camp in Iraq last July and calling on President Obama to do all he can to protect the Camp Ashraf residents.
As of Monday, 223 of the 435 members of the House—51 percent—had signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation, H. Res. 704.
That doesn’t mean the resolution will pass, however. Resolutions not infrequently are sponsored by a majority but never get out of committee because enough senior committee members block the legislation.
This resolution was introduced last July 31 and sent to the Foreign Affairs Committee, where it has sat for almost eight months without any action being taken.
Furthermore, even if it does pass, it is just a resolution, an expression of opinion that has no legal force.
The resolution was introduced by Rep. Bob Filner, 67, a Democrat whose holds the southernmost congressional district in California, a district that includes the entire California border with Mexico. Filner introduced the resolution in his role as co-chair of the House Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus, an informal group of House members.
The resolution says that last July 28 “Iraqi troops and police carried out a violent raid against the residents of Camp Ashraf,” killing some residents and injuring scores.
It calls upon the Iraqi government to “prevent their involuntary return to Iran,” something that numerous Iraqi officials have pledged numerous times, saying they know that is an obligation under international law.
The resolution concludes by calling on the U.S. president “to take all necessary and appropriate steps … to ensure the physical security and protection of Camp Ashraf residents against inhumane treatment and involuntary deportation by Iraqi security forces.”