April 27, 2024

Archives for August 2009

A Hunger Strike to Remind U.S. of a Promise to Iranian Exiles

By Robert McCartney
Washington Post

On a sunny patch of Pennsylvania Avenue a half-block from the White House, middle-aged men and women recline on beach lounge chairs under four canopies festooned with colorful flags. They haven’t eaten solid food in a month. Before them stands a row of large photographs of 11 men, each draped with a […]

Hunger Strike a Daily Reminder of U.S.’s Forsaken Promise to Iranian Exiles

By Robert McCartney
The Washington Post
On a sunny patch of Pennsylvania Avenue a half-block from the White House, middle-aged men and women recline on beach lounge chairs under four canopies festooned with colorful flags. They haven’t eaten solid food in a month. Before them stands a row of large photographs of 11 men, each draped with […]

Going, Ready or Not

By Mohammed Hussein
New York Times
BAGHDAD– The withdrawal of American forces from Iraqi city centers is a remarkable moment in Iraq’s modern history. The Iraqi government publicly celebrated that event as never before, linking it to the 1920 revolution against British forces in Iraq, and describing it as “the day of victory.”
But Iraqis have their worries: […]

Expect More Adventurism From Iran

By MOHAMAD BAZZI
Wall Street Journal
Beirut
Shortly after the rigged election and popular uprising in Iran, a seductive conventional wisdom emerged in Western policy-making circles: The Iranian regime, if it survived, would be significantly weakened by internal problems and would abandon its regional ambitions. Tehran’s influence in the Middle East will diminish as the hardline regime scrambles […]

Editorial: Camp Ashraf

In a letter to a British parliamentarian last month, a senior State Department official insisted that the United States was “doing its utmost” to ensure that Iraq’s government would treat 3,400 Iranian exiles living at Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq “humanely.” Two weeks later, a clash between the exiles and Iraqi police left 11 Iranians […]

Human bargaining chips in deals with Iran: Bernd Debusman

By Bernd Debusmann
REUTERS – COLUMN
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) – Seven summers ago, in a crowded conference room of a Washington hotel, an Iranian exile leader gave the first detailed public account of Iran’s until-then secret nuclear projects at the cities of Natanz and Arak. It greatly turned up the volume of a seemingly endless international […]

Iranian Dissidents’ Fate in Iraq Shows Limits of U.S. Sway

By Mark Mazzetti and Mark Landler
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Last September, Gen. David H. Petraeus told reporters in Baghdad that the United States had been assured by the Iraqi government that the 3,400 Iranian dissidents in a camp in eastern Iraq would continue to be protected after the Americans turned over responsibility for the camp […]