Thank you. So let us begin with the most important and the timeliest item, and that’s Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty. One message has to emerge from here loud and clear. I’m sure there will be many, but one has to emerge loud and clear today, because time is running out. Time is running out for the 3,300 brave, patriotic citizens, your brothers and sisters, our brothers and sisters, in seeking peace, democracy, a decent life.
Time is running out for them. And it is time for the decision makers, the UN High Commission, Malaki, the Iranian regime, the Obama administration; it’s really time for them to hear something that the people of Ashraf have to hear. And that is, the time for words are over, and the time for talking is over, the time for action has come. Let’s make it clear that all of us here today stand with the people of Ashraf. We stand with them. We are not going to allow them to be oppressed. We are not going to allow them to be harmed. We are not going to allow them to be ignored. And we are not going to allow the UN, the Iranian regime, Malaki, or even the United States to stand by and watch them be forgotten. Because no matter what happens we will stand up for them. We are with them as if we are in that camp with them today. Whatever they do to them, they do to us.
Let’s review some of the facts about this new camp that they want to move these wonderful people to. On Thursday a UN team visited Ashraf, and it provided some information about what will go on at Camp Liberty. First of all the camp is only one half square kilometers with no buildings or facilities. One half square kilometers. This is for 3,300 people that presently are housed in 36 square kilometers. One half square kilometer, they’re now in 36 square kilometers. That means they are going to be crowded in a inhumane, indecent way, in a way in which they are living on top of each other and unable to have any degree of privacy or decency or even the most basic human right to dignity of your own body. This is a horrible condition.
What’s the UN’s response to it? The UN’s response to it is the UN’s response to oppression, the UN’s response to dictatorship, the UN’s response to indignity and suffering. The UN’s response for the last 40 years has been to ignore it. You think the UN’s action with regard to Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty is unusual? They’re ignoring the fact that these people are going to live in one square kilometer. They’re] ignoring the fact that here’s no drinking water in Camp Liberty. No drinking water. This seems like very surprising. They’re ignoring the fact that when the people are moved to Camp Liberty they will not be allowed to leave Camp Liberty. You know what that’s called? I’m sure Judge Mukasey knows this; he was in charge of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. You know what that’s called? That’s called a prison. That’s not a camp; that’s a prison when you can’t leave. UN’s response to that is to ignore it. Don’t be surprised. The UN has ignored all controversies like this, all cries for help, almost uniformly for the last 40 years. When a dictator, a tyrant, talks a little louder and frightens them they respond to the dictator and the tyrant not to the needs of ordinary people, decent people, people who are crying out for help. People in wheelchairs will not be able to get into the trailers. There’s not a single road with asphalt in the camp. There’s not a single piece of green area. Of course it’s so small there wouldn’t be any room for green areas. There’s no room for people. The trailers don’t have the most basic facilities, and the Iraqi government has refused to allow any of the residents to visit because they don’t want them to see how terrible the conditions of their imprisonment are going to be when the Iraqis get a chance to put them in prison, which is what they are doing at the behest of Malaki and finally at the behest of the Iranian government. The UN has not objected to any of this. Simply disgraceful for the UN to allow this to go forward. It’s disgraceful for the UN to submit to the demands of a regime like Maliki’s and ultimately to close its eyes to the fact that really what they‘re doing is submitting to the demands of the Iranian mullahs and Malaki is just a puppet on a string doing the bidding of the Iranian mullahs. And it’s outrageous for the UN to do this. But it’s not unusual for the UN to do this. What role did the UN play in bringing down the Soviet Union and freeing the people of Russia? None. What role did they play in bringing down the Berlin Wall and freeing the people of Eastern Europe? None. What role did the UN play in saving Eastern Europe when President Clinton had to move into Bosnia and President Clinton had to avoid the UN because they were so useless and use NATO? What role has the UN played in bringing peace to Northern Ireland? None. What role has the UN played in settling the various conflicts in the Middle East? None. What role does the UN play? None. I was the mayor of the city that houses the UN. You know the most activity I had with the UN when I was the mayor of New York City? Arresting their diplomats for committing crimes. Over and over and over again. Not paying their bills, cheating, not paying their rent, molesting their children. Not infrequently molesting their children. It’s a disgraceful institution. It should be ashamed of having that charter which stands for some of the most beautiful and wonderful sentiments of the human spirit. And if it stands by now it should be completely ashamed of itself. Maybe it can be shamed into acting.
