Exclusive – No one has endured more pressure than the residents of Ashraf or Liberty: Tom Ridge
Iran National Television conducted an exclusive interview with Secretary Tom Ridge, first US Homeland Security Secretary, on the perspective of Iran’s future following the removal of the PMOI from the US list of terrorist organizations.
You have been part of the campaign in lifting the terrorist designation from the MEK, what was your feeling when you heard the news about the MEK delisting?
For me it was the first step in undoing a great injustice. But for other, the people of Iran, MEK or non-MEK I think it was clearly the first step in other people, particularly the US, listening to their voices. And they had gone to the streets on a couple of occasions America hasn’t listened very carefully. So I was pleased to be associated with the courageous people of Liberty and Ashraf, with the huge diaspora of hundreds of thousands of Iranians around the world whose voices and support and commitment and passion really attracted me to their cause several years ago.
It was good for me to associate with these credible people to see that the first step we have taken towards a free Iran, a regime change we have taken together.
During this campaign we have witnessed a misinformation campaign and political pressure against foreign supporters of the MEK, what happened that you continued you support for the MEK all along the way?
I appreciate that. There was some pressure, but no one has endured more pressure than the people of Iran or the residents of Ashraf or Liberty. So any pressure on any American face is almost modest, probably shouldn’t be called pressure. But any how we are grateful that you think that. For me it was really a couple of things. First, as the first Secretary of Homeland Security just about every day I was briefed from all the intelligence community about terrorist threats to the US and I can’t remember a single day or a single sheet of paper, some days they were a dozen and some days they were a couple, where I ever saw that a threat was directed at America, our citizens or interests that came from the MEK. So I initially believed, and then I read what the statute said, this is not an organization that belongs on that list. And secondly, and as important to me as a soldier in Vietnam, our soldiers made a promise to the people of Ashraf when they surrendered the means to defend themselves, the United States of America through its military promised to provide the safety, protection and security of these men and women. And I think America has a moral responsibility to keep its promises, no matter how difficult it might me. I think those two reasons were the epicenter of why I decided to join this righteous cause.
What do you think about the Ashraf and Liberty residents’ demand for Liberty to be recognized as a refugee camp?
I have done research in this area. First of all I want to go back to the promise that America made. We handed the letter, we said publicly you are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention, so let’s start with that. The international accepted definition among the legal community of refugees certainly fits the residents. The UN definition fits the residents. Ironically you can take a look at the Iraqi constitution as it talks about refugees and it seems to me that it is appropriate to the condition and relationship that the residents have with the Iranian government. So in my judgment, not as an international legal scholar, but someone who reads words and takes them for what I believe they’re designed to mean, is clearly a situation where these men and women should be recognized as refugees. And this is not a temporary camp, it ought to be a refugee camp. And to that end, the UN has failed. I realize there are a lot of distractions around the world, but it’s an international organization and there is no reason for the UN to not pressure, along with the US, Iraq to accept that designation and to make sure that they are given the added protection, the necessary protection, which under the law as a refugee camp designation would provide them. We threw on the designation of a foreign terrorist organization rather quickly and it took forever to remove it. Now we need a new designation, a righteous designation and that’s a refugee camp.
Given the circumstances of the region and the regime’s nuclear activities and gross human rights violations, what do you think the US policy should be towards Iran?
The voice of the US has been heard over the past couple of years calling for the removal of Mobarak and we have press there and we have observers there and we can report what’s going on. We called for the removal of Ghadafi, we have press there, we have observers there and the world can see what is going on. We have called for the removal of Assad, again there is press and observers reporting back to the world. I think we have to call for regime change, the removal of Ahmadinejad and the mullahs. Ironically there is no press there, there is no freedom of speech. The only thing we know what’s going on in Iran is through intelligence sources or what their propaganda machine shares with us. And so I think what we need to do in America is to put as much pressure, and frankly I don’t think that the economic sanctions are going to be as successful as some people hope. And I think that we need to say to ourselves as a country, no short-term political accommodation with Ahmadinejad and the mullahs, a cosmetic accommodation on the nuclear weapons. We should not exchange and expect an inspection regime and they want to remain in power. That’s a deal with the devil. And we don’t want to deal with the devil. We want to make sure that there is ultimately a regime change. Either the status quo how things are, and that’s unacceptable. Military option? Maybe utilized one of these days, but it’s not in the best interest of the broader world community. The best alternative is regime change and the best way for that to occur is to empower the people of the country with the same kind of forceful rhetoric as we did the people in Egypt, in Libya and in Syria. The incumbent regime must go. We want the people to decide.
Do you have any other thoughts that you want to share?
First of all, I think that the work and the collaboration among my colleagues in the US, I just want to assure the freedom loving people in Iran, those that have been subjected to the tyranny and suppression for the past 20 years, those that have been kidnapped and tortured and murdered, the mothers and the fathers, the sons and the daughters, they need to know that we are as committed today as we were, because these is still other things to do, it’s only the beginning. I think they need to understand that we will be as persistent and as passionate about the way ahead. I told Madam Rajavi that I want to be in the group that is invited to visit whomever the democratic elected government is. That’s what we are saying about the regime change. It could be the MEK but let the people decide. Maybe the MEK, maybe non-MEK, maybe a combination of democratic resistance forces, let the people decide. But also I want to be with Madam Rajavi when the freedom loving people of Iran choose their own leaders and they invite some of visit with them in Tehran. Great history, great culture and I like to see it and experience it myself.