Because the MEK is a resource being used by Israel in its clandestine war against Iran, it is perhaps inevitable that many friends of Israel in the United States are campaigning vigorously to have the group removed from the terrorism list. Indeed, neocons at their various think-tanks and publications as well as AIPAC all support delisting the group
The MKO’s slanderous statements on the so-called defects of the new location soon came after their resettlement. The group primarily accused the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) which in January said Liberty (Temporary Transit Location) met” international humanitarian standards “ of misrepresenting conditions there, according to AFP…It is far and wide known that TTL had previously housed 5000 American troops…
As the TTL is planned to be under full control of the Iraqi Government and UNHCR, absolutely in contrast to MKO’s complete control over Camp Ashraf, one of the options to safeguard the integrity of the cult is a quest for any location anywhere to transfer the members all together. Now you can well understand why Maryam Rajavi, the cult’s acting surrogate for her absent husband, appealed to Secretary Clinton…
Further, she demanded that the residents be relocated temporarily to a site near the Jordanian border instead of being located in Temporary Transit Location TTL. The camp she demanded for had been set up as a tent city to accommodate asylum seekers after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.On February 19, some 397 MKO/MEK/PMOI members were transferred from MKO’s paramilitary camp to a temporary location near Baghdad.
An Iraq-based Iranian opposition group that is fixated on conspiracy theories allegedly carried out attacks in Iran and elsewhere for decades, but now relies on a different weapon: the press release.The United Nations mission here, which has been attempting to facilitate the exit of some 3,400 members of the opposition People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI) from Iraq, where they have been based for decades, has been the latest target of the group..
The truth is that, despite claims of MKO aka MEK/PMOI that its first designation was the outcome of a political decision, Americans know well that even if it was a politically-purposeful decision, it was not actually a wrong decision. But it should be reminded that America’s first serious stance against MKO goes back to years before 1997, when the State Department prepared a special and unclassified report on MKO at the request of the US Congress.
..Clinton rejected the suggestion, saying that no country has raised the issue of the MEK’s terrorist designation with the State Department. And she backed an Iraqi relocation plan that has already taken 397 camp residents to their new, temporary home at the former U.S. Camp Liberty. “There were complications but it was peaceful,” Clinton told lawmakers in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, several of whom have strongly pressed the MEK’s case. ..
This is a despicable and hypocritical approach on the part of Washington. U.S. officials recently told NBC News…To help MeK/MKO/PMOI find refuge or even de-list them would clearly be U.S. support for terrorists. Of course, when terrorists target the United States or its allies, they are detained without charge or trial, tortured, or even executed. But if terrorists target an adversary of the U.S., like Iran, suddenly they’re worthy of Washington’s help.
The last part of Mr. Dershowitz is approved; TTL is not going to be a permanent home for the relocated members. As the name of the location itself indicates, it is a temporary center to hose the transferred residents for a short span of time to process their refugee status and to transfer them to a third country. The group’s relocation to TTL was agreed between the United Nations, Iraqi authorities, the US, the EU and the leaders of the group itself.
Clinton didn’t comment on the”concentration camp”charge and simply emphasized that the U.S. was working hard to safely relocate the MEK to Temporary Transit Location, keep the Iraqi government from harassing the MEK, and ensure that the U.N. monitors the camp and provides help for refugees. She also said that if the MEK really wants off the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), it should get with the program at Camp Liberty( Temporary Transit Location).