The MEK and its affiliated fronts – the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi etc – have gone all out to praise Saudi Arabia for attacking Yemen.
It is not the first time they have praised Saudi Arabia for just about anything at all [an indication of the needy relationship Rajavi has with the country].
Fars News reproduced the MEK praise alongside praise from Israeli media such as the Jerusalem Times, showing they are carbon copies of each other’s’ position.
Iraninterlink Weekly Digest
On Wednesday 15 February,2015 Member of the European Parliament; Nikolay Barekov from the EU Iran Delegation hosted a meeting with the title ‘Another Voice for a Free Iran’. Davoud Baghervand Arshad, Isa Azadeh and Ghorbanali Hossein Nejad put their points of view to the meeting
++ The MEK and its affiliated fronts – the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi etc – have gone all out to praise Saudi Arabia for attacking Yemen. It is not the first time they have praised Saudi Arabia for just about anything at all [an indication of the needy relationship Rajavi has with the country]. Fars News reproduced the MEK praise alongside praise from Israeli media such as the Jerusalem Times, showing they are carbon copies of each others’ position.
++ This week Maryam Rajavi has issued a New Year Message; she does this every year as though she is the Queen of Iran. This year, as for the past thirty years, she promises this will be the last one and this coming year ‘we’ will topple the Iranian regime. Mohammad Razaghi has collated each of these messages along with a picture of Rajavi posing with her Haftsin table. One of the seven ‘S’s is the word Sarneguni [overthrow]. Razaghi says this is the best joke he has heard all year – that she simply doesn’t give up. Others have pointed out that her message is directed at Israel and the Neocons rather than any other group of people. Her message is actually a plea: “why don’t you attack Iran?”
++ The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held its annual fake meeting last week. Various commentators say that ‘putting aside the usual lies and irrelevant issues, the whole discussion is reduced to demanding that the US re-arms the people in Camp Liberty’. This has provoked a reaction among internal critics of the MEK. They ask ‘why do you want to kill these poor pensioners by arming them in Iraq and making them into targets?’ Commentators also say that it is apparent that for Rajavi the NCRI presents more problems than it is worth. There are predictions the NCRI will be abolished before long.
++ Several people have written to President Holland asking him as the head of the MEK’s host country to put pressure on Maryam Rajavi to allow the hostages in Camp Liberty to leave and to allow international agencies to take them out of Iraq.
In English:
++ The extreme right Israeli Settlers news outlet Beritbart, in an article titled ‘A Complete Timeline of Obama’s Anti-Israel Hatred’, reveals that the MEK lined up with Israel behind the back of the American Administration to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.
++ Iran Interlink reports that fifteen young Iranians have now arrived in America following their escape from the pernicious hold of the Rajavi cult… The fifteen individuals have been accepted as refugees by the United States and were flown to Los Angeles on 21 March. This group is part of a quota of 80 from the 3,000+ MEK members which the US agreed to accept from the temporary transit camp Liberty (aka Hurriyeh) in Iraq. The government of Iraq and the United Nations are coordinating efforts to have all the residents transferred to third countries as soon as possible. Only the cult leader Massoud Rajavi is obstructing and resisting this inevitable process.
March 27, 2015
Iran Interlink congratulates fifteen young Iranians who have now arrived in America following their escape from the pernicious hold of the Rajavi cult; aka Mojahedin Khalq organisation (MEK).
The fifteen individuals have been accepted as refugees by the United States and were flown to Los Angeles on 21 March. This group is part of a quota of 80 from the 3,000+ MEK members which the US agreed to accept from the temporary transit camp Liberty (aka Hurriyeh) in Iraq. The government of Iraq and the United Nations are coordinating efforts to have all the residents transferred to third countries as soon as possible. Only the cult leader Massoud Rajavi is obstructing and resisting this inevitable process.
The group of fifteen comprises ten men and three women. All of them are young. They were previously moved to Albania, where over 400 MEK were transferred over the past two years. The MEK were forced to concede to pressure from the UN to allow these people to leave Camp Liberty and be given refugee status in Albania. Rajavi chose those residents who were of least use to him; many are old or sick. Some, like these young people, had been deceived into joining the MEK quite recently and had been able to resist the full cult indoctrination process which older, long term members have been subjected to for years.
