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Iraq wants Iranian opposition out

BAGHDAD, Xinhua – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Monday that Iraq wanted to expel the Iranian rebel Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) that opposes the Islamic regime.

Talabani made the remarks in a joint news conference with Iran’s former president and current Expediency Council head Ali Akbar Hashemi who arrived here earlier in the day for a visit.

Speaking to the reporters, Talabani accused the MKO, also known as the PMOI (People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran) of supporting former Saddam Hussein regime and Iraq wants Iranian opposition camp out committing crimes against Iraqis.

"We here in Iraq, our constitution prohibit the presence of any foreign armed group in Iraq and the Iraqi people know that this organization is terrorist one," said the Iraqi president, adding "the Iraqi people want them out from Iraq."

MKO, a main militant group which was founded in 1981 with an aim to establish "a democratic and secular government" in Iran, bases in Iraq’s Diyala province in a camp named Camp Ashraf, which contains more than 3,000 Iranians opponents and their families.

The Shiite-dominated Iraqi government repeatedly demands MKO members to be removed from the country.

After the U.S.-led invasion, the U.S. troops disarmed the MKO fighters and since then, the camp became under the U.S. military police protection for five years before the Iraqi government partially took over security responsibility in the camp.

This is Rafsanjani’s first visit to Iraq since Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979.

Talabani met with the former Iranian president in his residence at the edge of the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad that houses the Iraqi government offices and some foreign embassies, including the U.S. one.

Rafsanjani is also expected to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials before touring holy cities in Iraq.

At the news conference, Rafsanjani said that his country "is entirely ready to support and cooperate with the Iraqi brotherly people."

Iraq and Iran fought a bloody eight-year war in 1980s, resulting in the loss of one million lives. The relation, however, has been picking up since the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled in2003 and the Shiite came into power.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/03/content_10930887.htm

March 3, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Should the MEK Stay or Should it Go?

This is what Maryam Rajavi – head of the People’s Mujaheddin of Iran (PMOI, or MEK, or MKO) stated in Brussels on January 27, 2009 while standing in front of her many supporters, right after the decision of the ECJ (European Court of Justice) to put her movement off the list of terrorist groups:

"My fellow compatriots, Friends of the Resistance,

The MEK is still on the list of terrorist groups of the United States, because its fundamental values are anti-western and violent The obstacle of the terrorist allegation has crumbled. The spell has at last been broken. With perseverance and determination, you courageously rose above the flames of injustice and rendered law and justice victorious…This marks a decisive turning point on the course of democratic change in Iran."

Although, the US State Department’s report on terrorist organizations states the following:

"The MEK advocates the violent overthrow of the Iranian regime and was responsible for the assassination of several U.S. military personnel and civilians in the 1970’s. MEK leadership and members across the world maintain the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts in Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and beyond.

The MEK emerged in the 1960s as one of the more violent political movements opposed to the Pahlavi dynasty and its close relationship with the United States. MEK ideology has gone through several iterations and blends elements of Marxism, Islam, and feminism".

Funny, cause if you head your browser toward the official website of Maryam Rajavi, each time you’ll read a sentence like this one: "Our aim is not to attain power at all costs. Our aim is to guarantee freedom and democracy at all costs, even at the cost of sacrificing our own existence." It all sounds much more like a Ghandi’s statement that the one of a terrorist inspired by Marxism, Islamism and Feminism.

Who’s right?

The MEK is still on the list of terrorist groups of the United States, because its fundamental values are anti-western and violent. The group took part in the 1979 revolution against Reza Palahvi’s the pro-western government, helping the present Iranian government to take power in Iran. Although, once the main target has been hit (French revolution anyone?), the winning coalition starts an internal power struggle, with which the real leader will be chosen. This is what happened to MEK, at odds with Islamic Republic. The leadership of the PMOI attempted to overthrow the newly formed IRP (Islamic Republic of Iran) but failed. Ayatollah Khomeini, in response, started a crackdown on the MEK militia and the group was forced to move to France.

In "The Persian Puzzle", Kenneth Pollack describes these events as following:

"…the MEK had made itself a primary target of the IRP. It decided that the best defense was a good offensive and tried to decapitate the IRP leadership in the hope of either toppling the regime or forcing a compromise. On June 28, 1981, a massive explosion inside the IRP headquarters succeeded in killing much of the party’s top leadership. …

…Two days later, a bomb narrowly missed killing Hojjat-ol Islam ‘Ali Khamene’i as he delivered the Friday sermon in Tehran. Sensing that this was their last chance to survive (let alone take power), the Feda’iyan-e Khalq, the Communists, and other leftist groups also joined in the bloody campaign. Thereafter, the MEK and its leftist allies launched a sustained terror campaign that assassinated roughly two hundred government officials by the end of August. Then, on August 30, the MEK pulled off another dramatic coup, smuggling a bomb into the prime minister’s offices and killing President Raja’i (who had succeeded Bani Sadr in blatantly rigged elections), Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar (who had in turn taken Raja’i’s old office), and three other senior officials. 23 Naturally, the regime reacted with concomitant ferocity. …"

Are we talking about holy water or the devil itself? The Council on Foreign Relations has a detailed description of the MEK:

"…Experts say that MEK has increasingly come to resemble a cult that is devoted to Massoud Rajavi’s secular interpretation of the Koran and is prone to sudden, dramatic ideological shifts."

