America Your Lack of Integrity is Showing

Once again the Untied States lack of integrity is showing at a very pivotal point the mid-east more precisely Iraq. The last place our intgrity should be in question because the eyes of the world are focused on our roll in that country.


Since July the 28th, 2009, the Iraqi army and police using Humvee's and other military equipment furnished them by the United States have been conducting attacks on an unarmed Iranian opposition group living in Iraq called Camp Ashraf. This Iranian camp is composed of a group called the Mjaheddin-e Khaiq or MEK which is opposed to the current government in Iran. There are approximately 3,000 residents of Ashraaf of which 1,000 are women. The balance are men and children.


At the present time, at least eight Iranians have been killed, 400 wounded and the residents of Ashraf claim the Iraqi troops are prohibiting them from taking gravely injured people to hospitals outside the groups camp.


The Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al Maliki personally ordered the attack on the camp at the request of the Iranian government who naturally want the group destroyed. As I am sure you are aware, the government of Iraq declared its sovereignty a month ago. United States secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the raid as a legitimate act by a sovereign nation "although the U.S. goverment remains engaged and concerned about this issue, it is a matter for the government of Iraq to resolve in accordance with its laws."


Not so fast Washington, there is a little question here about a promise made to the people of Ashraf by the United States government in 2003 when we invaded Iraq. Ashraf was an existing community at the time and MEK was listed as a terrorist organization because it wanted to overthrow the Iranian government. The United States promised the MEK's that if they would turn in their weapons the U.S. would protect them. The MEK's accepted our offer and turned in their weapons which is why they have no weapons with which to defend themselves today. In addition, they provided the U.S. with information regarding Iran's nuclear weapons plants. The U.S. in turn stationed troops around their camp and protected them until the chips were down. Now our soldiers are sitting the sideline watching this cowardly action by the Iraqi Army and Police.

It bothers me that the Prime Minister of Iraq would bow to the request of the leader of Iraq knowing he would be jeopardising the United States relationship with a group it had vowed to protect without even informing the U.S. of his intended move. It is not as if he did not know of the U.S.'s relationship to the MEK's. Both the Iraqi leader and the Iranian leader knew other MEK's under the protection of the U.S.; and yet, both leaders decided to move against Camp Ashraf. It appears to be a deliberate move to show the U.S. is indeed irrelevant in Iraq. The U.S. established Prime Minister Nour al Maliki and now he is done with us. What better way for Prime Minister al Maliki to tell the world that he is looking to Iran for leadership than to expel a thorn in the flesh of Iran by throwing out the MEK while Secretary of Defense Gates is paying a call to Iraq? I understand that Secretary Gates was making an unannounced call on Iraq but that did not deter PM Maliki from proceeding with the raid. Rather, he went forward with the forcible expulsion of the MEK without abatement during Secretary Gates' visit.

The United States gave its word and has not kept it. Don't think for a moment the rest of the world is not watching this episode. They see very clearly that our word means nothing when the chips are down.

The Afghan's, Pakistan's, Israeli's, Syrians, Pakistan's, Irani's and every nation in the mid-east have seen that we gave our word to the MEK's and then backed down. Why should they trust our word now?

One thing I was taught as a small child was don't give your word unless you intend to deep it and if you give it you better damn well keep it.

Ashraf shows the rest of the world our word means nothing. No one is ever going to accept our word because Ashraf demonstrates clearly America no longer stands up to fulfill a promise made to another group when put to the test. I never thought I would live to see the day when America failed to fulfill a promise freely made. My God what has happened to my country?

This was originally drafted on September 17, 2009. The MEK's were totally removed from Ashraf. They never received their weapons with which to defend themselves. Nor were our troops ever released to defend them.