Will Obama Stand by & Watch Massacre of Iranian Dissidents?

The world has seen many acts of genocide in the past century, and has for years regretted the happenings many times afterwards. And the humankind is today once again facing a choice or a decision to make. The subject is 3400 Iranian dissidents who have for 20 years lived in a refugee camp in Iraq. The camp was twice attacked in 2009 and in 2011 by the Iraqi army, where many residents were shot dead and many run over by bulldozers and other military vehicles. They have been threatened to expect another attack at the end of December 2011. This time, all political circles have for months been informed again and again. The important point is that it is indeed possible and within our reach to prevent another massacre and save lives.

The U.S. administration has a special role in this midst. The U.S. President must not choose the silence option as this will work to be a go ahead mark to commit the massacre. This is especially so as the whole event has been brought about by the decisions and actions taken by the U.S. government.

The worst would be to have an exact recur of the events that happened during the case of Rwanda, where all circles expressed dismay and astonishment only when it was too late and after the massacres took place.

A few years after the massacre in Rwanda, President Clinton looked at the article written by The New Yorker, Philip Gourevitch, and wrote some notes to his second-term national-security adviser, Sandy Berger. Clinton said: "Is what he's saying true?" He wrote with a thick black felt-tip pen beside heavily underlined paragraphs. "How did this happen?" he asked, adding, "I want to get to the bottom of this." The President's urgency and outrage were oddly timed and it was far too late. Yet the worst for the entire world would be for us to see the same be repeated again.

The 3400 civilians in the camp Ashraf have to date been attacked twice. The same questions that were asked from Bill Clinton, can now be asked more loudly from the Obama administration. The questions put to Clinton by Samantha Power about the Rwanda massacre, seem to be so very relevant today as well:

Did the President really not know about the genocide? Who were the people in his Administration who made the life-and-death decisions that dictated U.S. policy? Why did they decide (or decide not to decide) as they did? Were any voices inside or outside the U.S. government demanding that the United States do more? If so, why weren't they heeded? And most crucial, what could the United States have done to save lives?

The time is not on our side and is passing fast but it is still possible to avoid the recur of the same. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton must speak to prevent a massacre. There is no time to lose.

ENDS

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