Camp Ashraf Affairs

It appears there are two ways to respond to the September 1st attack at Camp Ashraf. One is the normal approach taken by the United Nations and Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the governments of America and Europe, the European Union, and Amnesty International ; condemnation of the killings, condolences for the

victims’ families and demands that the government of Iraq conduct an investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki set up an inquiry into the deaths, and on Monday 2nd a UN team visited the camp to try to establish what happened.

Then there is the approach of the Mojahedin Khalq (aka MKO, MEK, NCRI), sympathetic media and lobbyists; immediately blame your enemies (in this case the host country) and build a strong verbal and pictorial narrative to support that assertion. Less than a few hours after the event strident press releases and graphic photographs of handcuffed, executed bodies were being sent to media and political circles claiming that the government of Iraq had massacred the camp residents. Iraq’s security forces denied having entered the camp.

But, after a day or two of drip-feeding such images it began to resemble a Hollywood film; initial shocking pictures of the dead, then a back-flash to the moment the ill-equipped but masked attackers covertly crept up on the camp. (Carefully filmed by the victims themselves; if you saw this would you not run away or at least grab a gun rather than a camera!) This also begs the obvious question, ‘why would the Iraqi forces brutally murder half the residents then leave the remainder free to film the victims, send the films to the MEK HQ and allow these pictures to be distributed to the world?’ What possible motivation would they have?

No, the mystery surrounding these killings can begin to be unlocked by looking at some facts behind the MEK’s propaganda campaign, and by examining Massoud Rajavi’s disgusting, inhuman and sickening behaviour. Firstly Rajavi reneged on his agreement with the UN and insisted on retaining 100 people in Camp Ashraf while the remainder were transferred to temporary transit camp Liberty. This meant hundreds of Iraqi security forces were unnecessarily tied up in ‘protecting’ people illegally squatting the land and who are regarded in Iraq as terrorists, while Iraq’s civilian population are under constant threat of bombing and shooting in the rest of the country. While there they refused to allow anyone to enter the camp, declaring it an extra-judicial enclave to which not even the UN was granted access. And they endlessly whinged about the poor conditions while demanding that they stay put. They also refused to deal with the so-called possessions which they had supposedly remained there to sell. Certainly if the MEK were in any way immersed in normal society, even if the families of residents had been allowed to remain outside the camp to make contact with their loved ones, this kind of covert attack would not have been possible.

So, why were they really there and who was behind this attack? Although Iranian rightwingers and Revolutionary Guards hailed it as a victory for the Iraqi people, whoever was behind this tragedy was certainly an enemy of the government of Iraq.

There has been speculation that the MEK left behind in Camp Ashraf were there to protect Rajavi who was hiding in the camp, although it is also highly doubtful that he would risk remaining in the camp after he saw what happened to his benefactor Saddam Hussein. Since the MEK released the names of the recent victims it has emerged that nearly all of the 100 people who remained at Camp Ashraf had been indicted for various terrorist crimes. Most of those killed were old and disaffected members but were unable to leave the MEK as they were marked for arrest by law enforcement agencies. They were, in effect, Rajavi’s hostages to do with what he wanted. Interestingly, the people who are missing are all members of Rajavi’s personal security team, including the head of his security team Mahboubeh Jamshidi. How did it happen that they were not among those killed and where are they now? More to the point, where is Massoud Rajavi?

In August this year Rajavi surprised everyone when he announced that he had washed his hands of the MEK members who for thirty years have devoted their lives to him. He told them, “I am only in charge of your Day of Judgment and no one knows the date of the collapse of the regime”.

But if Rajavi wants to reduce or discontinue the MEK’s activities, give up his political ambition for regime change, then retire and attend to his personal life, he will have two essential needs. One is that he must somehow convince the United States to provide a safe retirement residence somewhere in Europe or the Middle East, and the second need is to get rid of the 3000+ people in Iraq. In this respect Rajavi could cut a deal to offer these 3000 people as mercenary forces to push the western agenda in Iraq and Syria; for example chemicals, bombing, poison or similar activities. His best case scenario would be that they die in situ through mortar attack or similar so that he could blame the Iraqi government for killing them. The Iraqi government would probably then be forced to offer some kind of compensation to the Americans and in return the Americans could be persuaded to give him, Rajavi, a place in Europe where he can be kept pickled for a day when he may be useful again.

Although it may seem far fetched to imagine the MEK itself or some collaborative group arranged to kill these individuals and leave some alive to film the events, Rajavi’s own track record for exploiting the blood of his followers, whether in war, assassinations, self-immolations, suicide missions, etc, sadly speaks for itself. Did Rajavi offer up the unwanted residents of Camp Ashraf as irresistible bait?