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Tom Tancredo’s Marriage to the Mojahedin Khalq

Tom Tancredo’s Marriage to the Mojahedin Khalq (MEK, MKO, NCRI, Rajavi cult): Posterboy for Israel’s Infiltration of the American Right

The Washington Post and the international media inform us this week that it’s official: Former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) is going to seek that state’s gubernatorial nomination as the candidate of the Constitution Party. For the record, I was the Constitution Party’s nominee in the U. S. Senate race in Delaware in 2000, opposing now-Senator Thomas Carper and the late William Roth.

Mark Dankof: The MEK/MKO/PMOI terror organization.

Does it have the fingerprints of the CIA, Mossad, and MI6?

TPM informs us that the Constitution Party is a paleo-conservative party in the mold of Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul, rejecting “neoconservatism and American internationalism as threats to the country’s independence and sovereignty.”

But, as usual, the media (and many of the naive faithful in the Constitution Party) misses the real story: Tom Tancredo is a tool of the Israeli Lobby, a neo-conservative, and a warmonger for the Zionist State on the subject of launching a preemptive war against Iran.

This is not the first time that the national Constitution Party has promoted an Israeli asset at the national level in recent years . In 2008, Constitution Party founder Howard Phillips, chairman of Washington’s Conservative Caucus, was promoting Dr. Jerome Corsi of Harvard University as a prospective Presidential candidate for the fledgling conservative 3rd-Party-in-the-Electoral-Wilderness.

It takes less than 5 minutes on the Net to establish Corsi’s credentials as a neo-conservative, Zionist asset of influence on the American Right. An inspection of Corsi’s written archives for World Net Daily, the brainchild of Netanyahu’s buddy-in-residence, Joseph Farah, tells all that is needed to know about the good Harvard doctor. His book, Atomic Iran, might as well been authored by the agitation-propaganda assets for the Israeli intelligence establishment that Philip Giraldi informs us are using Rupert Murdoch’s media chain to deliberately disseminate false stories about what is transpiring with Iran’s nuclear program. As an excellent summation of Atomic Iran, Payvand’s Iran News carries a review of Corsi’s tome that reveals the extent of its connections to America’s Mossad-linked Neo-Conservatives.

But Corsi made one mistake in 2008. He appeared on my broadcast, “Mark Dankof’s America,” for the Republic Broadcasting Network. At that time, he shared with my listeners his ongoing travels to Israel, for consultations with his “advisors in the Israeli Knesset.” It was shortly after that revelation that he withdrew his name from the Constitution Party Presidential sweepstakes. It would be the end of his brief foray into electoral politics, but not the end of the bigger story.

The new posterboy for Israeli infiltration of American paleo-conservative parties and media outlets would appear to be Tom Tancredo. An examination of Tancredo’s published views in an interview with Right Wing News reveals what the London Financial Times depicted by photograph yesterday, in covering the ex-Congressman’s run for the Colorado governor’s mansion. He is working with the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MKO)/National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), the Communist-cultic terror organization, in assisting American neo-conservatives and Israel in facilitating “regime change” in Iran.

Hey, Mr. Tancredo: Is that the Hammer-and-Sickle in the MEK Logo?

My recent work on the MKO, and my coverage of the Raymond/Constance Tanter divorce case, should tell every American paleo-conservative in either the Constitution or Republican Party about that organization—and who it is that Tom Tancredo is working for. It isn’t America. It’s Israel and the Jewish Lobby.

Right Web joins Right Wing News in chronicling the Tancredo world view as it pertains to both the MEK, the Neo-Conservative “clash of civilizations” ideology, and support for America’s alleged War on Terror. Here is a sample:

“A cultural warrior on the international front, Tancredo is an enthusiastic supporter of the Bush administration’s war on terror, including the war in Iraq. Tancredo, who is a consistent supporter of the Pentagon and U.S. defense industries, has become a leading spokesperson in the House for an Iran regime change strategy in which the People’s Freedom Fighters (MEK) would be the vanguard organization supported by the United States.

“Describing himself as a ‘devotee’ of Samuel Huntington and the thesis of his Clash of Civilizations treatise, Tancredo, like many on the right-from social conservatives to neoconservatives-bases his restrictionism less on economic reasons than on cultural and racial ones. ‘The threat to the United States comes from two things: the act of immigration combined with the cult of multiculturalism,’ argues Tancredo. ‘We will never be able to win in the clash of civilizations if we don’t know who we are. If Western civilization succumbs to the siren song of multiculturalism, I believe we are finished.’

“Concerning the war on terrorism, Tancredo stated: ‘I believe that what we are fighting here is not just a small group of people who have hijacked a religion, but it is a civilization bent on destroying ours. Radical Islam has been the foe of Christiandom for centuries. The most serious foe of Christiandom. The battle ebbs and flows, peaks and becomes less intense, but it has been going on for centuries. We have never really been bothered by it, because the world was a place in which you could not really attack the United States physically. There were oceans separating us and if you did come, what were you going to come with? A gun, a rock, an arrow? But today it has all changed; it has taken on a different dimension.’

“‘This combination, massive immigration and radical multiculturalism,’ warned Tancredo, ‘is a prescription for our own demise.’

“Violent Regime Change in Iran by Freedom Fighters Tancredo advocates U.S. support for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a cult-like group that is cultivating a broad base of support among Iranian expatriates around the world. Mujahedin e-Khalq means ‘people’s freedom fighters.’ MEK affiliates are the Iraq-based National Liberation Army of Iran and the National Council of Resistance in Iran. MEK calls itself the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The public face of the MEK is Maryam Rajavi, who has been designated by the MEK as the president-elect of Iran’s government in exile.

“Although identified as a terrorist organization by the State Department and accused of a pattern of human rights abuses, Tancredo says ‘We should be aiding them, instead of restricting their activities. We can use the MEK, they are in fact warriors. Where we need to use that kind of force, we can use them.’

“Together with Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), Tancredo in 2005 formed the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus.

“On April 6, 2005 the caucus convened a briefing on Capitol Hill organized by the Iran Policy Committee, the most prominent policy institute dedicated to advancing a U.S. government-supported regime change strategy that relies on the MEK as the main instrument of a violent revolution. At that briefing, Tancredo called for the Bush administration to remove MEK from the list of terrorist organizations. According to Tancredo, MEK was designated not because it was involved in terrorist activities, but because the Clinton administration sought to curry favor with the Iranian regime.

