Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I don't know that to be the case. I don't know, if I were a resident of Ashraf, that I would be willing to rely on the promise of the Iranian government. That is something, it seems to me, to be sorted out by people interviewing them under circumstances in which they're free to talk and express their correct views.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. They are Shia Muslims.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  These folks are Shiites, too.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Correct, because that is their goal. Their goal is regime change. They're not at all bashful about saying so.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's difficult for me to make specific recommendations, because I am not as familiar perhaps as I should be with the various options open to you. I know Canada is a member in good standing in the same international organizations that the United States is. I would simply hope that Canada would be more active, candidly, than we have been in pressing the case in those organizations and using its influence.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Correct. I don't know if it's the only barrier, but it's certainly a barrier. The Iraqis obviously present a more direct barrier, but that barrier could be cleared if others were cleared.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  They've been very quiet. This issue has come up at the oversight hearings of the Secretary of State, and all she has said is that we're looking into the issue.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's my understanding that it's fairly close. I don't know the precise number of miles, but it's not all that far. As I understand it, it's in the Diyala province.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Obviously they feel a threat. Do the Iraqis feel a threat posed by the Iranian regime? I don't understand how they could not feel a threat, because they're right next door to them.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The only reason I have to believe so is that numerous members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, as well as many former officials of both Republican and Democratic administrations, have lined up and urged them to do so. With that much attention being drawn to the issue, I'm at least moderately hopeful.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think we need to extend it for a year, at a minimum, and then start the process. That will tell us how quickly they can be processed and interviewed. But if the Iraqis impede the process, then any extension is going to be insufficient. You need an extension. You need to start the process of interviewing them, considering them for resettlement in other countries.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. They've interfered with the ability of people who would conduct these interviews to get into the camp and do it.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  They don't want them to be resettled in other countries. They want them either to be sent back to Iran, or resettled around Iraq in other locations such that they are out of sight and can be dealt with in the summary fashion they were dealt with back in April and in 2009.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Correct, I couldn't have put it better.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I cannot get into the minds of the mullahs. I know what they stand for today. The MEK's leader is a woman who has an enormous amount of appeal. The very fact that she is a woman, I think, is an affront to them. She has articulated that what they want is a democratic, secular, non-nuclear Iran, with equal rights for women.