[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 31760]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        CAMP ASHRAF DISPLACEMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 14, 2009

  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, on December 10, 2009 the Iraqi 
government announced that it is going to forcibly displace thousands of 
Iranian dissidents living in Camp Ashraf to a remote prison in the 
Iraqi desert. The Iraqi government knows the world recognizes Camp 
Ashraf as a refuge for those who stand tall for freedom and democracy, 
so it is demolishing their homes they have lived in for over 20 years 
and moving them to southern Iraq, where the Iraqi government thinks it 
can do whatever it wants to them and the world won't notice.
  The families in Camp Ashraf's biggest crime is that they love freedom 
and oppose the oppressive Iranian regime. Tehran has for months now 
pressured the Iraqi government to hand over Camp Ashraf residents so it 
can imprison and torture them just like they do to all who dare speak 
out against the regime. This is no secret: Iranian Parliament Speaker 
Ali Larijani explicitly asked Iraqi lawmakers in early November to 
expel these dissidents from Iraqi soil.
  Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, wanting to better relations 
with Iran, sent Iraqi government forces to brutally attack Camp Ashraf 
residents in July. It was a humanitarian catastrophe leaving 11 unarmed 
residents dead, 500 wounded, and 36 abducted.
  We cannot ignore any perpetrator, whether friend or foe, who seeks to 
violently and brutally oppress innocent people. America cannot forget 
the people of Camp Ashraf.
  Prime Minister Al-Maliki should stand by repeated and written 
assurances he has given to the United States and the United Nations to 
respect the fundamental rights of the residents of Ashraf. These are 
``protected persons'' under the Fourth Geneva Convention. President 
Obama should honor the U.S. government's repeated promises to protect 
these people.
  The President and Secretary Clinton should undertake whatever steps 
necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of the residents of Camp 
Ashraf. The increasingly vulnerable regime in Tehran must not be 
allowed to extend its repressive tentacles beyond Iran's border and 
crack down on its principal opposition. Someone must stand up for those 
who cannot stand up for themselves.
  It's bad enough that Iran brutalizes Iranian dissidents in Iran; the 
world cannot ignore Iran's intent to brutalize its own people in Camp 
Ashraf in the foreign country of Iraq as well.
  And that's just the way it is.

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