Brainwashing and its function on self immolation
in the memory of Yaser Akbarinasab;the victim of Rajavis’ cult
A former member of terrorist group of Mojahedin-e Khalq said the visit of Maryam Rajavi, one of the leaders of the group, to the senate of Belgium lacked political importance and that it proved Europe’s desperation in its nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Massoud Khodabandeh, former senior member of MKO who now runs "Iran-Interlink" in the UK, said to IRNA on Thursday:
"Some Belgian politicians use isolated elements to press Iran and to get what the West wants from Iran."
Khodabandeh said the visit of MKO’s self-claimed president to Belgium Senate by the informal invitation of some minor politicians in that country was a propagandistic effort from unimportant groups in that country that are seeking fame.
Iran-Interlink official said this old method (using propagandistic meetings of MKO officials with European politicians) is unimportant and inefficient, adding: "Iran’s strong response to this meeting and summoning Belgian and Finnish ambassadors to the Iranian Foreign Ministry was due to the terrorist and murderous history of this terrorist cult and it didn’t meant that Iran is afraid of this group or the group is important at all.
"There are still some people who want to frighten Iran by using the remnants of MKO, but the fact is that the MKO should have been dismantled long time ago if it wasn’t for the US’s policies," Khodabandeh said.
"If the MKO was able to change the regime in Iran, it could have done that when it possessed tanks and weapons backed by Saddam Hussein and not now, when it’s wandering in Iraq’s desert without any clear future," he added.
According to this Iran-Interlink official, "immediately after the fall of Baathist regime in Iraq, Americans wanted to keep Camp Ashraf for a rainy day and to put pressure on Iran, but now they keep it to have the exclusive honor of dismantling it on the right time".
Khodabandeh believes that despite the past when there were restrictions for the residents of MKO’s terrorist camp in Iraq, now Americans support the group and in the case of cutting this support and opening the doors of the camp no one will stay in MKO’s prison.
He then rejected MKO’s propaganda that Maryam Rajavi’s charges have been dropped and said that her case in French judiciary is still open and the time will soon come for her to stand for trial.
He stressed that lifting bans on Rajavi’s movement is only because the investigations have finished and it doesn’t mean that she has been cleared of charges.
Also, on former members’ efforts to bring to justice Massoud Rajavi, the main leader of the group, for terrorist activities and his cooperation with Saddam Hussein, Khodabandeh said that Massoud Rajavi is now under the custody of coalition forces and a big case has been prepared against him.
He said copies of the case have been sent to American, European and Iraqi officials but he stressed that the main issue in trial of Massoud Rajavi is finding the country where he should be tried.
European Union and the US have officially designated the MKO as a terrorist organization, banning its activities.
However, the cover organization for this group (NCRI) is allowed to act in some countries and a number of European and American officials are in touch with the group’s leader under this cover.
Iran-Interlink in the UK is comprised of a number of former MKO members who try to save other members of this terrorist cult.
IRNA, October 27, 2006
Belgium’s foreign minister Karel de Gucht condemned Thursday a recent meeting between Maryam Rajavi, a leader of the Paris-based terrorist grouplet MKO and a few Belgian senators in Brussels.
Belgian news agency, BELGA, quoted de Gucht saying that such a meeting weakens Belgium’s position in the fight against terrorism.
De Gucht regretted that some personalities judged opportune to meet Mrs. Rajavi who appeared to represent a peaceful movement but her movement, said de Gucht, is a cover up for the MKO, a group which has been since 2002 on the US terrorist list and also on the EU terror list.
De Gucht noted that the MKO has committed terror acts in Iran and elsewhere and practiced torture.
The minister was answering to a question in the Senate by senator Francois-Xavier De Donnea regarding the meeting on Tuesday between Rajavi in a side salon of the Senate with the president of the Senate Mrs. Anne-Marie Lizin and five other senators.
Lizin had underlined that the meeting with Rajavi was unofficial.
De Gucht said that as a consequence of the meeting the Iranian government has postponed the acceptance of the credential letter of the new Belgian ambassador to Tehran.
He said it is essential to reinforce the role of the civil society and contacts with the opposition but in a sensible manner.
In this context, he said, Belgium cannot permit the wastage of its diplomatic credit through gestures which do not serve the cause of democracy and undermines the coherence of Belgium’s policy.
