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Iraq’s License to Kill

November 3, 2011 by

THE HUFFINGTON POST

Have you ever heard of someone be given an official deadline to be killed? Imagine you are sitting in your home and you are told by the government: in less than two months we will attack and kill you. And you have nowhere to go.

Well, that’s exactly what seems to be happening with the 3400 inhabitants of Camp Ashraf, an Iranian opposition camp set up 25 years ago in Iraq, 60 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The residents, who are completely unarmed and defenseless refugees, including over a thousand of women and children, have been told that on 31 December 2011 – when American troops will completely withdraw from Iraq, the camp has to be evacuated. But they have not been given an alternative place to go.

In the past two years, since the US handed over security of the camp to the Iraqi forces, the camp residents have been continuously harassed and attacked by Iraqi army who under the orders of Prime Minister Maliki seem to be doing Tehran’s bidding. According to UN, at least 34 residents were shot dead or crushed under Iraqi army vehicles in the latest assault in April.

Tehran is obviously increasingly worried for popular uprisings with deepening internal division and crises over recent multi-billion fraud scandals and the fall of its ally-dictatorships in North Africa and the Middle East.

It therefore sees the residents of Ashraf who form the core of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (MEK/PMOI) – the best-organised opposition to mullahs’ dictatorship, as an existential threat.

Realising that the Assad government’s days in Syria are numbered, the Mullahs do not want to have an organised group of dedicated men and women who campaign for human rights, separation between religion and state, gender equality, right for ethnic and religious minorities and a nuclear-free Iran next to their borders.

After being given a deadline to leave, Ashraf residents sent applications for asylum to UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Having confirmed receipt of the applications, the UN now says it has to conduct individual interviews with all residents to decide on each case and to find host countries, something that could take up to a year to accomplish. The High Commissioner therefore sent a letter to Iraqi premier asking him to extend the deadline until UN has accomplished total transfer of the residents to third countries.

But Iraq has rejected any extension of the deadline. On Monday, in a joint press conference with Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the press: “We have declared that the decision to close down Ashraf by the end of the year shall be implemented. In letters to the United Nations Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Refugees, and the European Union, we have emphasized the government’s decision in this regard.”

Earlier this week over 180 Members of European Parliament expressed their outrage over Iraq’s non-compliance with the international community to find a peaceful solution for Camp Ashraf. “This deadline could be used as a pretext for a large-scale massacre”, the lawmakers warned in a joint statement.

Amnesty International in a Public Statement and an Urgent Action just urged the Iraqi government to comply with international calls to extend the deadline for closing Camp Ashraf.

Last night the US Congress Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a new resolution on harsher sanctions against Iran which also urged Iraq to postpone the closure of Camp Ashraf. “If history is any guide, it will see another massacre,” Congressman Ted Poe warned during the debate.

At a same time a letter signed by nearly three dozen US lawmakers urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to prevent a fresh outbreak of violence at Camp Ashraf. The camp residents have been subjected to “deadly incursions and repeated incidents of harassment” by Iraqi forces, the lawmakers stressed.

The President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq, Struan Stevenson, in an article published in Washington Times this week expressed his outrage of Americans walking away from Iraq leaving Ashraf in the hands of Iran’s mercenaries.

“If the United States does not keep its word and honour its unfinished business with the men, women and children of Camp Ashraf, rest assured that Iran will settle its own unfinished business with them.

“Time is of the essence. Only eight weeks are left until the last American soldier leaves Iraq. The lives of 3,400 Iranian dissidents are at stake – and so is American credibility in the eyes of the rest of the world.

“Make no mistake about it: A Srebrenica-style massacre will happen at Camp Ashraf. When it does, no Americans will be able to say they weren’t warned,” Stevenson wrote.

The US may think it can walk away and let a massacre happen, but history will tell, as the Dutch government finally failed in international tribunals 16 years after walking away from Srebrenica.

