Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on the UN to speed up the process of expulsion of the members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from Iraq.
Ali Al-Moussavi, a senior advisor to the Iraqi prime minister, announced that Maliki has met with Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq over the UN’s activities in Iraq, including the transfer of the MKO from the country.
Moussavi said that Maliki has asked the UN representative to fulfill his pledge to rapidly implement expulsion of the MKO members from Iraq’s soil.
The advisor stated that Maliki has told Kobler that "Iraq can no more tolerate" the terrorist organization’s members and will not extend their presence in Iraq "even for one single hour", reiterating that any MKO overstay in Iraq will be illegal.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) monitors the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.
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 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.
In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty.
Massoud Rajavi suffers from narcissism
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.
Mr. Abbaslou: Ms. Shemeltz, most of audiences may want to know how you have such a deep insight on the MKO Cult. They surely want to know more about you.
Ms. Shemeltz: I’d prefer to publicize personal identity only to the extent we have agreed on. I am a researcher and I’d like to do my job without tumult and distracting elements, this way I will achieve my research objectives with more energy and tranquility.
As you know, I have been closely working with cults for years. I even traveled to Africa to live in a cult. That was a precious experience for me. It offered me the opportunity to get to know about cult functions more closely. Mr. Abbaslou, you know the name of that cult and you notice how much it is similar to the MKO. I’d like to compare the Cult of Rajavi with the African cult regarding their structures and functions, in my next investigative project.
All cults in the world follow common rules and they are always headed by a charismatic but actually hypocrite person. Of course each cult has its own characteristics that should be investigated separately.
The issues regarding the MKO should be studied in a large political scope. In my idea, the MKO Cult is not a play ball in hands of others that everyone can use it for his own interests. The leaders of the Cult know it well but intentionally they pretend that their cult is useful and valuable for that person or government.
They play such a role to make others think that their cult is like a ball that everyone can play with in order to achieve his goals. Actually, the MKO itself is active in politics. It hides itself in political crisis and controversies and uses them to survive and to prolong the life of its organization and thus it runs its own policies.
It is a narrow-minded belief to think that the MKO is a victim of other political movements or states. I don’t think so. They are politically active and seek their own interests.
Mr. Abbaslou: Ms. Shemeltz, Imagine that Mr. Massoud Rajavi is here now. What should we do with this man? Should he be executed? Should he be jailed? How should we deal with him?
Ms. Shemeltz: As I said, if I psychologically study Mr. Rajavi’s past and present life and his behavior, I will be sure that he suffers from a severe mental disease. He is suffering from narcissism. He thinks that he is the best person on the earth. He has no feelings for others…
To be continued
Nasrin Ebrahimi is a former member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization, who fled the group in 2006. She was one of the first survivors of the Cult-like MKO who dared to reveal the corruption of the leaders of the group. She was the first person to speak of the “Summit Operation” which was a cult jargon through which a large number of female members of the group became infertile by Hysterectomy surgery.
Nim Negah Website is publishing series of interviews with Ms. Ebrahimi. Nejat society translated excerpts of her memoirs of the sufferings of living in the MKO cult.
Collapse of Dream!
… I was attracted by the MKO when I was 13 and I joined the group in Iraq a year after. As I lived in a town near Iraqi border where the MKO TV Channel was available, I was absorbed by the group propaganda. I decided to join it. I was fourteen when I took some money from home and paid a human–smuggler to pass me through Iraqi border.
As a teenager, I had no correct information on either the Iranian government or the MKO. I had no idea of politics.
From the first days of my residence in Camp Ashraf, I realized Rajavi’s version of democracy, freedom, equality and human rights.
…. In a short time Rajavi found out that female members of the group can better run his plans. This way, women would think that they were promoted in the cult hierarchy and they would feel superior over their male comrades…Massoud Rajavi made women feel that they owe their position to him …
I remember Maryam Rajavi saying in a meeting for women:”Without Massoud, you are nothing so for your own promotion and your own growth you must blindly obey Massoud”! … Thus women in Ashraf were living in an illusion world that was built by the Rajavis. They were stranger to their inner self.
… Women in Ashraf had no freedom to choose their clothing; otherwise they would be oppressed by the worst methods. Cosmetics were forbidden in Ashraf. Women were not allowed to tide up otherwise they would be interrogated; they would be asked about what they had in their mind.
This was the “freedom of clothing” the MKO claims.
