Page 575 – Nejat Society

Speakers bureau works for Iranian terror group MEK

A Pennsylvania speakers bureau is sending out invitations for a lucrative speaking opportunity on behalf of an officially designated terrorist organization, the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) of Iran, Speakers bureau works for Iranian terror group MEK according to an email obtained by Salon.

Last week, a person at a Washington think tank was emailed the $10,000-plus-expenses offer to speak at a Geneva event by Lourdes Swarts, managing director of 21st Century Speakers Inc., "on behalf of our client, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Foreign Affairs Committee."

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department, and is described as the "political front" of the MEK.
The language of the contract indicates Swarts — as well as anyone who agrees to the speaking offer — is breaking the law that bars material support for terrorism, according to Georgetown Law School professor David Cole.

"This is clearly an invitation to provide a service to a designated group. This would be a clear violation of the law," says Cole, who last year argued a major material support case before the Supreme Court. The material support law bars providing not only money and weapons to a foreign terrorist organization, but also "service," defined by the government as anything of benefit to the group performed in coordination with or at the direction of the group.

Cole adds that Swarts is "committing a crime because she’s providing a service to NCRI by arranging for this."

Reached by phone Tuesday evening, Swarts told Salon that the speaking request is "a private communication between me and my customer," then hung up. She did not respond to a follow-up email seeking comment.

The Geneva event, to focus on the situation of MEK members at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, is scheduled for Sept. 22 to coincide with a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, according to the email, which you can read here.

The offer by 21st Century Speakers comes amid a sustained campaign by the MEK and its supporters to convince the Obama administration to remove the group from the list of foreign terrorist organizations. Derided as cult-like by critics, the MEK killed Americans in the 1970s and attacked Iranian targets as recently as a decade ago, but has since claimed to renounce violence. It fiercely opposes the current Iranian regime, a stance that has attracted support from neoconservatives in the U.S.

The group’s P.R. pus has enlisted former officials of all political stripes, from liberal former presidential candidate Howard Dean to Republican Rudy Giuliani. Some officials have acknowledged receiving fees as high as $20,000 for a 10-minute speech. But one of the hallmarks of the campaign is that third-party groups have taken the lead in sponsoring conferences and pro-MEK demonstrations — presumably because it would be illegal for anyone to take part if the MEK itself was the organizer.

Conferences to advocate for the MEK have been organized by émigré groups that seem to have no other purpose than to push the MEK’s agenda, including, for example, the Iranian American Community of Northern California. Huffington Post reported last month that "most of the groups are run by ordinary, middle-class Iranian Americans working out of their homes — people who seem unlikely to have an extra few hundred thousand dollars laying around to pay speaker fees and book five-star hotels to bolster the MEK’s cause."

The issue of direct sponsorship by the MEK is a sensitive one. Last month, for example, a pro-MEK column by Dean on Huffington Post was edited after observers on Twitter pointed out that Dean’s bio line said he "has delivered paid speeches for the MEK." That was changed to read, "he has delivered paid speeches for Iranian-American communities."

The website for 21st Century Speakers, which is based in Covington in rural northeastern Pennsylvania, purports to offer clients access to a long list of "the world’s foremost speakers and celebrities," including First Lady Michelle Obama, George H.W. Bush, and pastor Rick Warren. But just a handful of the scores of names are marked with the tag "exclusive representation." One of those, former congressman Tom Tancredo, has been one of the loudest voices in favor of delisting the MEK over the last decade (though he told Salon Tuesday he had not been paid for any of the work).

Another of the company’s "exclusive" speakers is former Pennsylvania congressman Curt Weldon. In 2005, Weldon penned "Countdown to Terror: The Top-Secret Information that Could Prevent the Next Terrorist Attack on America — and How the CIA Has Ignored It." The book, which warned of Iranian terrorism against the U.S., was reportedly based on information from a discredited Iranian expatriate in Paris who was said to to get "intelligence" material from the MEK.

Still, how exactly 21st Century Speakers came to have the National Council of Resistance of Iran as a client is not clear. I’ve reached out to NCRI and will update this post if I hear back. It’s also not clear whether any Americans have accepted the $10,000 speaker offer.

My colleague Glenn Greenwald argued recently that because of the MEK’s support in elite political circles, it is functionally immune from prosecution.

