Mujahedin Khalq Declining

US confirms Mojahedin Khlaq as terrorist group

MKO is an exiled cult-like organization that resorts to armed attacks to destabilize the government in Tehran.

The US State Department has declared that the official designation of Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group is appropriate.

In a notice published Monday in the Federal Register, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that the MKO group should remain in its list of terrorist organizations.

The US announcement comes amid Iraqi government efforts to expel members of the terrorist group. Baghdad assumed control of the security of Camp Ashraf, the main MKO military base in Iraq’s Diyala province, on January 1, 2009.

The Mujahedin Khalq Organization is blacklisted by many countries, including EU member states and the United States as a terrorist organization. It relocated to Camp Ashraf from Iran after the Islamic Revolution.

Prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the MKO enjoyed the support of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain, who provided the group with arms and military equipment to launch attacks against the Islamic Republic during the Iraqi war against Iran (1980-88).

The Iraqi government says the MKO has played a significant role in destabilizing the war-torn country, blaming the group for terrorist attacks within Iraq.

The recent move provoked the group to file a petition in order to take the case to the court.”We will take the case to the court and we will win,” a Paris-based spokesman for the group, Shahin Gobadi, proclaimed.

The MKO has sought to have the group removed from the list of terrorist organizations, lobbying the European parliament and officials.

Baghdad urges the expulsion or relocation of the terrorist group, saying the MKO presence at Camp Ashraf may strain its diplomatic relations with Tehran.

In addition to terrorist attacks within Iran, which claimed the lives of 12,000 civilians, the MKO helped Saddam in suppressing Iraqi Kurds.

January 15, 2009 0 comments

USA

U.S. reaffirms designation of MKO as terrorists

The U.S. State Department reaffirmed its designation of the anti-Iran Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization as a terrorist organization.

The presence in Iraq of the MKO has long been a source of friction between Washington and Baghdad, which intends to expel the terrorist group.

The MKO had filed a petition for revocation of its designation as a terrorist organization. But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a notice published Monday in the Federal Register that after reviewing the case she determined that the designation is still valid and appropriate.

Iraq’s government has long sought to get rid of the MKO, but the issue took on new urgency when Iraq assumed greater sovereignty Jan. 1 under a new security agreement that gave the Iraqis responsibility for Camp Ashraf.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said on Jan. 1 that the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization can ""no longer operate in Iraq"".

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

The MKO is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze, and has been designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visits Brussels and despite the ban enjoys full freedom in Europe.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

In recent months, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=186826

January 15, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Ryan Crocker pointed out US designated the PMOI as terrorists

Iraqi govt won’t forcibly evict Iranians U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker pointed out the Americans have designated the People's Mujahedeen as a terrorist organization

The Iraqi government has promised it won’t forcibly evict an Iranian opposition group based in Iraq since Saddam Hussein’s era, the U.S. ambassador said in a television interview broadcast Saturday.

The People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, also known as the Mujahedeen Khalq, fears Iran is pressuring Iraq to expel its members and force them back to Iran.

Iraq’s government has taken over national security from the Americans under a new agreement. But the U.S. Embassy has said American forces remain at the group’s base known as Camp Ashraf.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker pointed out the Americans have designated the People’s Mujahedeen as a terrorist organization, and he understands the Iraqi government wants the group removed from its territory.

But he said the Iraqis have promised to respect the human rights of the group’s members."We’ve discussed this issue intensively with the Iraqi government," he told the U.S.-funded Alhurra television station. "They have provided assurances that none of these individuals will be forcibly sent to a third country where they have reason to fear for their safety or well-being, and we know those assurances will be respected."

Iraq’s deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abbawi said the government has been working with international agencies to try to find an acceptable way to remove the group, perhaps by finding other countries willing to take them.

"The Iraqi government’s position is that members of the Mujahedeen Khalq are unwanted here and they should leave Iraq and their camp should be closed, but Iraq will not make them leave forcibly," he told The Associated Press.

"We do not want to put their lives at stake," Abbawi said. "Even for those who wish to return to Iran, we have already gained assurances from Iranian officials that they will face no danger and we have ongoing talks regarding this issue with Tehran."

The People’s Mujahedeen, which allied with Saddam during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, has about 3,500 people at Camp Ashraf. When U.S.-led troops overthrew the regime, they demilitarized the group and confined its fighters to the compound northeast of Baghdad, under the protection of the multinational forces.

"Clearly, Iraq would like to see an organization that they too consider a terrorist organization no longer on their soil," Crocker said. "At the same time, like a responsible democracy, they have recognized that these individuals have basic humans rights, and they have provided assurances to uphold them."

The U.S. Embassy said in December that American troops would remain at Camp Ashraf "to assist the government of Iraq in carrying out its assurances of humane treatment of the residents" after the transition to the new security agreement, which took effect on Jan. 1.

By SAMEER N. YACOUB

January 11, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Iraqi PM Seeks to Develop Relations with Iran

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he has established a committee to develop the country’s relations with Iran.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran Monday after wrapping up meetings with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other officials, Maliki said his visit to Tehran has resulted in the formation of a supreme joint committee for bilateral relations development.

Maliki said an agreement was reached to form a reconstruction services company with Iran that would come into play after Iraq has gained more stability.

The prime minister said Iraq will also cooperate with other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, in bids to accelerate Iraq’s redevelopment.

Maliki also told Iranian state-run television that his government would not allow the use of Iraqi territory as a threat against its neighbors, alluding to the US troops deployed in Iraq and the anti-Iranian terrorist opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization.