The MEK, in fact, also has a political arm, called The National Council of Resistance of Iran headed by Maryam Rajavi’s husband, Massoud. No one really knows where Massoud Rajavi is living now, but an interview to a former MEK member appeared (briefly) online on February 2, 2009. If you google for the words "mek" + cult the interview will come out.

Only, if you click on it, you’ll be redirected to some other piece of news not related to the subject. The only thing you can read is the title of the article – Ex-member says MEK, ‘is like a cult’ – and a few other words.

Of course, the fact that the EU removed the MEK from the list of terrorist organizations sparked the reaction of Tehran’s government: "The European Union must realize that a political approach to terrorism, which threatens the lives and security of people around the world, is totally unacceptable for the global public opinion." Iran’s permanent envoy to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaei, wrote to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"The EU’s politically motivated decision will not change the terrorist nature of the group. It will not ‘turn the page’ of history on the cult’s terrorist activities and massacre of innocent civilians, nor will it cleanse the terrorist group of its criminal past," he added.

It sounds like a power struggle between the EU and the IRP (of course there’s also a war going on between Teheran and the MEK itself). And it seems as if the MEK is being used as a leverage tool here. But this is just a superficial analysis. The truth is far from being exposed, and this could easily be a question of money. Several well informed sources claimed that the MEK leadership has been paying some major politicians and judges to get the sentence they wanted: their group out of that European black list as soon as possible. Of course this is just an assumption and there is no legal evidence to support the thesis of corruption.

On the contrary, it seems unlikely that the European Union could be so easily corrupted, even though they say that the MEK has a lot of money to spend. The fact that Saddam handed over the money he got from the "Oil for food" program to the PMOI, for example, is common knowledge.

Anyhow, the People Mujaheddin of Iran (this is the extended version of the name) may not be considered a terrorist group in the EU but it is still considered a terrorist organization in the US, should it stay there? According to Paulo Casaca, no: "I think this issue has several angles – he told us – all of them quite important. First: it raises the question of the rules, principles, methods and proceedings of terrorist lists. This is a very important question that I addressed in conferences and books; Second: it shows that only after four strong sentences the Council decided to act ‘better late than never’, but the lack of respect of the Court by the Council is scaring for all of those who believe in a "State of Law"; Third: the EU, as the US, are fully engaged in an appeasement policy that did not and will not work, .."

Casaca is a member of the European Parliament for Portugal’s Socialist Party and a supporter of the MEK. A very well informed journalist (anti-MEK), who has researched and written on the matter, told us that she cannot confirm allegations of corruption that have been made in the media. In her opinion, though, the real problem now is the MKO’s Ashraf camp in Iraq. The camp must be closed in two-three months from now.

"The Iraqi government has every right to send these people [the MKO members that are in the camp Ashraf] out, now the question is, where are they going? It will be easier to return to their country in Europe, now that the ECJ ruled them out from the list of the terrorist groups. They are more or less 2.000 brainwashed people, it will be a humanitarian crisis!"

The Iraqi National Security advisor, Muwafaq al-Rubaie, told the press that "the only choices open to members of this group are to return to Iran or to choose another country… Some of the MKO members have expressed interest to return to Iran and we are making the arrangements for this….We are acting under international humanitarian regulations and international laws. These people will themselves choose where they want to go."

So, someone thinks that the MEK (or MKO or PMOI) is a blood-thirsty terrorist cult that only wants to put its paws on Iran, whatever it takes. Someone else thinks that this group is the only democratic and legal alternative to the radical anti-western and corrupted Islamic Republic of Iran. It is very hard to give an answer here, but there are some good questions at least: what will the Obama administration do about the Ashraf camp and the MEK? Will the US State Department remove the group from the black list? Is the MEK going to play a role in the future of Iran?

hudsonny.org By Andrea Loquenzi – Italian Journalist and Research Fellow, The Magna Charta Foundation

March 2, 2009 0 comments

France

Mr.Kouchner; P.M.O.I is a terrorist cult

We are the former members of PMOI( people’s MOJUAHEDIN organization of IRAN) , whom recently could manage to leave Iraq and safely reached to European countries. We had lots of obstacles and hurdles on our path to the free world such as possibility of being arrested and extradited to IRAN and dreadful dangers which exist in IRAQ daily because of sectarian conflicts, but successfully solved all the problems and after putting behind all those hurdles , fortunately we could reach to EUROPE safe and sound.

Now , we are in PARIS and we want to have a normal life in free and democratic countries such as FRANCE, and also we would like to notify all the human rights’ organizations as well as the governments and politicians about the dangers of this inhumane cult(RAJAVI’S CULT) and its representatives and operatives who are propagandizing and plotting in the favor of their terrorist cult and its destructive cultic ideology, in EUROPEAN countries as well as in USA by their agents ,right now. They have concealed themselves behind democracy and freedom to hide their dreadful past to prevent others knowing of the terrible crimes that they have done during these years.

