More from 0LVE
- Iran slammed over meddling
- Mansour Radpour, an activist of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran was slain in notorious Gohardasht prison
- Collective hanging of seven prisoners in Rasht
- Iraqi Government imposes fuel ban on Camp Ashraf for second year
- After more than two months Bardia Amir-Mostowfian's body is still a hostage by Iraqi government
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Political Turmoil in Iraq - Camp Ashraf
Fox News - December 26, 2011 Special Report - Shannon Bream
Special Guests: A.B. Stoddard, Steve Hayes, Charles Krauthammer
(VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL MUKASEY, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Now these people are in a camp where they are defenseless, and the United States troops have pulled out with the result that they are now at the mercy of the Iraqi government which is really doing the biding of the Iranian government. They've attacked them twice, both times when the U.S., then U.S. Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, was in country.
SHANNON BREAM, GUEST HOST: That is former Attorney General Michael Mukasey talking about a group of Iranian dissidents who actually live in Iraq, and now they're losing their space where they've felt protected and they are moving elsewhere. Let's talk about it with our panel. We're back with Steve, A.B., and Charles. A.B., this Camp Ashraf situation is very delicate at this point.
A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, THE HILL : This is really going to put us in a terrible position because we are going to get dragged into it. I mean, the U.S. government is trying to continue to partner with Iraq to secure -- for their own security. But we're trying at the same time to stay out of the sectarian tension and political chaos that is mounting there. We find the prime minister now, he wants these people out. They're going to be moved to a temporary place, Camp Liberty, which is a former U.S. base. There is no final home. There's plans for a transfer, or what they call resettlement, without U.S. troops, U.N. monitors. Everyone is concerned that they won't be safe there. There will be violence. Do the residents of the camp even want to be moved to the interim place? He's defending the sovereignty of Iran throughout.
This is going to be a mess, and we're going to find ourselves having to take a side, and it's going to be a very tough situation as we try to take this kind of hands-off approach now whenever trouble erupts in Iraq, as it did within days of us leaving.
BREAM: And this camp currently it sits 50 miles from the Iranian border inside Iraq. And as Jennifer Griffin did in her excellent reporting earlier tonight, talked about the fact the U.S. had an understanding for protection for these folks, Steve.
STEVE HAYES, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: This is one of the reasons that I think this is such a problem. There's a human tragedy element to it and then there's also the political implications of this. The human tragedy is obvious. If we don't protect them, they could be very well the victim of collusion between these two governments. That would be tragic.
On the political side of thing, the United States unfortunately has a history doing this in Iraq. I mean, remember back to 1991 when George H.W. Bush went on the radio, and people throughout the country heard him, said rise up against your government, we've got your backs. The Shiites did this and the Kurds did this in the north, and then we walked away from them.
We can't do this. If we want people to act on our own interests and our perceived interests, we need to be able to keep our word when we ask people to do things for us and when we make promises. It looks like in this case we're not keeping a promise.
BREAM: The prime minister, al-Maliki said we're not going to hand them over to Iran; we're not going to kill them. We don't want to oppress or starve them, but their presence here is illegal and illegitimate.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: What's happening, it's another event that we're seeing as a result of the full evacuation that Obama decided on against the generals who wanted a residual force in Iraq that would be a counterweight essentially to Iranian influence. This is entirely Iranian influence.
Read more: http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11574-political-turmoil-in-iraq-camp-ashraf
Special Guests: A.B. Stoddard, Steve Hayes, Charles Krauthammer
(VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL MUKASEY, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Now these people are in a camp where they are defenseless, and the United States troops have pulled out with the result that they are now at the mercy of the Iraqi government which is really doing the biding of the Iranian government. They've attacked them twice, both times when the U.S., then U.S. Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, was in country.
SHANNON BREAM, GUEST HOST: That is former Attorney General Michael Mukasey talking about a group of Iranian dissidents who actually live in Iraq, and now they're losing their space where they've felt protected and they are moving elsewhere. Let's talk about it with our panel. We're back with Steve, A.B., and Charles. A.B., this Camp Ashraf situation is very delicate at this point.
A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, THE HILL : This is really going to put us in a terrible position because we are going to get dragged into it. I mean, the U.S. government is trying to continue to partner with Iraq to secure -- for their own security. But we're trying at the same time to stay out of the sectarian tension and political chaos that is mounting there. We find the prime minister now, he wants these people out. They're going to be moved to a temporary place, Camp Liberty, which is a former U.S. base. There is no final home. There's plans for a transfer, or what they call resettlement, without U.S. troops, U.N. monitors. Everyone is concerned that they won't be safe there. There will be violence. Do the residents of the camp even want to be moved to the interim place? He's defending the sovereignty of Iran throughout.
This is going to be a mess, and we're going to find ourselves having to take a side, and it's going to be a very tough situation as we try to take this kind of hands-off approach now whenever trouble erupts in Iraq, as it did within days of us leaving.
BREAM: And this camp currently it sits 50 miles from the Iranian border inside Iraq. And as Jennifer Griffin did in her excellent reporting earlier tonight, talked about the fact the U.S. had an understanding for protection for these folks, Steve.
STEVE HAYES, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: This is one of the reasons that I think this is such a problem. There's a human tragedy element to it and then there's also the political implications of this. The human tragedy is obvious. If we don't protect them, they could be very well the victim of collusion between these two governments. That would be tragic.
On the political side of thing, the United States unfortunately has a history doing this in Iraq. I mean, remember back to 1991 when George H.W. Bush went on the radio, and people throughout the country heard him, said rise up against your government, we've got your backs. The Shiites did this and the Kurds did this in the north, and then we walked away from them.
We can't do this. If we want people to act on our own interests and our perceived interests, we need to be able to keep our word when we ask people to do things for us and when we make promises. It looks like in this case we're not keeping a promise.
BREAM: The prime minister, al-Maliki said we're not going to hand them over to Iran; we're not going to kill them. We don't want to oppress or starve them, but their presence here is illegal and illegitimate.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: What's happening, it's another event that we're seeing as a result of the full evacuation that Obama decided on against the generals who wanted a residual force in Iraq that would be a counterweight essentially to Iranian influence. This is entirely Iranian influence.
Read more: http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11574-political-turmoil-in-iraq-camp-ashraf
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