IRNA – October26, 2006
Iran Rebukes Belgium, Finland Over Terrorist MKO Leader’s Belgian Senate visit
Following an invitation extended to the president of the terrorist Mujaheddin Khalq Organization (MKO), Maryam Rajavi, to visit and speak before the Belgian Senate, the ambassadors of Belgium and Finland in Tehran were summoned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
According to a report released by the Foreign Ministry Media Department, in the meeting Director-General of the Foreign Ministry for Western Europe Ebrahim Rahimpour expressed Iran’s strong protest over the unfriendly implications of the Belgian Senate’s invitation and condemned it.
Turning to the move as indicating support for terrorism, he strongly rejected the argument of separation of their legislative and executive branches of government to justify it.
Blasting the dual approach of Belgium and Europe on the issue of terrorism, he said by resorting to political games of this kind they risked Iran-Europe relations.
Addressing the Finnish ambassador in Iran, whose president is currently the rotating chairman of the European Union, Rahimpour reminded the ambassadors of their countries’ international commitments as well as laws approved by the EU against terrorism, and called on them to honor such commitments.
The MKO is listed as a terrorist group by the EU and US.
This is the second time this week that the two mbassadors have been summoned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on account of the provocative measure of the Belgian Senate.
Rebuking the EU and its member states for their hypocrisy, he said although they claim to be staunch supporters of the battle against terrorism, for political convenience they would rather not confront terrorist groups such as the MKO and even support them.
IRNA- October 25, 2006
According reports by Mojahedin’s NCRI website, some two hundred Iranians gathered in support of the organization in October 14 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The rally organized under Parviz Khaza’I, MKO’s representative in Nordic countries, was a joint work of three MKO’s aliases, the Iranian Youth Association, Association of Iranian Women in Gothenburg and Association of Iranian Academics.
The scant number of the participants, two hundred is MKO’s own exaggerated number, might indicate that the sympathizers residing in the Western countries cannot be easily deceived by Mojahedin’s advertised demands that only serves to further the organizational objectives rather than being concerned about the plights of members held in Camp Ashraf.
While the leaders voice for reaffirmation of the members’ political refugee status in Iraq and call on the UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene and guarantee the rights of the members in Ashraf as protected persons, a question is formed that why they never ask the mentioned international bodies to guarantee the rights of these members as free human beings who are deprived of the right to decide for themselves. They do not need rallies to support their rights; if permitted, the free presence an unconditioned intervention of these international bodies ends all these members’ plights.
mojahedin.ws – 21/10/2006
Coincidental with the aggravation of Iraq’s internal disorders and religious-based conflicts mainly fomented by the remnants of the Baath Party, the role of MKO in fanning the flame of public disturbance should never be overlooked. Mojahedin are well aware of the fact that with the withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq, they would lose their greatest protector in Iraq and that none of their claimed collected signatures of supports from the Iraqi people, factions, and Sheikhs of tribes would work to be productive to secure their stay in Iraq.
Mojahedin main attempt at the present is focused on the escalation of the internal tension which might compel the Iraqi authorities to relay on the presence of the American forces to overcome the social disorder and to secure social stability. Although unspoken, Mojahedin try to have it understood that the existing tension is the outcome of the current Iraqi government’s incapacity to control the situation and the US feels impelled to utilize its lever of power to replace the current government with a new “national salvation government” to ease the tension.
While the Iraqi authorities point to Mojahedin as elements of interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki approves availability of proven evidences, Mojahedin, unable to deny the said truth, indirectly diffuse incapacity of al-Maliki’s government to control the dominant disorder and, through some American officials, threatens his dismissal. For instance, Mojahedin website selectively published excerpts from Senator John Warner’s statement wherein he stated:
I assure you, in two or three months, if this thing hasn’t come to fruition and if this level of violence is not under control and this government able to function, I think it’s a responsibility of our government internally to determine: Is there a change of course that we should take?
was said to have sated that if Iraq’s current situation failed to improve in the next two or three months and violence continued as a result of Iraqi government’s inefficiency to control it, then, the US took it as a responsibility to decide whether take a direct step to make a change or not.
