Exiled Iranian opposition shows video of how abusive the Iraqi forces behave in Ashraf
Source: Italian daily, Liberal, August 26, 2009 – Excerpts How would the American tax-payers feel when they realize that their taxes allocated for the Iraqi military is being used for killing of humans by the Iraqi government.
This question is being asked by Shahin Qobadi, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). NCRI is the exiled opposition to the Iranian regime which is mainly made up of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). For two weeks, Camp Ashraf is turned into a brutal warfront. Iraqi police forces attacked Ashraf residents, leaving 11 dead and 450 wounded, some of whom in critical condition and under treatment in the Americans’ hospital. Qobadi points out that on February 28, the Iraqi President Talibani met with senior Iranian officials in Tehran.
During the meetings, Baghdad pledged to stop the activities at Ashraf by any means possible. Iraq and Iran reached a mutual agreement for complete closure of the of Ashraf and expelling Monafeqin (a term that is used by Iranian regime to refer to Mojahedin.) Regarding this mutual agreement, Qobadi indicates that there are numerous evidence proving that it was made, but the most shocking evidence is the video of the Iraqi forces attacking residents of Ashraf city, since it clearly demonstrates the cruelty of the Iraqi forces. Police forces with anti-riot gear attacked residents who had raised their hands showing that they were not armed.
They are all badly wounded and a number of them are killed. Then the camera zooms on certain locations. Although the deadly wounds seen on corpses were not made by gunshots, they were, nevertheless, fatal. And then we see the images of the police who enter the scene using heavy wooden boards, chains and high pressure hot water in order to disperse the people. Qobadi continues: In this video you can see that even ambulances are hit by bullets fired by Iraqi forces and the American Humvees sent for the Iraqi military are charging and running over a number of Ashraf residents; It was for this reason that I thought of American citizens and wondered what would they say if they realize what is their money being used for.
The NCRI representative says armament is sent from Washington to Iraq in order to bring about security, but now it is used just for the opposite purpose. While furious, Qobadi says: And this is done while only two weeks prior to the attack, Lord Corbet, chairman of the parliamentary committee for Free Iran in the British Parliament had expressed his concerns about the safety of the Ashraf residents to President Obama and had stated that a military attack by the Iraqi government against Ashraf was possible since the observations during the previous 5 days clearly showed that the Iraqi forces were taking aggressive positions around the city of Ashraf. Therefore, the atmosphere of attack was quite clear, but the White House, in a statement signed on July 15 by Richard Schmierer, an administration official, stated that the protection of the residents of Ashraf is guaranteed and if something happens, the U.S. government would definitely be on the first line in order to assure the safety of the Ashraf residents and will try to make the Iraqi government act responsibly in accordance to the assurances it has given regarding Ashraf.
It must be well understood that Ahraf is not a refugee camp as many say, but it is indeed a city and that is why it has to be treated like one. The demonstrations there were a social and peaceful demonstration but the Iraqi government used a force of 2000-strong to confront a population of 3000 residents. That is almost a soldier against each resident. Qobadi says the newspapers pushed a human crises to their inside pages, but you should know that this crisis is not over yet.