This inhumane cult, which has assassinated American colonels and generals during the SHAH’S time(THE KING ) and had a very robust and powerful cooperation with the late dictator of Iraq(SADDAM HOSSEIN) in suppressing and repressing IRAQI people specially the KORDS, during the national uprising against SADDAM HOSSEIN and his government as well as oppressing its own members and dissidents inside the cult which many of them were vanished or killed by the operatives of this cult during past twenty years. We were all suppressed and oppressed every now and then by the operatives and commanders of this cult in different cultic gatherings and sessions such as CURRENT OPERATION(AMALIYATE JARI ),DIG ,DIGCHEH,GHOSLE HAFTAGHI, and etc. These gatherings and sessions were all suppressive tools to demoralize and punish the dissidents and members.

We are ready to testify against the crimes that PMOI have done . We are all victims of this cult whom have been tortured physically and psychologically by the cultic criminals in this notorious cult. PMOI is a terrorist organization and should face the consequences of killing innocent people of IRAQ as well as mistreatment , misbehavior , torture and killing of the dissidents who were against RAJAVI’s cultic terrorist ideology inside the cult. We are witnesses of killing and murdering of many members inside the cult such as killing of MR.GHORBANALI TORABI and MR. FARHAD TAHMASEBI in 1994 and many others under sever torture As well as committing suicide of MR. AHMAD REZAPOUR as a result of too much physical and psychological torture in this cult.

We are ready to reveal the crimes which have been perpetrated and carried out by PMOI operatives and its leaders MASSOUD and MARYAM RAJAVI. We are ready to reveal the killing of many dissidents such as MR.SAEED KIYANI ,who was drowned by the operatives and torturers of this inhumane cult just because he wanted to separate and secede from this cult to go to his normal life, and many others. We are ready to testify about committing suicide of desperate people in PMOI who were under sever physical and psychological torture by operatives of this cult. We know them by names and we are ready to testify in any court of law.

We have lots of information which substantiate and prove that this organization is a criminal and terrorist cult and the operatives and the leaders of this cult should be put on trial in the court of law. We, the victims of this cult, are ready to participate in the court of law to testify about the crimes which have been implemented and carried out by this cult.

We urge all the humanitarian organizations, UNITED NATIONS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, ICRC, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, and the government of FRANCE to help us to put those criminals on trial. They are very dangerous and their cultic ideology is suppressive and destructive.

We want to inform and notify all the governments and countries specially EUROPEAN and NORDIC countries to be aware of the presence of the RAJAVI’s cult agents and operatives on their land because, these agents and operatives are taking advantage of these countries’ democracy and freedom to propagandize their terrorist cultic ideology in there. Actually the operatives and the agents of this cult are recruiting IRANIANS who are living in free and democratic countries, by deceiving and inciting them to go to IRAQ or work for them in European and Nordic countries to propagandize the cultic ideology of this terrorist and suppressive cult (RAJAVI’s cult) in these countries under direct control and supervision of MARYAM RAJAVI one of the leaders of this cult, in their main headquarter in PARIS.

We want to see the justice to be done for the inhumane crimes which have been implemented by the RAJAVI’s cultic criminals, against people of IRAQ and the dissidents and members of this cult whom we are part of those dissidents. For that reason we are ready to participate in any court of law to testify about our terrible observations of crimes which were perpetrated by the operatives and leaders of this cult. We have lost everything in our life as a result of being kept forcibly in this cult. we are the real victims ,both PMOI and ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN destroyed and ruined every valuable things we could have them in our life today. we are deserved to see the justice to be implemented . BEST REGARDS

TRANSCRIPTS

1. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

2. UNHCR

3. ICRC

Iran Payvand,

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Also Read:

For French diplomacy: PMOI remains a terrorist group

Bernard Kouchner, French Foreign Minister, replied on December 10 at the French Senate in a matter of a senator and has declared that”France is indeed in favor of retaining the Mujahedin (PMOI/MKO) on the European list of terrorist organizations. He added that”this movement, mainly based in Iraq, poses a number of problems.”French diplomacy, as a large part of European diplomacy, seems not to be deceived by the charming champagne of PMOI / NCRI (the two covering names of terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization).

All this falls very badly for the terrorist Mujahedin organization, including the latest members of its military organization, will soon be expelled from Iraq where Saddam Hussein had hosted them as performers of its dirty crimes.

Geostratos – 12 January 2009

March 1, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq 's Function

The use of politics for MKO

In the politics arena, the politic men come to the scene either to achieve power or to serve people. Naturally, if the politic men work for the profit of their own pockets or their own ambitions, their reputation will be damaged soon because the people will no more tolerate the abuse of their support or funding. The true use of politics is in fact to bring freedom to people.

Unfortunately, for MKO leaders the only definition for politics is the power over their victims including their cult members and Western politicians. Given the use of politics is only to achieve power; the means to reach such a goal is justified to be anything. The means could include resorting to deception and lie to deceive western powerful governments, so dependence has no place in such a policy, an organization like MKO, without any internal support in Iran, has only one way to not only gain power but also to survive. The deception policy has been a very useful trick to win western support for MKO.

