[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 53 (Thursday, April 15, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E571-E572]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  BI-PARTISAN MAJORITY IN THE U.S. HOUSE CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF CAMP 
                            ASHRAF RESIDENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 15, 2010

  Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on March 17, 2010, Congressman Bob Filner 
(D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and 
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the 
House Foreign Affairs Committee, were joined by 10 of their colleagues, 
including three from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a briefing 
to announce the support by a bi-partisan House majority for the 
humanitarian rights and protection of residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
  In his remarks, Filner announced that following last July's deadly 
assault by the Iraqi security forces against unarmed residents of Camp 
Ashraf, home to 3,400 members of Iran's main opposition, the People's 
Mojahedin

[[Page E572]]

Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), he introduced a resolution (H. Res. 
704) which ``deplores the ongoing violence by Iraqi security forces 
against the residents of Camp Ashraf; calls upon the Iraqi Government 
to live up to its commitment to the United States to ensure the 
continued well-being of those living in Camp Ashraf; and calls upon the 
President to take all necessary and appropriate steps to support the 
commitments of the United States'' to ensure protection of Camp Ashraf 
residents.
  The majority of the members of the House of Representatives who have 
co-sponsored the resolution include 11 Committee Chairs; 13 Committee 
Ranking Members; 54 Sub-Committee Chairs; 49 Sub-Committee Ranking 
Members; and 30 House Foreign Affairs Committee members.
  Ros-Lehtinen stressed that in light of repeated breach of guaranties 
provided by the Iraqi Government to the United States that residents of 
Camp Ashraf would be treated humanely, ``the U.S. is obligated to take 
all necessary and appropriate steps to uphold our commitments.'' The 
Florida lawmaker added that ``we must send a clear message to the 
residents of Camp Ashraf that the U.S. Congress stands with them.''
  Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Chairman of the Oversight and 
Government Reform Committee, lauded the bi-partisan nature of support 
for Camp Ashraf and said ``it's so important that we continue to work 
together . . . to bring about the change that is so needed today.''
  Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Ranking Member of House 
International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight Subcommittee, 
remarked that ``we must make sure that anyone who is fighting the 
mullah regime and would replace it with a democratic government is an 
ally of the people of the United States and we should not allow them to 
suffer negative consequences if we can prevent it. That is especially 
true of the people of Camp Ashraf.''
  Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX), a member of the House Foreign Affairs 
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade said: ``It is 
important that we constantly stay vigilant that we let the people in 
Camp Ashraf know that their silent voices are heard here in the United 
States . . . We are not going to stand idly by while those who wish to 
do harm to the residents of Camp Ashraf mend, weave their wicked ways 
and they will not be dispersed into parts and regions unknown to the 
rest of us.''
  Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) described the Iranian regime 
as ``regime of thugs,'' and added ``this is most impressive to have the 
majority of the U.S Congress of one mind with regard to a critical 
issue and the travesty the brutality that was engaged against the 
innocent people in Ashraf. And so we will get this to the floor and we 
will pass it and we will stay on this issue.''
  Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) described the attack on Ashraf 
as ``a cold-blooded murder'' and emphasized that the only way that they 
``could ever be totally safe is by having a free homeland.''
  Filner added that ``the administration should encourage the United 
Nations to play a much more active role insofar as it concerns Camp 
Ashraf and strengthen the role of a U.N. monitoring team in Ashraf to 
one of protecting the residents to ensure that their rights and safety 
are respected and all the inhumane restrictions placed on them by the 
Iraqi government are lifted.''
  Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of 
Resistance of Iran, also addressed the briefing via video from Paris. 
She emphasized that the House majority support for Ashraf indicates its 
recognition of the Iranian Resistance, especially Ashraf, as ``a 
decisive factor in confronting this antihuman regime'' in Tehran. 
Addressing the co-sponsors of the resolution, Mrs. Rajavi remarked that 
``While appreciating your efforts, I would like to ask you to continue 
your noble and humanitarian work in order to ensure that: The 
protection of the residents of Ashraf is guaranteed as long as the U.S. 
forces remain in Iraq; Mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission 
for Iraq is expanded to guarantee the rights of Ashraf residents. The 
United Nations assumes the protection of Ashraf and a U.N. peacekeeping 
force is stationed at Ashraf; all restrictions and the blockade imposed 
by the Iraqi government against Ashraf in the past 14 months are 
lifted.''
  Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) of the Judiciary Committee told the 
reception that ``I was happy to support House Resolution 704. Certainly 
there needed to be protection for the people in Camp Ashraf. We should 
make sure that they continue to be safe. The United States and the 
Iraqi government should ensure that these residents have all security 
that they need. And so we must continue the pressure to make sure that 
happens so that the pro-democracy movement can continue to be safe and 
the Iranian people can be safe. So let us continue our relationship. 
I'm very, very happy to see that you are here on the Hill and that 
you're presenting your issues to us.''
  Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), member of the Armed Services 
Committee, told the gathering that ``We see some of the people of Camp 
Ashraf in Iraq that are being persecuted and threatened and even the 
Iranian government wants to see them repatriated to Iran and I think 
that represents a great danger to them and I want you to know that 
there are a lot of us that reject that completely. We want to see both 
the Government of Iraq and the Government of the United States stand up 
and make sure that we protect these people in Camp Ashraf.''
  In his remarks, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) from the Homeland 
Security Committee told the reception that ``Doctor King was right when 
he said decades ago--and his words ring true today--`Injustice anywhere 
is a threat to justice everywhere'. Injustice in the streets of Iran is 
a threat to justice in the streets of every nation on the planet Earth 
and we must end injustice in the streets of Iran . . . We must support 
the human rights movement that is taking place in Iran.''

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