Will the wave of change in the Muslim world reach Iran and evolve into a Persian Spring, asks Lord Corbett.
The Telegraph
By Robin Corbett
30 Jun 2011

About 100,000 Iranian exiles in Paris last month drew the attention of the international community to the plight of the Iranian people and demanded support for the Iranian Opposition movement. They believe the Persian Spring is part and parcel of the Arab Spring, and that the policy of the West could be the key to timing.

The conference was addressed by senior US politicians including former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former US Congressman Patrick Kennedy (son of the late Ted Kennedy), former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and former US Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge as well as senior European figures including former Prime Ministers of Iceland and Ireland.

The message from 100,000 Iranians was three-fold. First, the plight of 3,400 members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran’s resistance resident at Camp Ashraf in Iraq. The group revealed to the world Iran’s nuclear weapons programme and is considered to be the biggest player in recent widespread protests inside the country. It has found its home in Iraq under attack in recent years from an Iraqi regime which has tied its allegiances to those of Iran. In April of this year, unarmed residents were viciously attacked by Iraqi forces killing 36 residents and leaving 345 seriously injured.

The residents of Camp Ashraf are “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention and under any reading of international law must be protected from such brutality. That is the international law requirement of each member nation of the UN, but most importantly the US and UK who were the leading players in the Iraq war Coalition. The European Parliament has set a clear plan requiring UN protection of the Camp until a lasting solution for relocation outside of Iraq can be found. This strategy must be supported.

Second, the PMOI’s continued listing as a terrorist organisation in the US. Initially placed on the list as an enticing carrot during negotiations with the mullahs’ regime, the ban was never legally watertight. Both the UK and EU courts have found similar bans in their respective jurisdictions to have been unjust and removed the group from the UK and EU banned lists. The US ban is being used by Iraq to continue the killing of Camp Ashraf residents.

Third, the final message was the critical ingredient. The time has come for a combined international effort to weaken the Iranian regime and strengthen the Iranian people. Weakening the regime can be achieved successfully through isolation and targeted sanctions while support for the people can justifiably be defined as support for the Iranian Opposition movement, the two of which are intertwined in achieving democratic change in Iran.

Undoubtedly issues one and two have a clear role to play in the overall message being sent. Protect the PMOI from attack at Camp Ashraf and remove the group from the list of banned organisations in the US and we send a clear message to the Iranian people that we support their democratic ambitions.

Do so with targeted sanctions and the balance of power in Iran can shift, allowing Iranian people power to strengthen and a regime intent on crushing the Arab Spring to topple alongside its dictatorial neighbours. For a historical change Iranians and their Arab neighbours can put regional rivalry aside and strive for the same democratic aspirations.

“Realist” pundits of international politics might try to write this off as being farfetched. But the historical changes encompassing the whole region had been written off by these diplomats and experts following the events from their ivory towers as recently as last year. The real players are the young men and women in the streets of the Middle East, the same who were present in multitudes in June in Paris. That is what made their message so compelling.

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale is Chairman of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom. He is a former Chairman of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8608095/Why-we-should-back-the-Persian-Spring.html

St. Louis Post Dispatch
By Kasra Nejat
Tuesday, June 28, 2011

As protests for democracy and human rights continue in the Middle East, the world has not forgotten that the Iranian people also staged nationwide uprisings beginning in June 2009. In February and March of this year, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Iran once again, demanding democracy and an end to the regime.

Without offering support to the Iranian people and their main opposition, the world cannot deal with the regime’s multi-faceted threats, including the mad dash toward nuclear weapons.

For the West, the expression of legitimate demands for freedoms and human rights across the Middle East has meant that the era of choosing tyrannical stability over democracy as a matter of foreign policy has ended.

To alleviate concerns about the role of religious fundamentalism in the region’s future, Washington should stop talking to the fundamentalist mullahs and start listening to the Iranian people.

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have lauded the protest movement in Iran. But, if not translated into tangible actions, words and concerns for human rights abuses are simply benign.