Even so, Rajavi has tried to re-impose cult conditions in Albania, sending top commanders from Paris to threaten and blackmail and bribe the new arrivals. All those who arrived in Tirana did so on condition they sign all kinds of documents and statements written by the MEK to say that they are agents of the Iranian regime and have committed any number of ‘sins’ and ‘crimes’ as defined by the cult. This is done in an attempt to prevent people from leaving the MEK, or if they do, preventing them from speaking out about conditions inside the group.
In Albania the MEK has instructed these transferees that they must un-register with the UNHCR and not to attend interviews or accept any help from the UN. The MEK have ‘replaced’ the UN’s grant of $300 pm with a bigger payment of $500 pm as a bribe so that individuals will not break away from their control. The MEK has issued false information about these individuals, saying that the UN has evicted them from its accommodation and forced them to group together to pay for alternative accommodation. This is untrue, it is the MEK which is providing other accommodation on the condition that individuals do not speak out against them. The MEK use intimidation and coercion, telling the refugees their power comes from the Pentagon – they show cards purporting to be ID cards issued by the Pentagon- and that they must obey and take back their applications for refugee status. (Remember, these are people who have been held incommunicado in MEK camps in Iraq for many, many years and have no idea what is happening in the real world.)
America has agreed to take 80 of the residents of Camp Liberty. The MEK have lied to those in Albania, whom the US immigration officials have interviewed and cleared for acceptance, telling them they should not accept to go because the quota only applies to those in Camp Liberty. Of course, these fifteen young people have seen through this deception, pointing out that they came from Camp Liberty and are therefore legitimately part of that group.
After arriving in Los Angeles several of the young people contacted former MEK members who offered their support and advice. The MEK, of course, are trying to re-recruit them again over there and have again offered financial assistance on condition that they do not register with the UN, that they only live in MEK accommodation, that they do not speak out against the MEK and that they sometimes come and work with them – doing Facebook clicks for example. The young people have firmly rejected this, and some have already begun to write against the MEK in blogs and websites.
Former MEK members have been able to reassure them that if they stay clear of the cult, even if they have to struggle in the short term, their lives will be transformed and they will be successful in regaining normality and progressing in all areas of life – family relations, work and social status.
Now that America has taken these fifteen the message to everybody is clear: the MEK’s pretence of being supported by America, Israel and Europe is absolutely untrue. America is not run by Rudi Giuliani or John Bolton. America does not support the MEK. Instead, America fully supports the efforts of the government of Iraq and the UN to remove the MEK from Iraq. These young people have clearly been fooled by the MEK and taken to Iraq under duress. They are demonstrable victims of cultic deception. America is happy to support their reintegration back into normal life, and will help another sixty five individuals as soon as possible. It remains now for the European countries, Canada and Australia to take their share of these victims and set them back on the path to recovery and a normal life.
++ This week Iranians joyfully celebrated Chahar Shanbe Suri with their families, with friends and in their communities. Nothing of much note happened apart from the usual needless, unfortunate firework injuries. Not a sign of the uprising that Maryam Rajavi’s ordered last week. Mohammad Karami exposed the MEK’s delusions on his weblog with an article titled ‘False Pictures, False News and False Identity’. He explains that the MEK have taken a single photograph from BBC Farsi showing that a police car was set ablaze outside a stadium in Ahwaz during a local clash. The MEK misleadingly claimed this is what happened “in Iran”. The MEK website also distorted an AP news article by adding bits to it themselves. Karami provided screenshots of the original AP article alongside the MEK version which clearly shows what they have added. Karami reminds us that they did the same thing last week with AP coverage of Maryam Rajavi’s Berlin Women’s Day show, in which the MEK edited out AP reporting that the audience was mostly made up of Polish and Czech students. He reminds us also of the ‘nuclear safe door’ debacle, pointing out that the MEK couldn’t even find a graphic obscure enough to avoid instant exposure. Karami reviews several years of photoshopped pictures of audiences, demonstrations and other events and concludes that the MEK has long ago become nothing more than image makers.
