Former US officials urge formation of commission of inquiry about conditions at Camp Liberty, Iraq, where hundreds of Iranian dissidents have relocated, according to Global Initiative for Democracy
“I would suggest that we ask …the House of Representatives to pass a resolution that would appoint a commission…that would immediately go to Iraq and examine Camp Liberty, and report back within…two or three days what they see,” Giuliani said. “Is Camp Liberty really a suitable place? Should it be a relocation center? Is it really a prison, or a concentration camp?”
“This is a scandal. This is a fraud; a fraud not involving money, but a fraud involving threats to human life. What we need immediately is a commission of inquiry to determine how this fraud was perpetrated. Who certified, who approved that hell hole, that garbage dump? Who said that it met United Nation’s standards? Somebody is responsible for perpetrating that fraud and for getting 400 innocent people to risk their lives and their health to be exposed to that kind of trash and that kind of hazard to their health. We have to get to the bottom of this,” Harvard Law Professor, Alan Dershowitz emphasized.
At issue is the fate of 400 Iranian dissidents, members of the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (“MEK”) who are currently housed at Camp Liberty. These individuals, like some 3,000 other Iranian dissidents, had been based at Camp Ashraf.
Despite the United Nations certification that the infrastructure and facilities at Camp Liberty meets “international standards,” the camp lacks even the most basic conditions, providing only intermittent electricity and insufficient supplies of running water. The Iraqi government does not allow international monitors or visitors to Camp Liberty.
Concerns about those in Camp Liberty are heightened by the fact that Camp Ashraf has twice been attacked by Iraqi military forces, resulting in 47 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries, since the Iraqi government took control of the camp from the US military in 2009.
Other speakers at the conference included former Chicago Mayor, Richard Daley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Philip Lader and former Policy Advisor at the Treasury Department’s office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Avi Jorisch.
Governor Dean added, “The United States of America has the ultimate responsibility for the safety of the people in Ashraf, and each one of the people in Ashraf has that in writing, signed by the Senior Commander of the United States Armed Forces,” Dean said. “This is not simply a battle to save the lives of 3,400 unarmed civilians who find themselves stuck in an increasingly less democratic Iraq. This is a battle about what kind of country the United States is.”
Regarding the correct policy to counter the threats posed by the Iranian regime, Mr. Carle emphasized, “Tactically, the field intelligence work I did for over two decades argues in favor of de-listing the MEK from its now outdated and wrong designation as a terrorist organization. Strategically, it argues working in favor with the MEK as a means of pressuring a regime which is a destabilizing influence in the entire region.”
Further Contact: Global Initiative for Democracy
Phone: 703-946–8848
SOURCE Global Initiative for Democracy
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/26/idUS49823+26-Feb-2012+PRN20120226