September 1, 2008 (LPAC)--The Iraqi government announced on Sunday that it is taking control over the Iranian terrorist Mujahidden-Khalq Organisations camp in eastern Iraq from the U.S.troops. The Maliki government has given the MEK six months to leave the country. The first point was made on Sunday by Brig. Mohammad Al-Askary, spokesman of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, and reported in the Arabic daily Al-Hayat today. The Iraqi army has assumed the security responsibilities for Camp Ashraf today, said Al-Askary. He added that the responsibility of the Iraqi units is to provide security for the camp and regulate the movement to and from the camp. Although he emphasized that the Iraqi army will not interfere in political issues related to the existence of the camp or the group (inside Iraq), because that responsibility is left for the politicians and legislative institutions to determine, the Interior Ministry's Director of the Office of Operations, Brig. Abdulkarim Khalaf, had announced on Saturday that the Iraqi government has given the MEK an ultimatum of six months to leave the country, and officially informed it of its decision.

Camp Ashraf has been guarded by U.S. troops since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Although the media consultant for the multinational forces in Iraq (U.S. and allies), Abdullatif Rayan denied that the U.S. forces have left the camp, he nevertheless confirmed that the U.S. forces are coordinating with the Iraqi security authorities to gradually transfer the security responsibilities for the camp to the Iraqi forces. Khalaf even added: "We are aware of the official decision of the Iraqi government, and we have received assurances from the Iraqis that the residents in the camp will be treated humanely and in accordance with Iraqi and international laws.''

A leading member of the governing Shia political coalition, Sheikh Jalal Al-Saghir, welcomed the decision to throw out the MEK, and called on the U.S. troops to respect Iraq's sovereignty, and to stop providing protection to this organization. Al-Saghir told Al-Hayat: "The government's decision is final and decisive, and the Mujahiddens will be thrown out after six months,'' adding that there are legal issues awaiting the leaders and members of the MEK, and there are arrest warrants issued against some of them. The MEK has been involved in crimes and bloodshed against Iraqis. It violated Iraqi security. Therefore, accountability for its crimes should go through judiciary channels, but the priority is for getting the MEK out of Iraq.

This is a further indication that the Iraqi government, or the Shia part of it, is gaining enough self-confidence and military strength on the ground to take over from the U.S. troops, opening for more demands by religious and nationalist forces to set an early date for the pullout of U.S.troops from Iraq. Iraqi Sunni politicians are concerned that this is a further indication of more Iranian influence in the country. The MEK have been involved in terrorist and sabotage operations in Iran for the last two decades. They have been promoted by British and the EU as a legitimate opposition group, and is given protection and support in Britain and other European countries. Their presumed future role, in case British agent Dick Cheney succeeds in launching a military strike against Iran, is to assist in sabotage, assassination, and destabilization operations inside Iran. According to one senior U.S. intelligence source contacted today, the Iranian government has submitted a list to Baghdad, of more than a hundred top MEK operatives, inside Iraq, and has demanded that they be deported back to Iran, for prosecution. Since no later than July 2007, factions in the Saudi government, led by national security advisor Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, have been bankrolling the MEK, and building them up as an intelligence apparatus and sabotage apparatus inside Iran. The source reported that more than 2,500 MEK members would likely relocate to countries in the Persian Gulf, bordering on Iran, and would continue to be financed by Bandar and his faction; however, the Saudis do not want to provoke Iran, to the point of triggering a direct Tehran-Riyad confrontation.