CONGRESSMAN ROBRAHACHER - If we sell out the MEK, where people are willing to struggle and give their lives to fight this regime, we are selling out t

Washington DC, February 3, 2012 - US Congress conference - Uphold Justice enable peaceful resettlement of Camp Ashraf residents

First and foremost let me associate myself with the Ambassador's remarks. I think there's a great deal of wisdom and insight what you had to say. What we are doing now is, I believe stems from a perhaps, let's say, noble but stupid approach to how you deal with tyrants. Yes, it is important for us not just to say we are going to go to war with every brutal vicious dictatorship in the world. Even those like the ones with Mullahs where they have declared United States their chief enemy.

Yes, we should try to reach out to them. But what have done is, we have reached out in a way that appears to be not sincerity but weakness. When you go to a tyrant and you are willing to bargain away the lives of those people who are opposing that tyranny, you have shown such weakness that you will never succeed in shifting that radical regime away from its goals and objectives which are threatening to the rest of us.

That's what we have done with Iran. That's what this Administration, giving them all the benefit of the doubt for good motives has done. It's not just evident in the betrayal of those people who are struggling against the regime there in Camp Ashraf and the MEK. But also the silence that we experienced at a time when there are tens of thousands of Iranians in the streets taking a stand against this Mullahs dictatorship. And yet this Administration not only sold out the MEK, but sold those people out. And today we have to know that if there is harm done to the MEK, there is nothing that could be worse for the cause of freedom in Iran itself than the harm that will we done to these individuals.

The word will be out that you side with the United States, you side against radical Islam and we will let you go. We will let you dangle. We will let you be murdered by the regime that also threatens us. This is not courage. This is insanity. We have to stand -- if we sell out the people who want freedom in Iran, if we sell out the MEK, where people are willing to struggle and give their lives to fight this regime, we are selling out the future security of United States of America and our principles as American people.

How can we tell whether or not this is really -- this would be at least a step in the right direction. Would be easy to take. Easy to take. In the last few days, the last several weeks with very frank and very heated discussion on this issue, because people can say oh, well, we are concerned about the safety of these people from Camp Ashraf and -- well, how can someone say our government is concerned with the safety when all our government has to do is change that designation. Take them off the terrorist list.

The solutions they have are based on other countries, including our country, taking the folks of Camp Ashraf in and giving them safe haven. It's very apparent to all of us that countries aren't going to do that as long as we designate them as terrorists. So it's a self-fulfilling failure of reaching your objectives. And you can take that factor out that ensures failure very easily. But we are not doing it. Someone here is lying to us. Someone here is not telling us the truth. They tell us they are really concerned about these people.

I say this: If we sell out these people, we will pay a dear price for it. Because there will be no one else, not just in Iran, where we need alleys in the street, where we need people to not give so the rules will not be so confident they can commit these evil acts that they do and threatened other countries. But all over the world who is going to trust us?

I have today submitted a piece of legislation that will grant citizenship to a very brave man, a doctor in Pakistan, who risked his life to help us find Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. He is a man who risked his life to help us bring justice to this issue. Yet he's been arrested by the Pakistani Government and charged with treason.

He is now in custody. And his wife is missing as well. Now let me just tell you this. I was going to submit this bill. I get all sorts of call. Oh, don't do that. You're going to get the Pakistanis mad at you. It's about time that we understand that we must stand up with those who stand with us or we will lose in the end. That's the name of the game.

Whether it's this brave doctor who helped us in Pakistan to identify the man who slaughtered 3,000 Americans or whether it's the MEK who are willing to fight against the regime that is talking about annihilating our way of life. These are people that we must stand by.

I'm watching it. I'm with you. I'll do anything I can with you to, number one, convince our leaders to take them off the terrorist list. And then proceed to find safe haven for the MEK and then to double our efforts to get rid of the Mullah regime that oppresses the people of Iran and threatens the peace of the world.

Thank you all, very much.

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11674-honorable-robrahacher-if-we-sell-out-the-mek-where-people-are-willing-to-struggle-and-give-their-lives-to-fight-this-regime-we-are-selling-out-the-future-security-of-united-states-of-america-and-our-principles-as-american-people-