“Tancredo describes Maryam Rejavi as ‘very charismatic, she believes in women’s rights, she believes in democracy in Iran . I do support their efforts. I understand that the United States characterizes them as a terrorist organization, but what you have to understand is that they were identified as such only after the Clinton administration agreed to mollify the regime in Iran. They wanted to reach some kind of detente with Iran. Iran had only one demand, and that was that we put the Mujahedin-e Khalq on the terrorist list and so it was done for political reasons, not because they posed any threat to the United States.’

“On May 10, 2005 Tancredo organized another Capitol Hill briefing through the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus that featured a variety of witnesses who spoke favorably of the MEK, including at least two U.S. military officials who had worked with the MEK in Iraq. On May 18, 2005 Tancredo took his support of MEK to the House floor when he asked that excerpts of the briefing be included in the congressional record. In his statement, Tancredo said that 65 political groups in Iraq had organized a petition signed by 2.8 million Iraqis that criticized Iran-sponsored ‘Islamic fundamentalism’s stealthy domination’ of Iraq and strongly supported the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran. Tancredo called the organization the ‘main Iranian opposition group.’ Describing the petition, Tancredo said its supporters demanded that ‘the PMOI should be recognized in Iraq as a “legitimate political movement”’-which is also one of the demands of the Iran Policy Committee.

“Tancredo and Filner, the co-chairs of the Iran caucus, offered their support to a pro-MEK rally in Washington on January 19, 2006. In a letter to the rally organizers, the Council for Democratic Change in Iran, the co-chairs of the House caucus, said, ‘We believe a possible alternative to the current government can be achieved through supporting the people of Iran and the Iranian resistance . We extend our solidarity to you and to the Iranian people and their defiance against tyranny.’

“The pro-MEK rally was endorsed by two U.S. Senators: Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and by four individual congressional representatives: Christopher Shays (R-CT), Ed Towns (D-NY), Bob Filner (D-CA), and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).

“By publicly supporting the MEK and the Iran Policy Committee, Tancredo has positioned himself with the most radical wing in the intensifying debate about how the U.S. government should pursue an Iran ‘regime change’ strategy. All sides that favor such a strategy agree that the U.S. government should be working more closely with Iranian dissidents both inside and outside Iran.

“Tancredo continues to be an enthusiastic supporter of the U.S. war in Iraq. In a section on his official website on Iraq, Tancredo says: ‘The United States did not invade Iraq to conquer it, but rather to set it free. The United States does not stand to gain territory, oil, or any other spoils of war. We all should be proud of that sacrifice.’

“Concerning the war on terrorism, Tancredo states: ‘Ultimately, I believe that the leadership of President Bush and the determination of the American people will result in the needed investments in technology, people, and weapons systems to combat, deter, and respond to future acts of brutality and terror by our enemies.’”

Alfred E. Newman and Tom Tancredo: Which one is "Mad" Magazine’s Poster Boy

So much for a political party that rejects “neoconservatism and American interventionism” and nominates Tom Tancredo. You can consign the Constitution Party to the ashheap of history, along with an Israeli-infiltrated Tea Party movement. As I pointed out in my past essay, “Controlled Opposition: The Tea Party Turds and the House of Rothschild’s Coming War with Iran,” the ongoing demonization of Iran and ad hominem attacks on Islam, are always accompanied by a complete ignorance of the history of the relationship between the Jewish Lobby and Israel on the one hand, and their malignant influence on America on the other. When the Tea Party’s well-publicized Nashville conference featured Neo-Conservative after Neo-Conservative, leading up to the grand finale of Sarah Palin’s gracing of the stage, I suggested the following:

“Try this one on for size. What would have transpired in Nashville if someone with access to podium as a scheduled speaker had said something on the order of the following?

“‘Ladies and gentlemen, why is the domestic and foreign policy of the modern American conservative movement and the Republican party being defined by a view of Biblical prophecy unheard of until the 19th century, and largely promoted worldwide by the House of Rothschild’s distribution of the Scofield Reference Bible through its Oxford University Press? Why are we in an alliance with a nation that has repeatedly committed crimes against the United States, including the Lavon Affair, Mossad involvement in the Kennedy assassination, the premeditated attack on the USS Liberty in June of 1967, the Pollard spy case, participation with Communist China in the theft of American nuclear secrets at Los Alamos through the PROMIS affair, and the more recent Ben Ami Kadish and AIPAC/Rosen/Weissman spy cases?

“‘Why are we in an alliance as American conservatives with a domestic Jewish lobby which has militantly supported and financed the radical feminist, abortion, and homosexual lobbies most of us are sworn to oppose?

” ‘Why are we, as a pro-life movement, committed to policies of genocide against the Palestinians and the advocacy of the mass murder of Iranians, at the behest of an “ally’’which is the chief nuclear, biological, and chemical military power in the Middle East, and a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signed, however, by Iran?

“‘And why, pray tell, are people here today in Nashville, talking about recovering American domestic liberty, in the context of ongoing obeisance to the chief players in a central banking cabal which has handed to us the direct federal income tax, the Federal Reserve Board, $13 trillion in national debt, and every globalist trade treaty that has destroyed American sovereignty and the manufacturing sector of our economy? Is Bernard Madoff going to show up next year as a Tea Party keynote speaker?

“‘And are Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, William Kristol, Mary Parker Lewis, Alan Keyes, Lou and Phillip Sheldon, Connie Hair, Judson Phillips, Mark Skoda, and Andrew Breitbart concerned that Israeli intelligence is promoting agitation-propaganda through the Rupert Murdoch News Corp chain designed to begin a Third World War?

“‘Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, there is only one word to describe these activities on the part of those who claim to speak for America, its Constitution, and its people, but who have been bought off by what I have just described. That word is treason.’

” Nashville clearly would have exploded. It should have. And the longer America First patriots delay the exposure of the Trojan Horse within the gates that should have transpired in Tennessee, the greater likelihood of the destruction of the Republic at the hands of the House of Rothschild, and the envelopment of the planet in the flames of a Third World War, courtesy of the Neo-Conservative dream of a ‘Clash of Civilizations.’“

To the list of agents of the House of Rothschild, you may add the name of Tom Tancredo.

And for the real history of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq and its affiliates, real American conservatives and patriots are invited to listen to my past broadcast with Dr. Paul Sheldon Foote on the subject. Dr. Foote is a Ron Paul Republican, ex-U. S. Army veteran in Vietnam , and past denizen of the American Embassy in Tehran decades ago. He is presently a professor at Cal State Fullerton. When accessing the interview on the Habilian Association web site in Iran, peruse the rest of the site, along with the web page of the Nejat Society.

You’ll learn what Tom Tancredo isn’t telling you. And who he’s working for. And who continues to deceive you.

