NCRI – A bi-partisan panel of members of U.S. Congress and senior former public officials and national security experts entitled “U.S. Policy, Iran and Camp Ashraf: The panel, held at the U.S. House of Representatives to make it the policy of the United States to “prevent the forcible relocation of Camp Ashraf residents inside Iraq and facilitate the robust presence of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq in Camp Ashraf.”
The House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL); Rep. Bob Filner, (D-CA), Co-Chair, Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus; Representatives “Judge” Ted Poe (R-TX); Judy Chu (D-CA); Dan Lungren (R-CA); Trent Franks (R-AZ); Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX); and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) were joined by John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Andrew Card, former White House Chief of Staff; Michael Mukasey, former Attorney General of the United States; John Sano, former Deputy Director of CIA for National Clandestine Service; Robert Torricelli, former United States Senator; and Professor Steven Schneebaum, Counsel for U.S. families of Camp Ashraf Residents.
Below is an excerpt of the speech by Hon. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE. Mrs. Jackson Lee is the U.S. Representative for Texas’s 18th congressional district, serving since 1995:
Senator Barlett is my dear friend and I know he saw me going in and out and I thank him for his courtesies. Senator, I thank you for your courtesies. I thank all of the panelists for their courtesies, and what I will say to you is isn’t this an exciting day and era and point in our lives when you have such distinguished public servants to my right and your left, and the long list of the members of the United States Congress who are coming here and saying enough is enough. Enough is enough. Enough is enough. These are renown members who have advocated in their own right for issues of justice. They are policymakers. They are former members of the Department of Justice, solicitor generals, attorney generals, Senators, spokes persons.
This is a movement for justice, and I think it is enormously important, I have a number of notes here, but I’m going really speak from the heart.
First of all, let me congratulate the Foreign Affairs Committee for the unanimous amendment of my good friend Ted Poe that established a placeholder, a marker, for the protection of Camp Ashraf and as well the insistence of the United Nations being in place in Iraq to protect them from now and for ever.
And it was your advocacy and leadership of that has advocated consistently and with persistence and how can you not when you see the visuals of the massacre, how can you not fall to your knees for some lay prostrate on the ground with the sheer violence and insensitivity.
Right now I am seeing the visuals as I speak. And so we have to be able to convey that to the other thinkers and policymakers and members of Congress and other leaders who can be part of the solution.
And I think it is important to extend a hand of friendship to all people’s of the world, but it is also important not to ignore the kind of disrespect for human dignity that the Iranian leadership has poisoned the world with so much so that we live in fear of their potential nuclear capacity and the interfering or connection between the Iraqi government in Iran so nothing they can do not even make peace with their own people in Iraq, they can’t even make peace because they are so overwhelmed and dominated by a foreign government that has no intent for good purposes. Let’s call it like it is. Iran is interfering and running Iraq and it is causing the violence that is happening as we speak, and that is why Camp Ashraf is in the condition that it is.
We need a free Iraq to address a people that are within their confine and be open for those freedom loving people like the people of Camp Ashraf. That are to my right lay out very thoughtful positions. I just came from back from the European Union and it will be interesting for me to speak for a number of persons on this panel because I think we have some work to do to be able to get a better understanding of the fact that we are talking about human dignity and human rights.
And I will say to you that all the people’s of the world do not have to agree with all of the principals and comments about Camp Ashraf or maybe the positions of people there, but I want to ask a question to the world family, is anyone going to stand up and deny that you are for violence and mutilation and the disrespect of human dignity, are you going to stand with the world and say I may disagree with you politically, philosophically. I may colleague what you call yourself, but I will stand against the tired and the tyranny of those who undermine women and children and families and deny people health care and kill people, innocent people. Does the world stand against that? That’s what we’re asking them to do to stand against that kind of insensitivity.
We’re also asking that we move quickly on the determination of the MEK to have the ability to be free and to advocate and not to be characterized in a way that they have been characterized.
We want to encourage our government to make a decision quickly after the court decision to be able to allow people to speak freely and to advocate for the needs of their people.
So I conclude my remarks by indicating that it is important that Camp Ashraf not be revoked. It’s important that the United Nations with many, many responsibilities views this as an issue and a cause destine for the United Nations mission.
It is important that Iraq stand up as a world leader. When I say that, as a now new country coming into the family of world nations with leaders who you would hope by in large would be those who respect human dignity. It is time for the Iraqi government to accept the gift that was given to them. The treasure that was lost of American lives was not lost frivolously, it was lost for democracy. It was lost so that people would live in choices that they make, not that they’re under the oppressive hand of another government of which we thought we were not creating.
So I think it is important that Iraq accepts that challenge for all of those who agree or disagree in this country about that action. The one thin we thing we agree is the enormous loss of treasure, the fallen boys and girls, young men and woman, so many of them in our neighborhoods who fought because they believed in a democratic Iraq for all people.
So I believe it is important to support Congressman Filner, my friend’s resolution. I join him in that, but I also believe, as I expect introduce a resolution to be able to ask the international criminal court to investigate and charge individuals with offenses against human dignity and the people at Camp Ashraf.
Thank you very much (applause) My colleagues who support that legislation, I’m a quick studier. It doesn’t take me long to sort of get it. I’m delighted to stand here with such a distinguished member of Congress, as those who have gone before me know, but also Congressman Roscoe Bartlett.
I leave the stage by saying we have faith too. We are in different religions in this country and there are many of us that are in unique religions, wouldn’t it be sad or different or smaller that our government would seek us out. That is not a cause of democracy. The cause of democracy is to affirm our uniqueness, our difference, our faith and our opportunities and our possibilities.
Thank you all so very much for being here.
