Alejo Vidal-Quadras -Paris, June-2014 – The Grand Gathering of Iranians

Friday, 18 July 2014 23:41

Alejo Vidal-Quadras Vice-president of the European Parliament

Dear Mrs. President, Madame Rajavi, dear friends, let me say one thing very clearly from the very beginning of my words to you today. The international community and in particular the government of the United States, the United Nations, the European Commission, the member states of the European Union are in part responsible for the suppressive measures at Camp Ashraf and Liberty who led to the loss of 136 lives. While the government of the United States is sending 300 advisors to Iraq it no longer has any excuse not to prevent another attack on Liberty.

The Iraqi people’s uprising has destroyed the Iranian regime’s 11 year plots and meddling in Iraq. Maliki and the mullahs’ influence ruthlessly eliminated his opponents, especially the Sunnis. But the Iraqi people rose up and Maliki’s army has melted. To rectify this blow they are saying that terrorist ISIS controls everything. But let me point out three facts in relation to this. The first fact is that ISIS is a terrorist group. By exploiting the crisis this group has taken over some parts of Iraq. But to claim this group could destroy a major army in a matter of a few hours and control one-third of Iraq is a bald-faced lie intended to drag the U.S. in the Iraqi swamps. ISIS is like the weapons of mass destruction in 2003 which was used as a pretext for a war from which the world is still suffering. The second fact is that the three main forces involved in the uprising are the general military council, a patriotic force comprised of professional officers who are waging the military campaign in a conventional manner, the council of tribes and its military forces and the association of Muslim scholars led by a moderate Sunni cleric. And the third fact is that these groups have repeatedly declared that the people that have risen up against oppression have nothing to do with ISIS. They want a government chosen by the people, a government of the people, and for the people. And this positions are consistent with democratic standards. And if the aim is to weaken terrorism they must be supported.

And I want to remind now some elements related to Camp Liberty. While the monitoring of Camp Liberty was supposed to be 24 hours a day, seven days of the week, UNHCR since June 12th and UNAMI since June 15th have left Camp Liberty and have not returned with the residents left to the wolves. It is over ten days now that the Iraqi forces supposed to protect the camp have turned their machine guns towards the residents. At the request of the Iranian regime there is a plan that when the tribes approach Baghdad Camp Liberty residents are to be attacked. Logistics and force have been prepared for this purpose. The Iraqi government has made an absurd allegation that residents are busy digging a tunnel to get out of Camp Liberty. This allegation to be used as a pretext is absolutely false and we invite the United Nations and the United States to come and visit the camp.

As Mrs. Rajavi has repeatedly stated, Iraq is Iran’s most important springboard to the Islamic world. Democracy in Iraq triggers the elimination of fundamentalism. This is a historic test for the West to either have gush of democracy in the Middle East by helping Iraqi people, or keep silent and help Maliki and allow the mullahs of Iran to drag the world into crisis and war and Iraq to disaster. Let me finish with a message to Ayatollah Khamnei and his President Rouhani. I want to tell them that the end is near and that we will not rest until we topple the two dictatorships in Tehran and in Baghdad. The Iranian resistance under the leadership of Mrs. Rajavi and the full and unyielding support of their many friends in democracies all around the world so well represented here today will emerge as the reference for a tolerant and democratic Islam in the Middle East. Thank you very much.