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US to review UNHCR referrals of some MKO members

Camp Ashraf

Press Statement US to review UNHCR referrals of some MKO members
Mark C. Toner
Deputy Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC

Today, the fifth convoy of approximately 400 Camp Ashraf residents safely arrived at Camp Hurriya. The United States welcomes the continued cooperation of the Government of Iraq and the residents of Camp Ashraf with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq to complete the relocation process, as set forth in the December 25, 2011 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq. The United States appreciates the extensive resources expended by the Government of Iraq to provide for the residents’ safe relocation, and calls for continued adherence to the commitments in the MOU, especially those which provide for the safety, security, and humanitarian treatment of the residents.

With over half of the initial resident population now relocated to Camp Hurriya, the United States will be able to increase its focus on the safe relocation of the residents from Camp Hurriya out of Iraq. We join the call of the United Nations to member states to assist in the permanent relocation of eligible residents from Iraq.

To do its part, the United States has informed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other governments that we are willing to consider referrals of some individuals from the UNHCR. These referrals will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, consistent with applicable U.S. law. We urge our friends and partners in the international community to step forward and help achieve a humanitarian resolution.

May 6, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Ashraf Properties; Has MKO A Right to Claim?

MKO plans to leave Iraq with abundant sums it has hardly any right in its claiming

The first backlashes of Mojahedin Khlaq Organization MKO against the Iraqi Government’s decision to close camp Ashraf and expel its residents from the country were a variety of violent behavior and threatening tone. The first practical approach was to provoke the Iraqi forces, not acquainted with the group’s self-destructive tactics, to show a violent reaction to the residents’ protests. That was enough for the group to run a propaganda atmosphere in which they could express the members as oppressed victims and accordingly get some global support to put off the deadline for the closure of the camp and expulsion.

Despite inflicting casualties on the both sides, the violent approach proved to be a complete failure. But it did not take long when there came the news that MKO agreed to relocate to a temporary center near Baghdad “to prove genuine goodwill gesture for a peaceful solution”. Of course, it was the beginning of another story, a new round of inventing unreasonable excuses to delay relocation. However, on January 31, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, Martin Kobler, announced the readiness of the Temporary Transit Location TTL, the new camp, for the transfer of the residents and it was confirmed that the camp met human rights and humanitarian standards to house them. So far nearly half of the Ashraf residents have been transferred to TTL.
And MKO’s devise of the ploys change from day to day. These days it is heavily engaged in making and delivering a variety of statements in a new attempt to have its full control over Ashraf even after the evacuation of the residents. In a new statement, MKO has offered new suggestions which mean forging a compromise rather than making a threat. In a paragraph of the suggestions we read; ”It is necessary that, until arriving at a final solution of the issue, a multitude of individuals remain at Ashraf to safeguard the existing assets and belongings”.
No doubt, under this new pretext Rajavi intends to extend the control over Ashraf to the last days and have it in his possession. The solution of properties and assets at Ashraf is a legal issue to be solved under legal procedures as agreed in the signed MOU in 25 December 2011 and it is not bound to the conditions of agreement to relocation. Under the agreement, “The Government of Iraq permits the residents of Camp Ashraf to bring their individual belongings”. Assessing the real value of properties and belongings of MKO, for which MKO accuses the Iraqi government of not resolving the transferal of property that belongs to the residents of Ashraf, is not so simple an issue as the group has done beforehand. It is a secondary issue to deal with after relocation of residents.
To arrive at a solution of properties it requires interference and supervision of the UN and other concerned international bodies as well as representatives from among the Iraqi people. Not all the claimed properties and assets have a function of legal and civil purpose. Besides, many of the vehicles, instruments and machineries allocated to the group by the ousted dictator belong to Iraqi army and people living in the vicinity. The group should be reminded that it brought nothing when it came to Iraq and all it claims to have owned is out of the bundles of dollars Saddame allocated to it from the pocket of the poor Iraqi people when they needed the sums more than any other time.
It is not fair to let a terrorist cult long fed on Iraqis money accuse their government of seizing millions of dollars its sources and whereabouts are clear. It is not fair to let perpetrators of violence and mercenaries of a fallen dictator have their pockets filled by dollars of oppressed people when expelled and leaving the country. It is typical of the group to get the upper hand in any case. The relocation will end soon but it is already preparing for the next stage, to leave Iraq with abundant sums it has hardly any right in its claiming.

