, when NCRI members – along with a number of former senior US military and political leaders – called for “urgent action by the international community” to intervene with Iraqi leaders.

UN call for extension of camp closure deadline

The UN has appealed to the Iraqi government to delay the planned December 31 closure of Camp Ashraf, with UN special envoy for Iraq Martin Kobler calling on Maliki’s government to extend the deadline “in order to permit adequate time and space for a solution to be found”.

But the Iraqi government has insisted that the camp must close by the end of the year. Baghdad says Camp Ashraf is a security threat and Iraq’s UN ambassador Hamid al-Bayati maintains that Iraq cannot host any group “which will attack neighboring countries”.

Critics however state that the Iraqi government’s sole purpose for closing down the camp is to please the Iranian government. “No timetable, no interest in Iraq justifies the closure of Camp Ashraf,” said Alavi. “They’re acting solely in Iran’s interests. Iran dictates the terms to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.”

With Baghdad attempting to bolster ties with Iran, the dissidents in Camp Ashraf have become a major irritant to Iraq’s Shiite-led government. Both countries have Shiite majorities and in Iraq, Shiite political groups dominate power with many Iraqi politicians – including Maliki – having spent time in exile in Iran.

Following the December 31, 2011, withdrawal of US troops, there are growing concerns in Washington over Iran’s influence in Iraq.

Lobbying to get struck off the terrorist list

Saturday’s conference in Paris ended with delegates issuing an appeal to US President Barack Obama. “On the eve of the Iraqi Prime Minister’s visit to the United States, we are writing to call for immediate action to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Camp Ashraf in Iraq,” said the final declaration.

The pressure on Washington is no coincidence. Under the Geneva Conventions, the US granted the refugees of Camp Ashraf the status of “protected persons” while maintaining the Mujahideen Khalq on the US list of terrorist organisations.

The EU, on the other hand, removed the group from its “black list” in 2009, following several court rulings. But the group has a shadowy reputation, with the New York-based Human Rights Watch accusing the Mujahideen Khalq of controlling the camp with an iron hand and muzzling residents who challenge its authority.

In a New York Times report, a US State Department official, who declined to be named, said the camp’s leaders “exert total control over the lives of Ashraf’s residents, much like we would see in a totalitarian cult,” requiring fawning devotion to the group’s leaders, Maryam Rajavi, who lives in France, and her husband, Massoud, whose whereabouts are unknown.

Supporters of the group however deny the charges say it has renounced violence and has not engaged in terrorist acts for a decade.

In an interview with FRANCE 24 on the sidelines of Saturday’s conference, Brig. Gen. David Phillips, the commander of the 89th Military Police Brigade of the US Army, which was responsible for the security of Camp Ashraf in 2004, said he found no evidence that the group was a terrorist organisation.

“Initially, when I arrived at Camp Ashraf, I was told simply that they’re a foreign terrorist organisation. I tried very hard to get information as to why they are that type of organisation. I was never able to substantiate any of those allegations, [which was] very frustrating for my soldiers and I,” said Phillips.

As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton completes a review of the terrorist designation, there has been a massive lobbying effort in the US for a designation reversal.

The lobbying effort has won high profile supporters in the US, including Andrew Card, President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, who attended Saturday’s conference in Paris.

“I’m a very strong advocate of their being taken off that list,” said Card in an interview with FRANCE 24. “I hope that the Obama administration will move quickly to make sure they’re no longer on the State Department terrorist list.”

Card maintains that the US bears a responsibility to protect the residents of Camp Ashraf and that Washington’s credibility is at stake following the attacks in the camp after the 2009 camp handover to Iraqi forces. “We want to make very sure that the word that America gave to the people of Camp Ashraf that they will be protected is respected by Prime Minister Maliki,” said Card.

In a December 6 column in the Washington Post, Maliki noted that “the camp’s residents are classified as a terrorist organisation by many countries and thus have no legal basis to remain in Iraq,” before adding, “No country would accept the presence of foreign insurgents on its soil, but we will work hard to find a peaceful solution that upholds the international values of human rights.”

Finding a peaceful resolution to the current crisis is just what the residents of Camp Ashraf want. But the clock is ticking and for the more than 3,000 camp residents, there is little guarantee of what the New Year will bring.

