Those lobbying to return MKO members to Ashraf are building the altar to scarify them
It is no more the question of keeping forces on alert near the Iranian borders looking for an opportunity to strike at the pillars of the regime to inherit the reins of power after its fall. Rather, it is a desperate need to protect very same disarmed forces against any attack that threaten their life just in the middle of Iraq. The members of MKO deserved any form of confrontation when they were fully armed with Saddam’s donated weapons to be used against Iranian and Iraqi people. Now the deplorable condition of these poor men, the outcasts of a failed militia with a countless record of bloodshed, call for a universal decisiveness to save them, now wallowed in the mire of a personality cult.
The UN special envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, knows well, if not better than anybody, what is going on within Camp Liberty, the temporary camp that houses these people, when he expressed concern at human rights abuses therein. In his latest remarks, Mr. Kobler cited reports from some residents that camp leaders are keeping residents from leaving, from participating in the resettlement process, from contacting family members outside Iraq, and from medical treatment.
And what is the response by the group’s leaders to end the sufferings of the members? We witness everyday protests and demonstrations by sympathizers and supporters of MKO outside UN headquarters and on the streets of the European countries calling for the protection and guaranteed rights of the residents as well as condemning Mr. Kobler. In her recent attack, Maryam Rajavi, the self-appointed president elect of the group, strongly condemned Kobler for what she referred to as deceitful efforts to present false reports to the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General.
The heavy propaganda and lobbying struggle by MKO’s widespread network in European countries demanding to return Camp Liberty residents to their previous camp, Camp Ashraf, is no more considered a humanitarian gesture to save suffering members. Everybody knows that Camp Ashraf does not qualify a more secure place than Liberty. The number of the insiders killed in Camp Ashraf when MKO’s leaders deliberately provoked a few confrontations with Iraqi forces, many of whom were happy to avenge the ethnic cleansing raids the group carried out for Saddam back in the day, exceeds those killed in Camp Liberty’s mortar attacks. Mr. Kobler had also provided a warning of the group’s potentiality in provoking and waging violence at the time.
Is Camp Ashraf really a sanctuary and does MKO care about the safety and protection of the abandoned insiders in Iraq? The first reaction the Iraqi Government received from MKO after announcing its decision to close Camp Ashraf in a decision to expel its residents from the country was an angry backlash and threatening tone. And the first practical approach by MKO was to provoke the Iraqi forces, not acquainted with the group’s self-destructive tactics, to mount an aggressive response to evacuation of Ashraf. Then, anyone can say what would be the fate of the insiders if they were ever permitted to return to Camp Ashraf.
MKO is at the end of line in Iraq and it has enough devoted members active under a pro-democracy masquerade around the world. But MKO is facing a conundrum over the insiders’ future uncertainty in Iraq, a big bulk of members still waiting to be accepted as refugees in third countries. The problem can be solved in the way that would best benefit MKO. What the group needs at the present to fuel its propaganda machine for a full move is sacrifice. Where else can MKO leaders find a better slaughter house than Camp Ashraf to make about 3000 martyrs? In fact, those lobbying to return members to Ashraf are building the altar for MKO to scarify poor insiders.