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Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

MEK operatives attack Iranian reporter in Rome

The anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCRI) threatened to kill a reporter of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in Rome.MEK operatives attack Iranian reporter in Rome

According to a report by the IRIB, the reporter was attacked and insulted by apparently an MKO member and received a death threat when he wanted to park his car near his office in Rome.

The attacker, who had chased the IRIB reporter, neared his car and insulted him and then attacked him to stop the reporter from calling the Italian police.

The MKO, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly-established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who argued for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September, one week after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.

April 18, 2013 0 comments
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Massoud Rajavi

Rajavi abused women in the cult: Ex – member

In an interview on December 5, 2012, Zahra Mir Bagheri, former member of MKO’s leadership council, spoke of the tragic fate of women who were murdered in the terrorist Mujahedin e-Khalq organization.

She clearly named people who were involved in those murders and asked the international Human Rights communities to act against these tragic inner-cultish murders.

Revealing the misogynistic nature of Rajavi’s cult, she emphasized she had witnessed killing of women in the leadership council and blamed Massoud and Maryam Rajavi for the secret murders in the cult.

She said Rajavis had issued a death sentence on those women who had decided to escape the cult and after they were detained by Saddam’s security forces, the issued verdicts were executed in any possible ways. She named a number of victims and testified she had witnessed their killing.

Mir Bagheri had revealed the sexual assault on women in the cult before:

“We were called to Massoud by different excuses and we faced celebrations every time. There were no ideological discussions. It was all about Massoud, the ideological leader, and unique relations with him. We were given various gifts such as shower towels, underwear, perfumes and other things which we wouldn’t understand why they were given to us.

We were encouraged by higher ranking members in the council who had gone through all this before, to establish unique emotional connections to Massoud and speak with him romantically. It was always hard for us because we considered all this as an ideological connection.

We thought we couldn’t yet understand it. We thought we had to learn from higher ranking members who had completed these levels before us and that was how our brains were washed deeper. For instance, except those presents, some golden bracelets were also given to us. It was first a bracelet with a picture of Maryam on it. When we were receiving these gifts, Massoud used to touch our hands and that was the beginning. He sometimes joked about it or he would say “just like my own [wife].”

We wouldn’t understand what he was meaning by saying “just like my own” and we used to repeat it. If we had just paid a little more attention we would understand it. It was said before that Massoud and Maryam are not included in mandatory divorces. So we had to go through these levels just like Maryam.

The women in the second layer of leadership council were presented with another bracelet which had a picture of Massoud Rajavi on it. “

Zahra Mir Bagheri was forced to crawl combat-style over a kilometer for hours in the dark to escape Camp Ashraf. Her body was so lacerated and bleeding that the Iraqi soldiers who found her wept on seeing her injuries. She spent several weeks in hospital recovering from this ordeal. In addition she has had to undergo various operations in Germany.

April 18, 2013 0 comments
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Iran

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Warns About MEK

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Warns About MEK, Condemns Boston Marathon Bombing

Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that the bombing that took place at the Boston marathon was “event that affects everyone.” He said that “I believe that all governments should work to establish peace and security for all people of the world. The roots of these extremist and terrorist acts must be dried, and by no means should any type of violence be justified.”

Mehmanparast also appears to have taken a swipe at US support for the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MEK, sometimes referred to as MKO), which recently opened a lobbying office in Washington, DC, after being taken off the State Department’s terrorist list by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Various former government officials have put their support behind the MEK, which supports confronting Iran under stricter terms.

Mehmanparast said that “Giving permission for terrorist groups to operate and removing them from the terrorist list under the excuse of freedom will ultimately lead to instability and will affect all of the people.” He said that “some political circles and some governments might feel that there are positive aspects to securing their own interests by supporting extremists groups.”

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said that “as we know, terrorists and extremists cause harm to everyone, and by no means should anyone justify supporting them whether in the Middle East, America or any point in the world.” He added, “We believe that the freedom to operate politically should not be a threat to innocent and ordinary lives.”

Iran and some Western media have accused the MEK of continuing terrorist activities, and in particular of having a role in the assassination of the country’s nuclear scientists. The MEK has denied any involvement in the assassinations.

by Arash Karami / iranpulse.al-monitor.com

April 18, 2013 0 comments
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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Obama, Neocons openly back terrorism

The tragic comedy of the phony War on Terror is being exposed as never before for the sham that it is. Press TV reported yesterday the opening of the MKO terrorist organization office a block away from the White House.Jim W.Dean What a message that sends to the world…that we look out for our terrorists and take good care of them, but it just might take a little time to do it.

