Howard Dean, a medical doctor, former governor of Vermont and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, spoke at a rally in Paris organised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the Iranian opposition. The Washington Times published an article summarising his speech.
He said at the “Free Iran” rally that the Iranian Resistance deserves praise. He added that the State Department deserves mention too. Over the years he has had a lot of harsh words for the State Department with regards to “the issue of keeping their word to the people now at Liberty and before at Ashraf”.
He said there is still a long way to go because there are still just over a thousand people still being held as political prisoners in Iraq – “supposedly our ally whom we’re giving billions of dollars to every year — and for some reason we can’t seem to get these folks out in a timely way”.
However, he admits that some progress has been made since the last rally in Paris. He added: “And I very much hope that we are here next year, and next year will be the last year we’re here, because the year after next year we’re going to be having this convention in Tehran.”
Dr Dean spoke about the startling statistics regarding the Iranian regime and their crimes against humanity. He emphasised that “not only have they murdered 2,500 of their own people in the last three years under the supposed moderate Rouhani, but they have helped murder 250,000 Syrian civilians by supporting the Butcher of Damascus, Bashar al-Assad”.
He said that he would like to draw to the attention of fellow Americans at home that this is not just a matter of something that is going on in Iraq or Iran. He said that Rafsanjani and Khamenei were in the room when the Iranian intelligence community decided to blow up the Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in Argentina. “These people are war criminals and they should be treated as war criminals,” he pointed out.
“We want somebody who just happens to be here, with a 10-point plan in Iran, to support people of all religions. We want in Iran what you are asking for, which is a secular government that respects Christians, as well as Muslims as well as Zoroastrians, as well as Jews.”
