Iranian opposition Peopleâs Mujahideen group said on Friday it had told the US authorities that any attempt by Iraqâs US-controlled Governing Council to expel thousands of its members to Iran would be a war crime for which Washington would be responsible.
| It'd be pretty nasty, but it wouldn't be a war crime. Churchill did something similar with Russians after the Second World War... |
Some 4,000-5,000 of the Mujahideen, which mounted attacks inside Iran from neighbouring Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power, have been disarmed since the US-led invasion and are now guarded by US troops in their base of Camp Ashraf, east of the capital. Earlier this week the Governing Council said it planned to expel the Mujahideen, whom it accused of terrorism, by December 31. On Thursday a member of the council said Iraqâs interim rulers are considering handing them over to the very Iranian authorities they have been fighting to overthrow.
| That's because they're terrorists. The Medes and the Persians run their own terror organizations, but not this one. We want to break up those, too... |
A Swiss international law expert acting for the Mujahideen, Professor Marc Henzelin, told AFP he had written Thursday to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military officials warning them that such a move would be a war crime under the terms of the Geneva Convention.
| Probably not. But saying it will make some people think it is. Keep repeating it, and more people will... |
As the occupying power in Iraq, the United States would bear the responsibility, and would face legal action in US, Swiss or other courts. âI am totally convinced that the legal experts of the US military will reach exactly the same conclusion,â Henzelin said, noting that when they agreed to be disarmed in September the Mujahideen put themselves under US military protection.
| That's why turning them over would be nasty. But it wouldn't be illegal. Shooting them might be, but they're members of a terror organization, so we could argue the point... |
The Iraqi Governing Council might ask the US military to expel [the Khalq] from Iraq, but the council has no plans to hand them over to Iran, where they are wanted for terrorist attacks, two Iraqi officials said on Friday.
| So maybe it's not as bad as they're making out in the first half of the article... |
Earlier this week, the US-appointed council decided to expel by yearâs end the 3,800 members of the Mujahideen Khalq, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. âWe might ask the Americans because they have the military capabilities,â Governing Council member Dara Noor al-Din said. âWe donât have an army and the police force isnât well enough equipped to face the Mujahideen, because they have light weapons.â The US-led administration of Iraq will meet with the council to discuss the expulsion of the Mujahideen Khalq, said a spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA. |