OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 20, 2012
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense

Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, last month I joined 78 bipartisan Members of Congress in asking Secretary of State Clinton to ensure that Iraq meets its obligations and protects the 3,400 Iranian dissidents living in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty.

Residents of Camp Liberty are members of the MEK.

In recent days, another 680 Ashraf residents have been relocated to Camp Liberty under a resettlement plan backed by the United States. It is important that we support these residents as they seek to liquidate tens of millions of dollars of their assets left behind at Camp Ashraf.

A major problem of the relocation plan is that as long as the MEK remains on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, its members at Liberty will not be able to find countries which accept them.

The Department of State is currently under court order to make its decision on the MEK case by October 1, 2012. It is my hope that the Department of State removes the MEK from the foreign terrorist organization list immediately, as it is the legal, moral, and humane thing to do.


Source
arrow_upward