May 6, 2012 0 comments

UN Rapporteur Admits: Iran Victim of MKO Terrorism

The UN Special Reporter for Human Rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, admitted in his new report that the Iranian people have been a victim of the terrorist activities carried out by the members of UN Rapporteur Admits in New Report: Iran Victim of MKO Terrorism the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).

"For the first time, it has been explicitly mentioned in a report by the UN special rapporteur that based on documents, 17,000 Iranian people have been targeted by MKO’s violence, and that the country is a victim of terrorism," Secretary-General of Iran’s Habilian Association – a human rights group formed by the families of 17,000 terror victims in Iran – Seyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad told FNA on Saturday.

He said that the development took place after Iran presented a number of documents to Shaheed in September about the crimes committed by the MKO against the Iranian government and nation and the support provided by the Zionist regime and certain western countries for the terrorist group.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

The MKO 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 from Iran 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 also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

Lacking a foothold in Iran, the terrorist group recruits ill-informed teens from Iranian immigrant communities in Western states and blocks their departure afterwards.

Numerous articles and letters posted on the Internet by family members of MKO recruits confirm reports of the horrific abuse that the group inflicts on its own members and the alluring recruitment methods it uses.

The most shocking of such stories includes accounts given by former British MKO member Ann Singleton and Mustafa Mohammadi – the father of an Iranian-Canadian girl who was drawn into the group during an MKO recruitment campaign in Canada.

Mohammadi recounts his desperate efforts to contact his daughter, who disappeared several years ago – a result of what the MKO called a ‘two-month tour’ of Camp Ashraf for teenagers.

He also explains how the group forces the families of its recruits to take part in pro-MKO demonstrations in Western countries by threatening to kill their loved ones.

Iraq had announced earlier this year that members of the terrorist group must leave by the end of 2011.

May 6, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Rendell and Mujahedin Khalq

It’s no surprise that providing “material support” to a terrorist group is against the law. But a 2010 Supreme Court decision, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, concluded it’s not just illegal to

Indict Rendell: Political elites fall on wrong side of bad law

ship grenades or suitcases of cash. “Advocacy performed in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign terrorist organization” is also a felony.

Why, then, nearly two months after it was revealed that the Treasury Department is investigating former Gov. Ed Rendell for receiving money from a terrorist group to undertake just that sort of advocacy, has he not been indicted by the Department of Justice?

In recent years, Rendell had delivered speeches in support of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian Marxist-Islamist group that resides in an Iraqi desert base and that the U.S. designated a terrorist organization for killing Americans during the 1970s.

One 10-minute speech earned Rendell $20,000, and he frequently flew to Europe to call for MEK’s removal from the terror list. That would appear to fall within the extraordinarily broad definition of “material support” used by the Obama administration.

Rendell calls that “ludicrous.” He says, “The only thing we’ve done is spoken out on their behalf. And you certainly can’t in any way encumber free speech in America. You know that ― you’re a journalist.”

I do sort of know that―you shouldn’t be able to encumber free speech. But the Supreme Court did just that, and Muslims have been prosecuted for doing less: a satellite TV salesman sentenced to five years for broadcasting Hezbollah’s TV channel; a man indicted for favorable web comments on shooting U.S. soldiers.