++ This week seven people moved out of Hotel Mohajer in Baghdad to resume normal life. The hotel is where ex members reside when they escape from Camp Liberty. This is good news because for many months conditions in Baghdad meant that there were not appropriate nor sufficient resources and facilities to allow them to move out. Now the situation in Iraq has eased the hotel has gone back to being a transit hotel.
++ Parviz Khazai, the MEK’s nefarious NCRI representative in Norway, has written a sixteen page report by order of Rajavi with title ‘Up to date report to the people of Iran’. Ebrahim Khodabandeh has unpicked it in an article, not, as he says because of the issues it contains but because this shows what the MEK’s problems are, where they are stuck and what they are trying to sort out with this report.
Khazai’s report has three subtitles: 1. About the Iranian regime. 2. About outside Iran and 3. About the people of Iran. Ironically, says Khodabandeh, Khazai explains that the MEK’s success are that it prevented Iran from taking over Iraq – during the eight year war [by siding with Iraq], during the 1991 Gulf war [by crushing the Kurdish uprising] and after the 2003 invasion [by siding with the Saddamists and insurgents] – and that it prevented Iran from building a bomb [as the source of nuclear exposures]. Although these are not things to be proud of says Khodabandeh, that is not the point; we didn’t think it was the MEK’s job to do these things. This is not opposition activity, in fact it is something quite different, and these are not questions of the Iranian people.
Khodabandeh says he is in contact with various people including current and former MEK members and they confirm that everybody’s questions are: 1. Where is Massoud Rajavi, the leader? 2. Why is it you are part and parcel of the Neocon/Zionist alliance and have nothing to do with Iran but everything to do with Israel? And 3. Where is all the money coming from to pay for all this? These are the questions of your own people let alone everyone else. Therefore this is not a report aimed at the people of Iran, nor is it aimed at the MEK’s own people. This report is for Israel because Rajavi is afraid of being dumped. It is an advertisement and justification of what the MEK has done for Israel in the hope of continued support.
In English:
++ TEHRAN (Tasnim) – ‘Mojahedin Khalq Has Strong Ties with ISIL: Former Member’
A former member of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) revealed the group’s close relations with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group. Ghorban Ali Hosseinnejad said the leaders of MKO (also known as MEK) maintain strong ties with the ISIL Takfiri group in Iraq and Syria. “The MKO leaders had pinned hope in ISIL to seize control of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after the northern city of Mosul fell to ISIL forces last summer”, Hosseinnejad was quoted by Iraqi Al-Masalah website as saying.
++ Michael Knights, Foreign Affairs, (The Council On Foreign Relations) ‘After Tikrit What to Do With Iraq’s Shia Popular Mobilization Units’
“Eastern Iraq has also been a literal and figurative battlefield between Iranian-backed Iraqi militants and the Iraqi state. Ravaged by the Iran-Iraq War, the borderlands soon after the cease-fire became sites of tit-for-tat border raids. Baghdad sent in the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MeK), Shiite opponents of the Iranian theocracy classified as a terrorist organization by the United States. Tehran sent in the Badr Corps, an Iraqi Shiite force recruited by Iran. In the 1990s, Iran also periodically sent its air force into Iraq to hit the MeK. It even fired salvos of Scud-like missiles into Diyala as late as 2001.”
++ Justin Raymondo, Antiwar.com ‘Bin Laden and Bibi, Together At Last, Israel’s alliance with al-Qaeda’: “Israel has never hesitated to ally with the worst elements on earth in order to advance what its leaders regard as the Jewish state’s interests. From South Africa’s apartheid regime to the death squads of Central and South America, to the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) – an Iranian exile group of Marxist terrorists – Israel has always given a helping hand to whoever merits it according to their amoral calculus. And as Israeli and American interests began to radically diverge – a process that has been ongoing since the demise of the Soviet Union – it makes perfect sense that they should align with our worst enemies.”
