U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau thanked the governments of Albania and Iraq.“We are grateful to the Government of Iraq for facilitating the departure of the MEK/MKO/PMOI. And we are specially appreciative of the extraordinary efforts of the Albanian Government,…
A controversial foe of the Iranian government sought to tie the rise of the Islamic State terrorist group to the regime in Iran before Congress on Wednesday — a link that President Obama and many foreign policy experts have rejected but one that has gained traction on Capitol Hill as Obama continues nuclear talks with Iran.
The U.S. Embassy also said McGurk visited Friday with members of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, whose camp outside Baghdad came under rocket attack last month. The statement said the U.S. diplomat stressed the urgency of relocating the residents of Camp Hurriya to another country …
… A lengthy lobbying and legal campaign — backed by folks such as former U.N. ambassador John Bolton; Rep. Dana Rohrabacher; former presidential candidates Newt Gingrich (R), Rudy Giuliani (R) and Howard Dean (D); and former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell — eventually forced the State Department …
“I wouldn’t choose to live here, but when we talk about refugees and what their living conditions are all over the world, this should be considered exceptional,” said Molina, the Spanish Embassy’s deputy chief of mission… Pakistani diplomat Saif Khwaja: “The people who are living here are not from Iraq, and the Iraqi government is bearing the burden of these people.”
Mujahedeen leaders this month said 400 Ashraf residents would move to the former U.S. base, known as Camp Liberty. Bakoos, who is overseeing the Ashraf resettlement for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said the residents started pushing and shoving Iraqi forces as a way to slow the move. “We needed to search some of them by hand, but they refused,” Bakoos said…
Under federal law, advocates for foreign organizations are required to register as lobbyists and provide details .. But the MEK/MKO/PMOI supporters have not registered, which would require disclosing the amounts they are paid and the identities of officials with whom they meet. The supporters argue that they are acting legitimately to facilitate U.S. policy decisions..
Iraq’s leaders agreed Sunday to a U.N.-brokered deal that could lead to the peaceful emigration of thousands of Iranian dissidents[MKO/MEK/PMOI] who have lived in the country under U.S. protection since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein eight years ago.But the agreement, confirmed by Obama administration officials, has not yet been accepted by the Iranian exiles, who have repeatedly insisted on a U.S. troop presence..
The MEK fled Iran in the mid-1980s and took up arms with Saddam Hussein in the fight against Iran; the group has also been linked to Hussein’s violent suppression of Iraqi Shiites and Kurds, according to the Council on Foreign Relations…The Obama administration has won Iraqi agreement for a plan that could avoid these outcomes. Overseen by the U.N. envoy to Iraq, it calls for the MEK members to be moved to the United States’ former Camp Liberty base..
The camp Ashraf’s residents are classified as a terrorist organization by many countries and thus have no legal basis to remain in Iraq. No country would accept the presence of foreign insurgents on its soil, but we will work hard to find a peaceful solution that upholds the international values of human rights.