Rendell wouldn’t comment on specific cases, but he rightly noted that the First Amendment protected Communist Party activity during the Cold War. So it did, and it does seem incomprehensible that American law could now criminalize speech in support of a war enemy. But as the War on Terror creeps into its eleventh year, presidents Bush and Obama have erected a monstrous national security state and, in the process, rendered American civil liberties unrecognizably feeble.

“Whatever one’s views are on this ruling, it is now binding law. To advocate on behalf of a designated Terrorist group constitutes the felony of ‘providing material support’ if that advocacy is coordinated with the group,” writes Salon blogger and constitutional law attorney Glenn Greenwald. “They’re providing more substantial ‘material support’ to this Terrorist group than many people ― usually vulnerable, powerless Muslims ― who are currently imprisoned for that crime.”

Rendell, however, contends that he’s protected because the funds, as far as he knows, were “raised by individual Iranian expat groups” in the U.S. and Europe.

“Please,” Greenwald tells me. “Iranians who love MEK pay the fees in order to keep a thin layer of separation―any real investigation will find the source of those funds.”

Finally, Rendell says the law should not apply here: The State Department has urged him to dialogue with the MEK. And MEK’s blue-chip American supporters ― could they all have broken the law?

“If you indict me, I hope you know, you have to indict 67 other Americans who did the same thing, including seven generals … [who] served in Iraq. You’d have to indict James Jones, President Obama’s first NSC chief adviser, you’d have to indict former Attorney General [Michael] Mukasey, former FBI Director Louis Freeh … the whole kit and caboodle.” That caboodle is voluminous and high-powered, including Tom Ridge, UN Ambassador John Bolton, Rudolph Giuliani and Howard Dean, among others.

“You tell me that anyone has the right to restrict my freedom of speech and I’ll tell you you’re dead wrong,” Rendell insists.

I wish I were wrong. The Supreme Court’s three dissenters protested that the decision “gravely and without adequate justification injure[s] interests of the kind the First Amendment protects.” So it does. It’s a frightening law and a horrible ruling that pulverizes First Amendment free speech protections. But as long as political nobodies face prosecution for speech crimes, so should elites. Indict Rendell ― and Ridge, Mukasey, Giuliani, etc. ― or repeal this law.

By Daniel Denvir ,City Paper

May 5, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MEK and the unspeakable chaos of the rule of law

Via Glenn Greenwald, Daneil Denvir writes about former Governor Ed Rendell trying to explain why he shouldn’t be indicted for providing “material support” to the Iranian cult terrorist group MEK:

Rendell calls that “ludicrous.” He says, “The only thing we’ve done is spoken out on their behalf. And you certainly can’t in any way encumber free speech in America. You know that ? you’re a journalist.”

I do sort of know that?you shouldn’t be able to encumber free speech. But the Supreme Court did just that, and Muslims have been prosecuted for doing less: a satellite TV salesman sentenced to five years for broadcasting Hezbollah’s TV channel; a man indicted for favorable web comments on shooting U.S. soldiers.

…“Whatever one’s views are on this ruling, it is now binding law. To advocate on behalf of a designated Terrorist group constitutes the felony of ‘providing material support’ if that advocacy is coordinated with the group,” writes Salon blogger and constitutional law attorney Glenn Greenwald. “They’re providing more substantial ‘material support’ to this Terrorist group than many people ? usually vulnerable, powerless Muslims ? who are currently imprisoned for that crime.”

…“If you indict me, [Rendell explained] I hope you know, you have to indict 67 other Americans who did the same thing, including seven generals … [who] served in Iraq. You’d have to indict James Jones, President Obama’s first NSC chief adviser, you’d have to indict former Attorney General [Michael] Mukasey, former FBI Director Louis Freeh … the whole kit and caboodle.” That caboodle is voluminous and high-powered, including Tom Ridge, UN Ambassador John Bolton, Rudolph Giuliani and Howard Dean, among others.

Seriously, don’t tease me…

“You tell me that anyone has the right to restrict my freedom of speech and I’ll tell you you’re dead wrong,” Rendell insists.