Depicting an inauspicious future for Iraq if the US forces left, Mojahedin quote Warner saying that untimely departure of the US from Iraq would turn the country’s reservoir into a treasure in the hands of the global terrorism.
Once enjoying the granted oil quota by Saddam, Mojahedin are in absolute agreement with the Americans that the Iraq’s rich reservoir might help reconstruct what they all despise as Islamic Fundamentalism and, of course, al-Maliki’s legal government makes a never-tolerable obstacle. Acting as the mouthpiece of al-Maliki’s critics, Mojahedin distort the news reports and add their own comments to help debilitate al-Maliki’s government and advertise its incompetency especially in controlling the armed insurgents. It can be well noted in news reports released by Mojahedin’s site stressing “analyses indicate that Nuri al-Maliki fails to disarm militia”.
Mojahedin, always a collaborating hand to intensify religious disputes to escalate political tension, in Hambastegi site quoted the US Secretary of State saying “religious violence in Iraq is a strategic threat”. Commenting on her speech after her meeting with Iraqi officials, the site states “Rice in her meetings with Iraqi political leaders tacitly mentioned the national salvation government which means a directly made note for the formation of a new such government”. Rice had earlier made an unannounced visit to Iraq to consult with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about his efforts to achieve national reconciliation between the country’s various ethnic and sectarian groups.
Mojahedin-run propaganda machine in the West is already busy taking hostile and threatening positions against the legally-elected Iraqi government through circulating statements made by Mojahedin supporters. Al-Maliki is believed to have a deep understanding of Mojahedin’s threatening tone in their propaganda strategy which indicates their interference in Iraq’s internal affairs.
Earlier last week, Mojahedin quoted Jalal Tlebani, the Iraqi President, claiming he had threatened to utilize MKO to influence Iran’s internal security and affairs. The next day, Talebani in an officially made speech repudiated the claim and emphasized on his recognition of MKO as a terrorist group and its expulsion from Iraq. Although a broadly known opportunist taking advantage of circumstances, Mojahedin have to be dealt with prudence in some respects to frustrate attempts made to accomplish certain political ends.
Bahar Irani – Mojahedin.ws – October 21, 2006
The debate about whether Iran has constructed a clandestine centrifuge program drives me nuts.
You mean other than the one we already found?
And by we, I mean the United States—or at least its intelligence community. As I understand the sequence of events, the United States—knowing full well that Iran had a clandestine centrifuge program—watched Iran dig two MASSIVE HOLES near Natanz (see the big picture), then ratted the Iranians out to the IAEA. About the same time, someone leaked that information to an Iranian dissident group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which then released the second-hand dope in a press conference where they got the details wrong.
This is something that has come up in the comments, so I think I should take the time to walk a timeline using what information we have. (Your grandkids will know for sure, when this stuff gets declassified.)
The whole public debate did begin in August 2002, when NCRI identified Natanz as an undeclared nuclear facility (correct!) responsible for the production of “nuclear fuel production” (not so much).
In December 2002, however, Mark Hibbs reported (no online copy) that the United States had briefed the IAEA on the purpose and location of Natanz before the NCRI allegations, at the optimal time to buy maximally incriminating satellite photographs:
For about a year, analysts at U.S. intelligence agencies and national laboratories, in part based on high-resolution reconnaissance imagery, and supported by procurement information, have been hardening suspicions that Iran was building a clandestine uranium enrichment plant in Natanz and a heavy water production facility in Arak, Western officials told NuclearFuel.
About six months ago, sources said, a limited amount of crucial information from the U.S. findings, including the precise geographical coordinates of the sites, was provided to the IAEA. Officials there said the agency then tasked a handful of Vienna personnel to examine the data using commercial satellite photos of the two locations.
Mark Hibbs, “U.S. Briefed Suppliers Group in October on Suspected Iranian Enrichment Plant,” Nuclear Fuel 27:26, December 23, 2002, p. 1.
(ElBaradei confirmed the six month bit to AP’s Ali Akbar Dareini in December, as well.)
In December 2002, ISIS released those satellite photographs of Natanz, explaining that “it is unlikely that the site contains a fuel fabrication facility, but it possibly has a uranium enrichment plant … most likely … a gas centrifuge facility.” ISIS’s Corey Hinderstein, speaking on CNN, was the first person to publicly identify Natanz as a gas centrifuge facility.