Abbas Rezai is a Human Rights and Foreign Policy Writer

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/abbas-rezai/iraqs-license-to-kill_b_1074003.html

 

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U.N. envoy offers to mediate dispute over Camp Ashraf

November 3, 2011 by

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Displaced Iranians face Dec. 31 to close their camp 

A U.N. envoy on Thursday offered to broker the peaceful closing of a camp for Iranian exiles in Iraq where residents and U.S. lawmakers say an Iraqi military crackdown may be imminent.

An aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who calls the residents of Camp Ashraf “terrorists,” said Iraq’s Cabinet will consider extending its deadline for closing the compound beyond Dec. 31.

U.N. envoy Martin Kobler offered to mediate between camp residents and Mr. Maliki’s government at a news conference in Baghdad.

“There [are] a number of problems that still have to be solved. This needs time, this needs space,” he said.

“The situation, as it is, is not satisfactory, neither to Camp Ashraf residents nor to the government nor to the international community.”

He said he would seek to start talks after the weeklong Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which begins Sunday.

Camp Ashraf is inhabited by 3,400 members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, an Iranian opposition group that the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

The camp, located north of Baghdad, has become a major irritant for the Maliki government, which is trying to improve relations with neighboring Iran. Supporters of the Mujahedeen dispute the terrorist label and accused Mr. Maliki of caving to pressure from Iran.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said that the Iraqi deadline leaves too little time for the United Nations to process requests for refugee status from the camp’s residents, who fear they will be persecuted if they stay on in Iraq and executed if they are deported to Iran.

Late Monday night, Iraqi troops and police entered the camp with sirens blaring in what residents said was an attempt to intimidate them.

On April 8, the Iraqi army attacked the camp killing 36 residents, including eight women. More than 300 others were wounded.

In recent conversations with their Iraqi counterparts, U.S. officials have expressed concern for the safety of the camp’s residents.

The U.S. turned over control of Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government in June of 2009. At the time, the Iraqi government had provided the United States with written assurances that it would treat Camp Ashraf residents humanely, in accordance with Iraqi laws and its international obligations.

“In addition, the government of Iraq stated that it would not transfer residents of Ashraf to a country where they might have reason to fear persecution for their religious or political beliefs or where there are substantial grounds for believing that they would be tortured,” said Noel Clay, a State Department spokesman in Washington.

“We continue to urge the government of Iraq, at the very highest levels, to honor its commitments to treat the residents of Ashraf humanely.”

On Wednesday, nearly three dozen members of Congress sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to prevent a fresh wave of violence at Camp Ashraf.

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/3/un-envoy-offers-to-mediate-dispute-over-camp-ashra/

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What’s Next for Iran?

November 3, 2011 by

On Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved harsher penalties against Iran, citing the regime’s plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador on American soil.

This latest Iranian provocation signals an alarming escalation by a terrorist regime that has been complicit in killing U.S. soldiers through its proxies, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Shia radicals in Iraq.

What evil can we expect next from the Mullahs’ brutal regime?

In a word, the wholesale slaughter of 3,400 unarmed Iranian dissidents whom the U.S. government has sworn to protect…a looming humanitarian catastrophe we are honor-bound to prevent.

There’s no doubt that December 31 will be especially joyful this year; a time when families across our country can welcome home the last remaining sons and daughters who fought bravely in Iraq. 

But December 31 will also mark the illegal and arbitrary deadline set by Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, at Tehran’s direction, for closing Camp Ashraf and dispersing its residents throughout the country– where they can be tortured or killed quietly out of sight of the international community. This is hardly the “successful” conclusion of the nine-year military intervention in Iraq that Americans will want to remember–or that the American president will want to claim as his legacy in an uphill re-election campaign.

Camp Ashraf, Iraq is home to members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) who are “protected persons” under the Geneva Convention. 

The MEK is the principal Iranian opposition movement and it is committed to non-violent regime change and a democratic, nuclear-free Iranian future. 

During the past 25 years, this community has transformed Ashraf from a barren piece of land into a modern, vibrant town with universities, libraries and convention centers, parks, pools, and sports facilities. The Mullah’s in Iran consider MEK an existential threat and have vowed to annihilate its members in Camp Ashraf at all costs.