… We were not permitted to look at men and were constantly supervised by our superior officials. We had to confess all our thoughts; For example, if we had recalled a man, our husband or our boyfriend, we had to confess it in the meeting. We had to verbally abuse ourselves before others because we had betrayed Rajavi. We shouldn’t let our mind think of any other person except Massoud Rajavi who, was as we were told, our possessor.
Do you know any other place where women are so ruthlessly suppressed ? Even in Saudi Arabia the rules are not as anti-woman as it is in the MKO.
A Typical Day in Camp Ashraf
Camp Ashraf is like a prison in or in better words like Nazis Forced Labour Camps.
We were woken up by a dreadful march-like sound every morning at 5 or 5:30. A quarter later we had to go to the eating place for breakfast. After a quarter, we were supposed to do our public task, in public places until 6 o’clock. Then from 6 am until 13 pm, we were horribly forced to do exhausting labors including cleaning up the streets, pulling weeds in Iraqi arid desserts, moving goods from one place to another. We were regularly supposed to carry objects to a new place and again we had to move them to another location after a few weeks. This was just a way to keep us busy and exhausted. We had to clean and grind a set of old artillery that hardly ever could go more than a few Kilometers…
13:00 was lunch time. The food was so bad… after the US army was settled in Ashraf, the food became a little better because the group leaders wanted to pretend that everything was fine there…
After lunch, sometimes we had an hour to relax and again we had to start working until night. After dinner, we had to attend meetings such as Current Operation and Daily Cleansing (Two cult jargons practiced regularly in the MKO). Both sessions were like a court in which you had to report your thoughts during the day; others would humiliate you and abuse you verbally …
At 12:00 we had to go to bed. In the middle of night, we had to get up and get on guarding posts for 3 or 4 hours…Regarding such an awful condition don’t Iwe have the right to compare ourselves with Nazi forced labourers?
to be continued
Germany’s Ambassador to Iraq Britta Wagner said her government supports expulsion of the member of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from Iraq.
According to a report by Buratha news website, Wagner praised in a statement the performance of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) in monitoring transfer of the MKO members from Camp Ashraf, the terrorist group’s main training camp in Iraq, to the Camp Liberty, a transient settlement facility in Iraq.
"I would like to express the full support of the German federal government to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) that has monitored the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty," she said.
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 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.
In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.
Did Pentagon lobby for Mojahedin Khalq?
Letter to the editor
Mail on Sunday
Mr. Geordie Greig.
An unpublished report produced by the US Library of Congress for the Department of Defense (the Pentagon), has been continuously quoted by the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist cult in their media since it was conveniently ‘leaked’ to the internet in January. The so-called ‘Pentagon report’ mentioned my name along with that of my brother and my sister-in-law, but because what was written was so obviously made-up to fulfill the agenda of the MEK themselves, I chose to ignore it.
Then in an article dated February 16, 2013, the British newspaper Mail-on-Sunday also referred to this report and again this has been widely used by the cult in its media. Amused by the dramatic tabloid headline "British 
housewife accused by the US of spying for Iran ‘to save her brother-in-law’s life’", I had a closer look to find out why this article had been published six weeks after the report was first leaked.
The US report claims that in 2002: "She (i.e. my sister in law Anne Singleton) agreed to cooperate with MOIS (Iran’s ministry of intelligence) to save her brother-in-law’s life – he (i.e. me, Ebrahim Khodabandeh) was still a member of MEK at the time."
In 2002 I was living in one of the MEK’s bases in London. This means that my life was in danger inside the MEK in the UK!
In my opinion the Mail-on-Sunday article was published specifically to cover up this gaffe. It even points to this in the title.
At the start of the article it says: "Anne Singleton, 53, is alleged to have been blackmailed into training with the Iranian secret service during a visit to Tehran in 2002. The Pentagon-commissioned report claims that Mrs Singleton and her Iranian husband, Massoud Khodabandeh, 56, agreed to work for the regime in return for saving the life of his jailed brother." [bold added]
Not only is this untrue, it is yet another gaffe. The original report did not say that I was in jail at that time and the author of the article either did not bother to read the actual report, or was probably as confused as everyone else who read it as to what it was actually trying to say.
The fact is that I was arrested in Syria and taken to prison in Iran in June 2003.
In the year 2002 I was still a member of the MEK living in their collective base in London. My brother and my sister-in-law who had both left the MEK had established the iran-interlink.org website and were active in exposing the violation of human rights inside Rajavi’s cult which had been going on for many years.
I can tell from my 23 years’ experience and as one of the key personnel in the MEK’s Foreign Affairs Department in Europe that the gaffes made in the report and in the article both originated from the MEK.