++ Nejat Bloggers: ‘Mr Rahmani – former MKO member – joined his family after 27 years’
“Mr. Mahmoud Rahmani who was a POW of Iran-Iraq war in 1987, was deceived into joining the Cult of Mujahedin-e Khalq. Mr. Rahmani who was forced to stay with the group for 27 years, transferred to Albania from Temporary Transit Location, Iraq. In Tirana far from the Cult boundaries and strict manipulation practices, Mr. Rahmani managed to release himself from the cult. Now, he is with his family after about a quarter of a century. When he left his family, his son was a 3 year old child. Now he is a 30 year old married young man. Within the mind manipulating cult of MKO, having contact with the family members both within and outside the Cult Camps is forbidden.”
++ Fars News: ‘Senior Iraqi MP: ISIL Continuing Mojahedin Khalq’s Terrorist Ideology’.
“Iraqi MP Hunain Al-Qado said the importance of reminding MKO’s crimes stems from the fact that some people try to keep these crimes under wraps.
He said the terrorist groups all pursue a shared objective, and added, “There is no difference between the ISIL’s terrorist acts in Iraq and Syria and Mojahedin-e Khalq’s terrorist acts.” “These groups use the same methods and have similar purposes which is creating fear and terrorizing civilians. So, what is going on now in Iraq is the continuation of MKO’s ideology.”
Emphasizing the need for cooperation among the regional countries that have been targeted by terrorist groups, al-Qado said, “On account of the arrogant powers’ struggles against Iran as well as their efforts in sowing the seeds of chaos in the Axis of Resistance, which is made up of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and most probably Yemen in the future, it is vital to set up strategies in order to encourage integrated efforts in these countries and other countries which are a victim of terrorism.””
++ Iran Interlink, March 20 2015:… On the occasion of Norooz, Iran Interlink is posting this article titled ‘Uncertain Future for MKO’ which was first published by Knight Ridder in March 2005. Our thoughts and hopes are with the victims of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, and their families, who are still held in incommunicado captivity in Camp Liberty …
With the situation in the Middle East seemingly spinning out of control, many political observers are left wondering what it all means. The war in Syria has been at the forefront of the news since 2011, and rightly so, 
as Syria has become the epicenter of a larger regional conflict, particularly with the ascendance of ISIS in the last year.
Undoubtedly, the mainstream acceptance of the ISIS threat has changed the strategic calculus vis-à-vis Syria, as the US prepares to launch yetanother open-ended war, ostensibly to defeat it. And, while many in the West are willing to buy the ISIS narrative and pretext for war, they do so with little understanding or recognition of the larger geopolitical contours of this conflict. Essentially, almost everyone ignores the fact that ISIS and Syria-Iraq is only one theater of conflict in the broader regional war being waged by the US-NATO-GCC-Israel axis. Also of vital importance is an understanding of the proxy war against Iran (and all Shia in the region), being fomented by the very same terror and finance networks that have spread the ISIS disease in Syria.
In attempting to unravel the complex web of relations between the terror groups operating throughout the region, important commonalities begin to emerge. Not only are many of these groups directly or tangentially related to each other, their shadowy connections to western intelligence bring into stark relief an intricate mosaic of terror that is part of a broader strategy of sectarianism designed to destroy the “Axis of Resistance” which unites Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah. In so doing, these terror groups and their patrons hope to internationalize the war in Syria, and its destructive consequences.
Terrorism as a Weapon in Syria and Iraq
In order to understand how these seemingly disparate groups fit into the regional destabilization, one must first recognize how they are connected both in terms of ideology and shared relationships. On the one hand you have the well known terror outfits operating in the Syria-Iraq theater of this conflict. These would include the ubiquitous ISIS, along with its Al Qaeda-affiliated ally Jabhat Al-Nusra.
However, often left out of the western narrative is the fact that the so called “moderate rebels,” such as the Al Farouq Brigade and other similar groups affiliated with the “Free Syrian Army,” are also linked through various associations with a number of jihadi organizations in Syria and beyond. These alleged “moderates” have been documented as having committed a number of egregious war crimes including mutilation of their victims, and cross-border indiscriminate shelling. And these are the same “moderates” that the Obama Administration spent the last three years touting as allies, as groups worthy of US weapons, to say nothing of the recent revelations of cooperation with US air power. But of course US cooperation with these extremist elements is only the tip of the iceberg.