In 2004, the United States gave each and every man, woman, and child living in Camp Ashraf, a written guarantee of protection until they could be relocated safely. But since early 2009, when the U.S. handed over the camp to the Iraqis, Ashraf has been under a suffocating siege. Residents have been subjected to psychological torture and deprived of basic necessities including access to medical services.

Twice — in July 2009 and in April 2011 — defenseless Ashraf residents were brutally attacked by Iraqi troops acting on Tehran’s orders. The result was 36 dead, including eight women, and over 300 injured. And that was while US troops were in the country! Imagine what will happen when the U.S. military presence in Iraq is removed.

Seeking to extend its influence in the region, Iran will most assuredly exploit President Obama’s decision to leave Iraq without any U.S. military presence. And the opportunity to forge a deeper alliance with Iraq finds a willing partner in Nouri al-Maliki who has flouted international outrage over his actions with respect of Camp Ashraf.

In an ominous development earlier this week, Iraqi military and police units in humvees and trucks entered Camp Ashraf around midnight, sounding their sirens and brandishing their weapons in a calculated effort to intimidate and terrorize the residents.

Maliki’s previous attacks on Camp Ashraf were roundly condemned by The Secretary of State, the UK Foreign Office, the EU High Representative, the U.S. Congress, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and international human rights groups such as Amnesty International. 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry described the raid a “massacre,” calling for a thorough, independent investigation, and emphasizing that Iraqis must refrain from any further military action against Camp Ashraf.

When, shortly thereafter, the European Parliament offered a long-term, peaceful solution to the crisis wherein Ashraf residents would be peacefully evacuated and re-settled in EU member states and other countries (including the US), the Iraqi foreign minister prevented a European Parliament delegation from visiting the Camp.

In June, a senior bipartisan delegation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee also travelled to Baghdad to see Camp Ashraf investigate the April 8th massacre. The Congressmen met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Once again, access to the camp was denied. The delegation held a press conference in the US Embassy after the meeting and called the Ashraf raid a “crime against humanity.”

The need for intervention by the US, EU and U.N. is urgent. American taxpayers, who are funding 27% of the annual U.N. budget for peacekeeping, should demand that the international organization immediately dispatch blue helmet forces to safeguard the unarmed men, women, and children in Camp Ashraf.

In his 2009 Cairo address, President Obama promised a new chapter in U.S. relations with the Muslim world. Make no mistake about it, America’s inaction in the face of a Srebrenica-style massacre at Camp Ashraf will leave an indelible stain on Muslim-U.S. relations–one that will not be easily forgotten or forgiven in the Muslim world.

The amendment to the Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011 that was unanimously adopted yesterday in the House Foreign Affairs Committee calls on the Obama administration to pressure Iraq to ensure the safety of the camp residents, prevent their involuntary return to Iran, and delay closing the camp until the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees can resettle them in another country.

Clearly, the United States has a moral and legal duty to uphold the promises it made to the residents of Camp Ashraf, Iraq. To do otherwise would hand Iran a victory, seriously damage American credibility throughout the world and lead to a humanitarian disaster that must be prevented.

Howard Dean is the former Democratic governor of Vermont. He served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005-09. Tom Ridge is the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania. He served as our country’s first Secretary of Homeland Security in the administration of President George W. Bush.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/11/03/whats-next-for-iran

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UN to broker deal between Iraq, Iranian exiles

November 3, 2011 by

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Gorguis Yacoub, left, representative of Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki speaks to journalists during a joint press conference with Martin Kobler, right, top U.N. envoy to Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011. The top U.N. envoy to Iraq is offering to broker the peaceful closing of a camp of Iranian exiles before the government in Baghdad forces its residents out at the end of the year. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

BAGHDAD (AP) — In a last-ditch attempt to head off a confrontation, the top U.N. envoy to Iraq on Thursday offered to broker the peaceful closing of a camp of Iranian exiles before the government in Baghdad forces its residents out at the end of the year.

An aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Iraq’s Cabinet would consider easing its deadline if a solution can be agreed on quickly.

