Tuesday, December 23, 2008

On 16 December 2008, the Iran Policy Committee held a press conference to issue a report about an October 2008 research trip to Iraq. The speakers identified proxies of the Iranian regime as the main threat to Iraqi stability and departing U.S. forces.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Foreign Affairs Committee, who participated via teleconference from Colorado, said, “The main threat not only to Iraq but to the entire Middle East is Islamic extremism spread by the Iranian regime. An Obama administration cannot achieve its objective of redeploying forces from Iraq without engaging democratic Iranian forces, such as the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI). I hope President-elect Obama considers doing so.”

Rep. Tancredo underscored the ‘third option’ and the role of the Iranian Resistance in changing the Iranian regime and described Iranian Resistance as a great wealth for the whole region.

General Thomas McInerney (Lt Gen, US Air Force Ret, IPC Advisory Council) spoke about Iranian regime subversion of Iraq, saying, “The Iranian regime pursues a two-phase approach. The first element is the creation of a social network of dependency, on the same model as Hezbollah in Lebanon. The second phase is the covert support we know Iran gives to Iraqi militias like that of Muqtada al Sadr to target U.S. forces.”

Regarding the possibility of the United States turning over responsibility for safeguarding Iranian dissidents with protected persons status at Camp Ashraf, Gen. McInerney said, “Iraqi Security Forces are not capable of securing Camp Ashraf, they are not even capable of protecting themselves. Moreover, if Iraqi Security Forces had authority over Ashraf, the pressure from Tehran to extradite Ashraf residents in violation of their protected persons status under the Fourth Geneva Convention would be too intense for Baghdad to resist.”

IPC President and former member of the National Security Council Staff at the White House, Professor Raymond Tanter, discussed his experiences in Iraq during October 2008, saying, “President-elect Obama was prescient in his description of Awakening Councils as the key to improved security in Iraq. Hundreds of Iraqi sheikhs told the IPC delegation that the origins of the Awakening Councils were meetings held at Camp Ashraf between Iraqis and the U.S. military and mediated by the MEK.” Prof. Tanter pointed to a log published in the Iran Policy Committee report of its Iraq research that documented 81 meetings among Iraqis, U.S. military officials, and the MEK.

Prof. Tanter said, “One option is for the United States to continue guarding Ashraf jointly with Iraqi Security Forces to promote confidence-building until a long term solution can be found that guarantees MEK members won’t be expelled or extradited.”

Dr. Gary Morsch, MD; Colonel, US Army Reserve, Medical Corp; served in 2004 as Battalion Surgeon for the 89th MP Brigade, Ashraf, Iraq and as U.S. Army medical liaison for the MEK. Dr. Morsch said that his position allowed him unrestricted access to Camp Ashraf: “I was amazed at the social and political progress of Ashraf residents. I was at the Camp when the MEK held political reconciliation meetings in their convention hall, which held thousands of people. The MEK plays a major positive role in the political and social life of Iraq.”

R. Bruce McColm, President of the Institute for Democratic Strategies, said in response to a question from the press, “The millions of Iraqi Sunnis who have signed petitions in support of the MEK have done so because they recognize the threat posed to them by the Iranian regime; the millions of moderate Shiites who have signed similar petitions have seen that Tehran is subverting the southern, mostly Shiite region of Iraq. The bringing together of these Sunnis and Shiites at Ashraf promotes reconciliation and stability in Iraq.”