Joseph Lieberman, former U.S. senator and 2000 Democratic nominee for vice president:
“Let me go back to Thomas Paine, the great American patriot at the time of the American Revolution. A small band of Americans going up against the mighty British Empire — who would have thought that they could succeed? And Thomas Paine said to his fellow American patriots: We have it within our hands, within our capacity, to change the world to begin the world again. And, in fact, they did. I have the same feeling about the resistance to the regime in Iran. You have been an extraordinary leader, Mrs. Rajavi. You have tremendous support from people inside Iran and outside. And hopefully you will have increasing support from the governments in the world, including the United States, because you are in every sense our friends, our partners for freedom and peace.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich:
“I’ve found every time I’ve been able to come to Paris, to listen to the strong reports of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, to see what people around the world are doing to get to a free and peaceful Iran, I am impressed and motivated. This dictatorship in the end will not stand. The people of Iran will not allow it to stand. You are on the winning side of history. You will form the free democratic, safe government of the future.”
Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey:
“There has been little outreach by the world, little outreach by the free world, to the Iranian opposition. There should be such outreach. Whatever support can be given to the Iranian opposition will help to undermine that regime and will give it something to do at home instead of looking for adventures abroad. Our governments, all of them, should cooperate with PMOI and NCRI and eventually bring about regime change. That is the only way that Iran’s neighbors — Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Gaza — can live in peace, and the only way that the rest of the world can live in peace is if you rather than they are in control.
Excerpt of a New Policy Initiative read by former U.S. homeland security adviser Frances Townsend:
“Ultimately, the core of our approach is to side with the 80 million Iranian people and their desire, along with people everywhere, for freedom and popular sovereignty based on democratic principles. Engaging with the democratic opposition has been the missing piece of U.S. policy for many years under both Republican and Democratic leadership.”
P.J. Crowley, former Undersecretary of State:
“When we look at the region, the Middle East today, the tragedies unfolding in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, thousands killed, millions displaced, and the burden that is being placed on countries like Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, it’s hard to be optimistic. It’s hard to see hope. Much of this is the work of Iran. But then we come to this building, to this gathering, to this debate, to this image and there is reason to hope. This is why change in the Middle East is inevitable. Intimidation can defer for a time, but power without the consent of the people is simply not sustainable…. The people of Iran will hear the message that we are providing today. They know what they lack a real choice. They know what they want a real choice. We know what the people of Iran deserve a real choice. … Change is coming to the Middle East. Change will come to Iran.”
Ret. Army Col. Wes Martin, a former senior anti-terrorism/force protection officer in Iraq:
“I thank you for allowing me to be here today. I especially thank the residents of Camp Liberty for allowing me to serve at their side at Camp Ashraf. We’re in the fight together, we’re in the fight together on the deserts of Diyala Province, we’re in the fight together today. We’re going to say in this fight.”
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