At issue is a group of about 3,300 exiles at the remote Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province who seek the overthrow of Tehran’s clerical rulers. Members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, they won refuge at Ashraf decades ago during the regime of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni who saw them as a convenient ally against Tehran’s theocracy.

Since Saddam’s fall in 2003, the exiles have become an irritant to Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which is trying to bolster ties with Iran.

A deadly April raid on the camp by Iraqi forces drew international criticism of Baghdad’s treatment of the group. Al-Maliki responded by pledging to deport the Ashraf residents by the end of the year. The Ashraf residents fear they will be sent back to Iran and imprisoned or persecuted.

“There is a number of problems that still have to be solved,” U.N. envoy Martin Kobler said at a news conference in Baghdad. “This needs time, this needs space.”

He added: “The situation, as it is, is not satisfactory, neither to Camp Ashraf residents nor to the government nor to the international community.”

Kobler said he would seek to start talks after weeklong Muslim Eid al-Adha observance, which begins Sunday.

Ashraf residents are trying to win asylum in the United States, Canada and countries in the European Union but have not been widely successful. The U.S. considers the People’s Mujahedeen a terrorist organization, although the European Union removed it from its terror list several years ago.

Also at the news conference was al-Maliki aide Gorguis Yacoub who, in a turnabout for the government, opened the possibility that the deportation deadline could be extended. He said that decision would be up to the Cabinet, repeating the government’s stance that it wants the Ashraf residents out of Iraq by the end of the year.

Asked if the Cabinet would grant an extension, Yacoub said it would be a possibility “if there to be quick measures in order to achieve” a resolution.

In a statement, Ashraf spokesman Shahriar Kia said the deadline should be canceled outright to give all sides enough time to resolve the years-long dispute. He noted that legislators across the world — including some in Congress and the European Parliament — have demanded that the residents be granted refugee status, which would protect them.

Kia said Ashraf residents have been especially fearful in the last few days after additional Iraqi troops began gathering outside the camp’s gate and waking them up with taunts broadcast through loudspeakers during early morning hours. Iraqi troops took similar actions just before the deadly April 8 raid that left dozens dead.

Journalists are barred from entering Camp Ashraf, and U.N. monitors have been given only limited access. Kia called on the government to withdraw its troops and allow a U.N. monitor to be stationed at the camp.

“Anything less than this is a prelude to the massacre of the residents and a worst repeat of previous bloodbath,” he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

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Iraq’s looming massacre

November 2, 2011 by

 THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Obama’s abandoning of Camp Ashraf to its fate would breach U.S. honor

MEP Struan Stevenson Warns about Looming Massacre at Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

It was the “mission accomplished” moment that millions of Americans had been waiting for and many of us considered long overdue: the official end to the war in Iraq and the return of all U.S. troops. Whether you believe the operation in Iraq was a noble cause or pure folly, President Obama’s announcement last month that fighting men and women would be coming home to their families in time for the holidays was cause for celebration.

It also should raise an alarm. The withdrawal is widely perceived throughout the region as a victory for Iran. Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, called it a “serious mistake” that would encourage a deeper and more dangerous alliance between Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki and Tehran – fears implicitly validated by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta’s stern warnings that Iran should not “take advantage” of the situation.

The question that haunts us now is: What will happen in the new Iraq when the U.S. military leaves?

Recent events on the ground suggest an answer: Men, women and children numbering 3,400 – each and every one of whom is covered by a written guarantee of protection by the U.S. government – will be exterminated by Mr. al-Maliki’s forces, at Tehran’s bidding. These residents of Camp Ashraf, in Diyala province close to the Iranian border, belong to Iran’s best-organized resistance movement, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. Committed to nonviolent regime change and a democratic, nuclear-free Iranian future with equal rights for women, minorities and religions, they are, understandably, the mullahs’ worst nightmare. Tehran has vowed to eliminate them at all costs. And they are unarmed. In other words, once U.S. troops leave, they are sitting ducks.

