Lieberman: We Broke Our Word to Iranian Opposition FightersTuesday, 08 Jul 2014 07:45 PM
By Greg Richter
The United States broke its word to Iranian resistance fighters it promised to take care of in Iraq, says former Sen. Joe Lieberman.
"No matter what you think about what's happening in Iraq, what's happening in Iran, America broke its word here and we can't let that happen," the ex-Connecticut Democrat senator told Fox News' "Happening Now" on Tuesday.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a group opposing the current Iranian government, had members stationed at the U.S. military's Camp Liberty in Baghdad. They say 116 of its members have been killed in the recent fighting in Iraq stemming from the takeover of several cities by the terror group now calling itself The Islamic State.
Lieberman told Fox News that America told the Iranian resistance group to put down their arms and the U.S. military would protect them.
"And we did protect them for a period of time," Lieberman said. "But then as we began to pull out of Iraq in 2009 … we promised them, 'The Iraqis will take care of you.' Well, the Iraqis haven't taken care of them and by turning them over to … [Iraq] we broke our promise, and I’m afraid we’ve created a real humanitarian crisis."
Lieberman called the broken promise "a question of America's word."
At any moment, he said a push from Iran could turn Iraqi guns on the resistance members, "and that would be a terrible stain on America's honor and reputation. We’ve got to get them out of there as quickly as possible."