I wish I were wrong. The Supreme Court’s three dissenters protested that the decision “gravely and without adequate justification injure[s] interests of the kind the First Amendment protects.” So it does. It’s a frightening law and a horrible ruling that pulverizes First Amendment free speech protections. But as long as political nobodies face prosecution for speech crimes, so should elites. Indict Rendell ? and Ridge, Mukasey, Giuliani, etc. ? or repeal this law.

See here for background on the push inside elite U.S. circles to get the MEK delisted from the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.

It should be well known that the law simply doesn’t apply to elite members of the American political community. But I just think it’s fascinating that Rendell actually used the argument that, if you indict him, you’ll have to then apply the law to other important people! At least 67 of them! Oh, the unspeakable chaos!

By John Glaser

May 5, 2012 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Fifth group of MKO members move to TTL

Nearly 1000 members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) have expressed

1000 MKO terrorists seek pardon from Iran

willingness to return to Iran and seek the Islamic Republic’s pardon.

The development comes as the fifth group of the MKO terrorists was transferred to the Camp Liberty [TTL] near Baghdad Airport on Friday, the governor of the Iraqi city of Khalis, Oday al-Khedran said.

Al-Khedran added that 416 MKO members, including 350 women, were moved from the Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, to the new location, IRIB reported on Saturday.

According to the report, only 100 MKO members have been relocated to third countries.

Some of the MKO terrorists have also surrendered themselves to Iraqi forces after escaping the camp.

The MKO, which has carried out numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and government officials, fled to Iraq in the 1980’s, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein and set up Camp Ashraf in the Diyala Province, near the Iranian border.

The group is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

May 5, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

A Lobbyist or a Messenger to Mankind

The predicament of residents at temporary location shouldn’t be tied to MKO’s terrorist tag

I always wondered how the survivor of a human tragedy could be abused for the justification of The predicament of residents at temporary location shouldn’t be tied to MKO’s terrorist tag another human tragedy just taking place before the eyes of the world. Just last year on April 27, Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Hitler’s death camp at Buchenwald, was invited to make a speech at a conference in Paris organized by Mojahedin Khalq Organization ,MKO to denounce a tragic event at Camp Ashraf. In fact, the Ashraf residents had the strict order to provoke bloody attacks since the group needed fresh blood and a few martyrs and wounded people to feed its new round of propaganda against the Iraqi government to maintain the blanket of secrecy surrounding the camp. The provoked attack, however, resulted in thirty-six death and tens more were wounded.

As reported by Washington Times, Mr. Wiesel once more spoke at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last month. There he illustrated a new profile of himself that besides being a “messenger to mankind” was also on the list of some other American colleagues lobbying for the removal of MKO from the State Department’s list of FTO. In his speech he said: “The thing to do now when it comes to Ashraf and Liberty camp residents in Iraq is simple: Remove the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) from the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. It just takes some principle and spine”.

Mr. Weisel is quoted he had vowed that whenever a human being is persecuted, “I shall not be silent.” But he claims he didn’t know about Ashraf until shortly before the attack, as he asked at the conference, “Why didn’t the world know?” it is our question as well. Why didn’t the world know about hundreds of people enslaved against their will within the bastion of a terrorist cult in the middle of a wasteland in Iraq? And now that you and the world have come to know, why nobody feels a responsibility to help them regain their freedom?

The predicament of residents at Ashraf and temporary location, as they call it Liberty camp, has nothing to do with the removal of their group from a terrorist list. It is not the question of an organization, it is a humanitarian issue. The problem of the members relocated to temporary location has to be dealt with regardless of the group’s entity. The problem is not MKO’s terrorist tag; to remind, it has already been removed from the EU terrorist list but still none of the EU member countries has accepted to receive the residents as the refugees.

