It is common in political sphere for two political currents to concur in a community of strategy when they have mutual political axes to grind. The alliance does not necessarily mean that they have to reconcile with each other’s different ideologies. Years before the Islamic revolution, for instance, Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) and People’s Fedayan Militia, two ideologically different campaigning anti-monarchical movements, formed an alliance against Shah’s regime and the US imperialism.
Iraqi people in general, regardless of being Kurds, Shiite and Sunni, advocated a community of strategy in their struggle to topple Saddam’s regime. Even the pro-Saddam factions in creating post-Saddam disorders moved on a line of consensus strategy.
With these preliminaries in mind, it was shocking to hear Dowlat Nowrouzi, the MKO’s representative in UK, saying “Mojahedin-e Khalq have a community of strategy with Iraqi people”. Before going any further, it should be noted that MKO have developed a comprehension of the magic role the numbers and statistics play in today’s political world and the adopted Western policies according to these figures. As a result, MKO have developed a talent of digging statistics out of any performed tasks. The significance lays in the fact that rarely the tally of these figures, being multiplied by a favored coefficient, are reliable as authentic. That is to say, the promulgated figures are too much exaggerated to be accepted.
MKO has been on this path from the beginning. Once, soon after the Islamic revolution, they announced that more than 150,000 rallied in Amjadieh soccer stadium in Tehran. The stadium in full capacity, according to mathematical evaluations, could entertain a crowd of not exceeding 30,000. Later, on the anniversary of the 20 June event, MKO’ TV reported a rally of 200,000 in the same place. Even on the 20 June 1981, the day MKO organized a protesting rally in different Iranian cities, MKO announced a swarm of 500,000 sympathizers in Tehran’s streets never thinking of the destructive potentialities of such a crowd if they really existed; demonstrators were easily dispersed and the irritated MKO announced armed struggle against the Islamic Republic.
Last year, MKO reported the declaration of 2,800,000 Iraqi people issued in support of MKO. This year, the number has increased to 5,200,000. Regardless of the authenticity of so big a figure, the Iraqi supporters of MKO are nearly multiplied, that is to say, a nearly 100 percent increase. More above that, according to reports broadcasted on 8 July by the group’s TV, as any single vote of this big figure represents an Iraqi family of five, consequently, it can be multiplied by 5 to reach a total figure of 26,000,000 supporters.
On 20 June, MKO reported that 300,000 French citizens had urged support for Maryam Rajavi. Then, they concluded that as any single vote of these French citizens represented a French family of three, so the number of supporters reached a total 900,000.
At the present, MKO claims the Islamic Republic has so far executed 120,000 members of the group. The number of the executed in 1987, the year they settled in Iraq, did not exceeded 20,000. It is not amazing to see the number jumping to such an extent because the “martyrs” have gone through the coefficient system of the organization. In another instance, Ebrahim Khodabandeh, a high-ranking separated member, admitted that once in a meeting of the European parliamentarians he had claimed, as was dictated by the organization, that about 300,000 political prisoners were under regular and daily torture in Iranian prisons. As he said, he never thought of a simple fact that if any of these prisoners were to be tortured by nothing more than a quick slap, what a great number of guards and torturers had to be provided! There are more and more examples of these kinds.
Accordingly, depending on case and place, they make the most of the words rather than the numbers. Seemingly suffering hypomnesis to remember what they have stated or done earlier, or maybe they think people are inattentive and unmindful, MKO expatiate on something they had controverted before. An organization commonly known to have formed a close alliance with Saddam, leaps forward to proclaim they “have a community of strategy with Iraqi people”. The words indicate that they have been in the same front along with Iraqi people in their struggle against the ousted dictator! That they too were victimized and oppressed under the tyranny of Saddam and the Baathists! That they are naturally democratic and advocates of freedom!
If uncertain about anything of Mojahedin’s past, the world vows that MKO was the most enthusiastic, strategic alliance of Saddam. The evidence? They were given land to establish a “city” of their own. With Saddam’s donated dollars in their pockets, armed with Iraqi weapons, and trained under Iraqi officers they recurrently violated Iranian borders at a time when Iranian were busy dealing with Saddam’s assault. Any body in doubt? They were the most trustworthy forces cooperating with the terrible Iraqi intelligence system. They had the permission to freely move around Iraq carrying arms. They gladly accepted the mission to have a key role in suppressing the insurgent Iraqi Kurds. They put their unsatisfied insiders in the same gruesome, terrific cells of the notorious Abu-Ghorib prison where the dissidents of Saddam’s regime had been consigned to oblivion. A look at videotaped secret meetings of Saddam’s high-ranking officers with MKO’s heads seems to suffice.
To “have a community of strategy with Iraqi people”, Mojahedin have to prove they have been their brothers in hardship. They proved it, not for people, but for Saddam. They were ready to sacrifice their life for Saddam. Once Maryam Rajavi announced that all girls and women under her command were ready to fight shoulder to shoulder with Iraqi forces to die for the great leader Saddam Hussein as she did.* Of course, no body can blame them for what they fail to remember!
To achieve their objectives, Mojahedin never care whose body they crush under their feet. The advocates of Machiavellianism deny the relevance of morality in political approaches and strictly hold that collusion, treachery and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political objectives. They needed and need to survive. Once they colluded with Saddam and today they move on a treacherous line to deceit Iraqi people. The fact is that they have no community of strategy with anyone.
*. Daily Mail, England, August 17, 1990.
Omid Pouya, July 10, 2006