 

Reaching Across the Aisle, Former Governors Call for Urgent Intervention to Save Iranian Dissidents in Iraq

PR Newswire

As December 31 Deadline Nears for American Military Withdrawal, Fate of 3,400 “Protected Persons” Hangs in the Balance

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — At a press conference at the National Press Club, former Pennsylvania Governors Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell urged the Obama Administration to draw a clear line in the sand with the pro-Iranian government in Iraq: lift the approaching deadline for closing Camp Ashraf, home to more than 3,400 Iranian dissidents, refrain from forcible relocation of the residents that could lead to a massacre and allow their resettlement in third countries.

The dissidents are members the main Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).

The Governors, joined by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, retired US Army Colonel Wes Martin, the former commander of Camp Ashraf, and Dr. Ramesh Sepehrrad, Scholar Practitioner from the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, made their call for action before Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki meets with President Obama in Washington on December 12, 2011.

“The only reason we called this press conference is to call attention to a pending humanitarian disaster, the potential massacre of 3,400 democratic Iranian dissidents.  The massacre can only be avoided by the collective action of Prime Minister Maliki and President Obama,” Governor Ridge stressed.

“We have sent hundreds of thousands of men and women around the world for decades to promote freedom and democracy. It was the ideal that got us into Iraq. US blood and treasure notwithstanding, this administration continues to ignore the commitment it also made when they signed the Status of Forces Agreement to protect and defend and provide for the safety and security of the people at Camp Ashraf… America’s credibility is at stake,” he added.

Governor Rendell laid out an immediate plan of action. “America has an obligation to protect the people of Camp Ashraf. We want President Obama to move swiftly to delist the dissidents from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and do it quickly.  This unfair designation has given Iran and Iraq a license to kill the dissidents at will. Secondly, we want President Obama to insist to Prime Minister Maliki that he delay his order to close the camp on December 31st.”

“[We] have an obligation, we gave our word to protect [Camp Ashraf residents]. Our word has to stand for something…the Maliki Government cannot and should not be trusted to protect the lives of the residents of Ashraf. They aren’t coming to do peaceful relocation.  They are coming to arrest and put in prison the leadership of the MEK,” he added.

Judge Mukasey warned, “The people in Camp Ashraf are facing a crisis that is entirely precipitated by the Iraqi Government acting at the behest of Iran. There is no reason, none, for a deadline of December 31 other than the threat of the Iraqi Government to move in…with troops and arms and vehicles provided by the United States to attack defenseless women and men…  This is not a political matter.  This is a human rights matter. This is matter of the safety and security of people.  This is a matter of the word of the United States.”

“This is a coming disaster that can be averted by the United States President making it clear to Prime Minister Maliki that we will not tolerate this. And if we do not act, this will happen and will go down in history as a disgrace to ourselves, our country, to the remainder of the human race.”

“Make no mistake that it is the Iranian plot that is driving the December 31st deadline, the forcible relocation within Iraq and repatriation to Iran. Through its Iraqi proxies, Tehran is working hard to either surrender or wipe out every single resident of the camp at any cost. So the options are to either die under torture in Iran or be killed in the coming days. Camp Ashraf residents will never surrender to the Iranian regime. They will also resist against any relocation within Iraq unless it is under U.S. protection and UN supervision,” Dr. Sepehrrad underscored.

Recalling his experience as Ashraf base commander, Col. Martin said, “In Ashraf, I had a group of people actually trying the best they could to help the Americans. They were one of our allies, yet we were calling them terrorists. That just doesn’t mean sense… When we would go outside the perimeter, I always knew I had good strong allies on my flank. The Iranian Mujahedeen was around to the same energy to rescue us even though they didn’t have arms.”

SOURCE Institute for Democratic Strategies

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/reaching-across-the-aisle-former-governors-call-for-urgent-intervention-to-save-iranian-dissidents-in-iraq—institute-for-democratic-strategies-134962803.html

Push to drop Khalq terror designation in US

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

WASHINGTON — A group of prominent Americans is lobbying President Barack Obama to lift designation of Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq as a terrorist group, The New York Times reported.

Former CIA directors James Woolsey and Porter Goss and former FBI director Louis Freeh are among those seeking the change, the paper reported.