This is the group who inflicted four 911’s on Iran by murdering 12,000 in terrorist attacks, much of it under Saddam, and then under US protection when we took over Iraq. Israel was involved, also…no surprise there.

We had no boots on the ground inside Iran for Intel collection so the War on Terror stopped at the border of the MKO Camp Ashraf. Terrorists who worked for us were given effect immunity while keeping them on the terrorist list, I assume until a day when maybe nobody would remember what they did. We did not forget, about MKO, or the others.

So the powers that we think they have slipped this one by on us. Here we have our Nobel Peace Prize winner President effectively pardoning the killing of four times the 911 victims when he has no authority to do so because the MKO are not American citizens. I did not mention aiding and abetting terrorism because that obviously was not a concern to his administration or the NeoCons.

We are all put at risk if terrorist groups with well connected big bad brothers can provide them with not only material support but protect them from prosecution. The status of a country doing so is lowered to that of a Mafia chief, Murder Incorporated. This is not a fitting robe to wear for America…or is it?

I was shocked, but not too much so, to find John Bolton and retired general Jim Jones, a Bush regime national security adviser, welcoming the MKO to Washington, DC. Does this mean that Jones was running a terror operation out of the White House? Aren’t there some big laws against that…where even a former government official can be prosecuted for crimes against humanity?

I can only think that they felt that with the public’s attention on the big terrorist training camp going up in the Middle East, the one also under US protection and allowed to train with live fire weapons and actually kill people that no one would notice. This training camp is Syria, of course. We have a repeat of the Afghanistan Mujahedin fiasco in the works going on here, but in a powder keg region.

Oh yes, we have reports that the only reason that the CIA is handling the arms shipments to the rebels is to try to make sure they do not fall into the hands of these extremist terrorists. But using the Saudi Arabia and Qatari terrorist regimes as proxies is a very thin veil indeed.

Americans know they are supporting these groups in Syria because they are good killers. They are even taking heads to prove it and bringing young teens into their ranks to use as future cannon fodder. Strategically, they know they cannot topple Assad without them so they are shedding crocodile tears over their false concerns about unleashing a new wave of terror on the regime.

Assad has not been an angel and might himself see the inside of a court room, but it would be a huge injustice if the dock did not contain at least a hundred others from the leadership of those we know who have been engaged in terrorism but claim diplomatic immunity. That did not work for the WWII Germans, the Serbians, nor any of the Africans.

If the world is going to give out free passes for terrorism, I would at least like to see some kind of vote so the rest of us can participate in playing God regarding who gets to kill and who does not. The reputation of Western jurisprudence, what is left of it, is squarely on the line.

This was a hot topic at the UN this week with the Thematic Debate on International Justice. This issue of certain countries issuing themselves free terrorism passes while seeking punishment for those doing the same was viewed as possibly needing a bit of reform. Imagine that. If the UN in its infinite non-wisdom would not mention who these countries were, but we all know.

Iran’s conference representative, Gholam Hossein Dehqani said, “Iran believes that the prosecution and punishment of aggressors and perpetrators of horrific international crimes will promote international peace and security and bring peace and tranquility to world nations.”

Dehqani is right of course. But our current international justice, or injustice system…depending on the case, which is corrupted and outdated, requires a complete overhaul.

Right off the bat the first improvement I would make is that any country giving itself a free pass from terrorism prosecution would go to the top of the list for being prosecuted. And you can forget the ICC. It moves at a snail’s pace where we will all be dead and buried before they finish. They can be used for the slow motion cases…maybe the older ones.

In America, we have a statute called the Speedy Trial Act that once you are arrested the government has to take you to trial within a reasonable period or in effect you are serving a conviction for a crime when you have not been found guilty. And no, Guantanamo does not have this.

Syria provides us a perfect example. The crime is happening now. We don’t want a trial initiated ten years down the road. We want investigators and prosecutors in the field collecting evidence while it is fresh so those aiding and abetting in terrorism can be quickly identified and arrested to stop the crimes in progress.

If such an entity were found to be a country, then they would be subject to sanctions, and something called asset confiscation, starting with all the hidden offshore accounts. When drug dealers are arrested all of their cash and property are seized so ill gotten gains cannot be used by the defense. In the US they will go to a drug dealer’s house and even collect up the children’s toys and clothes.