This is so simple, it’s so easy. People at Ashraf were promised by the American government and ultimately by the Iraqi government, they’d be dealt with humanely and decently. That’s not so hard. We’re in the 21st century; we’re not in the Middle Ages. Not so hard to live up to that. Not so hard to have the courage, if you’re the UN High Commission on Refugees. Not just commissioner but you’re the high commissioner. Not so hard to have the courage to stand up and say, it’s inhumane, indecent and unjust to take 3,300 people and put them in half a square kilometer. It’s unjust not to give them bathroom facilities. It’s unjust not to give them showers. This takes courage to do this? Or does it take just a teeny bit of human decency to do it? Like a teeny bit of human decency and just a little bit of bravery. Not much, just a little bit.
The worst part of this, and I’m embarrassed to say it, is that my government stands aside and watches this. Because it is true that the United Nations was irrelevant to freeing millions of people in Eastern Europe and then freeing them again. It is true that the UN was irrelevant to bringing peace to Northern Ireland. It is true that the UN was irrelevant to dealing with the significant problems of terrorism in the Middle East. But it’s not true that my government was irrelevant. My government, along with others, has the great distinction of having brought freedom to Eastern Europe under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. We stood up, stood up with strength. We didn’t accommodate. We didn’t appease. We did that and it brought us World War II, the era of Chamberlain and appeasement. We did that and it brought us a big long Cold War, détente, went on forever. Lots of deaths. Finally we stood up. The UN didn’t stand up. The United States stood up. The United Kingdom stood up to Russia and to the Soviets and said no more talk, now we’re going to have action. We’re going to point missiles at you. We’re not going to allow you to oppress people any longer. We’re going to stand with the people who are oppressed. We’re going to stand with Soviet Jewry and allow them to leave the Soviet Union. We’re not going to allow them to be ignored inside the Soviet Union. We’re going to stand up. And that’s what we need now and the United Nations has to do it but the United States has to do it even more. Because we can’t count on the United Nations. We’ve been able to count on the United States up until now. But we haven’t been able to count on the United Nations for 40 years. People of Eastern Europe were able to count on the United Nations, people of South Korea were able to count on the United States, rather. So, it’s about time that my government take a leadership role because if my government doesn’t take the leadership role, I’m afraid, I’m afraid that all our calls to the United Nations will mean nothing because they’ve ignored these calls before.
And here’s simply what has to be done. One, the United States should delist the MEK today. [applause] It’s easy to do, it’s easy to do. Not hard, not precedent setting. The UK has done it. European Union has done it. Some of the people involved in originally recommending the decision say it was wrong. Some of them have now come out to say that they were opposed to listing them as a terrorist organization way back at the time that it was done, and that’s way back in history. We now have a history of an organization that stands for a peaceful solution, a non-nuclear Iran. We have an organization that stands for a secular government in Iran and a government that will get along with countries all around the world. There’s only one country that now agrees with us about this. The UK disagrees with us; the European Union disagrees with us. There’s only one country that agrees with the United States about remaining as listing the MEK as a terrorist organization. One country agrees with us: Iran. That should tell you something that we’re wrong, right? It has to be delisted. And it’s critical because this listing is used by Maliki and others to kill people. This listing is deadly. It has mortal consequences. It’s not just a technical listing. You just read the press releases and the press statements after the attack a few months ago. How did he defend it? He defended it by saying, “This is a terrorist group recognized by all international organizations.” Well, of course, Maliki was lying, it’s not recognized by all international organizations. In fact it’s not recognized by any international organizations but two. The United States and Iran. But it has to be delisted. That would take away this ability to oppress without people understanding the consequences of what’s being done.