And why they hate us. It isn’t because of our “freedoms.”

Mark Glenn is returning from sabbatical leave to resume his radio shows with me on The Ugly Truth. We will be talking about the Israeli-sponsored infiltration of the American Right, and the MEK, in future shows. Stay tuned real soon.

July 29, 2010 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Iraq and the American Pullout: Separate We Must

The withdrawal of United States combat troops on August 31 falls during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer; a timetable better suited to the American political cycle than to MEK also participated in the 1979 take-over of the US Embassy in Tehran and so its members, as designated terrorists, are not eligible for resettlement in the US conditions in Iraq. Ramadan usually sees a spike in violence as religious fervour combines with heat and hunger. But delaying the withdrawal another year would mean the Iraq war surpassing the Vietnam war in length. The timing could have been better for Iraq, but withdrawal is overdue for the US. Having never been justified in the first place – legally, strategically, or defensively – it is time to endmilitary engagement in Iraq.

The United States has dug its military into the landscape, requiring enormous sums of taxpayer dollars to maintain its presence. It justifies its Iraq addiction by claiming only its soldiers can prevent Iraqis from killing each other and the Iraqi government from falling apart. For their part, many Iraqi politicians rely extensively on the US military, even as they call for the end of the occupation to score political points against rivals. It is an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship and the withdrawal will be a withdrawal in all senses of the word, possibly incurring further damage in the process if not undertaken responsibly.

IN CHAOS
Iraq’s political landscape is in bad shape and likely to get worse, but there is nothing the US military can or should do to prevent this. Some argue that the combat presence should be extended, raising visions of renewed sectarian bloodshed, Arab-Kurd violence, and the lack of Iraqi security force competence as justification for renegotiating Washington’s security agreement with Baghdad.

There are very real risks of violence and destabilisation, but committing US troops ad infinitum would have almost no impact on the underlying causes, and escalating violence should not justify another Iraq fix. On the contrary, a continued US military presence would deter Iraqis from taking-on the issues themselves, the only long-term solution to Iraq’s problems, particularly in regards to security which is a domestic rather than international issue.

Once American combat troops leave, Shi’a followers ofMoqtada al-Sadr will be deprived of their favourite devil and will lose relevance unless they can turn their energies to solving the country’s electricity crisis and improving relations with its Arab neighbours.

With fewer US bases, Al Qaeda in Iraq will have a reduced number of targets and its presence there is likely to diminish. After all, it has very few natural allies even among the Sunni Arab population.

Iyad Allawi’s Iraqiyya party won a tiny advantage in the March 7 vote, but Allawi has squandered whatever mandate he had by failing to form a coalition with any of the other major political parties. His frequent travels to Sunni Gulf countries further alienate him from the Shi’a population.
The National Alliance, intended to unite the rule of Law party with the Iraqi National Alliance in an undefeatable bloc, has likewise frittered away its mandate by botching the basic issue of who will lead the coalition.

Nuri al-Maliki, supposedly a strong leader, clutches onto the premiership even as the country crumbles around him because of a lack of leadership. Death threats against party leaders abound, and at least three elected officials have already been assassinated.

If a new government has formed by August 31, it may exclude at least one of the main demographic groups: Kurds, Sunni, or Shi’a. As in 2005, there is no appetite for a national unity government that would put all parties into the same tent and force them to compromise on de-Baathification and Kirkuk, issues that Iraqis are willing to kill and die for, rather than make concessions on.

If a national unity government is rammed into existence, the reluctant players will spend their four years in office squabbling rather than tackling the tough issues. The alternative of leaving-out one or more parties, may result in increased violence, but it may also lead to the development of a healthy opposition, able to credibly challenge the government when it acts illegitimately.

WITHDRAW SLOWLY…
The US will not be going cold turkey in its withdrawal. With its remaining fifty thousand support troops and 1,300 civilians and diplomats, it would do well to focus on getting the country electrified and supporting constitutional reform, things Iraqis themselves see as major stumbling blocks for economic and political development.
Nothing would stabilise Iraq more than reliable electricity, which would allow business growth and employment of those who might otherwise join militias to support their families. Electricity would attract investment and make it possible for the oil and gas sectors to expand, increase refrigeration of vaccines and fresh food, benefit schools, and even have allowed more people to watch World Cup games; it is no coincidence that major protests prompting the Electricity Minister to resign occurred in June during the football tournament.

The delay in government formation both in 2005 and this year underscores the vital need to reform the constitution as well as the rest of the legal structure. The constitution’s ambiguous, vague wording, written in haste and barely ratified in 2005, resulted in both Iraqiyya and the National Coalition claiming in March to have won the right to form the next government. Without the laws, courts, and constitution for political and legal solutions, Iraqis will rationally choose violence as the most effective means to solve problems.

…AND WITHDRAW RESPONSIBLY
The US should, however, withdraw responsibly. Our departure will have consequences for many Iraqis. To ignore our responsibilities would, in the words of US Congressman Brad Sherman, ‘Allow a human rights catastrophe to occur in Iraq just because we are in the process of leaving.’ Representative Sherman was referring to the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK), about three thousand radical Iranians held in Camp Ashraf in Iraq who oppose the Iranian government. Baghdad has no sympathy for the MEK because it assisted Saddam Hussein in suppressing Iraqi Shi’a and Kurds. The US withdrawal could result in a piranha-like feeding frenzy as both Iraq and Iran exact revenge.

MEK also participated in the 1979 take-over of the US Embassy in Tehran and so its members, as designated terrorists, are not eligible for resettlement in the US. Camp Ashraf, however, postpones the inevitable and risks becoming another Guantanamo Bay. MEK members who took part in acts of terror should face justice, possibly through an ad hoc United Nations tribunal that would ensure a fair trial. Those exonerated should then qualify for resettlement.

Even more desperate than the MEK are the estimated one hundred thousand Sahwa members, Sunni insurgents who initially fought against Americans in 2003-4 but then cooperated with them against Al Qaeda from 2005-8. Al Qaeda targets Sahwa members for betraying them, Shi’a militias despise them for working with the Americans, and the Shi’a government is reluctant to include the former insurgents in either the police or security forces.

Like MEK, Sahwa insurgents do not qualify for resettlement in the US. However, without Sahwa’s assistance, US forces would almost certainly have been defeated. Having signed a deal with Sawha we should uphold our end of the bargain by protecting remaining members from being picked off by Al Qaeda or Shi’a militias. We should help Sahwa families join the US refugee programme; restrictions on resettlement should not apply to innocent spouses and children. The credibility of America as a strategic partner in the Gulf depends in large part on how we treat our Arab allies, including Sahwa members.