But the west, especially the US government has had various groups on its payroll at one time. Now, they are funding MKO, a decade ago, they funded and trained Bin Laden to fight Russians and even further back, they worked with Ho Chi Minh to bring change in China. As it has been the fate of any group depended on US administration, the role of MKO for the US will also be expired finally, as well as what happened to AlQaida.

All the above-mentioned groups, as well as MKO, used politics to gain control over people to practice their extremist revolutionary ideas and eventually as soon as they lost their western support, they lost their existence. The history has always witnessed various examples of extremist movements’ attempts to gain the support of superpowers for their ambitions and their collapse after missing the external support.

As a matter of fact, if any movement regards the politics as a means to serve people and to bring about freedom and democracy for people, they will definitely win public support and any movement which enjoys the support of the masses is never concerned about its survival.

Mazda Parsi

February 28, 2009 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

PMOI’s Intimidating leadership

Cult leadership is feared. To disagree with leadership is the same as disagreeing with God. The cult leaders will claim to have direct authority from God to control almost all aspects of your life. If the cult is not a religious group then questioning the leaders or program will still be seen as a sign of rebellion and stupidity.

As Ann Singleton (former member of MEK) writes in her book “ Saddam’s Private Army” ,Masud Rajavi “ implied in his speeches that if such a leader has done his job well enough, then he starts a relationship with Imam Zaman ( the last and still awaited Imam in Shiite Islam) and therefore has direct contact with God.”

A brochure on MKO in Geostratos website explains that in 1990 Masud Rajavi declared himself ”as a person who receives his power directly from God” so the members were told to surrender their free will to the God’s representative and in case of disobedience they are called guilty or stupid. By this claim Masud Rajavi immunize himself against any criticism or opposition because the members feel guilty to oppose the order of God and also they are intimidated by their high officials in the peer pressure meetings where their character is assassinated.

Guilt, Character Assassination and Breaking Sessions. Guilt will be used to control you. Maybe the reason you’re not making money is because you’re not "with the programme". Maybe the reason you’re not able to convert new recruits is because "your heart is prideful and full of sin". It could never be that the programme isn’t working, or those new recruits have valid reasons for not joining. It’s always your fault, you are always wrong, and so you must try harder! You will also be made to feel very guilty for disobeying any of the cult’s written or unwritten rules.

Character Assassination is used to help create the guilt in you. Character Assassination is a type of false reasoning used by people and groups who have no real arguments. The technical name for Character Assassination is "The Ad hominem Fallacy". This is how it works. Imagine if you will a conversation between two men, Ford and Arthur…

"One plus one equals three", says Ford.

"No I don’t think so. You see when I have one thing, and I have another thing, then I have two things not three", replies Arthur.

"I see your point, but what you must realize is that one plus one when calculated in relation to this complex number domain, which I just invented, and then squared by the sum of the ninth tangent in the sequence of the Fibonacci series results in three!", stated Ford triumphantly.

Ok, Ford is wrong, but that is not the point. The point is that Ford tried to answer Arthur’s reasoning with more reasoning of his own. This is the healthy way people and groups debate subjects. Now lets see what would have happened if Ford had used Character Assassination…

"Arthur I have been a mathematician longer than you. How dare you disagree with me! You are obviously a very smug and prideful person. I think you are disagreeing with me because you are jealous of me, and to be honest with you Arthur your rebellion has really hurt me and a lot of other people too", stated Ford his face intimidating close to Arthur’s.

You see Ford didn’t answer Arthur’s argument, instead he attacked his character. If you are not aware of how Character Assassination works then it is a powerful way to exert control over you.

CHARACTER ASSASSINATION IS A SIGN OF A CULT

Breaking sessions are when one, two or more cult members and leaders attack the character of another person, sometimes for hours on end. Some cults will not stop these sessions until their victim is crying uncontrollably.

CULT MEMEBRS ARE USUALLY VERY FEARFUL OF DISOBEYING OR DISAGREEING IN ANYWAY WITH THEIR LEADERSHIP.HEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS HOWEVER ARE NOT THREATENED BY OPENLY DEBATING ISSUES.

Batoul Soltani is one of the eye-witnesses of character assassination sessions of the Rajavi’s cult who has been the victim of such sessions too. In her memoirs, she describes such meetings in detailed:

“ … while the member is confessing his sins (facts) in the meeting, the others in the group are insulting him with an abusive language using terms like lumpish, idiot …just because he has thought of his ex-fiancé.”

Therefore, after the deceptive methods were used to recruit the members the fearful and intimating atmosphere made by the God-like leader will keep the members in the cult.