While Cole, the Georgetown professor, has argued that the material support statute is too broad, he says he is troubled by the selective application on the law: Prosecutions have been made against supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey and, just last week, a young Virginia man who made a YouTube video in support of the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistani jihadist group, but not against any MEK supporters.

"These are powerful defendants with lots of friends," Cole says. "The group itself already has wide support in Congress. It’s the kind of case that’s not going to get brought."

Justin Elliott, Salon.com

September 8, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Bused Into MEK Rally, Attendees Don’t Really Understand What The MEK Is

A large crowd gathered outside the State Department to protest the designation of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) as a “foreign terror organization.” Police at the scene told Attendees Bused Into MEK Rally, Some Of Whom ‘Don’t Really Understand What The MEK Is’ThinkProgress the groups organizing the demonstration said at least two thousand people were there, though the estimate seemed high.

The MEK’s profile has risen as stateside supporters — including former government officials — have launched a massive, coordinated, and multi-million dollar campaign to have them removed from the terror rolls. Critics argue that the group may still have designs on committing violent acts and that their public support in Iran is virtually non-existant.

Among Iranians, who dominated the crowd, many said they rallied for the MEK because they supported democracy in Iran and opposed the post-revolutionary Islamic regime.

But many apparent non-Iranians came out as well, most wearing flags, headbands, and even yellow vests with images of the group’s leaders — Maryam and Massoud Rajavi — on the chest. Of this group, few seemed to have many details about the MEK, and instead pledged vague notions of support for human rights and democracy, often even getting the name of the MEK wrong.

Some of the attendees had been bused and flown in at no personal cost, receiving transportation and in some cases lodging and meals.

One attendee who spoke with ThinkProgress, Melvin Santiago, 23, a homeless man living in shelters in Staten Island, New York, said he’d found out about the protest from a friend he’d come with. They made the trip along with about 100 other people in four rented coach buses.

“He saw [a flier] yesterday passing by the church,” said Santiago of his friend. “He usually goes there for the food pantry.”

On a day’s notice, Santiago said he hadn’t had a chance to learn too much about the MEK — he thought the group was called “Ashraff,” which is the name of the camp in Iraq where 3,400 members currently live.

Some of the other attendees knew little about the MEK’s history. The State Department designated the group in 1997 and made allegations of decades of terrorism, including against Americans when the U.S. had good relations with the Shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Two attendees from Arkansas, who’d come up with an Iranian friend who lives nearby, said that they suspected collusion — “hanky panky” — between the State Department and the Islamic Republic.

Others had an interest in Iran. One attendee said he lived in Iran and played professional basketball there. He said he supported human rights in Iran. He said the reverend at his church informed him about the rally, though he admitted that “to be honest, I don’t really understand what the MEK is.”

By Zaid Jilani

Download Attendees Don’t Really Understand What The MEK Is

September 7, 2011 0 comments

Lord Corbett

Iran Fanous open letter to Lord Robin Corbett

Regarding to your recent and formal interview , we would like to inform you, as a representative of English people in the oldest Parliament which is known as the symbol of democracy for more than 500 years , of some important points.

Lord Corbett ! In this interview which had been implemented and carried out by the Persian section of the BBC, without contemplating of the news broadcasting and journalism prestige, you as pmoi lobby had reversed and censored all the realities which are existing inside the pmoi organization . your interview reminds us of the interviews of some characters of the eastern part of the world.

You are saying in this interview that you do not have any desire to know anything about the internal structure and problems of pmoi! And the only thing which is important for you is that pmoi is trying its best to finish and terminate the breach of human rights which is happening in Iran! But you do not answer why is not important for you the internal problems and structure of such organization? And it is more interesting that you do not want to know or hear anything about their internal problems and structure consequently it is very questionable.
Lord Corbett , you should know that we are the people who had lived more than you inside this organization, and our question is ,do you know that what is waiting for the people who have a chance to escape and leave the pmoi organization after 10 or 20 years?

Is it important in your culture the life of the people? and how do they live?

Where have you read or heard as a supporter and advocate of the human rights that the condition for supporting of an organization or a government , is just by supporting their slogans? Is not true that the first condition for supporting an organization or a government or ……etc is to survey and scrutinize the internal relations of such organization or government? Because slogans can be fake and unreal!