As always, some would say this could never be possible as those most guilty would not go along with it. But then that would just trigger a dual justice system development…the older corrupted one and then a new one that can…yes, issue arrest warrants, capture, detain, and put on trial those guilty of these crimes.

Let’s invent a new reason for having wars, a better one, to arrest and prosecute crimes against humanity people. War would be popular overnight. And all of those who protect the guilty would then become accessories after the fact. We have all these empty FEMA camps over here. Let’s use them toward a good purpose.

Oh, and one other thing. No multinational corp. has ever been brought into court for crimes against humanity…nor a single bank. Do you really think that not one ever committed these crimes? Of course they have. But they also have put themselves on the immunity list, other than fines that their stockholders pay. Financial crimes against humanity should warrant the death penalty for the lives they destroy.

So laugh all you want at my ideas, and don’t feel bad either. I am laughing at all of you who think you have some system of justice to punish mega crimes against humanity where those countries doing the judging give themselves immunity. I laugh not out of disrespect for their victims but at the silliness of it all for those who think they are involved in international justice when they are really providing cover for the bad guys.

Huge numbers of lives are at stake and Syria is going to be the big demonstrator. General Breedlove was going through his confirmation hearings yesterday as the new NATO cmdr. and said he supports giving lethal weapons to the rebels. Because we all know they already have them I suspect he meant heavy weapons.

His only concern was their not falling into the wrong hands. OK Mr. Breedlove, if you think that is such a cool idea, what if you, your family, grand kids and parents all had to die if you are wrong…just like the Syrians? Would you still think it was a cool idea?

Syria would become a wasteland of death and destruction if that happened and maybe some other places, also. There have already been enough crimes committed to keep the gallows going for a long time. Such crimes require an industrial scale justice system, not the slow motion shake and bake kind we have now.

We need to replace or convert General Breedlove’s command to a new ICC Justice NATO…called JATO, maybe. Let us save the heavy lethal weapons for them as we will all get a bigger bang for our buck. And rather than watching the innocent on TV die, let us watch the guilty ones for a change. It won’t be so sad.

By Jim W.Dean

April 18, 2013 0 comments
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Europe

MEPs support Martin Kobler’s work in camp Liberty

S&D Group condemns ‘Friends of a free Iran event’ in Camp Liberty (Iraq)

MEPs support Martin Kobler’s work in camp Liberty to save victims of Mojahedin Khalq leaders

The S&D Group is strongly opposed to this event in Camp Liberty, Iraq, which has been organised by the Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI) in the European Parliament.S&D Group condemns ‘Friends of a free Iran event’ in Camp Liberty (Iraq)

Maria Muñiz de Urquiza, the S&D shadow rapporteur on Iran, said:

“Both the choice of speakers and unsubstantiated allegations that the UN Iraq Mission violated its mandate and endangered the lives of the residents of the Camp suggest that the organisers of this event do not seek a genuine solution to this humanitarian issue.

“Rather, their efforts are directed at undermining the work of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, Martin Kobler, and the progress made in resettling the Camp’s residents.”

The S&D Group fully supports the efforts of Martin Kobler and the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq towards full and permanent resettlement of the residents of Camp Liberty and believes that the decision by the Government of Albania to accept 210 residents is a welcome first step. The urgency of the resettlement was made clear by the attack the Camp on 9 February, which the S&D Group condemns. We also note the responsibility of the Government of Iraq to guarantee the safety and security of the residents of the Camp, in accordance with international law.

The S&D Group strongly believes that legitimate concerns about the safety of the residents of Camp Liberty should under no circumstances lead to the legitimisation of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation (PMOI) as the self- declared “principal Iranian opposition movement”. The PMOI has a long track record of collaboration with Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq, both during his war against Iranian people and repressive popular uprisings of Iraqi Kurds and Shiites.

Ana Gomes, the S&D coordinator on foreign affairs and the rapporteur on Iraq in previous EP mandate, commented:

“All Iraqis I have spoken to during my visits to the country link the PMOI to Saddam Hussein’s most murderous campaigns against the Iraqi people. The organisation has no credibility and legitimacy whatsoever within Iran. Support for the PMOI only plays into the hands of Iran’s authoritarian regime and undermines the genuinely democratic forces in the country”.

Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D),

socialistsanddemocrats.eu

April 17, 2013 0 comments
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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

The “Rehabilitation” of the MEK

The Christian Science Monitor reported on the opening of the MEK’s office in Washington last week:

An Iranian dissident group that languished on the US list of terrorist organizations for more than a decade under both Democratic and Republican administrations marked its full rehabilitation Thursday when it opened sleek new offices – complete with floors covered by plush Persian carpets – within sight of the White House.