Mazda Parsi

Reference: HowCultsWork

Washington may court moderates WITHIN Iran

Washington may court moderates within Iran rather than outside opposition
The change in tone from Washington toward Tehran is complicated not only by historic acrimony but also by a complex relationship with Iranian opposition movements.
U.S. officials have made it clear that the Obama administration represents a possible opening for Iran.
"With respect to Iran, there is a clear opportunity for the Iranians … to demonstrate some willingness to engage meaningfully with the international community," in the words of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This is in stark contrast to the previous administration and its policy of isolation. Gary Sick, a top White House aide on Iran during the Iranian hostage crisis and now senior research scholar at Columbia University, says though the administration of George W. Bush had hoped for a better relationship with Iran in the wake of the conflict in Afghanistan, that policy was largely abandoned when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
Ali Safavi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran — a Paris -based group calling itself the Iranian Parliament in exile — said the approach to the Iranian regime, as well as its opposition, would be a litmus test for the Obama administration.
"There has been no shortage of goodwill gestures from the Americans toward Iran with the goal of moderation, but so far this course has failed," he said.
The NCRI, which includes members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, a dissident group based in Iraq’s Diyala province, has lobbied the international community to back a 16-point plan for regime change in Iran. It led a successful campaign in January to remove the PMOI from the terrorist list adopted by the European Union.
Maryam Rajavi, the controversial leader of the NCRI, hailed the decision as a victory for the Iranian resistance, saying the move paved the way for democratic change in Iran.
But the group’s image as a cult with a storied history of terrorist activity, both in Iran and across the globe, makes courting the opposition as a viable avenue for regime change in Iran tenuous at best.
The PMOI and the NCRI are both listed by the United States as terrorist organizations for their links to violent opposition to the Iranian regime.
President Bill Clinton in 1997 included the PMOI on the U.S. State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations following the election of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. Sick says that effort was part of a broader policy of appeasement toward the moderate Khatami, adding the State FTO list is a reflection of who Washington likes as much as who it doesn’t.
The PMOI arrived on the scene in the 1960s as a movement opposing the Western-backed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and supporting the Iranian Revolution in 1979 that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power. The ideology of the PMOI, centered on Marxism, was in contradiction to the Revolution, however, and the group was exiled to Paris in 1981.
With France recognizing the Iranian regime in 1986, however, the group established itself in various camps throughout Iraq from which it ran a campaign of violence against Tehran. Though largely targeting Iranian government officials, its killing of American contractors in Tehran in the 1970s, participation alongside Saddam Hussein’s forces in suppressing Kurdish and Shiite rebellions in Iraq in 1991 and its later attacks on Iranian embassies in 1992 earned it a spot on the terrorist lists of several nations.
Its reputation for militancy, however, was not supported by recognition as a major fighting force. The PMOI surrendered its tanks and heavy artillery to U.S. forces following the 2003 invasion. Its members are now considered protected persons in Iraq under the Fourth Geneva Convention and claim to have abandoned their militant agenda in favor of peaceful opposition.
The PMOI, and its representatives in the NCRI, claim to hold valuable intelligence on Iranian operations, including Iran’s controversial nuclear program. The group often touts its unveiling of the nuclear program at the Natanz weapons facility in Iran, though several analysts note developments at Natanz were all but flaunted by the Iranian regime.
Massoud Khodabandeh, a former member of the PMOI, said those claims, and the intelligence value of reports from the NCRI/PMOI in general, are at best questionable, at worst useless.
"It is widely believed that intelligence given out by the PMOI about Iran’s nuclear facilities was given to them by Western intelligence contacts," he said.
Meanwhile, allegations have mounted that the U.S. intelligence community has funneled money to the PMOI for operations against the Iranian regime. An article in The New Yorker magazine in 2008 suggested the Bush administration had set aside some $400 million for covert operations against Iran, with a portion going to the PMOI.
The NCRI’s Safavi, however, called those allegations "completely bogus," and U.S. intelligence officers contacted for this story said there was no evidence to support those claims, though the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he "wouldn’t be surprised if the allegation turned out to be true."
Meanwhile, with Iraq emerging from U.S. occupation with a shaky democracy, the relationship between Baghdad and the PMOI remains tense.
With the PMOI widely reviled in Iraq for supporting the violent suppression of the Shiite and Kurdish rebellions, and in Iran for its historic assassination policy, the group has few friends outside its groups of supporters in Europe and the United States.
Though Iraq does not have an extradition treaty with Iran, several top Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, have said the group is no longer welcome in Iraq.
Both the NCRI and PMOI, through persuasive and astute campaigns aimed at generating sympathy both in the media and among world leaders, including those in the United States, have pushed for a delisting campaign with an effort to sever its ties to its terrorist past.
International lawyers in Washington, D.C., representing the PMOI filed a petition in July with the U.S. State Department seeking removal from the FTO list there, but U.S. officials say the FTO designation is appropriate.
Speaking to reporters following the Jan. 26 EU delisting, State Department deputy spokesman Robert A. Wood said "nothing has changed from our standpoint" concerning either group.
Meanwhile, the outcome of the January provincial elections in Iraq may indicate a subtle shift in Iraqi relations with Iran as the pro-Tehran Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council was trounced in the elections, largely by Maliki’s more secular State of Law slate.
Former Iranian President Khatami — widely seen as a moderate — has announced plans to run for president again in June, and though an appeal in the PMOI FTO listing case is expected to reach the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this summer, with U.S. policy currently leaning toward courting moderates within Iran, rather than outside opposition groups, little seems likely to change in the future.