In April, the Iraqi military attacked the camp, leaving 36 dead and at least 300 wounded – the second unprovoked assault in two years – and that was with American troops in country. To think that the wholesale slaughter of those within Ashraf’s easily penetrable borders will not happen the moment the United States pulls out would be to tacitly condone that slaughter.

It doesn’t have to happen.

What stands in the way of the safe relocation of Camp Ashraf’s residents is one of the very few things the United States government shares in common with the tyrannical Iranian regime: the designation of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq as a terrorist organization. As long as the residents of Ashraf remain on the list of foreign terrorist organizations, they cannot be reasonably assured of the asylum they so desperately need. While a recent demand by British members of Parliament for United Nations protection for the camp is welcome, it falls far short of the American defense that was promised and that the U.S. government is honor-bound to uphold.

The international community owes the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq a huge debt of gratitude for providing valuable information on the location of Iranian nuclear facilities. Yet it is common knowledge in the U.S. national security establishment that Mujahedeen-e-Khalq was placed and maintained on the State Department’s blacklist as part of a failed strategy to appease Iran.

Since then, Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress have demanded direct American action and delisting of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. An impressive array of the highest-level U.S. national security officials and counterterrorism analysts have publicly confirmed that the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq poses no threat whatsoever to America.

After independent and exhaustive investigations, the United Kingdom and European Union delisted the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq with the British High Court calling the listing a “perverse” decision. The EU has repeatedly urged the immediate protection of Ashraf residents and recently appointed an ambassador to ensure their safety, but the baseless U.S. designation continues to hamper our good efforts.

Most recently, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees qualified Ashraf residents as “asylum seekers under international law,” legally entitling them to physical protection while seeking relocation. But Mr. al-Maliki refuses to cooperate with the U.N. agency, citing the unjustified U.S. terrorist designation as his “license to kill.”

Despite the rosy assessment of the U.S ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey, who claims that what the United States leaves behind is the model of new Middle Eastern democracy, Iraq has proved that it is willing to align itself with one of the most brutal regimes on the planet. If the United States does not keep its word and honor its unfinished business with the men, women and children of Camp Ashraf, rest assured that Iran will settle its own unfinished business with them.

Time is of the essence. Only eight weeks are left until the last American soldier leaves Iraq. The lives of 3,400 Iranian dissidents are at stake – and so is American credibility in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Make no mistake about it: A Srebrenica-style massacre will happen at Camp Ashraf. When it does, no Americans will be able to say they weren’t warned.

Struan Stevenson is a Conservative member of the European Parliament representing Scotland. He is president of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/2/iraqs-looming-massacre/

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House Committee Approves Amendment to Protect Camp Ashraf

November 2, 2011 by

STOP FUNDAMENTALISM

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on both sides of the isle unanimously approved an amendment to a bill that called to protect the 3400 residents of the Iranian dissident Camp Ashraf which is located northeast of Baghdad today, reported AP. The Bill is designed to impose yet harder sanctions on Iran.

“If history is any guide, it will see another massacre,” said Judge Ted Poe, R-Texas, refereeing to two tragic previous incidents at the camp in which almost 50 residents died when Iraqi military units opened fire on the unarmed population of the camp.

Baghdad says it intends to close the camp by the end of 2011 despite international calls that the date is not realistic as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees is trying to process individual applications of the camp residents to be able to resettle them in third countries.

Monday night an Iraqi Military column, consisting of at least 30 military vehicles and 10 police cars, swarmed into the camp, creating a lot of noise, maneuvering through the camp.  The National Council of Resistance of Iran considers the action as preparation by Iraqis for another attack on the camp.

UNHCR said in September in a statement that Ashraf residents have filed individually for asylum and so they are now considered ‘asylum seekers’ which entitles them to international protections.

The amendment asks the Obama administrator to pressure Iraq to ensure the well-being of the camp residents and to prevent the involuntary return of them to thier country of origin, Iran, where they will face certain death.

The amendment also urges the government of Iraq delay camp closure until the UNHCR can resettle the residents elsewhere.

Ros-Lehtinen wants the bill ready to be signed by the President Obama “to hand the Iranian regime a nice holiday present.”  The bill has 343 co-sponsors.