Ebrahim Khodabandeh
February 20, 2013
Iraqi professor: USA and a few Iraqi officials back the Mujahedin e-Khalq organization and try to keep the terrorist group in Iraq for a while.
Referring to the U.S. role in the region’s instabilities, Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad addressed the 
recent developments in the region and threats facing the nations in a friendly meeting with a delegation of Iraqi university Professors and scholars and said: “After the new Iraqi government came to power, the Americans found the developments in Iraq against their will and started to support and enhance terrorist groups to destroy the country’s security, they promoted the very same thing they had apparently came to fight.”
Habilian’s Secretary General added: “One of the most destructive terrorist groups in Iraq is Mujahedin e-Khalq organization. As though the group is acknowledged by the USA and other western countries as the sample of murder and crime and it is hated by Iraqi and Iranian nations since it has assassinated many innocent people in both countries, the United States is MEK’s most prominent supporter in Iraq.”
After Hasheminejad’s speech, Ali Abood Ne’emeh, a member of the Iraqi delegation, pointed out recent Islamic movements and said: “We believe the Islamic movements in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq,… wouldn’t have succeeded without Islamic Republic of Iran’s help and support and we have to thank you for this. We also appreciate our leaders who had a very impressive role in the movement of people.
Dr. Rashid Hussein, a university professor in Iraq, referred to the deep, ancient ties between Iran and Iraq and said:” Of course sometimes foreign factors cause problems for the ties between the two countries, but whenever these foreign factors are removed, the ties will be normal again.”
In another part of his speech he addressed the Imperial governments’ wickedness and stated: “The conspiracy of imperial governments is too obvious in the region and it has always existed. What is now happening in the Islamic Wakening countries is a good proof for this. These are due to foreign and imperial intervention.
Dr. Hussein added: “The Iraqi people don’t ever tolerate the MEK, but unfortunately some Iraqi officials and the United States back the group and want them to stay in Iraq for a while.”
He pointed out the American propaganda and said: “We know what the USA is seeking in the world. But unfortunately they are using their propaganda machines and false advertisement to claim they have come to Iraq for Human Rights. They can easily promote themselves since the media is at their disposal.”
At the end Dr.Rashid Hussein appreciated Habilian Association’s activities and included: “We are very happy to see NGOs are so active in Iran and hope we can use Iran’s experience in this field in our country. We are still at the beginning in Iraq. It is such a useful experience. Specifically about Habilian, it is so nice to support families of the people who have sacrificed themselves for your country. This would encourage Iranian people for further sacrifices in the future.”
The US State Department spokesperson called on the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) "not to relocate back" to Camp Ashraf, their former military headquarters 
located some 100 kilometers West of the Iranian border.
"The only peaceful and durable solution for these individuals is resettlement outside Iraq, and that should continue to be the focus of everybody involved in this effort," Victoria Nuland said, reported Habilian Association, a human rights NGO representing the families of Iranian terror victims.
Following the mortar attack on the Camp Liberty earlier the week, the group called on the US administration to "facilitate the transfer of" its members in Camp Liberty back to Camp Ashraf, their former military headquarters.
"The answer for the individuals at Hurriya is not to relocate back to Ashraf," said Nuland.
She also made a reference to those advocating the MKO, and said, "If they want to see them safe, if they want to see them have a better life, the answer is outside of Iraq."
Former top inspector of the Iraqi ministry of agriculture said the current troubles which oppressing powers like 
the Zionist regime are creating for the Islamic Republic of Iran is not a new thing and they have tried this since the beginning of the revolution.
Mohsen Mousavi made the remarks during a meeting of a delegation of Iraqi officials, scholars and university professors with Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad Secretary General of Habilian Association in Mashhad.
Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad started the meeting with a brief on the recent developments in the region and awakening of the Islamic nations.
Referring to the colonial role of western governments during the past decades, he said: “Whenever the front opposing oppressive powers has been comprised of governments that enjoy little or no support from their people, the result has been nothing but a total failure for them. But, where the nations have confronted the colonizers, success has been achieved and the enemy heavily defeated.”
Mr.Hasheminejad pointed out the close and historic relationship between the two Iranian and Iraqi nations and expressed: “The two nations have long been in contact so the enemies have tried to separate them. But we can see although the ties between them had been practically cut for 40 years, the two nations welcomed each other after the fall of Saddam’s Ba’ath regime.”
