Following the recent acts of support for Mujahedin Khalq Organization by a number of US politicians, World Tribune published an article authored by Sheda Vasseghi who tries to define the true nature of the group recalling the US officials of its original anti-Western stance and their unpopularity among Iranian nation. She presents her arguments based on MKO’s official journals and statement in its early years:
The official organ of the PMOI declares in its October 1980 issue: “Ever since its foundation in 1965, the thrust of the battle against the U.S. advisors fell to the Mojahedin, who targeted and claimed the lives of a number for the first time, while it was the PMOI bombs planted in imperialist and Zionist institutions and destroying them which first caused the imperialists and their domestic mercenaries to be alarmed.” In a May 1981 Open Letter to [Ayatollah]Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the PMOI wrote: “In the dark era of the Shah, the Mojahedin had taken up arms and never missed an opportunity to gun down the imperialist American advisors” (Focus on Iran, Vol. II, No. 7, July 1995).The PMOI is a cult rather than a political party based on Islamo-Marxist doctrines. Group members must give full obedience to the leaders of the party, who contrary to their alleged desire and respect for democracy, are not elected by any democratic means. The PMOI political philosophy plans to nationalize all industries, transportation and communication. It makes clear without any ambiguity that it will do away with “vestiges’ of capitalism” including collectivizing agriculture (Focus on Iran, Vol. II, No. 7, July 1995).
As a matter of fact, in adherence to its form of “democracy,” the PMOI has already chosen the next president of Iran from its leadership should it come to power. Since its inception in 1965, the PMOI has committed horrific terrorist acts against the Iranian people including fighting on the Iraqi side during the bloody eight-year war between Iraq and Iran. Hence, the PMOI has no real legitimacy or following in Iran.
About MKO’s approach towards Islamic Republic, Vasseghi describes its ability to deceive Western politicians:
The PMOI’s philosophy is based on the classic tactic of “my enemy is your enemy, therefore, we are friends, you must support us against our common enemy” (Focus on Iran, Vol. II, No. 7, July 1995).Given the PMOI’s ability to raise massive funds from enemies of the Islamic Republic in exchange for mercenary manpower and acts of terrorism, its organization is able to fund major lobbying campaigns in the West as well as media infiltration. Even though the PMOI was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Canada in 1997 (maintained during the Bush Administration) and European Union (EU) in 2002, after years of expensive court proceedings and lobbying the EU removed the group from its list of terrorist organization back in January 2009.
She criticizes US politicians asking them a crucial question:
So how is it that former Mayor Giuliani with firsthand knowledge and experience of the effects of terrorism, two former CIA directors, and two former generals of Central Command would now support a cult with a 45-year-old terrorist record as an alternative regime for a country that serves as a key to balance of power in a volatile region?