As the military withdraws, thousands of Iraqis will lose their jobs as translators and assistants. Along with income loss they will face death threats for having worked with Americans and will no longer have the protection of nearby forces. Those who want to be resettled in the US should have quick and efficient access to the Refugee Assistance Program. For those who do not wish to leave Iraq, generous severance packages should benegotiated, taking into account their increased need for security as US troops depart.

On August 31, there may not yet be a new government to escort the US out, let alone take responsibility for the country’s security. People will undoubtedly still suffer from severe electricity shortages, with no air conditioning or refrigeration for most at the hottest time of the year. Clean water will be scarce and crops will be dying. There will be long, angry lines at fuel stations, rubbish mounting in the streets, and occasional explosions with accompanying screams and sirens. Basically, most people’s idea of hell. But separate we must.

Rachel Schneller, Foreign Service Officer, US State Department, currently International Affairs Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations. The views in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Government or State Department.

Rachel Schneller, Chatham House,The World Today, Volume 66, Number 8/9

July 29, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Visiting human rights activists in Netherland

Following the appeal made by the families who have been picketing outside cultic base of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO – Rajavi cult) to visit their relatives confined inside Ashraf Mr. Alishahi asked the representatives to travel to Iraq and visit Ashraf garrison and talk to the families to learn more about the truth garrison for nearly six months, and also their expression of concern about arresting one member of MKO while trying to escape from the cult and having no news about his whereabouts and his destination, Mr. Behzad Alishahi visited some representatives of independent humanitarian groups on 7th and 13th of July 2010 in The Hague in Netherland and informed them about the latest developments and the extent of psychological pressure over the members inside the cult and urged them to put their pressure on the leaders of MKO in order to find a humanitarian solution.

In these visits Mr. Alishahi asked the representatives to travel to Iraq and visit Ashraf garrison and talk to the families to learn more about the truth. He also recommended accompanying them in such a trip in order to save the lives of those captured and ending the anticipation of the miserable families.

The visits were made with Mr. Patrick van kole the representative of the humanitarian organization of Stopping Torture and Mr. Michael Helmont the representative of the independent organization of ARAMI and Ms. Francis Josiele the representative of the National Council of Human Rights. Also in previous weeks a visit was made with Mr. John van Maasakkers the mayor of the city Gemert in Netherland who have visited members of MKO before. He was informed by Mr. Alishahi about Rajavi cult and the methods that the members are mind manipulated and also the situation of the families. A video excerpt was shown in this regards.
Sahar Family Foundation on behalf of suffering and anxious families would like to thank Mr. Behzad Alishahi and his aides and all those who strive for the just demand of the families who desire to visit their relatives. We wish them all success in their good work. We are also waiting to visit Mr. Alishahi and his friends in Iraq.

July 28, 2010 0 comments

The MEK to launch Armed Struggle

The Unchangeable Terrorist Nature of the MKO

On Wednesday June 16th, PressTV reported that Iranian The Unchangeable Terrorist Nature of the MKO ecurity forces arrested two Mujahedin-eh Khalq (MKO) operatives in Iran. Members of the MKO, a terrorist group whose three-decade goal has been to take over the Iranian government, had planned to carry out a multi-stage attack, which included using bombs and setting police cars and motorcycles on fire at two undisclosed locations in Tehran. Iran’s Intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi announced the MKO’s scheme saying that the MKO had “planned to terrorize innocent citizens in some important and sensitive districts of Tehran” [1] but that the Ministry of Intelligence had foiled it. He also said the two operatives had received necessary training at Camp Ashraf, in Iraq, the MKO’s quasi-military base, which was funded by Saddam Hussein, and is now being guarded by the U.S. government. [2]

The Tehran Times published an article in reference to a televised confession by the two MEK members who were arrested. The article affirms that the two men “received instructions on bomb-making via email and were then directed by two female handlers, one based in London and the other based in Sweden, as to where and when to plant their explosives.” [3]

While the news of the MKO’s intention to plant bombs in Tehran were being relayed through the media, MKO officials were demanding action from the United States regarding their official status as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). In 1998, the MKO was designated this status by the US Department of State, and since 2008, with the aid of heavy lobbying, they have been trying to get themselves removed from the FTO list. In a Reuters’ article, posted June 16, journalist Charles Abbot wrote that the MKO, in 2008, “asked for removal of the designation, saying it ceased its military campaign against the Iranian government in 2001, handed over its weapons to U.S. forces in Iraq in 2003 and had provided information to U.S. officials about Iran’s nuclear program.” [4] Abbot also relayed that although the State Department must review the request of the MKO to remove them from the FTO list, the Department maintains that recently declassified information on the MKO “has not shown that the relevant circumstances are sufficiently different to warrant a change” in their status. [5] Abbot points out that the State Department’s report “contained allegations that [MKO] trained women in Iraq to be suicide bombers, had not ended military operations and that much of [the MKO’s] information about Iran’s nuclear program was wrong.” [6]

For nearly thirty years the MKO has been a terrorist group, and despite its fairly recent policy of not claiming violent acts such as bombings and self immolation, they remain a terrorist group. They began to get serious about cleaning up their reputation sometime around the mid eighties, when they went through an ideological transformation and emerged as a full blown cult around 1987. They took a serious blow in 1998 with the State Department’s freshly-minted terrorist label. But, with the explosion of the internet, they were able to broadcast a serious propaganda campaign in order to counter the status—but by this time, ex members were already publishing their own accounts of the abuses they suffered while associated with the group. The internet both helped and hindered them initially, but now, it just hinders them.

The MKO cannot survive legitimately as long as they remain on the FTO list. In fact, removal from this list is a vital necessity for the MKO—it is their last hope for being seen as non-terrorists among Westerners. But in Iran their hope is already lost. They are not welcome in Iran, and not just because of last week’s bombing plot. The MKO has had a long history of terror within Iran which the leaders have discussed with numerous high profile Western journalists, but for some reason the journalists’ fail to emphasize these points in their mainstream articles and TV programs, and this hurts Iran. What’s more, is the fact that the MKO presents itself to the West as an alternative to the present Iranian regime, and enough naïve Western politicians are buying into their aspirations for “peaceful overthrow,” “democracy” “freedom” and “liberation.” These ideas are good; but the MKO is not good. Iranians want a peaceful solution to their domestic and foreign problems, and the solution doesn’t lie within the MKO because the MKO is simply not a “for-the-people” entity, nor are they equipped to run a nation. They may be able to run a cult, or a terrorist group (outside of Iran), but not a nation of intelligent free thinkers—and that is what most Iranians consider themselves.

