Let's talk Camp Ashraf. As of September 2013, Camp Ashraf in Iraq is empty. All remaining members of the community were moved to Camp Hurriya (also known as Camp Liberty). Camp Ashraf housed a group of Iranian dissidents who were welcomed to Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 1986 and he gave them Camp Ashraf and six other parcels that they could utilize.
In 2003, the US invaded Iraq.The US government had the US military lead negotiations with the residents of Camp Ashraf. The US government wanted the residents to disarm and the US promised protections to the point that US actions turned the residents of Camp Ashraf into protected person under the Geneva Conventions. This is key and demands the US defend the Ashraf community in Iraq from attacks. The Bully Boy Bush administration grasped that -- they were ignorant of every other law on the books but they grasped that one.
As 2008 drew to a close, the Bush administration was given assurances from the Iraqi government that they would protect the residents. Yet Nouri al-Maliki ordered the camp repeatedly attacked after Barack Obama was sworn in as US President. July 28, 2009 Nouri launched an attack (while then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on the ground in Iraq). In a report released the summer of 2015 entitled "Iraqi government must respect and protect rights of Camp Ashraf residents," Amnesty International described this assault, "Barely a month later, on 28-29 July 2009, Iraqi security forces stormed into the camp; at least nine residents were killed and many more were injured. Thirty-six residents who were detained were allegedly tortured and beaten. They were eventually released on 7 October 2009; by then they were in poor health after going on hunger strike." April 8, 2011, Nouri again ordered an assault on Camp Ashraf (then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was again on the ground in Iraq when the assault took place). Amnesty International described the assault this way, "Earlier this year, on 8 April, Iraqi troops took up positions within the camp using excessive, including lethal, force against residents who tried to resist them. Troops used live ammunition and by the end of the operation some 36 residents, including eight women, were dead and more than 300 others had been wounded. Following international and other protests, the Iraqi government announced that it had appointed a committee to investigate the attack and the killings; however, as on other occasions when the government has announced investigations into allegations of serious human rights violations by its forces, the authorities have yet to disclose the outcome, prompting questions whether any investigation was, in fact, carried out."
Those weren't the last attacks.
They were the last attacks while the residents were labeled as terrorists by the US State Dept. (September 28, 2012, the designation was changed.) In spite of this labeling, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed that "since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions." So the US has an obligation to protect the residents. 3,300 are no longer at Camp Ashraf. They have moved to Camp Hurriyah for the most part. A tiny number has received asylum in other countries. Approximately 100 were still at Camp Ashraf when it was attacked Sunday. That was the second attack this year alone. February 9th of 2013, the Ashraf residents were again attacked, this time the ones who had been relocated to Camp Hurriyah. Trend News Agency counted 10 dead and over one hundred injured. Prensa Latina reported, " A rain of self-propelled Katyusha missiles hit a provisional camp of Iraqi opposition Mujahedin-e Khalk, an organization Tehran calls terrorists, causing seven fatalities plus 50 wounded, according to an Iraqi official release." They were attacked again September 1, 2013 -- two years ago. Adam Schreck (AP) reported back then that the United Nations was able to confirm the deaths of 52 Ashraf residents.
While all the persecution and attacks took place, many wondered around the world what the US government was doing?
Holding hands with Nouri. With a drunken Nouri-al Maliki, apparently.
David E. LindwallCounselor for Political-Military Affairs, wrote the following on December 22, 2011. Note that Nouri appeared "drunk." Love that part.
Bottom line up front: In today's 2 Y2 hour meeting with Kobler, Maliki claimed to be completely uninformed about the
UN-GOI MOU regarding Ashraf and disagreed with many of the fundamental assumptions. Maliki wants all Ashraf
residents out of Iraq, not at Camp Liberty. By the end of the meeting, Kobler had convinced him to give the process that
had been agreed to by Fayyad a second look, and Kobler is going to make some revisions to the MOU. Kobler is writing
Maliki a letter arguing that it is now too late to implement this plan before the end of the year and the GOI must give
him time. Kobler has cancelled his plans to spend Christmas away from Iraq.
Kobler described the two and a half hour meeting with Maliki this afternoon as "surreal," and even wondered if Maliki
had been drinking. He said Maliki was totally unaware that UNAMI was negotiating a MOU with Fayyad and was taken
aback by its terms. He had never heard of Camp Liberty and expressed complete disagreement with creating a second
Camp Ashraf, while still keeping the original one open (at least provisionally). He said he expected the UN to move the
Ashraf residents out of Iraq, not just out of Ashraf. When Kobler asked him where Maliki proposed the Ashraf residents
go to, Maliki responded he could take them "to the UN." When Kobler walked Maliki through the terms of the MOU,
Maliki became indignant, shouting several times. He said "these are criminals and terrorists" and should not be
"coddled" as outlined in the MOU. When Kobler said he had agreed with Fayyad that the GOI would sign this MOU with
him today, Maliki could not understand why the GOI should sign anything.
Maliki said he was prepared to give the Ashraf residents a few more months in Iraq but wanted Kobler's guarantee that
in six months they would all be out of Iraq. Kobler said he could not give Maliki that guarantee. Furthermore, he
couldn't even guarantee that the Ashraf residents would accept this process. Maliki asked why the Ashraf residents had
to leave Ashraf for Camp Liberty, and Kobler said that the UN prefers that they not leave Ashraf and that the UNHCR
processing take place at Ashraf, but that the GOI negotiators had told them that would not be possible. Maliki argued
that the MEK will not allow UNHCR into Camp Ashraf, and Kobler corrected him noting that it was the GOI that forbid
UNHCR from visiting the Camp. When Kobler suggested that the best option would be to keep the residents at Camp
Ashraf at least through the phase where they are being processed for refugee status, Maliki said that was
unacceptable. Kohler said he felt that he was really back at square one and that Al Fayyad had not been briefing Maliki
on his talks with UNAMI on Ashraf. Kobler asked Maliki what the alternative is if the MOU is not signed and the UNAMI
resettlement plan doesn't proceed. Maliki said we would arrest all the Ashraf residents and spread them out to the
different prisons. Kobler said that would result in violence. Maliki retorted that his police would go into Ashraf
unarmed.
By the end of two and a half hours Kobler had convinced Maliki to speak with Fayyad and give the plan a second
look. Maliki proposed some changes that Kobler is going to incorporate. Kobler is still waiting for UN Headquarters
authorization to sign, so he will send the revised text back to New York and will try to talk with Fayyad. Fayyad has not
returned his calls for several days now.
Next steps: Kobler cancelled his vacation and will be staying in Baghdad. He turned off the UN monitors who were
supposed to fly in to Baghdad in 48 hours. He will edit the MOU and shop it back to UN HQ and to Fayyad. He is also
writing a letter tonight to Maliki explaining that it is now too late to renegotiate the MOU and set up the logistical steps
needed to begin moving Ashraf residents out of the camp before the end of the year. On top of that, the recent
deterioration of the security environment makes a large move like the 400-person moves envisioned in the MOU
unsafe. He will argue that Maliki must give the UN several months into 2012 to reach a satisfactory agreement with the
GOI and the Ashraf residents and begin the move.
David E. Lindwall
Counselor for Political-Military Affairs
U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq
077o-442-6827
US phone 240-553-0581,
