I'll get a fire going....
"Iraqi raid kills 34 in Iranian exile camp, UN report says; Kerry, others assail attack on foes of Tehran" April 15, 2011|By Lara Jakes and Frank Jordans, Associated Press
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi army raid last week on Camp Ashraf left 34 Iranian exiles dead, according to a UN spokesman who yesterday offered the first independent death toll for the attack that drew sharp rebukes from Baghdad’s Western allies.
The April 8 raid targeted the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, which seeks to overthrow Iran’s clerical leaders.
Related: M.E.K.
Oh, they are a terrorist outfit?
The group won refuge at Camp Ashraf years ago during the regime of Saddam Hussein, who saw the organization as a convenient ally against Iran. But since then, the exiles have become an irritant to Iraq’s current Shi’ite-led government, which is trying to bolster ties with Iran.
So Saddam did in fact harbor terrorists, but they were out terrorists. Residues of that damn war with Iran.
Wasn't it Kissinger who said too bad both couldn't lose (I think they both did; both suffered horrendous losses and went into debt)?
The attack was the climax of days of building tensions between the Iraqi army and the Ashraf residents, who feared they were about to be attacked after nervously watching soldiers bulk up their forces outside the camp. The Iraqi general who led the raid said it was in response to Ashraf residents pelting his troops with rocks and throwing themselves in front of military cars.
Yesterday, John Kerry, US Senate Foreign Relations chairman, called it a massacre.
It is just all agenda-pushing, all the time with these guys, isn't it?
I'm not hoping for anyone to be killed; however, the selective application of the terms is really getting old.
So what would you call invading a place over lies and killing a couple million (and the senator voted fer that)?
Oh, yeah, war crime.
The UN visit was critical because the Ashraf residents and the Iraqi government have issued wildly different accounts of the raid and the reasons behind it.
I see this is going nowhere because I hardly trust the U.N anymore. Hard to see around the campfire.
In Geneva, Rupert Colville, UN human rights spokesman, said a team of UN observers saw 28 bodies still at the camp Wednesday during a visit to the compound in eastern Diyala Province. Most of the bodies appeared to have been shot, and some were women, he said. Three of the victims appeared to have been crushed, probably run over by a car, a Western diplomat in Baghdad said....
Both Iran and the United States consider the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran to be a terrorist threat....
Quite a game the U.S. has going there: call 'em terrorists while harboring and supporting them.
And consider this:
"There are some indications, moreover, that the MEK obtained the documents not from an Iranian source but from Israel's Mossad"
Well ain't that just the devil's piss?
After Hussein fell, US troops took control of Camp Ashraf, disarmed its fighters, and confined the residents to their 30-square-mile camp. In return, the military signed the agreement with the camp’s 3,400 residents giving them protected status under the Geneva Conventions.
But it is not clear whether the residents still have those legal protections.
Iraqi allies in Washington and London and UN officers in Geneva sharply criticized last week’s raid, but Iran praised it.
Kerry called the raid “deeply disturbing’’ and “simply unacceptable.’’ He called on the Iraqi government to conduct a full and serious investigation and said the United States, UN, and European Union must help broker a cease-fire between the two sides.
“Corrective action is imperative,’’ Kerry said in a statement. “The [Iraqi] investigation must hold accountable the responsible parties and ensure that there will be no sequel to these horrific events.’’
Of course, it was was Israel or some ally then the criticism is muted -- if any at all.
--more--"
Also see:
Globe Editorial Massacre proves the dangers of Iran’s influence in Iraq
Oh, yeah?
Who told them lies so they could invade and occupy the country?
Btw, I won't be doing any hiking, especially near where a Kurdish terror group is working with Mossad.
You begin to see why the war-promoting paper focuses on certain areas and avoids others.