And Mr. Weisel has a great responsibility as a “messenger to mankind” to fulfill as he has already vowed that “I shall not be silent.” We deeply believe that he and the world shall not remain silent. Instead of working all your lobbying power to delist a terrorist entity, become the voice of suffering souls crying for freedom, to convince the world to have open arms for them. Nearly half of the Ashraf dissidents have been transferred to temporary location near Baghdad, but none has been relocated since no third country has yet consented to take them as refugees.

By M. Nelson

May 3, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Zionist Lobbies Seeking to Station MKO in Azerbaijan

Zionist lobbies are seeking to shelter members of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in Azerbaijan as the US administration is trying to station the terrorists in five neighboring countries of the Islamic Republic.

Authentic reports from sources privy to the MKO disclosed that the US administration is consulting with five of Iran’s neighboring states to persuade them into sheltering the MKO terrorists.

After nearly three decades, Iraq is now expelling the MKO from its soil, while no world country has accepted to shelter the terrorist group.

The US allies in the Middle-East, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Qatar and Pakistan, are likely to be the destination of the MKO terrorists, the sources added.

The sources also pointed out that Zionist lobbies are pressuring the US and Baku officials to station MKO terrorists in bases and desolated air fields, and added that the issue was a topic of recent discussions between Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Azeri officials.

Zionist lobbies are seeking to create Camp Ashraf-like conditions in Azerbaijan to save MKO from complete dissolution.

The MKO’s main stronghold was a training center called Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Northern Diyala province, but the post-Saddam Iraq decided to close the camp specially due to the MKO’s massacre of Iraqi Shiites during the Saddam era and its terrorist operations against Iran in the last 33 years. Iraq started expelling the group a few months ago.

The MKO is seeking to transfer its members to another country, but no world state, including the US and the European countries, accept to lodge the terrorist group.

To date, almost 1200 MKO terrorists have been transferred from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport, in three groups of 400 each, on February 18, 8, and March 20. About 2,000 members still remain in Camp Ashraf. Camp Liberty is a transient settlement facility and a last station for the MKO in Iraq.

The MKO cannot find a shelter outside Iraq as it is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

May 3, 2012 0 comments

European Union

Pay attention to Mujahedin and their deterrent policies

A letter from Iran Pen club to European union’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy , Lady Catherine Ashton

Honorable Mrs. Ashton A letter from Iran Pen club to European union’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy , Lady Catherine Ashton

European union’s high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy

As you are well informed that the relocation of Mujahedin from Iraqi soil has been the request of the lawful and legitimate Iraqi government for almost a decade , and in the recent months with intervention of United Nations to this subject , logical and feasible solution regarding to relocation of the pmoi members to the temporary and transitional liberty camp and then the relocation of those members to the third country has begun and fortunately during one month and half 1600 of pmoi members were relocated to the liberty camp and now in just less than 10 days remaining for the end of agreement between the Iraqi government and united nations but 1800 of pmoi members , the majority of the pmoi population , have not been relocated to the new place yet.

According to the personal experiences of the members of this association , pen club, who some of them had spent more than 20 years of their lives inside this organization , in the past they had warned and informed the juridical and responsible societies about pmoi leadership’s deterrent policies and now after almost three months , the statements of Mr. Martin Kobler , United Nations’ special envoy , regarding to relocation of the pmoi members quoting from news agencies ,substantiate and proves the authenticity of the Iran pen club worries .

According to the news agencies ¨ ……….. American government and United Nations in the subject of relocating the residents of Ashraf camp have got problem. According to the Martin Kobler’s statement , the United Nations’ representative in Iraq , the residents of Ashraf camp do not cooperate in the subject of their relocation to the new camp . but the biggest problem is their acceptance by the third country , no country is willing to accept people’s mujahedin …………¨ quoting from VOA and the interview with Martin Kobler

Honorable Mrs. Ashton

Because of the statements of UN reliable representative , we have become more worried about destiny of our friends and the pmoi dissident members who at the moment are captive inside this organization . the consecutive pmoi deterrent policies in the relocation process and procedure which has begun seriously under direct UN-supervision shows that the pmoi leadership is willing to draw this peaceful relocation process to scuffle and insurgency and unrest .

