American dignitaries, Iranians across US, condemn attack on Camp Liberty

Feb 09, 2013- Published by National Council of Resistance of Iran

Iranian Americans from all over the US and American dignitaries strongly condemn the attack on Camp Liberty residents, call for swift and immediate action of the UN and US, urge the return of residents to Camp Liberty.

In strong display of solidarity, more than 1,500 Iranian American delegates from 37 states across America, came together to condemn a deadly attack against Iranian dissidents in Iraq, and call for a new policy approach towards the Iranian regime.


In the wake of the overnight attack against Camp Liberty which left six dead, including one woman, and more than 100 injured, speakers focused on the need for immediate humanitarian action. The residents of Camp Liberty, which is located near Baghdad, are members of the main Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).  This was the third massacre against the residents since 2009.

A bi-partisan group of speakers supported Iranian-Americans in their demands and condemned the attack. The speakers included; Gen. James Jones, President’s Obama National Security Advisor until 2011, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Senator Rick Santorum, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and 9/11 Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton. Also on the panel were White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), former Homeland Security Advisor to the President, Frances Townsend,  and Congressman Patrick Kennedy.

Organization of Iranian-American Communities in the United States, February 9, 2013 - The speakers called for a new policy towards Iran, which focused on empowering the Iranian people and their opposition. Lee Hamilton urged the U.S. for “support of a unified, capable, organized, democratic opposition to the Iranian regime.”

The speakers pointed out that the Government of Nuri-Al Maliki has been acting at the behest of the Iranian regime in suppressing more than 3000 Iranian dissidents in Iraq. Kennedy, who moderated the event, commemorated the names of those who were slain in the Camp, stating they “were true martyrs, who knew their lives always in jeopardy.”

Rudy Giuliani lambasted the failure of UNAMI head in Iraq Martin Kobler, saying he should not resign, “Ban Ki-Moon should fire him today.”  He also said that the U.S. cannot divest itself of its responsibilities to protect the residents of Ashraf and must see to it that the residents are returned to Ashraf immediately.

Giuliani also called the PMOI (MEK)“the best hope for a free, democratic, decent, and non-nuclear Iran.”


Gen. James Jones condemned the attack against the camp, saying that the name Liberty “was not fitting for what is in reality a prison” and describing the treatment of the residents as “a travesty, and a stain on the international community” and an “indictment of the Maliki Government, which has allowed itself to be a tool of Tehran.”

Secretary Card said, “Secretary of State should say to the people of Camp Ashraf and Liberty that what happened cannot happen again, and open the doors of Camp Liberty.”