Allen Gerson, former US official: A country denying freedom to its people is ripe for being aggressi

Allen Gerson, a former senior State and Justice Department official: "Think about how Iran will interpret the U.S commitment to freedom and democracy because make no mistake about it, if the residents of Camp Ashraf are allowed to be repatriated against their will it will make a mockery of dedication to words like democracy."

NCRI – At a Congressional briefing on Thursday, June 10, several members of the U.S. House of Representatives emphasized the need for the continued U.S. protection of Camp Ashraf in Iraq. The bi-partisan call was made in light of the announcement by the United States military that the U.S. intends to evacuate Camp Grizzly in Ashraf and turn it over to the Iraqi Security Forces by July 1st. Many members at the briefing, which coincided with the anniversary of the uprising in Iran, also called for the removal of Iran's main opposition, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), from the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). The following is the text of speech by Allen Gerson, a former senior State and Justice Department official.

I want to begin by thanking the organizers of this event and especially thanking the sponsors of this terribly important resolution. I have only one thing to say, that is that important as this resolution is, it is not anywhere as important as the facts on the ground.

This resolution is about freedom and democracy in Iran. It is about freedom and democracy in Iran because the United States cares about freedom everywhere, but also because we know that a country that denies freedom to its own people is a country that is ripe for being aggressive elsewhere.
 
But the test of this resolution, the question as to whether it has teeth, will be what happens in what we do about events at camp Ashraf because those events can’t wait. We know that at Camp Ashraf we have over 3500 people, who according to the official press releases of the government of Iraq may very well be sent to doom, that is to say forcibly repatriated against their will to Iran or sent to some dessert prison.

This despite the assurances the United States has provided legally and today, which it continues to provide at least morally, that the government of Iraq will never engage in such an effort. But think about what would happen if there were to be forcible repatriation within or outside of Iraq. Think about the meaning of these words.

Think about how Iran will interpret the U.S commitment to freedom and democracy because make no mistake about it, if the residents of Camp Ashraf are allowed to be repatriated against their will it will make a mockery of dedication to words like democracy.

Make no mistake about it, the leaders of Iran will see that these words are shallow, not profound, full of furry, but meaning very little. So Ashraf is the immediate litmus test of this commitment and fortunately this resolution provides another tool for dealing with the impending humanitarian disaster at camp Ashraf.

Thank you,