I know many of you are frustrated that 2,500 of your comrades are still in prison at Camp Liberty. We have been here many times and talked about getting them out to safety, and nothing seems to change. But I want you to know that we are frustrated too. Myself and many people behind me, many of my colleagues, were part of persuading the people of Ashraf to go to Liberty because we were told by the U.N. and U.S. that it would be a temporary transit camp and everyone would be immigrated as fast and humanely as possible. That was over two years ago, and only 200 people have been moved out of the camp.
As I was coming on a plane last night, I saw a news program which reminded me that 125,000 Vietnamese were taken out of Vietnam by American troops and sent to Guam, where their personal safety was assured, while they were going through the immigration process. It took four months to get 125,000 people out of Vietnam to safety in Guam. It should take four weeks to get 2,500 members of MEK out of Iraq to personal safety.
The U.S. promised each one of those citizens that we would protect them, and it is clear we cannot protect them in Iraq, so we need to get them out. We have a moral and legal obligation to get them out to Guam, or the great country of Albania, which has opened its arms to the first 200. We’ve got to get them out of Iraq quickly.
• Mr. Rendell is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former governor of Pennsylvania. The above was adapted and excerpted from remarks he delivered at the June 13 rally in Paris.
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