[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 52 (Thursday, March 29, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E497-E498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           REMARKS BY FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL MICHAEL MUKASEY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. DANIEL E. LUNGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 29, 2012

  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, March 
24, 2012, former Attorney General of the United States Michael Mukasey 
spoke at an event in Paris about Iran and the Iranian opposition.
  Judge Mukasey's comments warrant our consideration in light of the 
events which are currently taking place in Iran and their potential 
impact on the global community. I would therefore like to take this 
opportunity to submit them to this Body:

       Thank you very much. Thank you to the sponsors of this 
     wonderful conference. Thank you David Amess for your clear, 
     penetrating comments on what is going on.
       You know it seems as though we've come together many times 
     before to talk about the plight of the residents of Ashraf, 
     and now the plight of the residents of both Ashraf and the 
     ironically named Camp Liberty. And we were told on each of 
     those occasions that these broadcasts, that these meetings 
     were broadcast to Ashraf. And we haven't been told it, but I 
     wonder whether perhaps they're being broadcast at Camp 
     Liberty as well.
       I would suggest to you, I would suggest to you that there's 
     someplace else that they should be broadcast. They should be 
     broadcast to the United States State Department. Of course, 
     based on what's happened in the last couple of weeks, I can't 
     guarantee that the signal would get through. I mean it may 
     very well be that at the State Department, just as in Cuba 
     and North Korea and Iran, they jam broadcasts with which they 
     disagree. I don't know whether that's true at the State 
     Department or not. I sincerely hope so. But I would hope that 
     a broadcast like this would get through, because then they 
     would see. They would see Mrs. [Maryam] Rajavi open this 
     session by extending her sympathy to the Jewish community of 
     Toulouse. They would see and hear her discuss what her 
     religion really means and what it has to do with terrorism, 
     which is nothing. They would get a hint as to what kind of, 
     quote, terrorist organization, unquote, this really is.
       Of course this wasn't the way it was supposed to be. In 
     2003 when coalition forces invaded Iraq and encountered the 
     residents of Ashraf, the Ashraf residents peacefully 
     surrendered their weapons, the weapons they had, the only 
     thing they had to defend themselves, and received in return 
     on a piece of paper a guarantee that they would be treated as 
     protected persons under the fourth Geneva Conventions, a 
     guarantee signed on behalf of all coalition forces by a 
     United States general. And they received identity cards that 
     carry the telephone number of the military police, commanded 
     by another United States general who has appeared at these 
     meetings before, General Phillips. As I'm sure you know, 
     because we've told the story several times, the Clinton 
     administration put the MEK on a list of foreign terrorist 
     organizations really to appease the Iranians in the hope that 
     that would invite a dialogue. Some dialogue. Some dialogue, 
     with the regime that only a couple of months ago plotted to 
     assassinate a Saudi diplomat in the United States. Those are 
     the people they wanted to talk to.
       The FBI went in 2003 and vetted each of the residents of 
     Ashraf to make sure that none of them were a terrorist, and 
     in each case it was certified that none were. The Iraqis, as 
     we know, have been acting increasingly at the behest of the 
     Iranian government, now that the United States has withdrawn. 
     And Nouri al-Maliki himself is behind the pressure that is 
     being brought and the persecution that is being brought 
     against the residents of both Ashraf and Camp Liberty. This 
     is how we get thanks for the sacrifices that were made by 
     American troops and by the United States as a whole in 
     freeing the people of Iraq.
       The United Nations says transfer to Camp Liberty. We've had 
     1,200 people transfer to Camp Liberty. And we're told each 
     time, notwithstanding the completely inadequate conditions at 
     Camp Liberty, that this is progress. We're making progress. 
     People are moving out of Ashraf into Camp Liberty and this is 
     progress. You know, I had an uncle once who died of progress. 
     He was--it's true, he was in the hospital. And every day the 
     doctor came and checked on him and said he was showing 
     progress, until one day he was dead. And the family concluded 
     he must have died of progress. Ambassador [Martin] Kobler 
     reminds me of that doctor.
       Of course, it's even worse than that here because the 
     potentially fatal disease that the residents of Ashraf have 
     really comes from their designation as a foreign terrorist 
     organization. The U.S. designation. And when I say the U.S. 
     designation advisedly because we're the only ones left in the 
     civilized world who apply that designation. And it's time to 
     get rid of it.
       So, how is this all going to end? Well, I suggest to you 
     ladies and gentlemen that I'm very hopeful about how it's 
     going to end. I'm a lawyer, I deal in evidence. We have 
     evidence. We have statements from anonymous sources that 
     those of us who are here voicing our views are behaving 
     illegally under U.S. law.
       It's a funny thing about anonymous sources, what are they 
     afraid of? They must be afraid of something. They're afraid 
     to have their names used. Look at the timing. The MEK tells 
     the State Department and the Justice Department, ``You know, 
     you've been dragging your feet long enough with this 
     designation. We're going to go into court.'' They gave them 
     not only advanced notice that they're going to do it, they 
     gave them an advanced copy of the papers they were going to 
     file. And they disclosed the names of the people. Mayor 
     Giuliani, Tom Ridge, others, many others, who would have also 
     filed paper in court as friends of the court, telling them on 
     the basis of our experience and our knowledge--many people on 
     that brief directly involved in national security affairs--
     that there is no basis, no reason for that designation. They 
     were told that in advance. And lo and behold a couple days 
     later subpoenas get served on the speaker agencies that send 
     those people out to express their views. I stopped believing 
     in coincidences like that when I stopped believing in the 
     Tooth Fairy, and that was a long time ago.
       But how is it going to come out? Well, look at the 
     behavior. The people who release information to the press are 
     afraid to give their names. The State Department hears that 
     papers are going to be filed on behalf of MEK, that papers 
     are going to be filed by people who have spoken out in behalf 
     of delisting, scurry to the Treasury Department, get them to 
     serve subpoenas.
       What are they afraid of? The people here aren't afraid. 
     Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton, Patrick Kennedy, Tom Ridge, 
     they're all sitting up there behind placards that have their 
     names on them. We all use our names. The people who are not 
     here, and who have been here before and who will be here 
     again if necessary, Howard Dean, Ed Rendell, they used their 
     names. They don't get up as anonymous informants to speak at 
     these meetings. They get up, they give their names and they 
     express their views. So who's going to prevail?
       But can these people prevail in the face of the United 
     States government? Let me repeat the words of a famous 
     American industrialist, a man named Henry Kaiser who was once 
     confronted by the U.S. government. And people asked him, ``Do 
     you think that you can prevail against the U.S. government in 
     the view that you've expressed and the course of action that 
     you want to follow?'' And his response was, ``You know what? 
     There's no such thing as the U.S. government. They're just a 
     bunch of people.'' Some of them are smart and dedicated and 
     some of them are stupid and lazy. And we know who's on which 
     side in the current dispute.
       Ladies and gentlemen, I haven't got any doubt about how 
     this is going to come out. And the way this is going to come 
     out is that eventually right will prevail in my country. And 
     when right prevails in my country it is my sincere hope that 
     it won't be long before right prevails in your country and 
     you restore Iran to the glorious civilization that it was and 
     will be. Thank you very much.

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