Presently the MKO’s existence depends on the West’s support. Without the West’s support they have no place to call home. Currently their headquarters is located in Paris. They own “safe houses” all over Europe and the US, and as long as they have this support, they can maintain their now secret and subversive violent exploits against Iran. As one anonymous ex-member, who fears retribution for using his name, puts it, “The MKO doesn’t offer democracy, and their nature is unchangeable. They cannot stop seeking to spark tension in Iran by using their usually [sic] violent strategy against innocent Iranian citizens.”

The arrest of MKO terrorists was a success for the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence because they prevented senseless deaths of perhaps hundreds of innocent people located in some of the busiest intersections in the nation—intersections which are typically entrances to crowded bazaars, bus, subway, taxi-stops, and active police stands—a sort of “safely crowded zone” among Iranians, especially women doing shopping. The targeted intersections were in fact a potential horrifying disaster, and would have been a bitter blow to Iran—and that is exactly what the MKO was counting on. An attack on Iran coupled with the fact that Iran has fragile diplomatic relations with the West, would have undoubtedly given the impression that internally, Iran is unstable and weak, and generally put the MKO in a better position than they are now. News of the plot revealed that the MKO’s systematic deceitful crusade has a twofold objective—it aims to weaken Iran while heightening its image in the West. In a Press TV news article, one of the terrorists interviewed noted that the two arrested were instructed just before they were to plant their bombs that in case they were caught, they should deny their affiliation with the MKO since the terror organization is making headways in getting off the terror list of the US and Europe. [7]

In conjunction with the MKO’s sentimental ways, which is aimed at creating meaning and purpose for the cults’ members, the planned bomb was in a way existential; it ties in with their three-decade-old penchant for martyrdom. As recent as 2007, several members set themselves on fire in a protest against French police arresting their leader, Maryam Rajavi. In response to this, and in adherence with the MKO’s image-reform campaign, Rajavi claimed that group members were not instructed to do this.

The two terrorists confessed that their planned date for planting explosives was sometime between June 10 and June 20. They aimed for June 12, which was the anniversary of Iran’s last contentious and riotous presidential election, in which several MKO members were arrested. This ten-day period was doubly momentous for the two arrested because in addition to the election anniversary, it also signifies the time leading up to the June 20 anniversary of the MKO’s demonstration in 1981, when they officially started their armed struggle against the Islamic Republic—a republic they “officially” supported up until that date. Its current stature is to commit violence against themselves and violence against civilians—for the sake of the cause—and it is not far from the group’s extremist beginnings

According to Iranian Intelligence Officials, Siamak Yaquti, who was one of the arrested terrorists, confessed that the MKO organization shifted operational activities from propagandistic to operational. Yaquti told authorities that his organizational authority (a female named Narges) told him that the MKO wanted to break the silent and passive atmosphere ruling Iran by having him detonate bombs and set fires on public properties. Narges told Yaquti that the MKO’s armed, radical activity on June 20th, 1981 succeeded to break the silence at that time and opened a new way to the organization’s leading activities. The other MKO agent, Mr. Behrang Sarkhosh arrested by Iranian Intelligence Forces and later interviewed on PressTV, described his superior’s reasoning for using violence against people. He said, “I was told that we would not make any progress unless we use weapons." [8] One former member of the MKO, Mr. Ebrahim Khodabande, also interviewed by PressTV, commented “a weapon is even part of their emblem—and they have never omitted it.” [9]

By Mazda Parsi
Press TV, Iran Today documentary program, June 30, 2010
http://www.presstv.ir/programs/detail.aspx?sectionid=3510506&id=132768#132768

[1] Documentary lashes western supporters of MKO terrorists. “Press TV, Iran Today documentary program”. Web. 20 Jul 2010. < http://www.presstv.ir/programs/detail.aspx?sectionid=3510506&id=132768#132768
>.
[2] ibid
[3] "Iran Summons British Ambassador Over Bomb Plots." Tehran Times 17 June 2010, Print.
[4] Abbot, Charles. "U.S. government told to review terrorist list decision." Rueters US Edition. Web. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66G0A520100717
[5] ibid
[6] ibid
[7]"MKO Terrorists Confess to Bombing Plots." PressTV 16 June 2010: Web. 20 Jul 2010. <http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=130667>.
[8] Documentary lashes western supporters of MKO terrorists. “Press TV, Iran Today documentary program”. Web. 20 Jul 2010. < http://www.presstv.ir/programs/detail.aspx?sectionid=3510506&id=132768#132768
>.
[9] ibid

By: Mazda Parsi

July 28, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

MKO’s disastrous military venture

On 25 July 1988, only days after Iran-Iraq governments accepted the UN Security Council Resolution 598 that called for a cease fire in the eight-year long war, Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCR, NLA) launched its major military invasion onto the Iranian borders. Supported by Iraqi army and its air cover, Rajavi dispatched his estimated 7000 forces National Liberation Army (NLA) to demonstrate his organization’s military potentiality in a four-day lasted operation, the great ”Operation Eternal Light” as the organization called it and the organization’s irreversible suicide operation as many critics referred to it. Although presumed to be a part of Iran-Iraq war, the operation was the most disastrous venture by an organization whose strategy of struggle was mainly built on militarism and terrorism.

In its unclassified 1992 report on the organization, the State Department refers to the operation as an explicit evidence of MKO’s armed struggle and close collaboration with Saddam’s regime.

The group launched its most significant incursion in June and July 1988, when they coordinated an advance into Iran with Iraqi forces. During the same offensive, Iraqi units in other sectors of the front used chemical weapons against Iran. NLA units briefly seized the Iranian border towns of Mehran, Karand, and Islamabad-e Gharb. The Mojahedin claimed to have killed 40,000 Iranians, but other military observers said the, NLA "just got wiped out" when Iranian reinforcements arrived.

MKO’s Eternal Light withstood nothing more than a short, four-day lasted spark. The operation on which MKO had heavily invested turned to be a total military failure and a proven suicide operation that led 1304 forces, according to the organization’s own report, to their sacrifice. In fact, MKO hurried to take advantage of a no-war no-peace situation created after the ceasefire in limbo, a golden opportunity for Rajavi to take his last chance totally disregarding the high cost it would impose. Of course, Rajavi knew beforehand what the result could be when he decided to pass over the borders of a country that had survived eight years a war that had wore out Saddam’s army. But he was desperately in need of and search for an outlet out of an inevitable cul-de-sac rather than to accomplish a strategic necessity. An analysis of the operation from the political and tactical point of view and Rajavi’s rationalization of the operation indicates that the move was the outcome of a desperate situation that had completely immobilized Mojahedin both in political and military fronts.
It was a fact many of group’s sympathizers, advocates and even critics and other opposition were well aware, but they were all shocked to see that a group that had once concentrated all its campaign marrow in a form of militia warfare and had already suffered great loss, suddenly and unbelievably had shifted to a classic military tack to start a big cross-border operation.

