About 300 supporters of the Mojahedin-e Khalq rallied last week in Anaheim, California, to call on the US government to do more to support the 3,100 Mojahedin members housed at an old US Army base near Baghdad.
The gathering was officially sponsored by the California Society for Democracy in Iran, a Mojahedin parallel group.
US Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California, told the gathering the US government was morally and legally responsible to protect the men and women at the camp.
“They were promised by us—the United States—that they would have safe passage, that they would then be able to go to countries that would give them safe haven,” Rohrabacher said. “We cannot break our promise to them without spreading the word to all others who oppose the regime that you can’t trust us.”
But when the US military left Iraq in December 2011, the group’s safety was transferred to the Iraqi government. The Mojahedin complains that the Iraqi government is in thrall to Tehran and uninterested in protecting the group’s members.
The Iraqi Army has removed protective concrete barriers surrounding the camp’s structures, Gus Castellanos, district manager for Rep. Loretta Sanchez, the Democrat who represents the district where the conference was held, told the Orange County Register.
Seven people have died in two rocket attacks since the protective barriers were removed. The congresswoman wants to see protections strengthened at the camp, Castellanos said.
“America must stand with those refugees in Camp Liberty,” said Rohrabacher, who was once President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter. “We must stand with the people in Iran who are fighting the mullahs or in the end we will pay a terrible price for giving up our principles.”
Former US Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served under President George W. Bush, former Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy and staffers from the offices of Sanchez and Rep. Ed Royce, Republican of California, also spoke.
Mukasey suggested that people begin calling members of Congress, asking that improvements at Camp Liberty be made a condition of any future military aid packages for Iraq.
“The residents of Camp Liberty have to be rescued, and the US is the only power on earth that can do that,” Mukasey said.
“It was encouraging to see that members of Congress really care about the Iranian people,” Kayvan Kaboli of San Diego told the Orange County Register.
The United States has been trying for more than a decade to get other countries to accept Mojahedin members as refugees. So far, only Albania and Germany have agreed to take any—Germany to take “about 100” and Albania to accept 210 of the group’s members. But only 162 have been resettled and US officials have accused the Mojahedin leadership of not cooperating in efforts to move the group’s members elsewhere.