Others include former attorney general Michael Mukasey, ex-homeland security secretary Tom Ridge, former national security adviser General James Jones and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

The advocates insist their motive is humanitarian: to protect and resettle about 3,400 members of Mujahedeen Khalq, or People?s Mujahedeen, who are now confined in a camp in Iraq, the report said.

Mujahedeen Khalq, a former ally of ex-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, has been designated as a terrorist organization under US law.

But its supporters say the terrorist label, which dates back to 1997, reflecting decades of violence that included the killing of some Americans in the 1970s, is now outdated, unjustified and dangerous, The Times said.

The Iraqi government has said it plans to close Camp Ashraf, where the member of Mujahedeen Khalq are currently staying, by December 31 and move the people elsewhere in Iraq, the paper noted.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iRl-m-9A3bp8T0kLgIOH0EIVDRhg

Obama Administration Urged to Compel Iraq to Lift the Deadline to Close Down Camp Ashraf

PRNewswire

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — “Lives in Peril, Honor on the Line: America’s Promise to Protect Camp Ashraf,” was the title of a symposium in which several former senior U.S. officials as well as prominent human rights advocates urged the Obama Administration to prevent an impending humanitarian catastrophe at Camp Ashraf, Iraq, home to thousands of members of Iran’s main opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).  

The panelists also rejected the call made jointly by the Iranian regime and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that the residents of Ashraf must give in to relocation inside Iraq without any reliable protection for their safety and security. The fact that the United States and the United Nations have not yet publically and unequivocally dismissed this ominous plan was equally criticized.

The panel included Alan Dershowitz, Professor of Law at Harvard University; Governor Howard Dean, Secretary Tom Ridge, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy; Richard Ben-Veniste, former Member of the 9/11 Commission; Robert Joseph, former Under Secretary Of State For Arms Control & International Security; Gen. John “Jack” Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army; and Christian Whiton, former Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs.

Prof. Dershowitz said that “the potential war criminals who run the Iranian regime are so anxious to see Camp Ashraf shut down [because] they are planning the mass killing of the largest concentration of witnesses to their crimes in the world today, those who are living in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.”

“If the president of the US does not demand a change in the Iraqi government’s commitment to close the camp, his silence will be taken as acquiescence, and that is so dangerous, silent acquiescence,” he added.

“It does look like we [the United States and the Iraqi government] are in collusion and as long as we continue to designate the MEK as a terrorist organization, the Iraqi government can send these documents around the world just to provide rationalization for the murder of innocent unarmed people on two occasion in Camp Ashraf,” emphasized Secretary Ridge, adding, “Even today Martin Kobler was told by the Iraqi government, you must move men and women to another location in Iraq.. Why we are letting this government, for whom we’ve sacrificed thousands of lives, tell us what to do which is inconsistent with our broader moral obligation to support humanitarian human rights and to keep our promise, which we gave individually to every member of Camp Ashraf, when we also guaranteed them protections under the Geneva Convention.”

“The person who is representing the United Nations [in Iraq], made the ridiculous suggestion that the people from Ashraf be redistributed inside Iraq, and that somehow, without any guarantee of protection, either from the United States or the United Nations, they would be fine… Explain to me Martin Kobler, what rationale you give for what you have done which is essentially to sign the execution order for 3500 unarmed civilians,” Governor Dean said.

He added, “Mr. President, we do have a responsibility. We gave our word [to Ashraf residents] and we gave it in writing.  We have a responsibility. It is a legal responsibility. I do not want my country to be complicit in the carrying out of war crimes, as the Dutch found out in Srebrenica.”

Congressman Kennedy stressed that “before Maliki can come to this country, we must make clear that the deadline for Camp Ashraf should be rejected and the UN should be allowed to do their job; that he make sure that not only those residents are treated with dignity and respect, but honored the international law that applies to them… This is a moment for the US to set clear for the rest of the world where it stands…”

SOURCE: Iranian American Community of Northern California

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/obama-administration-urged-to-compel-iraq-to-lift-the-deadline-to-close-down-camp-ashraf-in-advance-of-iraqi-prime-ministers-visit-to-the-white-house-according-to-iranian-american-community-of-northern-california-134465558.html