While the families of the pmoi members have been waiting behind the gates of Ashraf garrison for more than a year to see their loved ones and their request has been rejected up to now by the pmoi operatives and instead they have been slandered and insulted by the pmoi operatives, how can the leaders of such organization claim the democracy and human rights in their slogans?

Lord Corbett , the essence of fact finding should be existing in any person who claims supporting and advocating for freedom ,the human rights and democracy . This essence of fact finding begets more responsibilities and double your responsibility as a member of House of Lords and House of Representatives and we believe that your first priority as a member of House of Lords should be the fact finding .

Lord Corbett , what are you going to lose if you decide to have a conversation and exchanging views with the separated members of pmoi preferably in front of media? But please listen to our request one more time which is saying that you have judged unilaterally in your interview, but we as the victims of such organization who have inherited many pains and miseries of this organization ,pmoi, and we would like to share all those experiences with you and at the end we would like to hear your respond and opinion ,as a defender of human rights and democracy ,for all those miseries and painful moments that each one of us had experienced in that organization.

According to your speech , you do not receive any money from this passer , consequently you respect to the fact finding , so if in your country and in your capital , London, is not possible to have such meeting with you ,our association , Iran Lantern( Iran Fanoos) is inviting you to have this meeting with the separated members of pmoi in Germany.
Any endeavors and transparency in advancing and deepening the democracy and the freedom slogan has its own impacts and effects.

There is no need to be worried , you are doing your best for freedom and democracy and you can continue your admirable and holy duties after all! But we should say and emphasize that in the world of communication the fact finding will come to the reality much faster and the facts will be revealed at last .

Respectfully

Iran Fanous, Germany

September 7, 2011 0 comments

USA

Why the US State Department doesn’t trust the MEK

A clearer picture of what US leaders really think of the MEK can be found in earlier assessments of the group by the US government—at a time when MEK’s connections in Western governments weren’t as extensively developed. Today the MEK propaganda efforts mentioned in this report are showing their effects.

Excerpts from 1992 report by Congressional Research Service addressed to Lee H. Hammilton, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives (1993–1995). (Note: in this report NCR=PMOI=MKO=MEK=…)

1. We want to be clear that our conclusions about the Mojahedin do not in any way imply support for the behavior of the current regime in Iran.

2. Despite Mojahedin assertions that the group has abandoned its revolutionary ideology and now favors a liberal democracy, there is no written or public record of discussion or debate about the dramatic reversals in the Mojahedin’s stated positions. Moreover, the Mojahedin’s…record of behavior does not substantiate its capability or intention to be democratic.

3. The intellectual contradictions between Shi’a Islam and Marxism… caused the Mojahedin to split in 1975. The organization broke drown into Marxist and Muslim factions. But the religious disagreement between the secular and Islamic factions of the MKO did not undermine their fundamental agreement on the issue of imperialism, nor their strategy of armed struggle against …American interests in Iran.

4. Like their dedication to armed struggle, the Mojahedin’s emphasis on propaganda reflects the influence of other revolutionaries, who sought both adherents and supporters through indoctrination, since its inception, the group has made drafting and disseminating propaganda a priority.

5. … it [MEK 1979 manifesto] recommended that Iran cancel all agreements with "racist" state of Israel.

6. The Mojahedin are known to have assassinated the following Americans in Iran during the 1970s:
Lt. Colonel Lewis L. Hawkins Killed: June 2, 1973
Air Force Colonel Paul Schaeffer Killed: May 21, 1975
Air Force Lt. Colonel Jack Turner Killed: May 21, 1975
Donald G. Smith, Rockwell International Killed: August 28, 1976
Robert R. Krongrad, Rockwell International Killed: August 28, 1976
William C. Cottrell, Rockwell International Killed: August 28, 1976.
7. The very day that 400 university students overtook the U.S. embassy, the Mojahedin issued a proclamation headlined, "After the Shah, it’s America’s turn."

8. [After release of US embassy hostages] the next issue of "Mojahed" [MEK publication] reminded readers that "the Mojahedin-e Khalq were the first force who rose unequivocally to the support of the occupation of the American spy center," and further noted that Mojahedin members spent "days and weeks," "in heat and cold," in front of the embassy in an effort to ensure that the occupied embassy was "an active and zealous anti-imperialist center." It described the release of the nostages as a "retreat" and "surrender" and warned that resumption of diplomatic relations with the United States would be "treason to the people and to the blood of our martyrs."

