By:James Morrison, Source: The Washington Times
More than 6,700 Iraqi tribal leaders this week urged President Obama and the U.N. to force Baghdad to free seven Iranian dissidents taken in an assault on a refugee camp more than two months ago.
The letter was signed by Iraqi sheikhs, lawyers, clerics and other professionals in the first sign that Iraqi citizens are angered by the Sept. 1 assault on Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad. Iraqi gunmen killed 52 unarmed Iranian dissidents and took six women and one man as prisoners.
“The hostage taking is a disgrace for us, and we call on the U.S. government to force [Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki] to free the hostages,” they said in their letter.
They called the attack a “brutal crime” and accused Mr. al-Maliki of trying to “escape responsibility” for the assault.
Mr. Obama met with Mr. al-Maliki on Nov. 1, and White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration is “very concerned about the fate of the individuals abducted” from Camp Ashraf.
More than 3,000 dissidents earlier were resettled to Camp Liberty, a refugee compound near the Baghdad International Airport. The dissidents are the former armed wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, which the Iranian regime has targeted for destruction.