The two bills approved by both Republicans and Democrats on the House Committee today would strengthen current sanctions while expanding the list of companies and individuals subject to penalties. Lawmakers cited recent allegations of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and insisted that such brazen behavior demands consequences.

http://www.stopfundamentalism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1245:house-committee-approves-amendment-to-protect-camp-ashraf&catid=74:iranian-american&Itemid=93

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Lawmakers fear Iranian dissidents face assault in Iraq

November 2, 2011 by

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Want U.N. to protect Camp Ashraf

Demonstrators hold petitions asking President Obama to protect Iranians at Camp Ashraf in Iraq during a rally at the White House on Saturday. (Associated Press)

Nearly three dozen U.S. lawmakers are urging U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to prevent a fresh outbreak of violence at a camp for former Iranian resistance fighters in Iraq.

In a letter made public Wednesday, they wrote that residents of Camp Ashraf have been subjected to “deadly incursions and repeated incidents of harassment” by Iraqi forces.

Late Monday night, Iraqi troops and police entered the camp with sirens blaring in what residents said was an attempt to intimidate them.

On April 8, the Iraqi army attacked the camp, killing 36 residents, including eight women. More than 300 others were wounded. The lawmakers warned of “another tragedy on a larger scale” without prompt U.N. action.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has set a Dec. 31 deadline to close Camp Ashraf. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said that the Iraqi deadline does not leave enough time to process the refugee status requests of Camp Ashrafs 3,400 residents, who fear they will be arrested and executed if they are deported to Iran.

The Obama administration has expressed its concern to the Iraqi government about the recent developments at Camp Ashraf.

“We are … in a continuing dialogue with the government of Iraq, at the very highest levels, to impress upon them the importance of treating the residents of Ashraf humanely,” State Department spokesman Noel Clay said Wednesday.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said she is worried about the Iraqi militarys actions inside Camp Ashraf.

“The residents are being subjected to psychological torture,” the Florida Republican said.

Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen said a strong message must be conveyed by President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. generals in Iraq to the Maliki government that it must uphold commitments to protect the camp’s residents.

“Iraq feels like it can do whatever it wants whenever it wants to the Camp Ashraf residents, and no one will protest,” Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen said.

Rep. Judy Chu, California Democrat, told a gathering on Capitol Hill that the Iraqi government must extend its deadline to shut the compound.

“We are in a critical time period,” she said.

Meanwhile, the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday adopted a resolution to put additional sanctions on Iran. The resolution includes an amendment committing the United States to ensuring the protection of Camp Ashraf residents.

The residents of Camp Ashraf are members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, an Iranian opposition group that the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. The residents and their supporters say the Iraqi government has used this designation to justify its actions against the camp.

U.S. forces disarmed the Mojahedin in 2003 and turned over control of Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government in 2009.

In their letter to Mr. Ban, the lawmakers said the United Nations must set up a “full-time monitoring team” inside the camp.

“This will create the safe, accountable and orderly environment where all claims can be fully processed and all refugees can be resettled in third countries where they are safe,” they wrote.

The continued presence of the resistance on the State Department’s terrorism list is the main reason for the harassment of Camp Ashraf residents, according to some scholars.

“If [they] were not on the terrorism list, Maliki would not be able to justify treating the residents of Camp Ashraf as terrorists,” said Raymond Tanter of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Britain and the European Union took Iranian resistance off their lists of terrorist organizations in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/2/lawmakers-fear-iranian-dissidents-face-assault-in-/

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House committee OKs new penalties against Iran

November 2, 2011 by

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House panel on Wednesday unanimously approved harsher penalties against Iran, arguing that an economically weak Tehran will struggle in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

By voice vote, Republicans and Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee pushed forward two bills that would strengthen current sanctions while expanding the list of companies and individuals subject to penalties. Lawmakers cited recent allegations of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and insisted that such brazen behavior demands consequences.

The legislation builds on sanctions that Congress overwhelmingly passed — and President Barack Obama signed — last year. Those penalties targeted exports of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to Iran and banned U.S. banks from doing business with foreign banks providing services to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The United Nations and the European Union have also imposed sanctions on Iran.