Hibbs’ account and the correct identification by ISIS, however, didn’t seem to dislodge the conventional wisdom that NCRI had discoverd the sites, rather than merely passing along second hand information.
In February 2004, former DCI George Tenet tried a more direct approach, claiming it was “flat wrong” that the IC was surprised. In May 2005, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball cited “current and former senior U.S. national-security officials” claiming athat “all the major revelations MEK publicly claims … were reported in classified form—and from other sources—to U.S. policymakers before MEK made them public.”
Part of the problem is that US intelligence sources didn’t want to say how they knew—and, thus, how much we knew—so the story that NCRI ratted out the Iranians persisted. This summer, though, I think the last piece of the puzzle appeared.
In The One Percent Doctrine, Ron Suskind confirmed that US intelligence had flipped Urs Tinner —a member of the Khan network—in the 1990s and had allowed him to remain in place to identify Khan’s customers.
This also helps explain why the Clinton Administration was so persistent in its (successful) efforts to cut off foreign assistance to Iran’s uranium conversion facility at Esfahan, as well as as series of pre-August 2002 721 reports stating that “Iran has continued to attempt using its civilian nuclear energy program to justify its efforts to establish domestically or otherwise acquire assorted nuclear fuel-cycle capabilities … well suited to support fissile material production for a weapons program …”
Armscontrolwonk, October 28, 2006
http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/1274/ncri-did-not-discover-natanz
Professor Raymond Tanter of Georgetown U. and the head of the Iran Policy Committee, has concluded that supporting the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) is in America’s interest. Though this amounts to making a pact with the devil, he believes that the only way to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons is to replace the religious regime in Iran with a democratic one, and that only MEK can do that. But there are several problems with MEK. The U.S. declared it a terror organization, and most Iranians consider MEK members traitors, because they supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Here is Tanter’s viewpoint in a nutshell: "Israel does not have the military strength to attack Iran’s nuclear installations…Only the United States can do that…on condition that there isn’t a Democratic president in the White House. A Republican administration is more likely to attack in the absence of a political regime change policy, whether there are good military opportunities or not. But attacking will not provide a fundamental solution to the (nuclear) problem…only delay it. In order to bring about a halt to the nuclear program, there has to be a regime change (that) can take place…in less time than it takes the regime of the ayatollahs to obtain nuclear weapons."
How much time are we talking about?
Tanter believes that Iran will have nuclear weapons within one to three years. His ten-point plan has clear guidelines: The U.S. should remove MEK from the list of terror organizations and allow it to operate from Iraq against the regime in Iran. "We believe that the moment the organization is able to operate from Iraq it will gain public favor in Iran…They will shoot at demonstrators, a civil war will break out, and then…the army will intervene, stop the bloodshed, remove the ayatollahs and take over."
But even then there will be no guarantee that Iran will stop trying to obtain nuclear weapons.
"Mujahideen-e-Khalq have already declared that they are not interested in manufacturing nuclear weapons. But no one cares if a democratic Iran has nuclear weapons. Who cares if Israel or India has nuclear weapons?"
MEK was founded in the 1960s by Iranian students with Marxist views, who were opposed to the Shah’s pro-Western policy. They joined Ayatollah Khomeini in the Islamic Revolution, but in 1981 the group was expelled from Iran. Saddam Hussein then enabled them to operate from Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. This was seen as betrayal by most of the Iranians, even opponents of the regime. At the end of the war, MEK established headquarters in Paris, and since then they have guerrilla and terrorist activities to their "credit". When the U.S. invaded Iraq, it disarmed the organization.
Tanter believes that Israel can help legitimize Mujahideen-e-Khalq: "I’m not asking the Mossad to join them and cooperate with them…But Israel has supporters and a lobby in the U.S. and it can ask them to have MEK removed from the State Department’s list of terror organizations…MEK is the only game in town if we want to bring about regime change in Iran. To paraphrase Churchill: Mujahideen-e-Khalq is the worst option, except for all the other alternatives.
Infoisrael quoting Haaretz/ Yossi Melman – 2006/10/21
Raymond Tanter, arms dealer and a supporter of contras who’s now trying to sell the MKO to the Israeli regime, has expressed amazing comments on Iran and the MKO; the comments that prove that Tanter is trying to sell the MKO to either the US or Israel. The issue is who pays the higher price.
