On the recordJune 13, 2011
Having just returned from Iraq with other Members to see our military, we further met with Prime Minister Maliki. We discussed the killing of the 35 freedom-seeking Iranian dissidents at Camp Ashraf by Iraqi authorities. The United States has turned over the protection of these people who oppose Iranian dictator Ahmadinejad to Iraq. The Prime Minister's candid position was that the dissidents were responsible for their own deaths and the Iraqi Government was not to be blamed for their recent demise. Upon requesting that we wished to visit the camp to hear from the people who actually saw what happened, you would have thought a political IED had gone off. The Prime Minister curtly rejected that request. In an effort to fairly get at the truth, the statements from the ones actually present at the homicides was important. It is disturbing that the Prime Minister refused us access to the Iranian dissidents he promised the United States he would protect. What does the Iraqi Government have to hide? Maybe the truth. Meanwhile, 35 innocent people are dead and hundreds of others are wounded by this new ``free'' democracy in Iraq. And that's just the way it is. ____________________