9. …in radio broadcasts of the "Voice of Mojahed," [circa 1990s] which are transmitted into Iran from Mojahedin bases in Iraq, the MKO has claimed responsibility for internal violence throughout Iran…A number of these self-described operations included attacks against clearly civilian targets, such as automobiles, highways, government buildings open to the public, businesses.

10. After the flight of the Mojahedin leadership from Iran in 1981, the group internationalized its propaganda to gain new adherents and attract Western supporters…Rajavi commenced a campaign of public relations that developed into the formidable Mojahedin outreach program currently operating.

11. The NCR also solicits the support of prominent public figures, and practices a determined lobbying effort among Western parliamentarians.

12. To conduct its propaganda campaign, the group has established offices throughout Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and the Middle East. These offices are responsible for coordinating the public relations effort and through their activities have established the Mojahedin as the best organized Iranian opposition group. They sponsor public demonstrations and marches. Other types of publicity measures include television programming and musical concerts that feature prominent Iranian musicians. The Mojahedin claim the audiences for these performances are indicative of MKO support.

13. The organization also transmits unsolicited faxes and mail of its publications to various U.S. government offices, including the State Department, on a regular basis.

14. The Mojahedin focus their public relations efforts on the objectionable activities of the Iranian government…After the war, the Mojahedin stepped up its campaign to publicize the Iranian regime’s dismal record on human rights.

15. Another common practice of the group is to collect statements issued by prominent individuals. Western governments, the E.U and the U.N condemning Iranian government abuses and to reissue them as a package under the Mojahedin name — although the Mojahedin are not a factor in the Western condemnations. Likewise, the Mojahedin collect Western press reports that describe objectionable behavior by the Iranian government and re-publish them in Mojahedin documents.

16. Mojahedin publications tend to mirror concurrent Western public diplomacy…Through such efforts, the Mojahedin attempt to transform Western opprobrium For the government of Iran into expressions of support for themselves.

17. "By keeping on good terms with enough journalists, they hope to transform their public image in America from terrorists to Freedom fighters." The major objective of the MKO’s public relations campaign is to posit the Mojahedin as the alternative to the current Iranian government, or in their words, the "face of Iran to be," and in so doing gain both new adherents and Western political and financial support. To achieve these objectives, they must ensure their organization and its espoused principles appeal to Western audiences and Iranian expatriates.

18. Current Mojahedin publications assert the group’s advocacy of specific guidelines for a future provisional government, including: "democracy," "peace," "love, friendship, and unity," "separation of church and state," and "recognition of private ownership and a market economy…"

19. [but] These claims present a revolutionary departure from the substantial written record of Mojahedin ideology. Examples of such reversals include the switch from revolutionary Islam to separation of church and state and from nationalization to private ownership. Yet the changes in MKO ideology occurred without any public debate, and there is no public record of discussion or review of Mojahedin principles. It is also unclear when each change in policy occurred, and what internal factors motivated each shift. The absence of dialogue about this critical issue of ideology contrasts markedly with the group’s earlier history of discourse.

20. Nor are these new claims substantiated by the record of the Mojahedin’s activities throughout… Mojahedin organizations do not follow the principles outlined in their revised propaganda. In particular, the Mojahedin have never practiced democracy within their own organization…

21. The Mojahedin’s own publications further suggest the insincerity of their ideological alteration…the Mojahedin have begun to appropriate Iranian national symbols for use in their publications. One…journal is named "The Lion and the Sun" in reference to two symbols used by the monarchy throughout Iranian history. Yet the Mojahedin worked to overthrow the Shah’s monarchy and today refuse to work with monarchist oppositionists…. Similarly, the Mojahedin have abandoned their original flag, whose symbols include a Quranic verse, sickle, and Kalashnikov, in favor of the royal flag used during the Sah’s rule.