Habilian SG also pointed out the western governments’ aim, specifically the U.S. government’s, to create separations between the nations in the region including Iran and Iraq and said: “The U.S. needs mercenary terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin e-Khaql organization. When the U.S Army occupied Iraq, it lacked the knowledge on Iraqi tribes and groups, so the MEK which had long stayed in Iraq, was used by the U.S Army for terrorist operations and training other terrorist groups.
Appreciating Habilian Secretary General for his beneficial details on terrorist MEK and U.S. colonial plans in the region, Seyyed Saber al-Hosseini, the head of Iraqi center for strategic studies, highlighted some activities of his center and said: “The center for Strategic Studies of Iraq has executed very good plans to reveal MEK’s crimes inside and outside Iraq. These activities include Satellite TV programs and brochures in Iraqi universities. Mobilizing people and rallying towards MEK camps has been another activity we have done several times during the past recent years.
He reiterated: “The terrorist MEK had a major role in suppression of the honorable Iranian nation and also the Iraqi nation at the Sha’abanieh Intifada as the Saddam’s striking arm. “
The Iraqi scholar referred to the problems on the way to expel the MEK and said: “You are aware the Iraqi administration is not all united and this is the reason of some problems created. Some people are after returning Iraq to the Saddam era.”
In another part of his speech, Saber al-Hosseini said: “We hope Habilian Association has a good connection to the institutes working in Iraq on terrorism. The two nations’ martyrs have had common goals which could be the interface between the nations. About 250 thousand of the Iraqi people were martyred by Saddam regime because they didn’t take part in the war against Iran. This shows Iraqi people were not willing for this war to take place.”
Mohsen Mousavi, former top investigator of Iraqi ministry of agriculture, pointed out the victory of Iranian Islamic revolution led by Imam Khomeini and the struggles in the beginning of the revolution which shed light on the nature of different groups and also the efforts from oppressing powers including the Zionist regime against Islamic Republic and said: “The current troubles these powers are creating for the Islamic Republic of Iran is not a new thing and they have tried this since the beginning of the revolution. What has changed, is the direct presence of U.S. and Israel in the region. The result of this presence is that we can see numerous terrorist groups supported by western powers.
Referring to MEK’s status in Iraq he said: “The MEK is all surrounded and its activities are watched. They can’t do anything in Iraq, but unfortunately there are other political movements and parties in Iraq which are after destabilizing the country with the support of the U.S. and Israel. Financial support of these groups is continuous and not limited. Unfortunately, this is harmful for some popular political groups that are seeking new fields of activity. These terrorist acts hinder their activities.”
Former top investigator of Iraqi ministry of agriculture described the ties between the two nations as inseparable and said: “Naturally, these terrorist groups’ activities are an effort to cut the ties between the Islamic republic of Iran and government of Iraq. The U.S. failure in Iraq has been one of the reasons for harsh economic blockade against the Islamic Republic. “
At the end, Mousavi said: “Number of people killed after Saddam’s fall in Iraq is way more than number of the people killed before and even during the Saddam era. We hope a certain framework is created between us. Not only for the MEK threat, but also for opposing any common threats the both nations are facing in the region.”
At the end of the meeting, Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad referred to the various aspects of MEK’s presence in the region and their destructive role and said: “Two issues must be addressed about the MEK. First of all they are still in the region and surrounded. But this is not all the problem. According to our Iraqi friends, there are several people in the Iraqi administration and Parliament who support them. Several Iraqi newspapers have taken money from them, so they also support the MEK. This is their destructive role. Unarmed MEK is far more dangerous than armed MEK.”
Hasheminejad continued: “The MEK is now seeking to destroy nations by highlighting their differences instead of just assassinating people. Anything leading to increment of tensions between the two countries is welcomed by them and this is the very destructive role of the MEK and one of the reasons why the U.S. is trying hard to keep them in Iraq. Another reason for the U.S. to try to keep the terrorist group in Iraq is to stop the MEK members from entering the United States. They are also well aware how dangerous these people can be.”
United States uses MKO to spread terror and chaos inside Iran: Paul Sheldon Foote
Terrorist organizations are in the job of doing terror. In recent years they have been inside Iran conducting 
terrorist activities, bombing up places. The fact that they are Iranians, the fact that their native language is Persian means that they can move in and out of Iran a lot easier than anyone else could and so this would be a continuation of (the United States) using them inside Iran to kill people and blow up buildings.”
An analyst says the recent US, MKO meeting signifies that Washington is trying to use the organization for killings and bombings inside Iran as acts of terrorism are what terrorist groups typically do.
The comment comes as a bipartisan group of US congress members has met with the anti-Iran terrorist group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in France.