By DANIEL GRAEBER, UPI Correspondent,
http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/02/20/
Washington_may_court_moderates_within_Iran_rather_
than_outside_opposition/UPI-42961235157864/

February 23, 2009 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Imposing maximum pressure for laboring, to leave no time for thinking

Memoirs of Ms. Batoul Soltani- Part 8

To follow the previous issue, I’d say that the organizational control includes a group working (peer pressure) which is very important .That is they see it so Imposing maximum pressure for laboring, to leave no time for thinking bad to work individually. They never let you work on your own. When you want to do gardening or even watch something, you should do it together with a colleague.

The two individuals who work together are divided into one major and one minor, because the two members working together shouldn’t have the same ranking. That is done with the intention of preventing friendly relationships. According to the MKO leaders any emotional and friendly relations is basically forbidden. The only relationship allowed is the organizational supervising relations.

I would like to note another organizational control system called the "order" (cult jargon). They interpret the friendly relations as being very disgusting. So they label any person talking to another one as someone who holds an "order”. The term "order" is considered as a branch of the Iranian revolutionary guard (meaning the enemy) by MKO. Thus they control each two persons working together so seriously that they would never make a friendly relationship. If they know that two members have emotional relations, they will never let them work together again. The two members in a group should only have organizational relations (one major and one minor).

Another trick that is used to heighten the organizational control over members – and since the fall of Saddam has turned into a rule in MKO – is that the family visits should also be taken place in the presence of a third person. In other words a companion should escort you in your visit with your family, allegedly to help you be more comfortable! Generally the organization doesn’t like the families to come to Camp Ashraf. They do not welcome the families. They try their best to prevent members from contacting their families and if the families call the camp, they won’t let the members know about it. For example when my brother had come to Italy and contacted the offices of MKO and had tried to visit me, they didn’t let me know; or they gave my father’s letter to me so late. When they were assured that my brother had left Italy, they gave his letter to me. The organization works very cautiously to stop the members thinking about normal life like getting married or having children. So it is very difficult or even impossible to contact the families to gain money or financial support; but even this sort of contact should be made under the control of a third person. There is a rule for members who work with the internet for marketing, searching or free down loads. They have no right to sit alone in a room or at a desk with a computer which is connected to the internet. There must be a second person who is not busy supervising your clicks and the websites you search in. There is a rule for the arrangement of the computer rooms; the monitors shouldn’t face the walls so that the controller of the room can always see the screens. Such a high control is applied because MKO doesn’t want the members to have any access to the outside world except to what the organization wants.

I’d like to talk about another case of organizational control:

In the early days after the Revolution, when the organization was in the so called political phase and marriage was not totally forbidden, the man or woman who wanted to get married had to do it in the manner of the organization, so marriage was an organizational prearranged issue with no normal emotional base.

Another example is the process of sending the children out of Iraq. There arises a question: why did the MKO do so?

First they wanted to totally cut the mother-child relationship and secondly the MKO took the children to various corners of Europe and America as hostages.

That is how they exactly treated me. As soon as I left the group, they looked for my daughter and brought her to Iraq to visit her father in Ashraf and it is something strange that they never brought her to Iraq during the very long time I was living there. They took my daughter from Sweden to Holland to talk to my son and convince him not to reply my communications. Therefore the organization applies too much efforts to restrict the former members as well as to control the current members.

Any official must arrange the schedules of the personnel under his or her responsibility with maximum working hours. Masud Rajavi had even said: ”I assigned your sisters as leadership council members to make the guys of the organization work so hard that they become very thin.”

Or he said: "Blade, axe and pistol should always be over the members’ head”, they should be under the maximum working pressure in order not to find any time to think.

Translated by Nejat Society

February 23, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq 's Function

MEK; Controversial freedom fighters

The Iranian resistance group “mujahedin khalq” as fifth column against Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war

Since the end of the Saddam era, it plays a very ambiguous role.

Behnam Sanati (name changed by the author) could have had a quiet life in Paris, where his parents after the Islamic revolution in Iran, emigrated in 1979. But in the mid-90s, he made the mistake of his life. He fell in love with a young Iranian girl who convinced him, to join “mujahedin khaq” (the word means “holy warriors”),and then become a militant for Iraqi ex-dictator Saddam Hussein who supported the group formed to overthrow the regime in Tehran.

In 1998, the MEK sent him to Ashraf Camp in Iraq, 100 kilometers from the Iranian border. Later he was supposed to launch an attack on a senior military officer in Tehran. “The mission was not successful,” says Sanati cool and emotionless. But the failure of the action

meant that he eventually swallowed a cyanide capsule and then – because the poison had not killed him – he blew up a hand grenade in the air. Here he lost his left hand, but he was received in an Iranian military hospital and survived. He followed five years in prison.

Today he is stunned sitting in a small Parisian bistro and shaking his head. Last week was in fact the struggle time

for the status of mujahedin khalq, a three-year dispute to an end: the group was removed by the EU, like the British model, from the terror list. And last December, Europe tipped the Supreme Court for the EU’s decision on dismissal of the organization’s assets freezing. “This is hopefully not the last word in this matter. Just because the ruling of European Court against the successful listing as a terrorist organization in the European Union has sued, does not alter their crimes in the past,” says Behnam angrily.