Second thing that has to be done is the United States of America has to stand up with our allies and we have to have the courage to be for regime change in Iran. [applause] If we had to change the regime in Egypt, if we had to change the regime in Libya, if we have to change the regime in Syria, well then my goodness Iran is so much worse and it’s so much more necessary for the people you love and care about, for the people we love and care about, and for the whole world to have a regime in Iran that is not a theocratic dictatorship that has taken so many lives. It is tragic to look at the book that Madame Rajavi has sitting at her desk, the red book with all of the pictures of all of the people that have been slaughtered by that regime. So it’s time to be fore regime change, and the United States should be on record.
Third, the United States has to make it very, very clear that we have to use the ultimate sanctions to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. The great fear of the Cold War was that nuclear weapons would fall into the hands of irrational people. We thank God that the United States was led by rational people, that the Soviet Union was led by rational people, and that the Chinese government was led by rational people. They weren’t all good people, they weren’t all decent people, but they were all rational people. This regime is not rational. What government, what government would fund killing the ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D. C. in broad daylight using Mexican drug dealers to do it? Who would do that but an irrational government, a government that is dealing in the level of insanity like the Nazis were dealing in the level of insanity? This cannot be compared to the Cold War. This cannot be compared to the things we have faced in the last 30 or 40 or 50 years because the level of rationality is not there. That is an insane act, it’s the act of a regime that is operating in the level of the irrational. And if they would pay $1 million to kill a Saudi Arabian ambassador in the middle of the capital of the United States, then how easy would it be for them to hand nuclear material off to Mexican drug dealers or Colombian cartel members in order to have nuclear attacks in Europe and the United States and then deny it was them. Everyone says, “Well, Iran will be deterred because we can attack Iran if Iran uses nuclear weapons.” But Iran will use nuclear weapons and then deny using them. Given the UN, and the way this current administration in Washington takes forever to analyze everything, we won’t make a conclusion about that until five years later. I mean this attack, this attack in Washington should have been responded to already, should have been responded to already. Imagine coming to the capital of my country and wanting to slaughter in broad daylight the ambassador of one of our allies and allowing that to go unaffected, not responded to. So that has to change.
And finally, the United States has to make it absolutely, absolutely 100% clear that sanctions have to be imposed and that the sanctions that are imposed have to include penalizing countries that deal with Iran. Because dealing with Iran now is just giving them the resources to become a nuclear power. And Iran has to recognize that the United States will take whatever action is necessary to stop them from becoming a nuclear power, including military action. I believe if the United States says that, and I believe if Iran believes that, the chances of taking military action will decrease dramatically. Remember, we won the Cold War, brought down the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall without firing a shot. But we didn’t do that by begging them to negotiate with us. We didn’t do that by writing them letters, asking them please, meet with us, please talk to us. You know how we did that? We did that by outspending them on military armaments by 20 to one. We did it by deploying missiles throughout Europe and pointing them at Russian cities with the names of the Russian cities on the missiles. We did it by Ronald Reagan calling them the Evil Empire and by once slipping during a television speech he was going to give and teasing about attacking the Soviet Union. That frightened the hell out of the Soviet Union because they thought Ronald Reagan was capable of doing that, Ronald Reagan was capable of using the massive military advantage that he had against them, either economically or physically. For that reason, as Gorbachev says in his book, the Soviet Union was defeated by America spending them out of existence. It happens from strength, it doesn’t happen from pleading and begging. And that’s what the United States has to realize now. That’s what my country has to realize. If it does the chances of a military confrontation decrease. If it remains weak, if it remains as in the case of before World War II, Chamberlain-like, seeking appeasement, seeking to ingratiate, the chances of a military confrontation go up dramatically.
But in the meantime, people of Ashraf cannot be the forgotten group in all of this. These are 3,300 people who have already been through hell. And I would like to make it clear as I did at the very beginning as I conclude that yes, they better act. But they better remember that if they don’t act and some serious harm comes to these people, we will not forget and we will know who to hold responsible and we will make that clear all over the world in every venue possible. And the legacy of these people will become having stood by while atrocities were permitted. And we’ll make sure that legacy lives with them because they deserve it. So they better act and they better act now. And please, once again, to the people of Ashraf who hear this, remember we’re standing with you today, and we’re going to stand with you tomorrow, and we’re going to stand with you no matter what happens, we’re going to be there for you to make sure that you are treated decently. Thank you.