The congressional team led by Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, met the MKO terrorists in Paris on Sunday and expressed strong support for the group.
The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community.
On September 28, the terrorist group was taken off the US State Department’s terrorism blacklist a week after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified memo about the move.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Professor of California State University Paul Sheldon Foote to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Sir welcome to the program. Well the MKO is well-known for carrying out a long list of terror acts. How do you see the sequence of events that led to Europe and the United States delisting the MKO from their list of terrorist organizations and also about the timing of this meeting in France?
Foote: The problem America has had for very many years is that the Iraqi government has said you say we are a free country now well why do we have to keep Iranian communists, free terrorists in our land and there have been frequent action for some of the Mujahidin cult terrorists have been killed by Iraqi troops.
So America keeps trying. It’s a real shame that Dana Rohrabacher who claims to be a Republican from Southern California is continued being reelected. It shows you how stupid Republican voters are when you have Republicans supporting communist terrorists.
Press TV: And what do you think the United States has in mind next for the MKO?
Foote: Terrorist organizations are in the job of doing terror. In recent years they have been inside Iran conducting terrorist activities, bombing up places. The fact that they are Iranians, the fact that their native language is Persian means that they can move in and out of Iran a lot easier than anyone else could and so this would be a continuation of using them inside Iran to kill people and blow up buildings.
An Iranian exile group attacked in Iraq this month has moved from terrorism lists to international good graces, but Baghdad wants it out over its opposition to Iran’s rulers and ties to Saddam Hussein.
On February 9, mortar rounds and rockets slammed into Camp Liberty, a former US military base near Baghdad that now houses some 3,000 members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), killing five people, according to Iraqi security officials.
The attack triggered condemnation from the United States and United Nations, but in Iraq officials are eager to see the group depart.
The PMOI’s "presence in Iraq is illegal and illegitimate," Ali Mussawi, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s spokesman, told AFP. "Their presence is rejected."
Iraqi political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said the "nature of the relationship between the (Iraqi) Shiite political powers and Iran," Baghdad’s Shiite neighbour to the east with which it has close ties, is a key factor in Iraq’s insistence on the PMOI’s ouster.
Shammari also noted other factors including the PMOI’s links to executed dictator Saddam, under whose rule Iraq’s now-empowered Shiite majority was oppressed.
Saddam allowed the PMOI to establish a base called Camp Ashraf northeast of Baghdad after he launched the 1980-88 war with Iran, in which the group fought alongside his forces.
According to the US State Department, Saddam armed the group with "heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of (PMOI) fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces" near the end of the war.
Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the PMOI turned over "2,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and heavy artillery," the State Department said.
The group was also allegedly involved in Saddam’s violent suppression of 1991 Shiite and Kurdish uprisings in Iraq.
"The former regime used (the PMOI) to carry out repression" in Iraq, said Dr Adnan al-Saraj, who has written books about the group.
Saddam gave the PMOI four bases in Iraq, buildings in central Baghdad and other perks including Iraqi passports and free petrol, Saraj said.
Almost all PMOI members in Iraq have moved to Camp Liberty from Camp Ashraf, the last of their bases, as part of a UN-backed process that aims to see them resettled outside the country.
But after this month’s attack, the PMOI complained about the slow pace of the process, which has dragged on as few countries have come forward with concrete offers of resettlement.
The PMOI has not taken the move from Camp Ashraf, where some members have lived for decades, quietly, alleging Baghdad is acting at Tehran’s behest.
It has also criticised the UN’s assertion that the camp meets minimum humanitarian standards and complained about a variety of alleged shortcomings including restrictions on using forklift trucks, which it said amounted to "torture".
While not accepted in Iraq, the PMOI has made strides internationally.
The group, which was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran but took up arms against the country’s new clerical rulers after the 1979 Islamic revolution, successfully campaigned for its removal from US and EU terrorism lists.
The PMOI said it renounced violence in 2001 after carrying out attacks in Iran and elsewhere for decades. It now issues deluges of statements to the media and has enlisted well-known western politicians and officials as advocates.
The language of the official US condemnation of the attack on Camp Liberty also indicates the progress made by the PMOI, which was listed as a "terrorist organisation" by Washington until last year and by the EU until 2009.
The US State Department condemned it as a "terrorist attack," and also referred to the attack as a "tragedy".
Although the PMOI has gained international acceptance, Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert and senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the same is not true within Iran.
"They’re widely viewed as a backward and intolerant cult by their opposition peers in Iran," Sadjadpour said.
By W.G. Dunlop – Dailystar.com