The latest legislation “is designed to clamp new and tougher sanctions on Iran’s energy sector, threatening the regime’s existence if it refuses to halt its nuclear weapons program,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the committee chairwoman. She called Iran’s energy sector the country’s Achilles heel.

The United States has tried repeatedly to coax Iran into international negotiations with the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany over its nuclear program. Iran contends that its program is designed to generate electricity, not build weapons.

Among the new provisions, the House bills would restrict foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies from doing business with Iran, include bartering among activities that could be sanctioned and prohibits Americans from conducting commercial or financial transactions with the Revolutionary Guard.

Directing its ire at Syria and North Korea as well, one provision would strengthen the prohibition on granting landing rights in the United States to vessels that have visited Iran, North Korea or Syria in the last two years.

Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., said the government of Syria, widely criticized for its crackdown on demonstrators, receives political and material assistance from Iran.

The committee, by voice vote, adopted an amendment by the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman of California, that would require the president to determine within 30 days whether Iran’s central bank is supporting the country’s chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or missile programs, financing the purchase of advanced convention weapons, underwriting the Revolutionary Guard or aiding Iran’s support for international terrorism.

If the president makes such a determination, the administration would be required to impose penalties that would bar any foreign bank doing significant business with the central bank from U.S. economic activities.

“Our hope, as with all our sanctions, is that an economically challenged Iran will have less money to spend on weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and other nefarious activities,” Berman said.

The sanctions appear to be taking a toll in Tehran. Just this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledged that the current penalties were impeding Iran’s financial institutions, saying, “our banks cannot make international transactions anymore.”

The committee also approved an amendment by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, designed to protect the several thousand Iranians living in exile at Camp Ashraf, located northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The camp is run by the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, a resistance group to Tehran’s clerical regime that has been a harsh critic of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

It has been attacked by the Iraqi army, with dozens killed, and Baghdad is intent on closing the camp.

The provision in the bill calls on the administration to pressure Iraq to ensure the well-being of the camp residents. The measure also calls for preventing the involuntary return of camp residents to Iran and delaying the camp closure until the U.N. High Commission for Refugees can resettle the residents in another country.

“If history is any guide, it will see another massacre,” Poe warned.

Ros-Lehtinen expressed hope that the House leadership could move quickly on the legislation, which has 343 co-sponsors.

She said she wanted the bills ready for the president’s signature “to hand the Iranian regime a nice holiday present.”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jj2bqkbYDkP7bGYkuAZMOBBPmd2g?docId=3dcc27d13f3c464aaa297c647a20afb4

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US lawmakers advance new Iran sanctions

November 2, 2011 by

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

WASHINGTON — The US House Foreign Affairs Committee approved legislation Wednesday to toughen sanctions on Tehran over its suspect nuclear program in the wake of an alleged Iranian assassination plot.

The panel endorsed the measure by voice vote, with Democrats and Republicans closing ranks in the wake of US allegations that Iranian officials schemed to hire Mexican drug cartel killers to murder Saudi Arabia’s envoy to Washington.

“There should be consequences to this type of behavior, and I believe the international community must stand up against this threat,” said the committee’s top Democrat, Representative Howard Berman.

US lawmakers aim to tighten already considerable sanctions on the Islamic republic, notably on its energy and banking sectors, in a bid to force a freeze to what the West argues is a covert nuclear weapons program.

The measure calls for new sanctions such as denying US visas to anyone involved in Iran’s oil or gas industries, toughening existing measures against weapons of mass destruction and an amendment authored by Berman aimed at cutting Iran’s central bank off from global financial markets.

Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the committee’s chairwoman, called on the full House and Senate to approve the legislation quickly to get it to President Barack Obama’s desk “in time to hand the Iranian regime a nice holiday present.”

Lawmakers amended their text to add measures targeting Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, blamed in the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, and financial entities they control. The text also singled out individuals or foreign entities aiding the elite corps.