The failure of the operation Eternal Light initiated challenges against Rajavi’s egocentric decision-making that had led hundreds of recruits, many of them arrived in Iraq only a few days prior to the operation with the list military training, to their death. Most of his critics believe that the operation was in no way correspondent with the organization’s line of strategy and that, Rajavi’s uncertain analysis of the post cease-fire situation compelled him to make a hasty decision to create a ‘turning point’ to attract the attention of those in the West to be relied as a potential tool to be utilized against the Iranian regime. As stated in its later analyses, MKO claimed that “What distinguishes the Eternal Light Operation, making it a "turning point," is not its unique military achievements alone, but more importantly, its strategic political and historic significance”.

In spite of MKO’s widespread terrorist operations of bombing and assassination inside Iran and its later out-of-the-border organized hit and run operations perpetrated in the last three decades as well as its broadly launched military operation like that of the Eternal Light, it seems that the organization has never been considered a serious threat for the Iranian regime. But the consequence of such irrefutable charges of militarism and terrorist atrocities for MKO was to be globally recognized as a terrorist group. However, the good part is that the history and the recorded facts can never be distorted. But some Western countries tried to when they made a sudden U-turn and decided to declare that MKO was no more a terrorist organization; they still continue their negligence and unclear position takings toward Mojahedin due to political considerations. People have eyes to see and minds to think even if some so-called court of justice proceeds inexpertly to discolor the spots of a leopard.

July 28, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Who is responsible for the continued suffering of the MEK victims’ families ?

Who is responsible for the continued suffering of the families of members imprisoned inside Ashraf garrison?

The bombing in the city of Zahedan (south east of Iran) claimed several casualties (Thursday 15 Maryam Rajavi called the family ‘the nest of corruption’ and rightfully describes the family as ‘the main enemy’ of the cult July 2010). President Barak Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other western leaders immediately condemned the terrorist act. This terrorist attempt took place a few days after the Supreme Criminal Court of Iraq issued the arrest warrants for 38 leaders of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO – Rajavi cult) including Massoud and Maryam Rajavi who are charged with crimes against humanity and expanding terrorism.

Two days after the terrorist act in Iran, a Federal court in the United States of America urged the State Department to review its decision on finding the MKO as an FTO (foreign terrorist organization). This call received a positive response from the Secretary of State. Apparently the show which was performed in Europe is now starting in the US.

The US administration and western countries do always condemn terrorism but for some reasons they are not so keen on condemning the terrorist. It is interesting to learn that the European countries which no longer, despite piles of documents, recognize the MKO as a terrorist group are still not ready to accept the people who they imposed to Iraqi people in their own countries. Of course they do not want these terrorists in their own countries; they would rather have them close to Iran and on the shoulders of the Iraqi people.

The US government describes the MKO as a cult of personality and as a terrorist group and says that they have murdered Americans in Iran and even made songs to celebrate it. But it is noteworthy that when a victim of this cult tries to escape from Ashraf garrison in Iraq and the elements of the cult, right in front of the eyes of the families, grab him and beat him up and take him away, the American soldiers, who are supposed to evacuate the place, hover over the heads of the families by helicopter and threaten them and afterwards do not allow any investigations into the matter.

Apparently some elements and factions within the US Administration and in the west have started a dangerous game and did not learn from the history. The terrorism of the Rajavi cult could not be in a better situation than that of Al-Qaida and Ben Laden for the west. One day, not far away, they will start killing in Europe and America. The MKO at the present time have established security systems in Iraq and have gathered the elements from the previous regime and have sent their members who were trained under Saddam Hussein to France and Germany. One former member in Europe once quoted Mehdi Abrishamchi a top official in the MKO saying that “now that the west calls us terrorist let us be real terrorists”. The security authorities in the west, who were insisting that the MKO not be de-proscribed, had the analysis and knowledge that the threat of the MKO is far greater for the west rather than for Iran.

The Americans could do to recall their support for the Falun Gong cult in China; assuming that since they are opposed to the Chinese government they could be America’s friends. This support resulted in the cult being able to recruit Chinese-Americans in the US and entering them into organized crimes in that country and creating enormous problems. This cult was no longer a problem for the Chinese but in its place became a disastrous difficulty for the Americans and they still are struggling with.

The MKO is no longer an issue for the Iranian regime. This problem is in the first place on the shoulders of the Iraqis. This, then, is reflected inside western countries, and the solution becomes a burden for the western countries that imposed this problem on Iraq in the first instance. Iraq will not carry this problem anymore, but some in the west – for their short term benefits – try to keep them in Iraq. The inhuman face of some western elements, who do not care about the human rights of the inhabitants of Ashraf, is revealed when they intend to use these unpaid, psychologically manipulated terrorists for their wicked tasks. If they are sincere why don’t they open the gates of Ashraf garrison and let everyone learn about what is going on inside there and let its inhabitants learn about what is happening outside.

But innocent people, including the members confined inside Ashraf and their suffering families, are the victims of this paradox and this uncertainty in western foreign policy. That faction of the west which is under the influence of Israel apparently has problems with the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the only concern of the families is why they cannot freely visit their loved ones just a few hundred yards away after waiting for months. What is the obstacle? The leaders of the MKO of course who consider families as their nightmare are the main obstacle. But who is supporting them to be able to continue their crimes? Certainly some warmongering and narrow minded elements in the US Administration and Israeli lobby are doing so. But why do they do so? Because they arrogantly think that the enemy of their enemy is necessarily their friend and of course while totally miscalculating the events have forgotten the experience of Hitler and Bin Laden. Further to this, it should be far from their dignity to try to use the used handkerchief of Saddam Hussein which has proved to be useless for many years.

The US government has no choice but to let the Iraqis to dismantle the MKO in their country. Nowhere in the world has a foreign terrorist organization had the privilege to establish a garrison and not let the host county know what is happening there. This is of course the heritage of Saddam Hussein for the Iraqi people, created by the Europeans. And American Forces, according to the RAND report, protected their base and kept it exactly as the MKO leaders desired. If the Americans are worried about their human rights why don’t they take them to their own country? The truth is that the Americans are not prepared to issue even one single visa for MKO members to enter their country while they force the Iraqis to maintain them even against their national security and other interests.

