re: "MEK Location Called “Concentration Camp” "

Peter Van Buren at We Meant Well ("How I Helped Lose the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People") has been following the PMOI/MEK relocation issue (and delivers some snark).

Money quote(s):

"(R)esettling the MEK into the former Camp Liberty became a State Department task, and the World’s Largest Embassy was assigned to commit “robust observation” of the facility to ensure proper treatment. State apparently did not robustly observe anything, as the Camp Liberty site is a dump, without water or sewage."

&

"During the war, Camp Liberty was a paradise, home to Iraq’s largest PX and all the amenities. As the Occupation ended, the Camp was abandoned by the US, and the Iraqis promptly and efficiently looted it into its present state.

The MEK-Camp Liberty dilemma is yet another example of US desires hitting reality head on in Iraq. After hoping the MEK issue would just go away for the nine years of Occupation, the State Department threw together an expedient policy, appointed an Ambassador to give it all gravitas and then made false promises of oversight."

CAA personally observed the results of the post-invasion looting of Iraqi military bases by Iraqis themselves and has no reason to doubt Brother Van Buren's statement that Camp Liberty was thoroughly looted into inhabitability following the U.S. withdrawal.

3/5

re: "Is Camp Liberty really a 'concentration camp' for the MEK?"

Josh Rogin at The Cable ("Reporting Inside the Foreign Policy Machine") had a good synopsis of the PMOI state-of-play last month.


Money quote(s):


"The U.S. government has worked hard to find a new location in Iraq for the thousands of members of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK), a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization that is being kicked out of its home at Camp Ashraf by the Iraqi government.


But now the State Department has to answer aggressive charges that the new home for the MEK, a former U.S. military base called Camp Liberty, is a "concentration camp" with horrid conditions. What's more, these charges are coming from senior U.S. politicians and experts, led by former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudi Giuliani."


To re-cap, not only is the PMOI/MEK a designated foreign terrorist organization, but its uniformed arm, consolidated at Camp Ashraf, has "Protected" status under the Geneva Conventions.


"The State Department worked with the United Nations to prepare Camp Liberty, now renamed Camp Hurriya (Arabic for "freedom"), to get it ready for the MEK, but the MEK has been reluctant to move there. The first tranche of about 400 MEK members started relocating this month.


Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, who was on the panel with Guliani at the Feb. 26 conference, wholeheartedly agreed with his take on the conditions at Camp Liberty, according to a press release put out by the Global Initiative for Democracy."


There are a number of reasons which spring to mind as to the PMOI's reluctance to move, distrust of the Iraqi government or of either (or both) the U.N. and the American embassy's effectualism, control, or indifference to their fate being only a few. Not to mention that they'd be separated from whatever resources (equipment, cash, gear, and weapons) they may have stashed away at Camp Ashraf. A move of personnel gives many opportunities for them to be shaken-down for such of those things as they may try to move with them.


"Neither man ever called Camp Liberty a "concentration camp" or a "garbage dump" when it housed hundreds of U.S. soldiers for years during the Iraq war."


Camp Liberty was neither a "garbage dump" nor a "concentration camp" when it was the home of hundreds (thousands?) of U.S. troops who, as is their practice, daily strove to not only maintain but improve their position.


Subsequent to their withdrawal, a period of very thorough Iraqi-style looting (i.e., to include plumbing and electrical fixtures and even pipes and wiring) very likely left the place an un-inhabitable "garbage dump."


"Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Ted Poe(R-TX) both questioned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the MEK at Wednesday's hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, with Poe directly raising Guliani's accusation that the new location amounted to a "concentration camp."


Clinton didn't comment on the "concentration camp" charge and simply emphasized that the U.S. was working hard to safely relocate the MEK to Camp Liberty, keep the Iraqi government from harassing the MEK, and ensure that the U.N. monitors the camp and provides help for refugees. She also said that if the MEK really wants off the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), it should get with the program at Camp Liberty.


"Congressman, given the ongoing efforts to relocate the residents, MEK cooperation in the successful and peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf, the MEK's main paramilitary base, will be a key factor in any decision regarding the MEK's FTO status," Clinton said."


That's quite an interesting statement, since getting "with the program at Camp Liberty" is almost certainly not one of the statutory requirements for being de-listed from the FTO list.


2/29

re: "Stupid Headline of the Day"

Murdoc at Murdoc Online ("This weblog is my hobby and other than income from advertising is not run for profit.") tackles the following stupid headline:

"At Auschwitz, future U.S. military leaders learn what not to do"

Money quote(s):

"Yeah. Because otherwise they would have set up concentration camps and genocided someone."

Believe or disbelieve in American exceptionalism as you like, but it takes years of "higher" education for someone to be so mired in the swamps of moral equivalency that they become this stupid.