[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20167]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              CAMP ASHRAF

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 14, 2011

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Camp Ashraf is a small little camp in 
Iraq made up of a few thousand Iranian freedom fighters. They are 
unarmed civilians who, like us, don't like the tiny tyrant in the 
desert.
  But the Camp is under siege.
  PM Maliki wants to close the camp by December 31.
  If the Camp is closed, many of the residents could be killed.
  You see, Iraqi soldiers can't be trusted. In 2009 and 2011, they 
killed dozens of innocent civilians in the Camp.
  Now Iran is promising all sorts of goodies if Iraq closes down the 
Camp.
  Iran hates anyone who disagrees with its regime, so it wants nothing 
better than to have all these people in the Camp forcibly removed and 
eliminated.
  But there is one tiny problem with Iran and Iraq's dirty little 
scheme: The world is watching.
  Since the massacres, Camp residents have applied for UNHCR political 
refugee status.
  It will take the U.N. 6 months to process their applications.
  The U.N. Secretary General just wrote me yesterday to say that he has 
personally encouraged Maliki to not close the Camp down.
  Sixty-five of my colleagues asked President Obama to raise this issue 
when he met with PM Maliki yesterday--we don't know if he did or not.
  Maliki could be tried with war crimes if there is a New Year's 
massacre.
  It should be the official policy of the United States to urge the 
government of Iraq to protect the residents, not return them to Iran, 
and not close the Camp until the U.N. can finish its political refugee 
process.
  I am thankful to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs 
committee for their support of this policy.
  We cannot allow Maliki to once again slaughter innocent civilians.
  And that's just the way it is.

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