NCRI – The United States and United nations have ‘betrayed’ Camp Liberty residents and must now keep their promises to protect them, former US secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge has demanded.
The former governor of Pennsylvania also pledged his support for the MEK’s struggle to topple the despotic regime in Tehran and create new, free and democratic Iran.
He told a mass gathering in support of Iranian Resistance in Paris on June 22 that residents of Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf had endured ‘incredible hardship’.
He added: “One of the extraordinary things that has happened over the past couple of years is my country giving these men and women, these soldiers for freedom, promises, multiple promises, public promises, repeated promises.
“It began when they surrendered their weapons and we assured them that they would be protected under the Geneva Convention as protected persons.
“It has continued up until a couple months ago when even after they moved to Camp Liberty they were assured by the government of the United States of America, assured that we would provide for their safety and security.
“We haven’t kept our promises. We made you a promise, we haven’t kept it, you have been betrayed.”
Mr Ridge called on the US to support the democratic opposition in Iran and to urgently provide for the safety for the dissidents living in Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf.
He added: “It’s a call to action. It’s a call to keep a promise. A bond once made, a bond once made between like-minded, democratic people, because for all of us who love freedom, for all who fight for democracy, the shared bond and values of liberty run deep.
“No matter how ruthless and violent this despotic repressive regime in Tehran and its allies may be, it will never, never sear from the hearts and minds of the MEK the aspiration, the dream, the goal to live in a free, tolerant, compassion, open and democratic Iran.
“Iraq and Iran can conspire to imprison, exile, torture, rocket, murder the men and women of Camp Ashraf and Liberty.
“But they will never, and I repeat, never extinguish or terminate their commitment to a cause greater than themselves. They are freedom fighters and we must continue to climb on their behalf, to reach the pinnacle of the mountain.”