Just recently, the Iranian regime announced that it will triple its enriched uranium production in defiance of the international community and in a clear sign that the world needs to do more than imposing sanctions on the regime. This shows that the Iranian regime’s nuclear defiance, suppression at home and terrorism export are all outpacing U.S. policy. America is stuck in a reactive mode because it largely sidesteps the massive potential of the Iranian people.

Deliberate and active support for democratic change by the Iranian people and their resistance movement is an option that far outweighs appeasement or threat of war in terms of strategic benefits for both Iran and the region.

The depth and magnitude of dissent in Iran has for the past two years been strengthened with the deepening fissures at the apex of power within the regime. New political dynamics have rapidly taken shape within Iran, putting the regime at a severe disadvantage, but Washington’s policy has remained extremely stagnant.

America’s tough rhetoric against Iran will have no real weight in the eyes of the regime if it ignores Tehran’s Achilles Heel.

But, much more is at stake than just Iran. For the West, it makes absolutely no sense to expect a democratic outcome for the popular uprisings in the Middle East while at the same time engaging the fundamentalists ruling Iran. The third option of democratic change should no longer be the third rail of America’s Iran policy. It should be the first priority.

There are a number of practical steps that need to be taken to that end.

First, more comprehensive sanctions, especially an oil embargo, should be imposed against the regime, depriving it of the means to fund terrorism and extremism abroad.

Second, in contrast to its tepid reaction to the regime’s crackdown in 2009, the United States must stand tough against rights abuses. The administration’s decision on June 9 to place sanctions on the Iranian regime’s repressive forces is a good start. But, more needs to be done to support the Iranian people’s aspirations for democracy.

Sadly, even in the current environment, the United States is curtailing the activities of the principal Iranian opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), by keeping it on the blacklist at the behest of Tehran.

A number of distinguished former high-ranking officials from the past three administrations, including not one but three former joint chiefs of staff, seasoned U.S. diplomats, counterterrorism experts and veteran security and intelligence officials like former CIA directors have called on Washington to delist the MEK and protect Camp Ashraf, home to 3,400 MEK members in Iraq.

The United States must immediately delist the MEK, as both a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. and dozens of bipartisan lawmakers have called for. Missouri Congressmen William Lacy Clay and Emanuel Cleaver are among some 80 bipartisan lawmakers who have so far endorsed House Resolution 60, which calls on the secretary of state to delist the MEK.

That should be done, not tomorrow, but today, as former officials like Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Hugh Shelton have advocated.

It is a sad irony that the United States is accommodating the demands of the fundamentalist rulers in Tehran by restricting the anti-fundamentalist MEK. Delisting the MEK will strengthen the entire opposition in Iran, serving to suffocate Tehran’s nuclear drive and expansionist agenda.

Kasra Nejat is president of the Iranian American Cultural Association of Missouri, based in St. Louis.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/article_4ebe4c28-05f4-59f9-b3f4-e6ab086325de.html

Anti-Tehran group should be nurtured, not hindered.
Columbia Daily Tribune
BY KASRA NEJAT
Sunday, June 26, 2011

As protests for democracy and human rights continue in the Middle East, the world has not forgotten that for the past two years, beginning in June 2009, the Iranian people also staged nationwide uprisings. In February and March this year, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Iran once again, demanding democracy and an end to the regime.

Without offering support to the Iranian people and their main opposition, the world cannot deal with the regime’s multi-faceted threats, including the mad dash toward nuclear weapons.

For the West, the expression of legitimate demands for freedoms and human rights across the Middle East has meant the era of choosing tyrannical stability over democracy as a matter of foreign policy has ended.

To alleviate concerns about the role of religious fundamentalism in the region’s future, Washington should stop talking to the fundamentalist mullahs and start listening to the Iranian people.

President Barak Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have lauded the protest movement in Iran. But, if not translated into tangible actions, words and concerns for human rights abuses are simply benign.

