Robert DG Smith
:Google Is the Last Company I'd Begrudge for Avoiding Taxes
Emma Seery
:The Truth About British Treasure Islands
Harry Cooper
:A Referendum on Europe Tomorrow Would Not Stop Ukip
Alice Farmer
:A Real-Life 'Hunger Games'
Ed Miliband
:A Distant and Distracted Cameron Cannot Tackle Tax Avoidance
There is no doubt that the July 2009 and April 2011 massacres in Camp Ashraf, home to 3400 members of the opposition People's Mojahedin Organization (PMOI/MEK) in Iraq, were ordered by none other than Nouri al-Maliki the Iraqi Prime Minister. Iraqi officials and military commanders have consistently stated that such was the case. As a result, al-Maliki has been summoned to appear before the Spanish National Court to answer the charge of "Crimes against humanity".
Anyone who witnessed those bloody attacks was shocked to hear President Obama welcoming al-Maliki to the White House, on Monday last (12 December) and could well question why such a man was invited.
Al-Maliki, who owes his post to the support of the Iranian regime, has openly signed a bilateral government agreement obligating himself to close the camp by the end of 2011 thereafter relocating the residents throughout Iraq, thus dispersing the opposition away from watchful eyes of the rest of the world. By using 'sovereignty' as an excuse, Iraq feels it has the right to implement this plan.
However, 'Iraqi sovereignty' is only a pretext to carry out the will of the Iranian regime by annihilating the members of the best known Iranian opposition whose only objective is to remove the mullah's regime in Tehran by democratic means and replace it with an elected secular administration committed to democracy and freedom.
Since the beginning of 2009, when responsibility for the security of Ashraf was handed by the Americans to Iraq, Al-Maliki's government has been carrying out an organized government-led campaign against Camp Ashraf under the pretext of sovereignty. The Iraqi government continuously attempts to cover up and justify its repetitive violence against Ashraf residents - including the two abovementioned massacres - on the grounds of sovereignty.
Are the 300 loudspeakers installed around Ashraf by the mullahs' Ministry of Intelligence for the purposes of psychological torture, designed to enhance Iraqi Sovereignty. Are the surveillance towers and satellite signal jamming devices branded with the Revolutionary Guards logo a sign of Iraqi sovereignty? The daily needs of the residents inside the camp are now in the hands of Iran's security agents. The residents have been denied proper medical treatment for two years, leading to the deaths of 10 patients to date. The Iraqi government has literally enforced prison regulations on Ashraf and its residents. Does this inhumane treatment enhance Iraqi Sovereignty or Iran's ambitions. The answer, to my mind, is clear.
Let me now turn to President Obama. Welcoming Al-Maliki to the White House was a deplorable error which could pave the way for yet another atrocity for Ashraf residents. Al- Maliki should have been told that the international community would no longer tolerate the Iraqi Government acting as the Iranian regime's puppet and executing the orders of Tehran's mullahs in Baghdad. And President Obama should have made it clear that he did just that. But his record on the issue doesn't give grounds for confidence.
The US government has a responsibility to protect Ashraf residents not least because the current crisis in Ashraf is the immediate result of the coalition invasion of Iraq. The US signed an agreement with every single Ashraf resident in 2004 to provide them protection. However, in defiance of international laws, it handed Ashraf's protection over to a government whose proven enmity against Ashraf residents is now clear. The US also has a moral and humanitarian responsibility to do all it can to prevent another massacre. If the US fails to rise to its legal and moral responsibilities it would simply be playing into the mullahs hands. Al Maliki's first visit to Washington places responsibility for future Iraqi actions firmly in the hands of the US Government. If the US Government fails the people of Ashraf in this respect the President will be the one who must answer to the court of public opinion for that failure.
Abbas Rezai: A "Mass Murderer" Invited to the White House
Hossein Abedini: Un-Sacred Alliance
Lord Corbett and Lord Alton: Ashraf - A Broken US Promise
The clerical dictators in Iran rightfully should fear the MEK. The MEK has vast support both inside and outside of Iran. It stands for democratization, freedom of religion, and is a shining example of civil society, protecting minority rights and treating women and men equally. The MEK has been the main source of intelligence on Iranian nuclear sites, exposing Iran’s decade’s long deception by revealing once hidden major nuclear sites in Iran.
