Paris, June 23, 2012 - Good evening fellow patriots.  Three quick points in the time that we have allocated.  First, after the decision by the United States federal court I received, as did a number of my contemporaries, a very gracious letter from Madame Rajavi that thanked us for all of our efforts in bringing to pass elements of that decision.  I would like to repay you the compliment this evening and say that it was a team effort.  It was a collaborative kind of effort that allowed those things to happen.  The example that I would use to you as a military man would be a 15th century army in the field.  The people at Camp Ashraf were the ground troops.  They were the people—[applause]—they were the people who shed their blood, showed the dedication and the aggressiveness to make it work.  You people are the archers.  You have fired at targets from long range.  It has been effective and you have continued to bring pressure to bear.  We speakers and our counterparts in Europe are the light cavalry, in some cases maybe heavy cavalry.  A lot of flash, a lot of movement around the battlefield, but perhaps not as much impact as we might like.  But key to it all is that Madame Rajavi and her organization has been the command and control.  And I can tell you [applause] the orchestration of all of those has been nothing less than masterful.  And that's important, because there's till work to do. 

Second point, there's cause for optimism, but it's too early to be doing what we would call high fives or dancing in the end zone.  We think that with any plan, where do we go from here, we think that we must have assumptions.  The first assumption I believe is that the United States State Department will not delist.  My second assumption is that in October this year a United States federal court will delist the MEK.  [applause]  A third assumption, assumption number three, the Iraqis are not yet done.  They will respond to both the court, listening on what you heard from the European Union with regard to arrest of their officials.   I fear that they will continue to slow roll the process.  I fear that as the people from Ashraf move that they will be, we would say, ripped off, that their goods will be looted, stolen, or fully confiscated from them as they go out.  I fear, worst case, some of them could be turned over to the Iranians as political prisoners.  Therefore, it is incumbent that all the organizations that are here today continue to bring pressure to bear on that Iraqi government to do the right thing. 

It is also fair to assume, though, that migration of those citizens of Ashraf will eventually take place, I think over the next eight to ten months.  And if you follow what I've seen in my country of America, those Iranian citizens, through advanced education, ambition and aggressiveness, will be model citizens to whichever country they decide to go.  Point number three, and I'm talking to all of you and all the people in the back, you people at this point in the history of the world have the opportunity to have momentous impact on the world's peace and security.  Your nation, Iran, unfortunately can be said at this point with its government to be a pariah and a danger to the world order.  So, it is critically important that the 2.5 million plus expatriate Iranians continue to attempt to do what has been talked about here tonight, and that is to take back your country.  Imagine an Iran that is not pursuing nuclear weapons.  Regional power, of course, but does not seek nuclear weapons.  Imagine an Iran that is not attempting to disrupt the world economic order by threatening to close the Gulf two or three times a year.  Imagine an Iran that does not choose to exercise terrorism as an element of national power, an Iran that sees a solution in the Middle East as a two state solution, both Israeli and Palestinian.  An Iran that honors its people and does not massacre its people in the streets. 

A historical anecdote and I'll finish.  In 1979 I was a young Marine captain glued to the news every night at the time of the revolt against the Shah.  One evening an American news report came on and the anchor said, "You must see this."  It was a grainy film taken from the second story of a building that showed a row of Iranian soldiers, maybe five or six sweeping through.  It showed a civilian, I think probably Secret Service, wearing a holster and a radio, who was pistol whipping I believe it was a woman and a small child up against a building.  Tough to tell, again, because of the nature of the video.  As those soldiers swept through, one when he came abreast of this beating that was taking place, turned and fired his weapon.  Shot the man, [0:08:13] I think he clipped his spine and hit his heart with the same shot because he was dead before he hit the pavement.  The American anchor said, "Ladies and gentlemen, that is a seminal event.  If the Army does not support the Shah, the Shah is done."  That solider did not act alone and I believe he acted on orders.  Within two weeks the Shah was seeking asylum.  Ladies and gentlemen, I pray for you that in the coming months and years that we were able to see or hear or read about that seminal event on the streets of Tehran as you take back your country.  God bless you all.  [applause]

| More...