Just recently, the Iranian regime announced that it will triple its enriched uranium production in defiance of the international community and in a clear sign that the world needs to do more than impose sanctions on the regime. This shows the Iranian regime’s nuclear defiance, suppression at home and terrorism export are all outpacing U.S. policy. America is stuck in a reactive mode because it largely sidesteps the massive potential of the Iranian people.

Deliberate and active support for democratic change by the Iranian people and their resistance movement is an option that far outweighs appeasement or threat of war in terms of strategic benefits for both Iran and the region.

The depth and magnitude of dissent in Iran has for the past two years been strengthened with the deepening fissures at the apex of power within the regime. New political dynamics have rapidly taken shape within Iran, putting the regime at a severe disadvantage, but Washington’s policy has remained extremely stagnant.

America’s tough rhetoric against Iran will have no real weight in the eyes of the regime if it ignores Tehran’s Achilles Heel.

But, much more is at stake than just Iran. For the West, it makes absolutely no sense to expect a democratic outcome for the popular uprisings in the Middle East while at the same time engaging the fundamentalists ruling Iran. The third option of democratic change should no longer be the third rail of America’s Iran policy. It should be the first priority.

There are a number of practical steps that need to be taken to that end.

First, more comprehensive sanctions, especially an oil embargo, should be imposed against the regime, depriving it of the means to fund terrorism and extremism abroad.

Second, in contrast to its tepid reaction to the regime’s crackdown in 2009, the United States must stand tough against rights abuses. The administration’s decision on June 9 to place sanctions on the Iranian regime’s repressive forces is a good start. But more needs to be done to support the Iranian people’s aspirations for democracy.

Sadly, even in the current environment, the United States is curtailing the activities of the principal Iranian opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), by keeping it on the blacklist at the behest of Tehran.

A number of distinguished former high-ranking officials from the past three administrations, including not one but three former joint chiefs of staff, seasoned U.S. diplomats, counterterrorism experts and veteran security and intelligence officials have called on Washington to delist the MEK and protect Camp Ashraf, home to 3,400 MEK members in Iraq.

The United States must immediately delist the MEK, as both a Federal Appeals Court in DC and dozens of bipartisan lawmakers have called for.

Representatives William Lacy Clay and Emanuel Cleaver are among some 80 bipartisan lawmakers who have so far endorsed House Resolution 60, which calls on the secretary of state to delist the MEK.

That should be done immediately.

Kasra Nejat is president of the Iranian American Cultural Association of Missouri, which is based in St. Louis.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/jun/26/us-policy-toward-iran-is-stagnant/

Detroit Free Press
June 17, 2011

After the death of Bin Laden, the world is again focusing on the Arab spring with even more vigor, because the message of Arab Spring is opposite to that of Bin Laden — freedom, democracy, and secular Islam.

When Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi began to fire on his own people, the United Nations stepped in — as it should have — with air strikes to protect civilians and stem the brutal attacks.

In Iraq, there is a similar situation, and perhaps even worse. Many Iraqi citizens have been gunned down in Baghdad and other cities because they called Maliki “a liar,” and wanted a better living condition for the country.

Iraqi forces, at the behest of, and with the assistance of the Iranian regime, have fired on guests in the country — unarmed defenseless men, women and children. The only way to describe this action is as a human rights crime.

The scene of the this horrific act is Camp Ashraf, a mini-city north of Baghdad that has been a peaceful home for two decades to exiles from Iran’s mullahs’ — 3,400 men, women and children who are members of Iran’s principal opposition movement, the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).  But Ashraf no longer is peaceful.

On April 8, Iraqi forces invaded the camp and mercilessly slaughtered 35 residents of Ashraf, including eight women, and wounded hundreds more.

The onslaught infuriated members of Congress. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, wrote to the Secretary of State, expressing concern about the deadly raid, which described as “extremely troubling” and “directly contradict(ing) the Government of Iraq’s commitment to protect Camp Ashraf residents according to our agreement with them and in accord with its international obligations.”