Divided opinions

He is right. The contradiction continues, because the EU states are divided in the assessment of the Iranian opposition movement. France wants to appeal the decision of the EU’s Court of appeal. States such as Austria, Ireland, Denmark and Luxembourg, however, argue that the Iranian opposition group after the decision of the EU judges could not stay on the terrorist list.

This list, via a unanimous decision made by all 27 EU member states is renewed every six months. Benham hopes that soon MEK will be on the list again. “mujahedin was founded in 1965 and acted against Shah mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was supported by the west the until the Islamic revolution in 1979. In their worldview, the first supporters demanded an obscure mixture of revolutionary Marxism, guerrilla struggle ethos à la Ho Chi Minh and Shiite Islam, as the protest movement against class exploitation and state violence. The armed struggle from the outset was MEK’s favorite tool to its anti-American and anti-monarchist propaganda with the necessary efficiency to lend, “he explains.

Behnam knows the history of the movement by heart: “MEK planned their first major attack in 1971, when the 2500th anniversary of the Persian monarchy was celebrated. They wanted to blow up E-factory in the capital Tehran what Pahlavi’s security forces prevented. Waves of arrests were the result, Rajavi who now leads the MEK authoritarian was imprisoned. After the Islamic revolution the MEK broke out with the Iranian regime that had originally supported and consequently Rajavi fled to France. MEK led the remaining members in home launch bombings, murders, and attacks on Iranian interests.

Exile in Iraq

The emigrants were not only in the West, where a large number of Iranians live in exile, but also in neighboring Iraq. In 2003 the US-led military coalition toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and made mujahedin disappointed because he had granted them shelter since 1980’s as mercenaries in the first Gulf and war against Iran. Also in the repression of Kurdish and Shiite uprisings, they were involved, what finally shattered the support of the Iranian people of their mother country, “said Behnam. He continued:” This sect has perpetrated attacks on Iranians! How can you shoot to your own compatriots? How could I just join? ”

Behnam takes out a photo from his pocket and shows it to us. “They are from Austria but then they are interested in here,” he says. It shows the ex-Mujaheddin fighters Golzar Farid (name changed by the author). ” In 1984, Farid graduated from the University of Vienna began in 1985 in Austria by the Mujahedin recruited. He flew with Austrian Airlines to Baghdad and came first in a warehouse to Kurdistan. During the Iran-Iraq war, he fought mainly against pro-Iranian Kurdish units. Shortly before the end of the war, the leader of the MEK, Massud Rajavi, moved a tactic to change his group as an army into battle against Iran. As in the UN Resolution 598, July 1987 peace plan that ended the Iran-Iraq war was decided, Rajavi was before his group and stated that their credibility was under question if they would not hit. On July 18th, shortly after Iran signed the ceasefire agreement 7000 MEK fighters began the operation “Eternal Light” for the disastrous failure: at least 1315 fighters were killed.

The organization now shifted its activities to terrorist attacks inside Iran: In 2001, Farid Golzar with antitank missiles and a Kalashnikov sent to Tehran in order to execute an attack. “He was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison. In 2005, he was released from prison,” says Behnam. “Why there were no death sentences, why he came and Golzar released too early? ’’, We want to know. “Iran’s government began to change in the era of President Mohammad Khatami its policy towards the MEK. With mild penalties and the possibility of reintegration, the 4000 fighters who are still in Camp Ashraf could be, to be convinced to return to Iran,” Behnam said.

Dissatisfied with the news about the MEK is also an employee of the Iranian Center for Strategic Studies: The 35-year-old complains about the unwillingness of the United States, to hand over the camp in Iraq to Iraqi government. “That’s a double morality of the West. How they claim to fight against terror, while they remove a terrorist group from the list,” he asks angrily.

Maryam Rajavi, leader of the National Resistance of Iran (NCRI), provides as legal representative of the exiled opposition group that is completely different. “The decision is a valuable beginning. Now, the U.S. should follow the European example and delete MEK from the list too” she asks. Although they proclaim that their organization for several years has had no longer militant operations, it should be considered as serious that they can not deny that the role of the political orphans of mujahedin in the eventful history of the Middle East.

Joker militant U.S.

After the fall of Saddam there is no use from the cult-like militia, the U.S. is wary of them, because even killings of U.S. soldiers during the Shah’s time go to their account. The hawks in the Pentagon, would still like to be militant Joker against Iran. It was this group that in 2002 uncovered the existence of the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and the heavy water reactor in Arak, is regarded as evidence of their importance.

On the other hand, the former weapons inspector Scott Ritter says, Israel’s secret service had been the source. For “PR reasons” – Israel itself has nuclear weapons and refuses to acknowledge the NPT to sign – he did the group fed with information. Iraq wants the fighters to get rid of any event and suspected them to cooperate with extremists.

Before Behnam goes, he raises the finger warningly and says: “I will only find my peace when all can live Mujaheddin in the Iranian society, and none of them longer is forced to live in camps where violence and dictatorship prevail.”

Wiener Zeitungat By Arian Faal, born 1977, lives as a journalist and university lecturer in Vienna and Paris.