On September 17,2011 a senior panel of former Secretaries, Generals, and Governors, as well as State and justice Departments officials and attorney General Michael Mukasey, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Governor Ed Rendell, Ambassador John Bolton, and FBI Director Louis Freeh denounced the continuing designation of the MEK was acting as a license for genocide at Camp Ashraf, Iraq,
On July 2010, the MEK won a ruling from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the Secretary of State must reconsider the designation of MEK as a foreign terrorist organization because the information she was relying on to continue that designation was not sufficient.
In May 2003, the MEK voluntarily signed a disarmament agreement with the American forces in Iraq. After sixteen months investigation by American to determine whether anyone had any links to terrorism, all 3800 passed the test, which included DNA samplings.
Subsequently, the residents of Ashraf received “protected persons” status under the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Gen. added, “Iran’s activities in southern Iraq are intended to produce some kind of Beirut-like moment and in so doing, to send a massage that they have expelled us from Iraq”, as it happened in Beirut.
On August 28, 2007, Iran’s president, Ahmadinejad, declared a “readiness to fill the great power vacuum” in the region. In addition, a few weeks later, he told the UN General Assembly, “I officially declare that the era of post second World War relationships have ended. Palestine and Iraq will be cleared of the occupiers and the people of Europe will be free of the pressures of the Zionists.”
The best way to achieve regime change in Tehran is for the U.S. government to empower the Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (MEK).
Empowerment requires removal of the main Iranian opposition groups from the foreign terrorist list, which it has been maintained only by the U.S. Only regime change in Tehran can ensure that extremist Iranian terrorism regime do not wind up with the bomb and its wrong ideology.
The MEK and National Consul of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) are feared by the Tehran regime more than any groups, according to research of the Iran Policy Committee. The IPC finds that state run Iranian media assail the MEK and mention it 230 percent more than all others opposition groups combined.
While Iran’s nuclear program is in development, and Iranian regime attacking foreign embassies and Ahmadinejad in the U.N. general assembly, called 9/11 terrorist acts mysterious, and said the U.S. used it as a pretext to attack Iraq and Afghanistan, also he repeated comments casting doubt on the origins of the Holocaust.
On July 26, 2011 U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, who is nominated to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, that “Iran was working toward a massive attack to force the American military out of Iraq. Dempsey cited the bombing by the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah in 1983 in which 241 Marines were killed.” By a truck loaded with explosives blew up in front of the American Embassy in Beirut. When on November4, 1986 the president of Iran to be Rafsanjani said the blow the U.S. received in Lebanon “is attributed to us and it should be.” Five years later, on July20, 1991 the former Revolutionary Guards Corps Minister, Mohsen Rafiqdoust, admitted, “The TNT and ideology (for the Beirut bombing of the Marine barracks) were sent there from Iran.”
Political issues (e.g., the rogue Iranian regime, middle east stability, etc) aside, for God's sake, he was awarded the Noble Peace prize. And he has been informed about the dire situation of Camp Ashraf residents (thru hundreds if not thousands of calls from the former US administration officials, members of the US Congress, officials and parliamentarians from allied governments, etc. He can't ever deny he did not know and thus he must take responsibility to ensure Iranian dissidents (who exposed the Iranian regime's nuclear threat) are not once again massacred by the Iraqi forces (on behest of the Iranian regime).
Obama has been far weak than expected as " most powerful man ! in the world" to stand firm against the brutality of Ayatollahs surprisingly has offered them a "Virtual embassy!" to keep a dialogue with them. What a shame!
Moreover, it is obvious that holding Noble Price of Peace of course was to early as a matter of the fact.
So Mr. President Iranian expect you to keep US promise to people in Camp Ashraf as we don't trust Iraqi government at all. This time if they attack there will be more shed of blood in there so for God sake do something before is late.
Take them of the list!