A recent UN report further corroborated the allegations that Israeli military and/or Mossad is cooperating with, and likely helping to organize, the Jabhat al-Nusra organization in and around the Golan Heights. Such claims of course dovetail with the reports from Israeli media that militant extremists fighting the Syrian government have been treated in Israeli medical facilities. Naturally, these clandestine activities carried out by Israel should be combined with the overt attacks on Syria carried out by Tel Aviv, including recent airstrikes, which despite the inaction of the UN and international community, undeniably constitute a war crime.
Beyond the US and Israel however, other key regional actors have taken part in the destabilization and war on Syria. Turkey has provided safe haven for terrorists streaming into Syria to wage war against the legally recognized government of President Assad. In cooperation with the CIA and other agencies, Turkey has worked diligently to foment civil war in Syria in hopes of toppling the Assad government, thereby allowing Ankara to elevate itself to a regional hegemon, or so the thinking of Erdogan and Davutoglu goes. Likewise, Jordan has provided training facilities for terrorists under the guidance and tutelage of “instructors” from the US, UK, and France.
But why rehash all these well-documented aspects of the destabilization and war on Syria? Simple. In order to fully grasp the regional dimension and global implications of this conflict, one must place the Syria war in its broader geopolitical context, and understand it as one part of a broader war on the “Axis of Resistance.” For, while Hezbollah and certain Iranian elements have been involved in the fighting and logistical support in Syria, another insidious threat has emerged – a renewed terror war against Iran in its Sistan and Baluchestan province in the east.
Rekindling the Proxy War against Iran
As the world’s attention has been understandably fixed upon the horrors of Syria, Iraq, and Libya, a new theater in the regional conflict has come to the forefront – Iran; specifically, Iran’s eastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, long a hotbed of separatism and anti-Shia terror, where a variety of terror groups have operated with the covert, and often overt, backing of western and Israeli intelligence agencies.
Just in the last year, there have been numerous attacks on Iranian military and non-military targets in the Sistan and Baluchestan region, attacks carried out by a variety of groups. Perhaps the most well known instance occurred in March 2014 when five Iranian border guards were kidnapped – one was later executed – by Jaish al-Adl which, according to the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium is:
an extremist Salafi group that has since its foundation claimed responsibility for a series of operations against Iran’s domestic security forces and Revolutionary Guards operating in Sistan and Balochistan province, including the detonation of mines [link added] against Revolutionary Guards vehicles and convoys, kidnapping of Iranian border guards and attacks against military bases… Jaish al-Adl is also opposed to the Iranian Government’s active support of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which they regard as an attack on Sunni muslims…Jaish ul-Adl executes cross border operations between the border of Iran and Pakistan and is based in the Baluchistan province in Pakistan.
It is important to note the centrality of Iran’s support for Syria and the Syrian Arab Army (and of course Hezbollah) in the ideological framework of a group like Jaish al-Adl. Essentially, this terror group sees their war against the Iranian government as an adjunct of the war against Assad and Syria – a new front in a larger war. Of course, the sectarian aspect should not be diminished as this group, like its many terrorist cousins, makes no distinction between political and religious/sectarian divisions. A war on Iran is a war on Shia, and both are just, both are legitimate.
Similarly, the last 18 months have seen the establishment of yet another terror group known as Ansar al-Furqan – a fusion of the Balochi Harakat Ansar and Pashto Hizb al-Furqan, both of which had been operating along Iran’s eastern border with Pakistan. According to the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium:
They characterize themselves as Mujahideen aginst [sic] the Shia government in Iran and are linked to Katibat al Asad Al ‘Ilamiya; Al-Farooq activists; al Nursra Front (JN), Nosrat Deen Allah, Jaysh Muhammad, Jaysh al ‘Adal; and though it was denied for some time, appears to have at least personal relationships with Jundallah…The stated mission of Ansar al Furqan is ” to topple the Iranian regime…”
Like its terrorist cousin Jaish al-Adl, Ansar al-Furqan has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against the Iranian Government, including a May 2014 IED attack on a freight train belonging to government forces. While such attacks may not make a major splash in terms of international attention, they undoubtedly send a message heard loud and clear in Tehran: these terrorists and their sponsors will stop at nothing to destroy the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Two inescapable facts immediately come to the fore when examining these groups. On the one hand, they are Sunni extremists whose ultimate goal is the destruction of the Iranian state and all vestiges of Shia dominance, political, military or otherwise. On the other hand, these groups see their war against Iran as part and parcel of the terror wars on Syria and Iraq.