The article doesn’t explain that the de-listing of the MEK was mostly a quid pro quo to get most of the group’s members in Iraq to relocate from its old base at Camp Ashraf. It also fails to mention that many of the people at Camp Ashraf were being held there against their will. Taken together with the many disgraceful displays of support by members of Congress and various former officials, all of this creates the impression that the group’s “rehabilitation” is much more meaningful than it is.

The group remains hated in Iran for its long period of collusion with Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war and afterwards, and it remains in its own organization a totalitarian quasi-Marxist cult, so the idea that it represents the aspirations of most Iranians is absurd on its face. If reports on the assassinations of Iranian scientists are to be believed, the group continues to engage in acts of terrorism inside Iran, but as far as some Iran hawks are concerned this is “useful” terrorism and therefore not something that needs to worry us. Few things better express the hostility that some Iran hawks have for the country and people of Iran than the warm embrace they have given the MEK.

The MEK is an awful group all on its own, but what makes it potentially so dangerous is that it has been embraced by so many prominent foolish Americans that want to treat it as a leading opposition group. Of course, the de-listing campaign was always just the beginning of a lobbying effort to try to get U.S. support for the MEK in the future. One passage from the Monitor article reveals just how deluded the group’s American supporters can be:

Senator Torricelli compared the NCRI in 2013 to when the “Free French” opened an office in London in 1940. “Maybe a lot of people didn’t notice,” he said, but the French resistance would go on to play a crucial role in France’s liberation.

The NCRI, with a new office in Washington, can start down that same path, he said, adding, “I’m proud to be a soldier in that struggle.”

There’s something especially perverse about likening the MEK to the Free French. The MEK was a group that collaborated with the invader of their own country, and they wanted to impose themselves on Iran with the backing of that invader. If the MEK had succeeded in its goals in the 1980s, it would have been the puppet leadership installed by Hussein to replace the Iranian leadership of the time.

By Daniel Larison 

April 17, 2013 0 comments
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Massoud Rajavi

European intellectual views on the Cult of Rajavi_Part 6

Dena Peace and Freedom Association interviewed a European intellectual on the Cult of Rajavi(MKO/MEK). Ms. Shemeltz who is an expert and scholar on psychotherapy has personal and scientific experience about cults.
As the representative of Dena Peace and Freedom Association, Mr. Mohsen Abbasslou talked with the honorable expert, Ms. Shemeltz.

European intellectual views on the Cult of Rajavi_Part 6
Mr. Abbasslou: Dear Ms. Shemeltz, as a person who is familiar with the cults and their functions, do you think we should feel pity for Mr. Rajavi?

Ms. Shemeltz: personally, I really feel pity for such a person, I’m so sorry for him.

Mr. Abbasslou : Ms. Shemeltz, I got shocked by your answer. Do you really feel pity for a criminal?

Ms. Shemeltz: yes, it is with a great sorrow that an individual has to commit so many criminal acts in order to please himself and to survive. Yes, I feel pity for Mr. Rajavi and also for his victims.

What makes me upset is that a human being has such capacities and there is no mechanism or practical solution to control him. In the world of business many people like that such individuals exit. Individuals like Massoud Rajavi bring benefits to many and are considered as a source of making a living and achieving benefits.

Rajavi is an example. Anyway, he is a human being. The sufferings he caused to his victims impose pressure on his inner self more than anyone else. It may seem bizarre but people like Rajavi feel the suffering of his victims more than anyone else.

Victims have gone but the pain exists in the sole of Rajavi. Rajavi still feels pain, his pain is more than anyone else because he has victimized hundreds of people and their families. His pain and sufferings are more than anyone else.

Mr. Ababsslou: dear Ms. Shemeltz, I couldn’t get what you exactly mean! Do you mean than MR. Rajavi suffers from his victims’ sufferings?

Ms. Shemeltz: Mr. Rajavi is a miserable person. He cannot see others’ sufferings because his own sufferings are more than anyone else. He is deeply drowned in his tormenting world. He views himself a sun that gives life to the earth. He views himself the centre of the world.

He cannot realize what the origin of this negative feeling is. He is kind of dramatized human being living in a shock. He has always been involved in this shock and cannot get out of it. He is looking for the origin of this shock. He is seriously busy with himself.

Mr. Rajavi has had a good picture in the mirror of the society. He definitely has been a charismatic personality for his followers who have not simply diagnosed his psychotic desease. I guess that so far no one has seriously and deeply investigated or analyzed Mr. Rajavi’s mental problem.