Equally encouraging was the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, who said, “United Nations confirmation of the scope of last week’s tragedy at Camp Ashraf is deeply disturbing and the Iraqi military action is simply unacceptable.” He then suggested steps that need to be taken, “the Iraqis must stop the bleeding and refrain from any further military action against Camp Ashraf.” Senator Kerry added, “the investigation must hold accountable the responsible parties and ensure that there will be no sequel to these horrific events.”

Kerry described the current situation at Camp Ashraf as “untenable,” and concluded, “The United States must redouble efforts with all the relevant parties — including the Iraqi government, the United Nations, the European Union, and the Mujahedin-e Khalq itself — to seek a peaceful and durable solution, and to find permanent homes for the residents of Camp Ashraf.”

Particularly disturbing is that Maliki is doing the bidding of Tehran, which sees the MEK as a major threat, and for good reason.

The MEK wants to bring democracy to Iran, something that is far from the minds of the mullahs. Indeed, they are terrified of anyone who supports a democratic Iran, which is why they not only are masterminding the action at Camp Ashraf but are fighting demonstrations in the streets of Iran’s cities and having public hangings of dissidents.

It is heartening that the world, including senior American officials from the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations, as well as French and European politicians, has called for an immediate end to Iraqi occupation of the camp forces and ensuring the protection of its residents by the United States and the United Nations.

The U.S., EU and UN should intervene quickly to protect Ashraf from the assaulting Iraqi forces from Ashraf, and as dozens of senior officials of Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations have recently said, the U.S. should remove the MEK from the terrorist list so it can be able to work for a free Iran in full throttle. In his letter to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Levin requested that the State Department “accelerate its review of the Mujahadeen-Khalq’s designation.”

The terrorist designation was meant to curry favor with the ruling Ayatollahs in Iran to alter their outlaw behavior; that policy has badly failed.

The Ashraf situation has once again demonstrated who the terrorists are – and it’s not the MEK. To the contrary, as Andy Card, former chief of staff to President George W. Bush said, “the MEK is the example that others can follow in the entire region of the Middle East.” That example is a free Iran, which is crucial for a democratic, secular, and non-belligerent region.

Mike Khodadost is the president of the Iranian-American Cultural Society of Michigan.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110617/OPINION05/110616057/Online-commentary-U-S-must-step-up-help-exiled-Iranians-Iraq-s-Camp-Ashraf?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cp

By Brian Binley
The Washington Times
Friday, May 27, 2011

Start the effort by protecting Iranian exiles in Iraq
As President Obama is in London to talk hard global politics about Libya and the Arab Spring, there is little doubt that in discussions about Iraq, the fate of 3,400 Iranians based in Camp Ashraf deserves to be high on the agenda.

Those Iranians are members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), Iran’s largest opposition group and the greatest thorn in the side of the current Iranian regime for more than 30 years. The PMOI is famed for revealing the Iranian regime’s clandestine nuclear weapons program and also has played a key role in leading the widespread protests that continue to increase in size and ferocity in Iran’s major cities.

The group’s great success and widespread support have meant that it is the Iranian regime’s No. 1 target. Initially, the Iranian regime used nuclear negotiations to demand that the PMOI be blacklisted in the West as a precondition for Tehran’s entering negotiations. U.S., British and European Union governments of the time had decided that appeasement of Tehran was the order of the day. If this meant unjustly blacklisting the regime’s largest opposition group, then so be it. The United Kingdom and EU blacklisting has ended following historic legal battles. No legal justification remains for the ban in the United States, and widespread calls are being made for the PMOI’s blacklisting to be removed sooner rather than later.

Having been defeated in relation to the blacklisting of the PMOI, the Iranian regime has, since the outset of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, looked to crush the PMOI at Camp Ashraf. With Nouri al-Maliki in power in Iraq, the Iranian regime has found an ally willing to jump at the behest of Tehran’s rulers. Iran’s demands were partly met on April 8 when Mr. al-Maliki ordered 2,500 heavily armed troops to enter the camp, shoot at the residents, run them over with military vehicles and destroy their homes. The vicious attack left 35 residents dead and more than 350 wounded, the majority of whom had suffered direct gunshot wounds. Having killed close to 50 residents and wounded close to 1,000 to date, Mr. al-Maliki has vowed to shut the camp at all costs by the end of the year.