And then of course there’s Jundallah, the notorious terror organization lead for decades by the Rigi family. Anyone with even cursory knowledge of the group is undoubtedly aware of its long-standing ties to both US and Israeli intelligence. As Foreign Policy magazine reported in 2012, Israeli Mossad and US CIA operatives essentially competed with one another for control of the Jundallah network for years. This information of course directly links these agencies with the covert war against Iran going back years, to say nothing of the now well-known role of Israeli intelligence in everything from assassinations of Iranian scientists to the use of cyberweapons such as Stuxnet and Flame. These and other attacks by Israel and the US against Iranian interests constitute a major part of the dirty war against Iran – a war in which terror groups figure prominently.
It should be noted that a number of other terror outfits have been used through the decades in the ongoing “low-intensity” war against Iran, including the infamous Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a terrorist group hailed as heroes by the US neocon establishment. Thanks to Wikileaks, it also now documented fact that Israel has long since attempted to use Kurdish groups such as PJAK (Iraqi Kurdish terror group) to wage continued terror war against Iran for the purposes of destabilization of the government. Additionally, there was a decades-long campaign of Arab separatism in Iran’s western Khuzestan region spearheaded by British intelligence. As Dr. Kaveh Farrokh and Mahan Abedin wrote in 2005, “there is a mass of evidence that connects the British secret state to Arab separatism in Iran.”
These and other groups, too numerous to name here, represent a part of the voluminous history of subversion against Iran. But why now? What is the ultimate strategy behind these seemingly disparate geopolitical machinations?
Encircling the Resistance in Order to Break It
To see the obvious strategic gambit by the US-NATO-GCC-Israel axis, one need only look at a map of the major conflicts mentioned above. Syria has been infiltrated by countless terrorist groups that have waged a brutal war against the Syrian government and people. They have used Turkey in the North, Jordan in the South, and to a lesser degree Lebanon and, indirectly, Israel in the West. Working in tandem with the ISIS forces originating in Iraq, Syria has been squeezed from all sides in hopes that military defeat and/or the internal collapse of the Syrian government would be enough to destroy the country.
Naturally, this strategy has necessarily drawn Hezbollah into the war as it is allied with Syria and, for more practical reasons, cannot allow a defeated and broken Syria to come to fruition as Hezbollah would then be cut off from their allies in Iran. And so, Hezbollah and Syria have been forced to fight on no less than two fronts, fighting for the survival of the Resistance in the Levant.
Simultaneously, the regional power Iran has made itself into a central player in the war in Syria, recognizing correctly that the war could prove disastrous to its own security and regional ambitions. However, Tehran cannot simply put all its energy into supporting and defending Syria and Hezbollah as it faces its own terror threat in the East. The groups seeking to topple the Iranian government may not be able to compete militarily with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, but they can certainly create enough destabilization through terrorism to make it more difficult for Tehran to effectively aid in the fight in Syria.
The US-NATO-GCC-Israel alliance has not needed to put its own boots on the ground to achieve its strategic objectives. Instead, it is relying on irregular warfare, proxy terror wars, and small-scale destabilizations to achieve by stealth what it cannot achieve with military might alone.
But it remains paramount for all those interested in peace to make these connections, to understand the broad outlines of this vast covert war taking place. To see a war in Syria in isolation is to misunderstand its very nature. To see ISIS alone as the problem is to completely misread the essence of the conflict. This is a battle for regional hegemony, and in order to attain it, the Empire is employing every tool in the imperial toolkit, with terrorism being one of the most effective.
