Turkey mainly, Iraq and the Kurds (2006-2014)

[Schmedlap]

What's amazing is the amount of restraint the GoI is showing in dealing with the MeK. I might be a hopeless optimist, but this might mark the begining of a responsible GoI that's part of the world community.

Not sure that I agree or disagree - just curious what you mean.

How would you have expected the GoI to act? These are individuals whom Iran wants done away with - something that the GoI might prefer to do for them, as a political gesture to smooth relations. But these are also individuals who have some protected status under humanitarian law, so dumping them in a mass grave or locking them up concentration-camp-style are not options as long as US military, diplomats, NGOs, and western media are looking over their shoulders.

It seems to me that on a path of options available to the GoI, narrowed on one side by Iranian pressure and on the other by western pressure, this was straight down the middle. While I could not have predicted the specific actions taken and the precise timing, what they did doesn't seem very surprising to me.

[Courtney Massengale]

Not sure that I agree or disagree - just curious what you mean.

How would you have expected the GoI to act? These are individuals whom Iran wants done away with - something that the GoI might prefer to do for them, as a political gesture to smooth relations.

This doesn’t only benefit the Iranians. These people believe in just about every failed theory of governance that has been attempted in the 20th century. They're not reasonable people and to presume that they could be somehow integrated into Iraqi society isn't a manageable expectation.

This was an internal policing action by a sovereign nation, not a military opeartion - and that's what's so surprising.

But these are also individuals who have some protected status under humanitarian law, so dumping them in a mass grave or locking them up concentration-camp-style are not options as long as US military, diplomats, NGOs, and western media are looking over their shoulders.

Its also not an either/or situation. The GoI could do what they usually do with internal groups that disagree with them... round up the leaders and toss them into prisons never to reappear again. Just the fact that they used nonlethal methods to deal with this shows a lot of forethought and control.

Not a lot of people are going to criticize the action the Iraqis took because there’s nothing there to criticize. That's nothing short of a miracle considering how sensitive this situiation is.