To illuminate the minds of those who wonder why supporting Mujahedin Khalq Organization
After the last enlightening article by Seymour Hersh on the American financial and military support for the group a large number of analysts and journalists commented on the issue criticizing the US government for their double standards towards terrorists.
Members of the MKO are so notoriously famous that no country is willing to accept them. Their fate in Iraq is uncertain. Martin kobler, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) warns that finding a place for the group members after they leave Iraq “is the most difficult part of the story”. No country is willing to accept a number of brainwashed, isolated military trained cult-like insurgents. Josh Rogin of the cable also suggests that part of the difficulty of dealing with the MEK is that they have been cut off from the world for years and little is known about their individual histories.[1]
Having been isolated in a Camp in Iraqi deserts, under sever mind control techniques, the MKO have turned into a cult of personality that Jeremiah Goulka truly describes:
“I studied the MEK for the U.S. military and visited Camp Ashraf, the MEK facility 40 miles north of Baghdad. I also interviewed former MEK members. As Human Rights Watch also concluded, I saw that the MEK is a cult. It uses brainwashing, sleep deprivation, and forced labor to indoctrinate members. It segregates men from women, mandates celibacy, forces married members to divorce (except for its leaders), and separates families and friends who must seek permission just to converse.
MEK members must report their private sexual thoughts at group meetings and endure public shaming. In a Catch-22, those who deny having sexual thoughts are accused of hiding them and shamed, too. The cult has but one purpose: to put itself in charge in Iran.”[2]
Goulka concludes that an MEK regime in Iran will bring neither liberty nor justice.
The MKO is often described by as a “cult-like organization” with “totalitarian tendencies”. Former members of the group interviewed by various human rights bodies and journalists explain how they were victims of the totalitarian cult like organization. Owen Benett Jones in recent article on BBC “An Iranian Mystery: just who are the MEK” clarifies the two sides of positions towards the group. He himself wonders who to believe, former members who are either” embittered “or “broken”; or western supporters of the group who are either financially “motivated” or just “naïve”. However, he comes to a conclusion with his dilemma:” in over 25 years of reporting .I’ve been lied to often enough but, as successive former MEK members told what they had been through, their tears seemed real enough to me.”[3]
The MKO has also a four-decade history of violence, assassination and espionage against the Iranian people and authorities, as well as targeting American military and civilians living in Iran in the 1970’s. Tony Cartalucci also strongly criticizes Western support for the MKO as “treason and overt criminality”. He writes about the group’s terrorist acts:
"Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK), has carried out decades of brutal terrorist attacks, assassinations, and espionage against the Iranian government and its people, as well as targeting Americans including the attempted kidnapping of US Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, the attempted assassination of USAF Brigadier General Harold Price, the successful assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Lee Hawkins, the double assassinations of Colonel Paul Shaffer and Lieutenant Colonel Jack Turner, and the successful ambush and killing of American Rockwell International employees William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard.
"Admissions to the deaths of the Rockwell International employees can be found within a report written by former US State Department and Department of Defense official Lincoln Bloomfield Jr. on behalf of the lobbying firm Akin Gump in an attempt to dismiss concerns over MEK’s violent past and how it connects to its current campaign of armed terror – a testament to the depths of depravity from which Washington and London lobbyists operate."[4]
But why is that the MKO can gain such a support from the West although it is literally a cult-like terrorist organization?
Actually, the MKO foists itself as a democratic freedom lover organization. Goulka writes about the MKO’s propaganda and how western figures are trapped by it:
"The MEK presents itself well and is good at running “Astroturf” campaigns. Its NCRI is a self-proclaimed “parliament in exile,” dedicated to the principles of western liberal democracy. Over the years, lots of American civilian and military officials have failed to do their homework and fallen for the MEK’s sales spiel, excited as they were to hear what they wanted to hear. (If something sounds too good to be true…)"[5]
What is the potential danger of harboring a terrorist cult?
As it is widely known by different reports, the MKO is more than a terrorist group, it is a cult of personality, around a disappeared leader, Massoud Rajavi very similar to that of Al-Qaida around Osama bin Ladan, maybe more dangerous. Giving financial and military support to members of a cult of personality with a history of numerous terrorist attacks may hardly endanger the Iranian National security because the cult of Rajavi barely has supporters inside Iran. Most Iranians view them as traitors. But, it will risk the US national security. Removing the MKO from US list of Foreign Terrorist Organization will allow the MKO to act –even more freely– in the US society. Members who are totally obedient to their leaders will not hesitate to run their cause in a western free environment –where they can accelerate the leaders ambitions for power achievement in Tehran. To gain such a goal war with Iran would be inevitable and more American soldiers would go to endless battles and more taxpayers’ dollars would d be spent for the so-called US national security – which is already threatened by the cult of Rajavi. The MKO is a key for war and insecurity not only for Iran and the region but for the US national security.
By Mazda Parsi
References:
[1]Rogin, Josh, U.N. Iraq chief:the countries of the world must take MEK ‘refugees’, The Cable, April26,2012
[2]Goulka, Jeremia, THE IRAN HAWKS FAVORITE TERROR GROUP, Salon.com, March 28, 2012
[3] Benett Jones, Owen, An Iranian mystery: just who are the MEK?, BBC, April16,2012
[4]Cartalucci, Tony, US State Department Hands Terror Cult US Base in Iraq, Infowars.com, March 9, 2012
[5]Goulka, Jeremia, INVESTIGATINS BEGIN INTO MEK SUPPORTERS, Salon.com, March28, 2012