22. The Mojahedin have also begun incorporating the "Mossadeq" name into their publications. "The Lion and Sun" journal, for example, contains report on "The Rising that Restored Mossadeq." In fact, the Mojahedin rejects the nonviolent, constitutional opposition exemplified by Mossadeq. The political party that was the heir to Mossadeq’s policies, the National Front, refused in 1981 to work with the NCR because of the Mojahedin’s revolutionary Islamic ideology. These cosmetic modifications appear to be aimed at expatriate Iranian audiences, among whom these symbols would resonate.

23. the Mojahedin’s credibility is also undermined by the fact that they deny or distort sections of their history… It is difficult to accept at face value promises of future conduct when an organization fails to acknowledge its past.

by Ari Siletz

September 6, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Who are the MKO demonstrators?

On Friday, August 26th, 2011, the streets surrounding the US State Department featured a motley crowd of protesters wearing yellow hats and t-shirts, chanting slogans, and pleading for the removal of Mujahedin Khalq (MKO/MEK) from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The crowd was mixed in race, and top-heavy with African Americans. An unusually large number of the protesters had scruffy hair and tattered clothes. And surprisingly, only a small number were actually Iranian-Americans. As the crowd was addressed by US politicians who supported the group’s cause, oddly, many in the crowd were not aware of what exactly it was they were protesting—this is because the majority of protesters did not really *have* a cause. They were merely following the assignment of the organizers, who paid them, fed them, and lodged them so they would commit to demonstrate that day. Protestors at the scene told one reporter that the Mujahedin Khalq organizers had told them that there were at least two thousand demonstrators present that day, but the estimate seemed high. [1]

The MKO is a terrorist group and has been blacklisted by the Department of State since the list was first created in 1997. Since then the MKO has persisted with a campaign to get itself removed from that list. And this time they have stooped to new lows: hiring the needy and desperate to do their dirty work, enlisting what seems like a busload of homeless to turn out in grand numbers for a spurious representation of support. It was purely a show of spectacular exploitation—the latest and greatest example of the MKO’s multi-million dollar effort to build support among Washington political elite, according to *The Cable*. [2] And if the false demonstration wasn’t bad enough, it has been reported in *The Christian Science Monitor* and *The Huffington Post* that many of the so-called MKO advocates had been paid large amounts of speaking fees. [3][4] According to Zaid Jilani of *thinkprogress.org* the rally included well-paid speakers and also paid demonstrators “who, it is probable fair to say, know even less about the MEK than the big-money speakers” and “were bused in from as far as New York city.” [5]

The group’s purchased advocacy was also confirmed by *Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, The National Interest, and The Cable*.

Golnaz Esfandiari and Hossein Aryan of *Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty*report that “rally participants also included a number of non-Iranian-Americans. Several of them told Esfandiari and Aryan that they had little or no knowledge about the MKO.” One African-American who was asked whether he and his female companion received money to attend the rally—his companion admitted they had, but then retracted her statement at the man’s behest. [6]

Many non-Iranian rally attendees claimed that they were there in the name of Iranian human rights but were actually confused by the term MEK. Zaid Jilani writes that “of this group [of demonstrators], few seemed to have many details about the MEK, and instead pledged vague notions of support for human rights and democracy, often even getting the name of the MEK wrong.” [7] He revealed that in fact “some of the attendees had been bused and flown in at no personal cost, receiving transportation and in some cases lodging and meals.” [8]
Paul R. Pillar of *The National Interest* writes that one of the participants, a 23-year-old man from Staten Island named Melvin Santiago, said he learned about the demonstration from a friend who in turn got word of it through a flyer distributed in front of a church where the friend said that Santiago “usually goes for the food pantry”. [9]

Another attendee told Zaid Jilani that he supported human rights in Iran and he was informed about the rally at his church and admitted, “to be honest, I don’t really understand what the MEK is.” [10]

It is this latest rally that one can see the effort that the MKO has put in to changing their public persona as they push for being de-listed. According to a RAND report, the MKO are “skilled manipulators of public opinion.” [11] Paul R. Pillar, a professor, and a retired person who served over two decades in the US Intelligence Community asserts that “those who have sold their advocacy for big bucks deserve shame; those who have done so for a meal or two may be deserve our pity.” [12] What is truly appalling is that the MKO is actually a cult who abuses its own members, and now they are exploiting the public—a public who seems to have a weak moral code. Group supporters need to come forward and admit what’s going on, and the general public needs to question more deeply the legitimacy of this atrocious group, and especially those who are paid speaking fees to help the MKO.