For instance, he has said that "We believe that the moment the organization is able to operate from Iraq it will gain public favor in Iran".
It seems that Tanter thinks the MKO has arrived in Iraq just yesterday that it would gain public favor (in the case of being allowed to operate)! Or, he may think that the MKO has been doing nothing in Iraq for the past 25 years!
More interesting is that Tanter is going to take advantage of the MKO in his election campaigns in the favor of Neoconservatives and warmongers.
Although the MKO has tried to influence the elections in the US in the past (in the favor of potential supporters of MKO), this time they are going to serve the warmongers in all aspects.
Tanter, who earlier in an interview with Australia’s SBS TV channel announced his intentions to use the MKO for the purposes of warmongers, now tries to sell the MKO in the election campaigns.
Tanter tries to pretend that Iran’s pursuing nuclear weapons programs and that the US should attack Iran to stop the process. He says that only Neocons will be able to do this, so people should vote in favor of them. Meanwhile, the Americans have turned their backs to the warmongering policies of Bush and it’s predicted that there would be a big blow to republicans in the congress.
On the other hand, by betting on a dead horse, Tanter tries to get the highest price while stupidly talking about a civil war in Iran by the MKO! With this, he may be able to buy more votes for warmongers.
The problem with the comments of Mr. Tanter lies within the fact that he lags 25 years behind the current situation in Iran and that he speaks against the historical realities.
Irandidban – 2006/10/21
Maryam Rajavi visited Belgium’s senate. It was a real visit, since a guide showed her the hall and rooms of the Senate and explained the uses of each one. It had been emphasized that Maryam Rajavi should enter the Senate from the entrance doors so that reporters (who had been alerted of the event by MKO as well as Iran’s warning to the Belgian ambassador to Tehran) could film the moments of her arrival with a special car provided by a security services company.
The MKO’s show was great. However, as soon as she entered the Senate building, MKO’s propagandistic theatre came to a halt. To justify his illegal act of inviting the head of a terrorist group, Vankrunkelsven Patrik referred to a legislation according to which senators can invite individuals. (1)
Spokesperson for the foreign ministry of Belgium said Rajavi was not in Brussels as the representative of Mojahedin, which is a terrorist organization.
The head of the Senate reminds that "this meeting is not official". (2)
Instead, Maryam Rajavi tried to compensate her unimportant visit by wishing to visit other European countries (3); she took advantage of Iran’s sensitivity on her visit and claimed that her visit was very important.
Taking part in a press conference with 5 Belgian senators, Rajavi explained her group’s major problem (Iraq’s decision to expel the group from Iraq) and asked European countries to prevent this by lifting the name of MKO from terror list.
It seems that the comments by Belgian Foreign Ministry (that Maryam Rajavi’s presence in Belgium has nothing to do with the terrorist MKO) show the policy of Belgian government and other European countries on the MKO and this leads to the failure of the purpose of the visit (posing the name of MKO).
Another goal the MKO may pursue in the following days is to perform similar activities in European countries to disrupt the relationship of Iran with these countries.
However, it seems that the real message behind these visits is from European governments that want to say to Iran that they might give more freedom to the MKO if Iran doesn’t accept their conditions.
European politicians have always tried to show that they don’t need Iran in their relations. They think that the issue of MKO and restricting this group is of great importance for Iran.
Also, a few months ago, when restrictions on Maryam Rajavi were lifted by French authorities, European side was trying to put pressure on Iran to accept the conditions.
Europeans want to use this card in their game without taking an official stance in favor this group because they never believe in the MKO as an alternative.
On the other hand, with any activity by the MKO, Iran accuses the European side of resorting to double standards in fighting terrorism; in fact, Iran forces Europeans to renounce terrorism and MKO.
Europeans’ use of the MKO shows that Iran has the upper hand in the game. They know that this card is not valuable but they have no other option. They are well aware that if their ties with Iran worsen, they will have to be pioneers for restricting the MKO and normalizing the relations with Tehran.
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1. Reuters, quoting Belgium’s "Standard"
2. AFP
3. AFP: Rajavi said she hoped this (being welcomed in Belgian senate) could be an example for other countries
Irandidban – 2006/10/29