The panel also urged the Obama administration to press Iraq to postpone the closure of a camp housing thousands of outlawed Iranians until the United Nations grant political refugee status to those who want to avoid returning to Iran and place them in third countries.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Monday that his government was resolved to close down Camp Ashraf, northeast of the Iraqi capital, by year’s end.

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One Thousand Women on the Verge of a Massacre in Camp Ashraf

November 2, 2011 by

THE WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

More than 5 months have passed since Iraqi forces last carried out a brutal attack against a refugee camp in Iraq housing 3,400 Iranian dissidents – 1,000 of which are women. That attack left 36 people dead, including 8 women, and 375 other men and women were left injured. The residents of this camp are Iranian exiles, members of the resistance movement struggling against the theocratic dictatorship ruling Iran.

A female resident of Camp Ashraf is killed by the Iraqi forces' direct fire during the April 8, 2011 massacre at Camp Ashraf.

For the past 2 years they have been living under siege. Iraqi forces, stationed in and around the camp, have exposed the residents to all sorts of restrictions and psychological pressures. At behest of the mullahs in Tehran, the Iraqi Prime Minister has announced he is going to shut down the camp by year’s end; which could only mean that another massacre is in the making.

Based on requests submitted by the residents – for reconfirmation of their status – UNHCR has announced that under international law, Camp Ashraf residents are protected persons; urging the Iraqi Prime Minister postpone his deadline, giving the legal process a chance to take its due course which might lead to a long-standing resolution of the crisis. The Iranian regime and the Iraqi PM, however, are hurling stones in the way of this process and have begun preparations for an upcoming assault.

Is the world going to stand idly by and watch another massacre perpetrated against defenseless residents in Camp Ashraf who have no means of protecting themselves?

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi leads the Iranian resistance. While attending an international conference in Brussels last Wednesday October 19 she reproached EU governments and the U.S. for their negligence in addressing the deadline set by the Iraqi government for closure of Camp Ashraf which may very well lead to another massacre. She warned that should Iraq’s disobedience and its evasion of international laws – in its effort to obliterate camp Ashraf residents – not be contained today, tomorrow would be too late. She also revealed that based on information obtained by the Iranian resistance, the government of Iraq, having received orders from the Iranian supreme leader, Khamenei, using the ultimatum for closure of Camp Ashraf as a pretext, is making preparations for another attack. As such, the Iraqi government hinders efforts by UN organs aimed at finding a solution for Camp Ashraf; including pressure exerted on UNHCR and its efforts in affording the residents legal status.

For nearly 2 years, the 300 loudspeakers, erected by notorious Qods force and the Iranian intelligence agency around the camp, have been used to blare insults and threats at the residents – specially targeting female residents – around the clock and every day of the week. The Qods force is the same organization implicated, recently, by the U.S. Department of Justice for its role in the plot to kill the Saudi ambassador as well as Americans.

The negligence and indifference exhibited by western governments towards an atrocity that looms ahead of us cannot be overlooked. The extensive political, military, and economic ties which exist between Iraq and western governments, gives them great leverage which could be used in obliging Iraq into respecting international laws. The time has come for the UN secretary general and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to expedite efforts for stationing a UN monitoring team in Camp Ashraf to help save the lives of 3,400 Iranian immigrants. They must call for annulment of the unjust ultimatum set with the sole aim of obliterating opponents of the main state sponsor of terrorism in the world.

The policy of appeasing the mullahs and turning a blind eye on terrorist activities by the Qods in Iraq, resulting in the death of many American soldiers, has only emboldened the terrorists to extend their operations to Washington D.C. It’s high time President Obama listen to calls from across the globe and warnings from Camp Ashraf’s defenseless residents. If not, what is bound to happen in Camp Ashraf will never be forgiven.

Asefeh Immami was only 6 months old when, due to her parents’ opposition to the mullahs and because her father was on the death row, she had to leave Iran, along with her family, and come to Camp Ashraf – now home to 3,400 Iranian dissidents in Iraq.

http://thewip.net/talk/2011/11/one_thousand_women_on_the_verg.html

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