Eric Draitser is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City, he is the founder of StopImperialism.org and OP-ed columnist for RT, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
Eric Draitser,
A senior Iraqi parliament member said reminding the crimes committed by terrorist groups such as the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO also known as MEK, NCRI and PMOI) is why holding the International Congress of 17000 Iranian Terror Victims is important, warning that ISIL is currently pursuing the same ideology promoted by the MKO.
Iraqi MP Hunain Al-Qado said the importance of reminding MKO’s crimes stems from the fact that some people try to keep these crimes under wraps.
He said the terrorist groups all pursue a shared objective, and added, “There is no difference between the ISIL’s terrorist acts in Iraq and Syria and Mojahedin-e Khalq’s terrorist acts.” “These groups use the same methods and have similar purposes which is creating fear and terrorizing civilians. So, what is going on now in Iraq is the continuation of MKO’s ideology.”
Emphasizing the need for cooperation among the regional countries that have been targeted by terrorist groups, al-Qado said, “On account of the arrogant powers’ struggles against Iran as well as their efforts in sowing the seeds of chaos in the Axis of Resistance, which is made up of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and most probably Yemen in the future, it is vital to set up strategies in order to encourage integrated efforts in these countries and other countries which are a victim of terrorism.”
“There is, and must be, a coordination between Iran and Iraq in fighting terrorism, since the growth of terrorism in Iraq threatens Iran’s stability,” head of the Democratic Shabak Assembly added. “So it is vital for Iran to back Iraq in the fight against terrorism, which is an effort in protecting security and territorial integrity of Iran and neighboring countries.”
The Iraqi MP finally made a reference to the killing of Shabak minorities at the hands of ISIL following the bombing of the holy shrines of two Shia Imams in Samarra, and added, “There has been organized attacked against Shabak minorities to expel them from Mosul.” “Most of them have been killed and their houses were destroyed before the eyes of the local authorities. During the last year, ISIL occupied their villages and blew all their mosques out of the water,” he concluded.
Those who follow the news of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) would hardly ever forget the group’s early reactions regarding the progress of the forces of the Islamic State extremists in Iraqi territory. They remember the MKO’s delighted comments on the victory of what they called “Iraqi revolutionary forces and tribes”!
The phrase “Iraqi revolutionary forces and tribes” was clearly condemned by the group’s critics. That is why a few weeks later the group leader, Maryam Rajavi, tried to whitewash the pro violence and anti-human face of her cult by pretending the the group’s disapproval of the IS.
Meanwhile, the MKO supporters in the US Congress who are also opponents to both Iraqi and Iranian regime called IS invasion to Iraqi soil as “Part of popular uprising”. However, they started taking position against ISIS after the world witnessed the group’s atrocious acts against civilians. Both the MKO and its supporters had to wear masks to distance themselves from IS terrorists.
Furthermore, the truth was revealed about the real intentions of the MKO and its advocates. Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton’s observations show how MKO’S manipulation over certain members of the congress helped the ISIS to seize parts of Iraqi territory.
According to the investigations made by Gharib and Clifton of the Intercept, Senator Robert Menedez –who is on top of the list of recipients of the MKO’s funds—played a key role to block the sale of Apache Helicopters to Iraq. The authors of the article conclude that his opposition to aid Iraqi government against the threat of ISIS was motivated by the MKO’s well-funded lobbying campaign in the Congress.
Ali and Eli’s account of the MKO’s influence over Menendez is clear in their account of a SENATE Foreign Relations Committee hearing where MKO agents in yellow rain jackets were looking in the eyes of their paid speaker. [1]
“During the hearing, the powerful then-Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, spoke out for the Mojahedin. About an hour and a half into the proceedings, Menendez issued an explicit threat to Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman over attacks against the group’s members in Iraq’’ they write. [2]
Accusing the Iraqi and Iranian governments for the attacks against MKO camps, Menendez provided his reasoning as to why selling the weapons and helicopters to Iraq would endanger the MKO.