The US needs to be aware of that the MKO’s past is beset with crimes and bloodshed. They not only have a history of terrorism against Iran, but against the US and its allies—in fact in the 1970’s, the MKO murdered several US citizens. The MKO has little support in the West, but in effect no viable support inside Iran (because they are a cult, but mostly due to their treasonous relations with Saddam Hussein). In short, US citizens, like Iranian citizens, should not trust the MKO. Pillar suggests that Hillary Clinton “should pay no heed to what Melvin Santiago and the other hungry homeless outside her office window are saying, or to what the high-paid hired guns are saying, about the MEK. Nor does she need to pay any attention to what people like me are saying about the group. She should keep the windows closed and just pay attention to the terms of the law and to what officials in the departments and agencies involved say about whether the terms of the law still apply in this case”.[13]

By Mazda Parsi

References:

[1]Jilani, Zaid, Attendees bused into MEK Rally, Some of Whom Don’t Really
Understand What the MEK Is, ThinkProgress, August 26,2011
[2]Rogin, Josh, MEK rally planned for Friday at the State Department, the Cable/ Foreign Policy, August 25, 2011
[3]Peterson, Scott ,Iranian group’s big-money push to get off US terrorist list, The Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2011
[4]Wilkie, Christina, Mujahideen-e Khalq: Former U.S. Officials Make Millions Advocating For Terrorist Organization,The Huffingtonpost, August 9,2011
[5] Jilani, Zaid, Attendees bused into MEK Rally, Some of Whom Don’t Really
Understand What the MEK Is, ThinkProgress, August 26,2011
[6]Esfandiari, Golnaz, &Aryan, Hossein, MKO Supporters Rally To Call For
U.S. Delisting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, August 26, 2011
[7] Jilani, Zaid, Attendees bused into MEK Rally, Some of Whom Don’t Really Understand What the MEK Is, ThinkProgress, August 26, 2011
[8]ibid
[9]R. Pillar, Paul, The Lobbying that Shouldn’t be Happening, The National Interest, august 27,2011
[10]Jilani, Zaid, Attendees bused into MEK Rally, Some of Whom Don’t Really Understand What the MEK Is, ThinkProgress, August 26,2011
[11]Goulka, Jeremiah &Hansell, Lydia &Wilke, Elizabeth &Larson, Judith, The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq; A Policy Conundrum, RAND Corporation, August 2009.
[12] R. Pillar, Paul, The Lobbying that Shouldn’t be Happening, The National Interest, August 27,2011
[13]ibid

September 5, 2011 0 comments

Maryam Rajavi

Interview with Maryam Rajavi

A few years ago, one of the producers of CBS’s 60 Minutes asked me to arrange for the networks interview with Maryam Rajavi, a leader of Iran’s Mujahidin Khalq Organization (MKO). I told him then that I thought it was not possible to do this, to which he replied, “If the interview is going to be with a non-Iranian network, the response will certainly be different.”

I then recruited the assistance of a person affiliated with the MKO. A few days later he provided me with an email address to contact. When I did, I was given a telephone number to contact, which in all honesty made me feel embarrassed for my initial assumption which was based on hear say. Subsequent events however proved me right.

When I made the first call, I was given another telephone number to call. This was repeated several times in the course of a few months that followed, until the American producer called me and said the issue was over and that there was no need to follow-up.

I concluded that 60 Minutes must have decided to call off the pursuit because of how long it had taken to arrange for the interview. He surprised me when he said that a representative of the MKO had made arrangements with the program’s senior producer and had made a condition for the interview and had written up the questions to be asked….

This was pathetic, something that still continues.

These days, as media reports on MKO’s efforts to be delisted from the US State Department’s terrorist list, reactions and responses have been published too which speak of a contradiction of this possibility with supporting the Iranian drive and movement for freedom and rights. So as a journalist, I once again see it as my duty to request for an interview with Maryam Rajavi to get responses to some basic questions. Here are some:

• In the first years of the 1979 revolution, young members of the MKO had instructions not to engage with members and affiliates of other political groups. Was this true and is there a similar policy today?

• If delisted, does the MKO plan to change its structure and make it similar to other political organizations and be subject to the regulations governing such parties?