First of all, we should know Mr. Rajavi to know the cult under his control. Understanding people like Mr. Rajavi is a complicated task requiring detailed scientific research and studies. As I said none of the above mentioned theories are precisely right; they are just theories. To suggest an exact argument about Mr. Rajavi, He should be monitored in a treatment center under our control. I wish I could talk to him. I wish he would write his opinions if he read the interview.

Mr. Rajavi is able to move other’s feelings. He can manipulate their feelings and emotions taking them out of normal condition and make them decide and move in favor of his own goals and ideas.

To be continued

April 16, 2013 0 comments
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Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Iraqi MP Lashes out at UNAMI for Failure to Expel MKO

A member of Iraq’s Islamic Virtue Party (al-Fadhila Party) described the steps taken by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) to expel the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, PMOI and NCRI) from Iraq as "very slow and insufficient."

According to Habilian Association, Susan Al-Sa’ad criticized UNAMI for its failure in finding a third country for the resettlement of the MKO members in Iraq.

The Iraqi lawmaker called on the United Nations to expedite expulsion of MKO members from the Arab country.

Welcomed by the former Iraqi dictator in 1980s, the terrorist MKO assisted Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran and suppression of Iraqi Kurds.

After some three decades of their stay in Iraq, the remaining members of the terrorist MKO in Iraq had been relocated to a former US military base near Baghdad’s International Airport for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to determine their refugee status.

Albania was the first country who volunteered to accept over 200 members of the MKO. However, MKO turned down the offer in a bid to keep its strength in numbers and hold over rank and files, as Soraya Sepahpour, an independent researcher and political analyst has said.

April 15, 2013 0 comments
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Former members of the MEK

MKO office in US, violation of international law

Victims of Mojahedin Khalq Terrorism: ‘MKO office in US, violation of international law’

The families of the Iranian victims of terrorism have condemned the opening of an office by the terrorist Mujaheeden-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in Washington as a violation of international law.MKO office in US, violation of international law

“The Mujaheeden-e Khalq [Organization] is a terrorist group in the real sense of the word,” the Tehran-based Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism wrote in a letter to US President Barack Obama.

Pointing to the dictatorial nature of the group, the letter said Maryam Rajavi has led the terrorist group for over 18 years, adding that, “The structure of the organization is completely devoid of democratic principles and is run in a completely dictatorial fashion. [Its] members do not have any say in determining policies and approaches.”

“The claims of such a group about human rights and democracy, when it does not respect the most basic needs of its members and does not care for democratic principles in managing its own internal affairs, are not genuine,” the letter further read.

The MKO’s office, located a block from the White House, was officially opened on April 11 only months after the United States formally removed the anti-Iranian group from the US State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.

The MKO was taken off the State Department’s blacklist on September 28, 2012.

This was while the terrorist group has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.

Out of the 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist attacks since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, some 12,000 of them have fallen victim to acts of terror carried out by the MKO.

The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it received the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.

Members of the MKO terrorist group were later transferred from Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, which is situated about 120 kilometers (74 miles) west of the border with Iran, to Camp Liberty near Baghdad Airport.

April 15, 2013 0 comments
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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Enemy of my enemy?

In from the cold, and now on Pennsylvania Avenue just a block from the White House!Enemy of my enemy?

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, an umbrella group that includes an armed wing (Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK), opened its new Washington office Thursday.

A fierce foe of the Tehran government, the group — which the regime brands a violent cult — had been on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997. The NCRI hasn’t been able to operate in this country since 2003.

There had been 3,000-plus MEK members in Camp Ashraf in Iraq near the Iranian border. The MEK turned over its weapons to the Army — and has rejected violence, an NCRI official told us. But pressure from Iran led the Iraqis to close the camp recently and move the MEK closer to the capital — where they get hammered regularly by mortar fire. (The group’s leadership is based in Paris.)

A lengthy lobbying and legal campaign — backed by folks such as former U.N. ambassador John Bolton; Rep. Dana Rohrabacher; former presidential candidates Newt Gingrich (R), Rudy Giuliani (R) and Howard Dean (D); and former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell — eventually forced the State Department to remove the organization from the terrorist sponsor list.

NCRI officials noted that Bolton, former Obama national security adviser Jim Jones, former congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and other backers attended the opening of the office of what’s now styled as “Iran’s parliament-in-exile.”

By AL Kamen, (In the loop)

April 13, 2013 0 comments
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