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...fall movie season has begun, and all we can say is, Bring back summer...
...Camp Ashraf, some 40 miles north of Baghdad, is the base for the controversial People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran, also known as the MEK. A formerly-armed group that critics say resembles a cult, the MEK helped overturn the Shah in 1979, but in the '80s clashed with former Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini and fled Iran. Saddam Hussein let the exiles set up bases in Iraq - Camp Ashraf is the last standing - and gave the group arms and training to help him fight his war with Iran...
...Relatives of those living in the camp fear repeat violence, and say the camp's food, water and medical supplies have recently become severely limited. Samer Muscati, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, hopes the bloodshed is not a sign of things to come in Iraq: "Civilians have to be given basic human rights considerations, whether or not they're protected under an agreement...
...Middle East experts say it's unlikely, however, that the U.S. would take back control of the camp. "It would be difficult go backward now that the Iraqi government is recovering sovereignty," says Pakzad of the IRIS. "The best they and other humanitarian-minded nations could do would be to accept [the camp dwellers] as refugees." A small patrol of U.S. troops is still stationed at Camp Ashraf, but video footage of the July raid shows they did not interfere - some even withdrew into an SUV and rolled up their windows as Iranians begged them for help...
...London, the protesters say that if one of them dies, others will replace them. "I will continue my hunger strike until my family and friends are protected," says Khalil Abadi, a middle-aged man speaking breathlessly as he hangs on to a podium to address supporters on his 44th day without food. Someone helps him walk slowly back to his cot, and he lies down again, facing the U.S. embassy. Whether or not the strikers continue to go hungry, Camp Ashraf's fate depends on who has more influence on Iraq: the U.S. or Iran. And that's a contest...