• Does the MKO see itself responsible to respond to questions such as its cooperation with Saddam Hossein in attacking and invading Iran?

• Under what strategy and goal were inexperienced youth asked to respond to the Mersad Operation inside Iran?

• Is internal criticism allowed within MKO and can it be reflected outside the organization?

• Is it true that some MKO members have left the organization on the basis of such instructions by the group to take up the responsibility of attacking other opponents of the Islamic republic?

• On what perspective does the MKO pursue the policy of attacking Khatami (carried out since 1997) and Mousavi and Karoubi (since 2009) while at the same time claiming to be supporting the Green Movement?

And finally,

• From where does the belief “Stay away from the Mujahidin, they are dangerous” come? Is there a consequence on criticizing the MKO? Even asking questions?

As a journalist, I would like to have answers to these questions. Others however tell me otherwise.

– Don’t write, they are dangerous. Instead of a response, you and your family will be attacked with insults. You will be presented as an agent.

They tell me:

– When a young web blogger wrote a few lines in criticism of Mrs. Rajavi, he was attacked in such a manner that his mother, herself a former member of the MKO in Tehran, warned him to stay away from the group as its members were “notorious.”

There is more they tell me.

Yet, I have written my questions to Mrs. Rajavi to see whether we all change in time or …

By Nooshabeh Amiri, Roos online

September 5, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Gambling with MKO terrorism

Some in U.S paving ground for another round of violence

If the ultimate goal of delisting the MEK is to create a political entity with military capacity that could come into play when push comes to shove with Iran, then we’re in for yet another foreign policy disaster.

If anything, the whole 9/11 ordeal revealed in a spectacular way that enhancing an extremist organization and tactically allying with it in order to gain strategic advantage over a bigger foe is not necessarily the best long-term policy. Terrorist groups and indoctrinated cults (regardless of how they’re designated) don’t make loyal friends. That’s now a historically proven fact. You could use them for short-term gains –just as you did with Afghanistan’s Mujahidin in early 1980s against the Soviet Union – but once they grow strong, they’ll go by their own twisted agenda.

Certainly, an unethical dogmatic cult like the MEK – which has the capacity of instructing its own members to self-immolate in support of their leaders – a cult that went as far as fighting alongside the troops of Saddam Hussein when he invaded its own country’s territorial integrity – is much less principled and predictable than some hawkish American politicians wish it to be. You may see a potential ally in the fiery group for the time being, but it’s utterly naïve to think that an ideological political formation that took up arms against its own people at a time of war would stay loyal to anyone or to any noble principle it pledges to uphold.

The truth is that enhancing the MEK from a ghostly Marxist-Islamist terrorist organization on the verge of dissolution to a dangerously consequential actor in the inflammable region of the Middle East would most likely be a risky decision that future U.S governments, along with moderate political and ideological forces in the region, will wholeheartedly regret. If left alone, the MEK would probably gradually fade away in the maze of history and spare future generations the hassle of combating yet another fanatical force. If boosted and unleashed however, there would be no guarantee that anyone – including the U.S – would be able to exercise any sort of moderating influence on it. The risk is for Hilary Clinton to take. She could play it safe, call the terrorist group what it is and contain it until it’s dissolved. Or she could boost it up, let it loose and watch it in action.

The Secretary of State should bear in mind though that in its present miserable form, the MEK is one of the staunchest forces against peace and non-violent resistance among all other Iranian political groups. Not yet delisted, the MEK is perhaps devoting as much time and resource combating and weakening the voices of non-violence within the Iranian opposition. It suffices to take a quick look at the MEK’s online media, TV programs and propaganda machine to see the level of hatred and resentment that this group spurs toward the very notion of “non-violence” and civility in political struggle (although the English version of its media productions aimed at a Western audience are much more “peaceful” than its Farsi ones).

So there should be no doubt in her mind that if the MEK’s capabilities and credibility are enhanced through recognition by the State Department, it would not hesitate to unleash all its newly gained impetus to suffocate all voices of rationality and plant the seeds of a new form of extremism that future generations of Iranians, Middle Easterns and Americans would have to deal with.

It is a pity to see that at a time where the Arab spring is promising a new era of rationality and prosperity in the tormented region of the Middle East, some forces within the U.S are yet again paving the ground for another round of violence to emerge.