February 22, 2009 0 comments

UK sees MKO as terrorists despite court ruling

Downing Street still considers the anti-Iran Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) as a terrorist group, says the British justice secretary.
British Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw said on Wednesday that his country firmly believes in the terrorist nature of the MKO group, despite a controversial decision last year to remove the dissidents from the UK terror list.
Straw said he sorely regrets the British court ruling which de-proscribed the grouplet from the country’s terror blacklist.
"When I was the home secretary, I said it was a terrorist group and the parliament agreed. The difficulty is that there is an independent kind of court which can make the final decisions out of the law. And it decided that the evidence do not support what the government was saying," Straw told IRNA in an exclusive interview.
Following a UK court ruling in 2008, the British parliament lifted the terror ban on MKO — irrespective of the abundance of evidence pointing to the group’s 40-year history of performing terrorist operations in Iran.
The group masterminded a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, one of which was the 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party, in which more than 72 Iranian officials were killed, including then Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.
Earlier in January, the European Union decided to follow in Britain’s footsteps and moved to redefine the group as a non-terrorist organization, annulling its previous decision to freeze MKO funds.
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization, which blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism, was founded in Iran in the 1960s but was exiled some twenty years later for performing acts of terrorism in the country.
A 2007 German intelligence report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has identified the MKO as a "repressive, sect-like and Stalinist authoritarian organization which centers around the personality cult of [MKO leaders] Maryam and Masoud Rajavi".
High-ranking MKO members have camped-out in most of Europe’s parliaments for the past two years and have managed to gain scattered support from various high-ranking circles in the West.
Anne Singleton, an expert on the MKO and author of ‘Saddam’s Private Army’ explains that the West aims to keep the group afloat in order to use it in efforts to stage a regime change in Iran.
"With a new Administration in the White House a pre-emptive strike on Iran looks unlikely. Instead the MKO’s backers have put together a coalition of small irritant groups, the known minority and separatist groups, along with the MKO. These groups will be garrisoned around the border with Iran and their task is to launch terrorist attacks into Iran over the next few years to keep the fire hot," she explains.
"The role of the MKO is to train and manage these groups using the expertise they acquired from Saddam’s Republican Guard," Singleton added.

February 21, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

MKO’s violence originated in its theory Structure

MKO’s violent acts and atrocities are originated in its theory structure

The presence of the organization [MEK] in Iraqi territory has nothing to the Iraqi nation except danger.
MKO’s violent acts and atrocities are originated in its theory structure The recent annual report of the Department of State might not have anything new on the status of the Iranian Mujahedin Khalq Organization which has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since years ago. But the speech made by Condoleeza Rice following the publication of the new list, which called the group as substantially terrorist, should be taken as serious.

The MKO tries to pretend that it has denounced terrorism and represents a peaceful struggle because they claim to have abandoned violence for years. But, the investigations by the State Department’s experts did not include its recent acts but the terrorist nature of MKO of which its ideology and strategy completely originates and will never get separated. MKO is a destructive cult with a terrorist potential, according to the experts, and will not lose such potentiality without arm and camp and will never miss its real nature.

Therefore from a technical viewpoint – if one doesn’t want to work on political interests and benefits – the investigation on the nature of a group is prior to its short-term functions. If we don’t evaluate the nature correctly, we will make mistake in viewing its short–term function, as many unprofessional people made the same mistake.

Terrorist designation of the groups or entities by various countries is primarily done due to the national security (although sometimes the lists get a political flavor) and its objective is to determine the organization with terrorist potentiality and take them under direct supervision.

However, the designation of the terrorist nature of a group is based on the interests and acts of the group through its background and many other criteria, so it requires a deep and multilateral investigation.

We do not intend to punish before the commitment but we want to investigate this case more deeply trying not to view MKO’s short-term claims as a base.

The nature we are discussing includes long-term functions and we would like to confirm that the potential capacity of MKO will be definitely actualized if the condition is appropriate and when the facilities are provided eventually the previous status will be revived.

In the recent report on MKO published by German federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there is no difference between MKO and NCRI and also it is mentioned that there is no evidence to approve that the organization has denounced its violent acts. The report also notes that the organization is a cult, the fact that many experts agree.

The cult-like and terrorist nature of MKO requires it to commit terror acts in case of necessity, because it has theorized the engagement in violence in its theory system. Therefore such an organization is always dangerous for its environment. It is a destructive risk for the security of every society and could be considered as a substantial threat. Thus it must be restricted and neutralized.

Unfortunately, today the main body of MKO is located in our country. Saddam Hussein brought them to our territory due to his own benefits as well as other disasters he left for us. The west that has once used the group against the Islamic Republic, now doesn’t want to accept them in its soil. This is exactly like they want to get rid of their nuclear garbage that they have used it and now that it is a threat they want to get rid of it. The presence of MKO in our territory brings nothing except danger and threat to Iraqi nation who has no reason to suffer the risks of this nuclear garbage. The west should keep them in its own territory since they are well aware of their threats.
Al Mo’tamar Newspaper

The presence of the organization [MEK] in Iraqi territory has nothing to the Iraqi nation except danger.

the investigations by the State Department’s experts did not include its recent acts but the terrorist nature of MKO of which its ideology and strategy completely originates

February 19, 2009 0 comments

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