“The threat sounded like a hypothetical, but it wasn’t: as Menendez spoke, he was blocking a major weapons deal with Iraq — a sale that would eventually be worth more than $6 billion in Apache helicopters and associated equipment and support, marking, perhaps, the first major Capitol Hill achievement for the Mojahedin since being removed from the U.S. list of designated terrorist organizations the year before,” according to Ali and Eli. [3]
Menendez just lifted his objections of the Apaches on January 25, after ISIS succeeded to take control of large parts of Iraqi soil and committed a lot of distressing violent acts.
“Although it would be unfair to conclude that Menendez was motivated only by his sympathy for the MeK, sources quoted by Ali and Eli suggest pretty strongly that the issue played a role,” suggested Jim Lobe of the lobelog. “As Iraq’s ambassador to the United States Lukman Faily told Ali in relation to his efforts to release the hold on the Apaches, “The issue of the MEK came up in most of my meetings with the House and Senate, especially the Foreign [Relations Committee].” [4]
“According to the article, Menendez accepted more than $25,000 from donors with ties to the MEK, making him the largest recipient from 2012, when the MeK was delisted that September, to the present. That’s not much compared to the well over $300,000 Menendez received from pro-Israel groups during the 2012 election cycle, but it was more than twice what was provided to the next biggest recipients, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA).” [5]
Thus, the MKO and its Western sponsors see one common enemy, the Islamic Republic of Iran. And this determines their entire policies and approaches. It’s a pity that saving the lives of Iraqi civilians and the security of the whole region depends on the fanatical ideas of a cult-like terrorist group, the Mujahedin khalq Organization.
Mazda Parsi
Sources:
[1] Gharib, Ali & Clifton, Eli, Long March of the Yellow Jackets: How a One-Time Terrorist Group Prevailed on Capitol Hill, The Intercept, February 27, 2015
[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] Lobe, Jim, Sen. Menendez Top Recipient of MEK-Related Campaign Funding, Lobelog , February 26, 2015
[5] ibid
Mr. Mahmoud Rahmani MKO former member joined his family after 27 years.
Mr. Mahmoud Rahmani who was a POW of Iran-Iraq war in 1987, was deceived into joining the Cult of Mujahedin-e Khalq .
Mr. Rahmani who was forced to stay with the group for 27 years, transferred to Albania from Temporary Transit Location, Iraq.
In Tirana far from the Cult boundaries and strict manipulation practices, Mr. Rahmani managed to release himself from the cult.
Now, he is with his family after about a quarter of a century. When he left his family, his son was a 3 year old child. Now he is a 30 year old married young man.
Within the mind manipulating cult of MKO, having contact with the family members both within and outside the Cult Camps is forbidden.
A former member of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) revealed the group’s close relations with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group.
Ghorban Ali Hosseinnejad said the leaders of MKO (also known as MEK) maintain strong ties with the ISIL Takfiri group in Iraq and Syria.
The MKO leaders had pinned hope in ISIL to seize control of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after the northern city of Mosul fell to ISIL forces last summer, Hosseinnejad was quoted by Iraqi Al-Masalah website as saying.
“When Mosul was occupied by ISIL militants, the MKO supported ISIL and described the seizure of the city as popular Iraqi revolution,” the defected member of the terrorist group stated.
Militants from the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant overtook Mosul and a number of cities last June, as the group marched across large sections of Iraq and Syria.
The Iraqi army, backed by volunteer forces, has managed to retake parts of the occupied territories and the operation to liberate Mosul will begin in the near future.
The MKO – listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community – fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq and was given a camp by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
They fought on the side of Saddam during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-88). They were also involved in the bloody repression of Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq in 1991 and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
The notorious group is also responsible for killing thousands of Iranian civilians and officials after the victory of the Islamic revolution in 1979.
More than 17,000 Iranians, many of them civilians, have been killed at the hands of the MKO in different acts of terrorism including bombings in public places, and targeted killings.
Back in December 2011, the United Nations and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, to the former US military Camp Liberty outside Baghdad.
The last group of the MKO terrorists was evicted by the Iraqi government on September 11, 2013 to join other members of the terrorist group at Camp Liberty and await potential relocation to other countries.