By Reza Nasri

September 5, 2011 0 comments

Iran

Baghdad under pressure to allow U.S. establish military bases in Iraq’

MP Mohammad Javad Abtahi says the Baghdad government is pressed by Washington to allow the U.S. to establish military bases in Iraq, he stated.

This is while Iraq’s major concern is Camp Ashraf which houses MKO terrorists, Abtahi told the Mehr News Agency.

He added if the U.S. really wants to deal with insecurity in Iraq, why it does not cooperate with the Iraqi government to expel the MKO terrorists.

Abtahi also refuted claims by U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta that Iran sends military equipment to Iraqi insurgents.

The MP said the United States has nothing to prove its claims so it resorts to anything to justify its baseless claims.

He said Iraq’s security is highly important to Iran, adding, “Iran has always expressed concern over the security of its borders and then how is it possible (for it) to intensify insecurity in the region?”

September 4, 2011 0 comments

Iran

Washington backed assassinations and terrorism always futile

West’s terror attacks were ineffective
A senior member of Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) has said that terrorist attacks in Iran were funded by the Western powers but were ineffective, Press TV reported.

Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Deputy Chairman Hossein Ebrahimi said on Monday that the enemies of the Islamic Republic, particularly the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), are backed by the colonialist powers.

The MKO carried out several terrorist acts in Iran with the goal of crippling the Islamic Revolution, but their efforts have always been futile, and “they will take their ambitions to the grave,” he stated.

The MKO assassinated Iranian President Mohammad Ali Rajaee and Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar in 1981.

They were killed in an explosion on August 30, 1981, about two months after Chief Justice Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti was killed along with 72 state officials and lawmakers in another MKO bombing in Tehran.

Iranian MP Javan Aryan-Manseh said that the assassinations were carried out to topple the Islamic Republic, adding, “They never realized… that each and every assassination they carried out would generate greater support for the Islamic Revolution.”

The MKO fled to Iraq in the 1980s, where they enjoyed the support of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and set up Camp Ashraf in the eastern province of Diyala, near the Iranian border.

The MKO also cooperated with Saddam in the massacres of Iraqi Kurds and in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq.

Since Saddam was deposed in 2003, the Iraqi government has set numerous deadlines for the terrorist group to leave the country but the MKO has managed to maintain its base due to US backing.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and has committed numerous terrorist acts against both Iranians and Iraqis.

Iran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the group, but the US has been putting pressure on the Iraqi government to block the expulsion.

September 4, 2011 0 comments

Iran

Americans excuse for invasion of Iraq was to fight MKO

A senior Iranian commander says terrorists are the tools of Western powers to secure their interests in freedom-seeking countries across the world.

“In countries where the current of affairs is against the will of Westerners and the United States, forming terror cells in those countries is a lever for realizing the goals of the West,” IRNA quoted Deputy Commander of the Chiefs of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi as saying on Tuesday.

Hejazi pointed to the assassination of former Iranian President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and former Prime Minister Hojjatoleslam Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, and described such terrorist acts as attempts to paralyze the Islamic Revolution by erasing Iranian officials and figures.

“Today, this wrong manner of thinking still exists about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear scientists,” Hejazi said.

Creating terror and anxiety among the officials and forcing them to retreat and yield to colonial powers, and also creating divisions between the people and the Islamic establishment in Iran are among the enemy’s goals in assassinations, he added, stressing that the enemy has failed to achieve any of these objectives.

The Iranian commander further condemned the West’s double standards regarding the issue of terrorism, pointing to the Western powers’ support for the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group despite the fact that it is blacklisted as a terrorist entity, and the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq under the pretext of fighting terror.

“Considering that fighting terrorism was the excuse for the US invasion of Iraq, it was expected that terrorist elements, including MKO forces, would be confronted. But not only was there no confrontation, but they were also supported, and even now that the Iraqi government is determined to expel the MKO from the country, the US and Western countries are trying to hinder the move,” Hejazi added.

The MKO — listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community — has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranian officials and civilians as well as the people of Iraq.

After the downfall of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Iraqi government has set numerous deadlines for the terrorist group to leave the country but the MKO has managed to maintain its base with the support of the US.

September 4, 2011 0 comments

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