Dean calls on U.S. to protect Iranian group
April 08, 2011
By Ben Smith

Former Governor and DNC Chairman Howard Dean, as I noted earlier, has emerged abruptly as America's most vocal supporter of the embattled Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK), a controversial Iranian opposition group based in part in Iraq.

Dean participated in a press conference today at the National Press Club denouncing the Iraqi Government's violent effort to push more than 3,000 MEK members from one refugee camp to another, something that happened after the camp lost its U.S. military protection and that's seen as a favor by the Iraqis to Iran's government.

Dean told me in a telephone interview this afternoon that the U.S. troops should return to the camp.

"We’re not looking to have an armed conflict with the Iraqis – if we send the American troops in, [the Iraqis] will leave," he said, calling on the U.S. to evacuate the wounded, turn the water back in the camp, and provide hospital care to the survivors of the raid, and pointing to a video that appears to show Iraqi Humvees attacking civilians.

More: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0411/Dean_calls_on_US_to_protect_Iranian_group.html