Western Bloggers - Page 82 of 90

What is Iran’s MEK and why is it so popular among American leaders?

Nejat SocietyAugust 21, 2011063 views

The organization, accused of having a cult-like culture, bought a full page ad in the Washington Post and has purchased the support of dozens of American politicians and national security experts. The Huffington Post lists 31 prominent people from both sides of the political aisle who have appeared at Mujahedeen Khalq aka MKO/MEK/PMOI-related events.We get analysis from Narimon Safavi, a Worldview regular and president of the Pasfarda Arts & Culture Exchange.

From Terror Group to ‘Our Friends’

Nejat SocietyAugust 16, 2011079 views

Closer to the truth, is not that the MEK’s Western supporters don’t know, it’s that they don’t care. It’s as simple as the proposition that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The MEK is attractive because it offers to provide a neat solution to the problem of a belligerent Iran.At a recent Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill Democratic Congressman Bob Filner was told by an expert witness that the MEK had a”discursive ideology with violent elements”. Filner replied,”So what, so what!”

MEK;U.S. politicians’ favorite terrorist group

Nejat SocietyAugust 13, 2011088 views

The selective application of the label of “terrorist” based on who the U.S. is choosing to fight at any given point is further evidence of the bankruptcy of this term.”Terrorists”are those who are interred in CIA black sites, subject to legally sanctioned torture and killed without public outcry; but as the case of the MEK /MKO/PMOIshows the very definition of who is a terrorist is based not upon what acts individuals or groups commit, but upon how favorably or unfavorably those acts are …

What to do about Camp Ashraf

Nejat SocietyAugust 10, 2011091 views

The 3,000+ inhabitants there face a serious threat by the Iraqi government which has carried out deadly raids against them. But Rajavi refuses to allow human rights organizations full access to the inhabitants so they can assess the situation clearly. She also won’t allow the members to accept refugee status so they can be relocated elsewhere. Once armed to the teeth by Saddam Hussein’s regime, the inhabitants are now living in a country that does not want them, near the border of a government that they have been at war with for most of their existence. They are in a political no man’s land,to conflate this issue with the decidedly political question of delisting may only exacerbate the already fragile US-Iran relations.

Inside Mujahidin-e Khalq’s Massive Lobbying Push

Nejat SocietyAugust 10, 2011091 views

Nothing about the MEK has changed in the last seventeen years, except that it has become more adept at getting Americans opposed to the Iranian government to work on its behalf. As Trita Parsi explains, the only thing that has made the decision to keep the MEK on the list remotely controversial is that the group’s lobbying is much greater this time around..Put another way, not even the Bush administration was willing to accept the MEK’s reinvention, and they were hardly interested in fostering good relations with Tehran.

Mojahedin Khalq and Camp Ashraf

Nejat SocietyAugust 8, 2011082 views

… Bahari, speaking at a conference in Washington on Thursday sponsored by the National Iranian American Council, a non-partisan group that advocates for Iranian Americans and opposes the MEK, expressed sympathy for MEK members but said it would be a mistake to take the group off the State Department list at this time. Jasmin Ramsey wrote a long article on the push to de-list the MEK, and she explains why it is wrong to link the issues of de-listing …

Michele Bachmann in Support of MKO Terrorists

Nejat SocietyAugust 8, 20110162 views

But in January, law professor David Cole wrote that Mukasey, Giuliani, Ridge and Frances Fragos Townsend could have committed a crime simply by vocally supporting the MEK’s cause in Paris. While proving liability is again the issue, the Patriot Act’s material support law makes it a felony to support an FTO by engaging”in public advocacy to challenge a group’s ‘terrorist’ designation ..,”wrote Cole.Reporters need to ask Bachmann why she supports the MEK.

From U.S. Silent on Raids against PJAK to aggressive lobbying for MKO

Nejat SocietyAugust 7, 2011099 views

.. MEK supporters have engaged in an aggressive lobbying campaign in Washington that has included a number of events at which former senior U.S. officials have received hefty sums to speak. Among them: ex-FBI chief Louis Freeh, former attorney general Michael Mukasey and former Central Command head Anthony Zinni. The MEK has scant support within Iran because it sided with Iraq during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Former members say the organisation is a cult ..

Issue subpoena to MEK advocates

Nejat SocietyAugust 2, 2011061 views

Double standards again—the FBI has not issued any subpoenas to or raided the homes of these powerful politicians for openly and proudly supporting a State Department-designated terrorist organization.[MKO/MEK/PMOI]Money and political connections can be powerful, but the truth is more powerful. If the activists are guilty of anything, they are guilty of exercising their free speech rights to expose the truth about U.S.-sponsored war crimes and human rights violations..

Mujahedin supporters mount U.S. lobbying effort

Nejat SocietyJuly 31, 2011085 views

The Iranian American Community of Northern California has paid Akin Gump $100,000 in the past two months. Former congressmen Vic Fazio and Bill Paxon are among the Akin Gump advisers working on the campaign.Another group, Iranian-American Community of North Texas, hired diGenova & Toensing in February. The lobby shop has been paid $100,000 this year.The State Department describes Mujahedin/MEK/MKO/PMOI as …