The Iran Pen Club is willing to fully cooperate in this matter and they welcome all efforts and struggles which help our friends and the pmoi dissidents who are stuck in this organization to be rescued. the undemocratic relations of pmoi leadership , Massoud Rajavi, does not allow the pmoi members to decide freely for themselves , so we urge you as a honorable and prominent figure in European Parliament to interfere with more decisiveness to forward the UN objectives in this relocation process of pmoi members to camp liberty and then transferring process to the third country.

We would like also to draw your attention to this point that in the situation which the US state department has not shown any intention to delist this organization from its terrorist list but ¨Henry Wooster , the director of Iran Affaires’ Office in US state department¨ in an interview with VOA clearly announces that :

¨ ……..even if they delist this group from the terrorist list , pmoi is not a democratic alternative ……. One of the problems that we have with mujahedin is that in our point of view , they can not be representative of a democratic reformist movement in Iran………..¨

You should pay attention that the people’s mujahedin ,because of their cooperation and collaboration with Saddam Hussein as enemy of Iranian people , are very unpopular among different Iranian groups in Iran and on the other hand the Iraqi government has said officially that these people should leave Iraq soil and the relocation process of these people to the camp liberty will come to an end in 10 days. According to the experts’ opinion the fact is that, their 30 years of dwelling in Ashraf camp has isolated them from the real world and valid and authenticated information about their past and this subject that, they are eligible and qualified to become refugee or not , is not available and also there are recent news which emphasize that the pmoi members inside Iran carry out attacks from Israel side which has become a deterrent factor and element for their relocation to the European countries .

With respect and best wishes to your feasible measures

Iran Pen Club, Germany, May 03 2012

May 3, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Why delisting the MKO is a threat for peace?

To illuminate the minds of those who wonder why supporting Mujahedin Khalq Organization Why delisting the MKO is a threat for peace? cause danger to the world, we should have a look at various records on the history and current practices of the group. There have been various documented reports on the MKO including reports by RAND Corporation, 2009 and HRW’s “No Exit”, 2005 but recent analysis on the group and its supporters in the West sheds light on the potential threat of harboring a terrorist designated cult.

After the last enlightening article by Seymour Hersh on the American financial and military support for the group a large number of analysts and journalists commented on the issue criticizing the US government for their double standards towards terrorists.

Members of the MKO are so notoriously famous that no country is willing to accept them. Their fate in Iraq is uncertain. Martin kobler, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) warns that finding a place for the group members after they leave Iraq “is the most difficult part of the story”. No country is willing to accept a number of brainwashed, isolated military trained cult-like insurgents. Josh Rogin of the cable also suggests that part of the difficulty of dealing with the MEK is that they have been cut off from the world for years and little is known about their individual histories.[1]
Having been isolated in a Camp in Iraqi deserts, under sever mind control techniques, the MKO have turned into a cult of personality that Jeremiah Goulka truly describes:

“I studied the MEK for the U.S. military and visited Camp Ashraf, the MEK facility 40 miles north of Baghdad. I also interviewed former MEK members. As Human Rights Watch also concluded, I saw that the MEK is a cult. It uses brainwashing, sleep deprivation, and forced labor to indoctrinate members. It segregates men from women, mandates celibacy, forces married members to divorce (except for its leaders), and separates families and friends who must seek permission just to converse.

MEK members must report their private sexual thoughts at group meetings and endure public shaming. In a Catch-22, those who deny having sexual thoughts are accused of hiding them and shamed, too. The cult has but one purpose: to put itself in charge in Iran.”[2]

Goulka concludes that an MEK regime in Iran will bring neither liberty nor justice.