An Iraqi official told us that in Saddam Hussein’s era, after the ceasefire in the war with Iran, it was arranged for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to interview Iranian prisoners of war (POWs) who were staying with the MKO and ask them whether they wanted to stay with them or go back to Iran. At that time both Saddam and Rajavi were forced to fulfill the demand and consequently these people were interviewed outside MKO bases without the presence of the MKO and even a representative from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad was present and in some cases members of families or their photos and their letters were brought to the meetings. Finally, although the cult had tried to intimidate them by telling them that they would be executed if they go back to Iran, a considerable percentage of them did not go back to the MKO bases and returned safely to Iran and to their families. Now how is it that the ICRC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and even the American Forces, even though Saddam Hussein, Rajavi’s mentor, is gone and the Iraqi government opposes the presence of the Rajavi cult on their soil, they cannot arrange even a simple meeting of the members with their families outside Ashraf garrison?

At this time, Rajavi is facing a very tough situation. Cult and family are each other’s diametric. The existence of one is the rejection of the other. Maryam Rajavi called the family ‘the nest of corruption’ and rightfully describes the family as ‘the main enemy’ of the cult. Now the families are standing outside the cultic castle of Rajavi without any weapons and equipment and are trying to counteract its witchcraft and free the imprisoned members. What would Rajavi, who has no tool to reach his goals except machine guns and bombs and of course lying and deceiving, do against the unshakable stand of these standing families and how long will the warmongering elements in US policy continue with this situation? The future will reveal all.

July 26, 2010 0 comments

Media

Voice of America interviewing a terrorist

Voice of America TV held an interview (broadcasted in Persian) on July 17 with Mohammed Mohaddesin, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the French-based terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, NCR, NLA, PMOI) to discuss the recent ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Also not an unprecedented action by the VOA, the interview with the member of a designated terrorist group is of such high seriousness, looking at it as a direct violation of law, to consider and talk about it.

VOA in its programs, especially broadcasted in Persian, has always insisted that its doors are open to all organizations and legal entities as well as individuals and personalities and welcomes them to defend themselves for whatever has been said against or in their favors in broadcasted programs. But the right is followed with a proviso that none of the terrorist groups and entities are permitted to avail themselves of such right as it might lead to an act of propaganda in their favor. Despite such a claim, so reasonable and sound decision as it seems, VOA is itself the first to violate the set standard and the rule, as an organization that presents the US government, when it conducts an interview with a ranking

Mohaddesin from Saddam’s Private army to Voice of America

member of a terrorist group. No need to say that VOA is well aware that to what extent has acted in opposition to violation of its claims or in accordance to the principles of the freedom of speech. However, in this respect, Jamshid Chalangi’s Program hosting a ranking terrorist raises some questions for which Mr. Chalangi must provide convincing explanations.

First, as Mr. Chalangi asserts in his program, when holding the interview with Mohammed Mohaddesin, MKO is referred to as a designated terrorist group on the State Department’s list. Even if in future the group should be removed from the list, VOA has now acted against its adopted media principles and claims. Of course, it is not unprecedented as mentioned before and VOA has acted as an easy platform for the presence and voice of this terrorist organization to reflect itself under a variety of aliases.

Second, as reiterated and emphasized by the program’s host, the name of MKO remains on the State Department’s list despite remarkable shift in the attitude of some regional governments, institutions and a large number of European states. Mr. Chalangi avowed that “well, it was not only the US state Department […] Ther were also European governments and states. There are some countries in the region, some among the present Iraqi Government, that still consider MKO a terrorist organization”. Thus, is not VOA flagrantly mocking the international community and the intended countries by acting outside of the rule and openly holding the interview with the ranking terrorist?

Third, the host in reaction to the comments of Mohadesin states that “The U.S. President has simultaneously recognized, and does, the Islamic Republic of Iran as a state sponsor of the international terrorism. Then, how is it possible that it has placed MKO on the list as a shift towards the policy of appeasement while it considers the Islamic Republic a sponsor of terrorism?”. On the one hand, he tries to acquit America of currying favors with the Islamic Republic, and on the other hand he means to stress that America’s position against MKO is for other reasons. As a result, for the very same reasons that America enumerates the Islamic Republic a terrorist sponsor, the designation of MKO cannot be purely used as a tool for political causes and for sure relies on other mechanisms. Therefore, what gives Mr. Chalangi the right to make VOA a mouthpiece of MKO?

And finally, Mr. Chalangi should make it clear that if he recognizes MKO a terrorist organization or thinks differently. If he thinks it is not a terrorist group, then, why does he insist to prove America has been on an unprejudiced ground to put MKO on the list? Apart from this, if he does believe MKO is a terrorist organization, then, why does he insist to publicize the views of a terrorist organization from VOA that presents the views of the US Government? For that reason, as Mr. Chalangi draws VOA’s red-line only with the terrorists, his interview with a terrorist means that he does not consider MKO a terrorist organization. As a man whose action is best defined by an Iranian proverb, he is standing on a roof with two skies.

To define its mission, the VOA charter reads that “The long-range interests of the United States are served by communicating directly with the peoples of the world by radio”. And to be effective, “VOA will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive”. Unlike the made claims, VOA acts in absolute contradiction and its paradoxical attitudes tell something different. How can it be reliable when it hardly shows any respect for its audiences’ common sense? It will be good for Mr. Chalangi if he could explain the paradoxical behavior even in brief. Still, the silence of VOA makes it an undeniable fact that it is a media mainly following a policy of quantity rather than rule-based principles.

July 26, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Mojahedin Khalq access to the Qandil Mountains

According to Iranian media sources, the White House had in a message called on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to allow the elements of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) access to the Qandil Mountains in return for an end to Turkish army attacks on PKK strongholds.

Although many officials in Baghdad and South Kurdistan, including spokesman of Pishmarga Ministry, Jabbar Yavar, Iraq-Governor of Arbil, Nozad Hadi, rebuffed the reports, dubbing it fabrication, one can not recant the US dynamic cooperation with the Iranian Oppositions in Iraq, especially after 2003, including the MKO.

Following the surrender of 7, 000 members of the group to the US Special Forces in 2003, the US intelligence community heavily relied on military, intelligence and logistic support of the group to confront Iranian activities inside Iraqi territory, and map out any plausible future attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. Despite listing the group in FTC (Foreign Terrorist Organization), the group was never meant to be undermined or dismantled in any form.

