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 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. She is the U.S. Representative for Florida’s 18th congressional district, serving since 1989 and chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee effective 2011:
Thank you so much. What he didn’t say is when I first got in Congress I was a lot thinner and younger then. He was my chairman. He was my chairman of the western hemisphere subcommittee and I was so greatly honored to follow his leadership when it comes to freedom, democracy, the advancement of human rights in our hemisphere, in the Middle East, and now talking about this very important issue that should matter to all Americans.
This is not an issue for Iranian/Americans. It matters to each and every one of us. So thank you for Bob for many years of leadership. We miss you. Come on back.
And there are topnotch people who are going to be speaking, so I’m just going to be brief, plus we have a series of votes, and you’re familiar with that. And I want to say thank you to Judge Poe right here. Judge Poe is our hero. Judge Poe. Judge Poe last week in our committee because the problem that we face is real and the problem is growing. A lot of people took their eye off the ball and they’re looking at this so called Arab spring which may be good and may end up not being so terrific and as Netanyahu says, he fears that the Arab spring may bring about an Iranian winter, and some people have taken their eye off the ball, and which is Iran, and their horrible human rights abuses and there speed with which they’re becoming a nuclear power and the government in Iraq as we know on this issue is not upholding the assurances that it signed saying that it would prevent humane treatment to the residents of Camp Ashraf, and because there’s no U.S. pressure for them to do what they said that they would do they will not do it.
Instead what the government of Iraq has done, as we know, is forcibly entered the camp time after time resulting in the deaths of dozens and the injuries of so many more, that we’ve all seen that chilling video over and over again. This is horrendous. Where is the outrange? Where are the people saying to the human rights activists saying let’s investigate, let’s do something, let’s help these innocent victims.
There’s no guarantee that the government of Iraq and their security forces will not repeat their past unacceptable behavior because they have paid no price for it in the international community.
The safety of the residents of Camp Ashraf is in jeopardy. It’s in jeopardy right now, right this moment. It will be in jeopardy until the international community says that this is unacceptable. This cannot happen. This is the critical time for the U.S. to stand up and do the right thing.
The U.S. position must be clear and it must be steadfast, and, as you know, thanks to Judge Poe’s leadership in our Foreign Affairs Committee last week, our Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the Foreign Relations Authorization Act and it included in this important amendment by Judge Poe calling on the Department of State to urge the government of Iraq to do something crazy, to uphold its commitments, its signed commitments, and for the U.S. to take all necessary and appropriate steps to meet our own commitments to ensure that Ashraf residents are treated humanely and are not, are not, forcibly relegated to other places in Iran and now we if they are sent to Iran we know what the result will be.
Now, the government of Iraq knows full well what the position of the U.S. House of Representatives is as stated by our committee that will be on the floor — that bill will be on the floor in September, and it’s time for the Obama administration to follow suit and to make sure that Ashraf residents receive the protections that they were promised, that they are entitled to. There is no time to waste.
So I am so proud to be here with you, to be here with this distinguished lineup and say that we are all residents of Camp Ashraf. Thank you.