The MKO is often described by as a “cult-like organization” with “totalitarian tendencies”. Former members of the group interviewed by various human rights bodies and journalists explain how they were victims of the totalitarian cult like organization. Owen Benett Jones in recent article on BBC “An Iranian Mystery: just who are the MEK” clarifies the two sides of positions towards the group. He himself wonders who to believe, former members who are either” embittered “or “broken”; or western supporters of the group who are either financially “motivated” or just “naïve”. However, he comes to a conclusion with his dilemma:” in over 25 years of reporting .I’ve been lied to often enough but, as successive former MEK members told what they had been through, their tears seemed real enough to me.”[3]

The MKO has also a four-decade history of violence, assassination and espionage against the Iranian people and authorities, as well as targeting American military and civilians living in Iran in the 1970’s. Tony Cartalucci also strongly criticizes Western support for the MKO as “treason and overt criminality”. He writes about the group’s terrorist acts:

"Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK), has carried out decades of brutal terrorist attacks, assassinations, and espionage against the Iranian government and its people, as well as targeting Americans including the attempted kidnapping of US Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, the attempted assassination of USAF Brigadier General Harold Price, the successful assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Lee Hawkins, the double assassinations of Colonel Paul Shaffer and Lieutenant Colonel Jack Turner, and the successful ambush and killing of American Rockwell International employees William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard.

"Admissions to the deaths of the Rockwell International employees can be found within a report written by former US State Department and Department of Defense official Lincoln Bloomfield Jr. on behalf of the lobbying firm Akin Gump in an attempt to dismiss concerns over MEK’s violent past and how it connects to its current campaign of armed terror – a testament to the depths of depravity from which Washington and London lobbyists operate."[4]

But why is that the MKO can gain such a support from the West although it is literally a cult-like terrorist organization?

Actually, the MKO foists itself as a democratic freedom lover organization. Goulka writes about the MKO’s propaganda and how western figures are trapped by it:

"The MEK presents itself well and is good at running “Astroturf” campaigns. Its NCRI is a self-proclaimed “parliament in exile,” dedicated to the principles of western liberal democracy. Over the years, lots of American civilian and military officials have failed to do their homework and fallen for the MEK’s sales spiel, excited as they were to hear what they wanted to hear. (If something sounds too good to be true…)"[5]

What is the potential danger of harboring a terrorist cult?

As it is widely known by different reports, the MKO is more than a terrorist group, it is a cult of personality, around a disappeared leader, Massoud Rajavi very similar to that of Al-Qaida around Osama bin Ladan, maybe more dangerous. Giving financial and military support to members of a cult of personality with a history of numerous terrorist attacks may hardly endanger the Iranian National security because the cult of Rajavi barely has supporters inside Iran. Most Iranians view them as traitors. But, it will risk the US national security. Removing the MKO from US list of Foreign Terrorist Organization will allow the MKO to act –even more freely– in the US society. Members who are totally obedient to their leaders will not hesitate to run their cause in a western free environment –where they can accelerate the leaders ambitions for power achievement in Tehran. To gain such a goal war with Iran would be inevitable and more American soldiers would go to endless battles and more taxpayers’ dollars would d be spent for the so-called US national security – which is already threatened by the cult of Rajavi. The MKO is a key for war and insecurity not only for Iran and the region but for the US national security.

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1]Rogin, Josh, U.N. Iraq chief:the countries of the world must take MEK ‘refugees’, The Cable, April26,2012
[2]Goulka, Jeremia, THE IRAN HAWKS FAVORITE TERROR GROUP, Salon.com, March 28, 2012
[3] Benett Jones, Owen, An Iranian mystery: just who are the MEK?, BBC, April16,2012
[4]Cartalucci, Tony, US State Department Hands Terror Cult US Base in Iraq, Infowars.com, March 9, 2012
[5]Goulka, Jeremia, INVESTIGATINS BEGIN INTO MEK SUPPORTERS, Salon.com, March28, 2012

May 3, 2012 0 comments

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