Over 2,000 pieces of military equipment were seized from MKO by the US forces in Iraq. Some supporters of MKO were recruited as Farsi linguists in Camp Ashraf. Both the US and Iranian intelligence apparatus were closely monitoring the activities of the group. Iran attempted hard to put pressure on the Shiite-led Iraqi government through its proxies and agents to terrorize its members and expel them out of Iraq. Some of the group adherents did not brook the situation in Camp Ashraf in Baghdad, defected and returned to Iran, passing huge amount of highly-classified information to the regime.

"With respect to Iran, there is a clear opportunity for the Iranians” to demonstrate some willingness to engage meaningfully with the international community," Hillary Clinton said in her first remarks since becoming the US Secretary of State.

In 2008 the Bush administration meted out some $400 million for covert operations against Iran, a significant portion of it was diverted to the MKO. The EU has lifted ban on MKO in January, and lately an appeals court in the US ruled that the State Department should review the designation of the group, a vivid indication that the group is being prepared for some special assignments in Iran.

The organization is an Iranian opposition group having emerged in 1960s to oppose the Shah of Iran, capitalism, and western imperialism and later fighting the ideology of the Islamic revolution, which does concern us as Kurds as much. However, the role that MKO played and the horrendous crimes it committed against Kurdish citizens of South Kurdistan, especially their collaboration with Saddam in massacres and genocides, hold us ethically liable to disallow them any access to our Kurdish mountains.

What MKO did, it even outstripped shah’s SAVAK (National Intelligence and Security Organization) in terms of its persecution of its opponents.

Kurdish Regional Government should press charges on moral grounds against MKO for joining Saddam’s army during the Iraqi-Iran war (1980-1988) and helping the dictator in suppressing Kurdish 1991 uprisings and massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

MKO is responsible for numerous acts of terror, violence, assassination attempts against Kurdish civilians and government officials in South Kurdistan.

MKO and its affiliates owe the Kurdish nation on official apology.
Baqi Barzani

July 26, 2010 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

KRG rejects reports of MKO relocation

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq has dismissed a report that the US plans to relocate an anti-Iran terrorist group to an area along Iran’s northwestern border.

“The Iraqi government has received no requests for the transfer of Monafeqin (meaning hypocritical) to mountains bordering Iran,” Mehr news agency quoted the representative of KRG interior ministry, Faeq Tofiq, as saying on Saturday.

The US has called on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants to allow members of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), known as Monafeqin in Iran, access to the Qandil mountain rage along Iran’s northwestern border, Fars news agency quoted an informed source close to PKK Leadership Council as saying on July 20.

Jabbar Yawar, the spokesman for the Peshmerga forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, also rejected the report.

The Qandil mountain range is the stronghold of the PKK militants.

The US is seeking to relocate the MKO terrorist before leaving Iraq, the source said, adding that US officials promised PKK that “they would put an end to Turkish military strikes against us should we accept their condition."

"The offer is being studied at the moment," the source added.

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said Wednesday that Tehran is investigating the reports.

The Iraq-based MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and is responsible for numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.

The MKO is also known to have cooperated with Iraq’s notorious dictator Saddam Hussein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

This comes as an informed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Press TV earlier that a group of 150 longtime MKO terrorists has been moved from their base in Camp Ashraf near Baghdad to a US base in central Iraq to be trained as spies.

The US plans to dispatch the trained MKO members as secret agents across the border and into Iran, with plans to carry out terror acts, according to the source.

July 25, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

No Court’s Ruling Helps MKO Evade Terrorist Charges

Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Washington ruled that the U.S. State Department should review designation of Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCR, NLA) as a foreign terrorist organization. The ruling is the last of a quintuple series of petitions by MKO, out of which only two have been ruled by the U.S. Court of Appeals to remand the case for further proceedings. No Court’s Ruling Helps MKO Evade Terrorist Charges

In the first of the two, decided on June 8, 2001, the ruling stated: “While we determine that the designation was in compliance with the statute, we further determine that the designation does violate the due process rights of the petitioners under the Fifth Amendment, and we therefore remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion”. In the other three cases, however, the court denied the petitions for review.

MKO claims that the decision represents a victory for it and it may give them enough time to convince the Secretary of State that it has long since 2001 abandoned any commitment to violence. But the State Department has since designation of MKO as a foreign terrorist organization been relying on its own classified and unclassified data and has absolutely ignored the organization’s assertions of abandoning terrorism. To know the State Department’s reasoning, as the case required that the Secretary provide a meaningful opportunity for MKO to review the unclassified record on which she relied, one does not need to look for classified information; there are periodically published reports and researches that release up to date information on MKO.

In a research analysis, commissioned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Status Determination and Protection Information Section, mainly prepared on the basis of publicly available information, you can easily fathom the structure and the true nature of MKO regardless of its claims. The CORI research published on 21 September 2009 publicized Information on the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) based on the fact that “Every effort has been taken to ensure accuracy and comprehensive coverage of the research issue”. Far from any propaganda, the research delves into the group’s past and current activities covered and made available by the media and authentic sources of information. Interestingly, the bulk of information released in the report concerns the military operations of the organization under NLA alias.

On re-designation of MKO as a FTO, the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism in itsApril 30, 2009 report once more asserted MKO’s terrorist activities done against America: “The group’s worldwide campaign against the Iranian government uses propaganda and terrorism to achieve its objectives and has been supported by reprehensible regimes, including that of Saddam Hussein. During the 1970s, the MEK assassinated several U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians working on defense projects in Tehran and supported the violent takeover in 1979 of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran”.

And there is the latest one published by Congressional Research Service dated June 11, 2010 entitledIran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses in which the reason for the designation of the group is referred to. It has a reference to MKO’s made petition against its designation in 2008 and the State Department determination to keep it on the list: “The FTO designation was up for formal review in October 2008, and, in July 2008, the PMOI formally petitioned to the State Department that its designation be revoked, on the grounds that it renounced any use of terrorism in 2001. However, the State Department announced in mid-January 2009 that the group would remain listed. The group remained on the FTO list when the list was reviewed and reissued in October 2009”.

And there are lot more evidences to corroborate the group’s unchanged terrorist disposition regardless of any court’s judgment. How can an organization with proven notorious, bloody history claim that it has been designated unjustifiably and in the absence of due process of law? Being removed from any list or not, however, is a test for the countries on whose lists it was labeled to prove their seriousness in war against terrorism. For Iranian people, it remains a terrorist group as terrorism and militarism is innate in its ideology.

July 24, 2010 0 comments

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