Mr. Obama has a clear duty to intervene to protect this group until a lasting solution can be found. He must not forget that he entered his presidency on the back of a campaign in which he vowed to support democratic movements wherever they arise. Unfortunately, during the widespread protests that followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fraudulent return to power for a second term in Iran, the president remained disturbingly silent as the democratic movement was ferociously crushed by the Iranian regime. The U.S. has a clear duty to protect Ashraf residents, to whom it guaranteed protection at the outset of the Iraqi invasion.

Mr. Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron must issue a statement requesting that a United Nations team take control over the safety and security of the camp and guarantee the residents’ safety, preventing further violent assaults by the Iraqi military. Once U.N. protection is provided to the residents, Mr. Obama and Mr. Cameron must back an EU Parliament lead solution, which requires serious and long-term discussions among all parties to find the residents a home away from Iraq and in areas where their safety can be guaranteed by the host nation. This is a clear solution to what increasingly has become an overcomplicated issue.

The story of the residents of Camp Ashraf and their lasting future is not only about providing humanitarian assistance to a beleaguered civilian population at risk of violent assault at the hands of Iraqi and Iranian regimes. It also sends a message to the people of Iran and the region that the U.S. supports their democratic movements and will protect civilian populations from state-sanctioned military assaults against them.

Mr. Obama came to power on the back of a mantra of supporting democracy the world over; he must follow his words with action by guaranteeing the protection of the Camp Ashraf residents and finding a lasting solution to this humanitarian crisis. We should expect nothing less.

Brian Binley is a member of Parliament in the United Kingdom from the Conservative Party.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/26/obama-must-support-iranian-democracy-movement/

Orange County Register

The war in Iraq has been over for years, but its unintended consequences continue to linger – indeed, fester might be a better word.

Yes, Saddam is gone and the weapons of mass destruction never were found. But while Iraq now ostensibly is a democracy, the real winner – sad to say – is Iran.

This has been evident for months, but if any more proof is needed, consider the appalling situation at Camp Ashraf, home to some 3,500 members of the main opposition group to the Iranian mullahs who clearly are giving the orders to Iraqi forces.

Ashraf, located 60 miles north of Baghdad, has been the sanctuary for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) since the Iran-Iraq war. Following the U.S.-led invasion, coalition forces protected these unarmed civilians under the Geneva Convention, whose strictures still apply.

On April 8, the forces of Iraqi leader Nouri al-Maliki, who supposedly was going to bring democracy back to Iraq, have been brutally attacking these helpless refuges. Dozens of Ashraf residents have been killed and hundreds injured. Indeed, perhaps 10 percent of the population has been killed or wounded. The Iraqi forces did not even let the injured be taken for medical treatment.

The other day, the UN confirmed that 34 defenseless residents of Ashraf, several of them women were killed, mostly by gunfire.

This action is all at the behest of Tehran, which fears any opposition group and especially the MEK. And Iran doesn’t even have to be involved – it has Maliki to do the dirty work. Thousands of young American lives were laid down in the calls for freedom to give Nouri Al Maliki a tour of the Iranian mullahs to slaughter and kill residents of Camp Ashraf? No way.

Reaction around the world has been unanimous: the attacks must cease and the residents of Ashraf must be left to live in peace. From the United Nations to Amnesty International, to dozens of members of Congress, the call has been loud and clear to Maliki: Cease and desist.

The U.S. State Department stated: “The U.S. Government is deeply troubled by reports of deaths and injuries resulting from this morning’s clash at Camp Ashraf… [T]his crisis and the loss of life was initiated by the government of Iraq and the Iraqi military.”

California Democrat, Howard Berman, the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, joined the committee chair, Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Letinen, condemning the Iraqi forces deadly attack on Ashraf.

http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-05-13/news/29544047_1_camp-ashraf-iraqi-forces-khalq