Despite these obligations, the US government accepted Nouri al-Maliki (prime minister and thug of Iraq) 'promise' that he would protect the residents. Instead he's terrorized them and twice attacked them. . 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 this summer 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."
In the late 90s, the dissidents were classified as terrorists by the Clinton administration. July 27, 2004, Douglas Jehl (New York Times) reported, "A 16-month review by the United States has found no basis to charge members of an Iranian opposition group in Iraq with violations of American law, though the group is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States government, according to senior American officials." And Jehl noted, "The group remains on the United States terrorist list, though it is not known to have directed any terrorist acts toward the United States for 25 years." 2004 is a key year, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observes that "since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions."
But the US is not protecting the residents or aiding them in leaving in Iraq. Instead, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared last week that how they 'behave' as Iraqi forces move the residents out of their camp will determine whether or not they're considred 'terrrorists' by the US government.
Really?
That's how the US determines terrorism? By how well you get along with the thugs who attacked you?
Reality for Hillary Clinton, in 2010, a federal court ordered the US State Dept. to review the classification noting that due process had not taken place in the earlier deliberation (that would be while her husband was president). Hillary was court-ordered to conduct this review in 2010. Well over a year later, it's still not completed. She's making a mockery out of the law and the courts.
And when she tells the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as she did last week, when she stated that a "key factor" in determining their status would be the "successful and peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf."
Someone explain it to the Secretary, the court did not charge her or her department with CREATING NEW CRITERIA to classify someone as a terrorist.
She needs to get it through her head that what the court found was that the US government wrongly made a decision to classify the group as "terrorists." The decision was wrong because they did not follow established guidelines and rules.
What Hillary is doing now? It's exactly the sort of crap the court called out when noting that the group had not received due process.
Hillary's an attorney and knows the law. Congress needs to inquire when she intends to comply with it?