Iraq has vowed to expel the MKO from the country in the near future.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

The MKO is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze, and has been designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visits Brussels and despite the ban enjoys full freedom in Europe.

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

Leaders of the group have been fighting to shed its terrorist tag after a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s, and nearly 30 years of violent struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In recent months, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.

The UK initiative, however, has prompted the European Union to establish relations with the exiled organization now based in Paris. The European Court of First Instance threw its weight behind the MKO in December and annulled its previous decision to freeze its funds.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s.

January 8, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq 's Function

MKO futile efforts to survive as a Guerrilla force

The armed struggle is mostly defined as Guerilla warfare which is considered as the unconventional warfare in which the guerrilla army uses mobile tactics This shows the importance of Camp Ashraf while MKO has no public support to rely on, no weapon to fight with and no border to launch cross border attacks. (ambushes, raids, etc) to fight a larger army or enemy.

According to Wikipedia this term (guerrilla) means “little war” in Spanish and the concept acknowledges a conflict between armed civilians against a powerful nation state army. Also, as Che Guevara, the Argentine revolutionist, writes in his book “Guerrilla Warfare”:

”the guerrilla band is an armed nucleus, the fighting vanguard of the people. It draws its great force from the mass of the people themselves “

In China, the Maoist Theory of People’s War believes that the guerrilla earns population’s support by distributing propaganda. To answer the question “why does the guerrilla fighter fight?” Ernesto Che Guevara responds:

”the guerrilla fighter is a social reformer that he takes up arms responding to the angry protest of the people against their oppressors.”

Therefore, as the most revolutionary guerrilla leaders believe the support of the population is of great importance to guerrilla fighters to provide shelter, supply, finance and intelligence for them. So having the base of the people guarantees the success of a guerrilla movement and this is what the MKO lacks. Instead they could operate by enjoying the protection of the friendly regime of Saddam Hussein that provided them with funds, weapons, military training and bases, but the support of Baath regime for MKO just made their situation among the masses of Iranian population worst because their cooperation with the enemy of Iran turn these freedom fighters into traitors who have been Saddam’s mercenary forces for 3 decades. The experts think that relationships with civil populations are one of the most important factors in the guerrilla fighters’ success or failure.

MKO lost its public support in three phases. The first phase happened following their use of terror after the Islamic Revolution, when they launched terror operations in civil targets and assassinated a large number of their compatriots. Like the communist forces in the Philippines and Malaysia, these strikes helped turn civilian opinion against the so-called freedom fighters. Such tactics had no result except the withdrawal of the support of Iranians for MKO terrorists.

As mentioned above the second phase of the withdrawal of public support for MKO was after their cooperation with Saddam dictatorship during the eight years of Iran- Iraq war in which the MEK served as Saddam’s private army, provided intelligence for Baathist Intelligence services. MKO bases donated by Saddam Hussein were mostly located near Iranian border of which is an important factor in guerrilla warfare but after the fall of Saddam, their bases were reduced to the one in the Northern part of Baghdad, Camp Ashraf, in Diala province. Thus after the American invasion to Iraq and the take over of Camp Ashraf by the US army, the MEK were restricted to their only remote base, Ashraf.

The third phase of the public hatred toward MKO was as recent as the visits made by the families of captured MKO members in Camp Ashraf. Families of MEK/MKO members were the only people who were considered as sympathizers by MKO leaders but they are also turning to their enemies because they are seriously seeking the visit of their beloved ones who are captives of MKO cult in Camp Ashraf. The best example is their former supporter, Mustafa Muhammadi who has appealed for the arrest of Camp Ashraf leaders who have kept his daughter for years.

Another important element in guerrilla warfare is weapon of which the NLA had plenty of, due to their ex-master Saddam Hussein’s donations .But they had to submit all their weapons to the US army that disarmed the group after the seizure of Camp Ashraf in 2003.

Nowadays the MKO lacks public support ,weapon and also border but their only last resort includes Camp Ashraf that itself is supposed to be handed over to Iraqi Government and eventually to be shut down.

MKO leaders find no way except prolonging their stay in Camp Ashraf, Iraq since their vital need is now awning a location where they can survive as a coercive army.

This shows the importance of Camp Ashraf while MKO has no public support to rely on, no weapon to fight with and no border to launch cross border attacks.

January 5, 2009 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

A comment on the expulsion of Iranian Rebels

Iraq to expel Iranian rebels once it takes over camp from US

In June 2004, under the Geneva Conventions the United States granted “protected status” to 3,000 members of an Iranian opposition group interned in Iraq.

Listed as a terrorist organization, an US-led coalition disarmed these members of the People’s Mujahideen. Since 2004, they have been held in Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad under the protection of the United States government.

On December 22, the Iraqi government announced their intent to expel the Iranian exile group. An expulsion, which has been long sought by the Shiite-led government, will become feasible once the U.N. mandate that regulates the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq and gave the Iranian opposition group protected status expires at the end of the year (2008).

“Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie on Saturday traveled to the camp with several other government officials to deliver the message to members of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group that was closely aligned with deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein but has been under U.S. military protection since shortly after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The government informed the group that it would soon assume responsibility for security at Camp Ashraf and that residents would be repatriated unless they find a third country willing to take them. The U.S. military currently protects Camp Ashraf, which is 40 miles north of Baghdad.

‘Staying in Iraq is not an option for them,’ the government said in a statement issued Sunday. The Iranian government has long called for the group’s expulsion.

The statement did not set a deadline for removing the MEK. Iraqi officials have pledged to treat the group’s members humanely but have made their disdain for the MEK clear. The delegation that visited the camp included officials of the Defense and Interior ministries as well as Iraqi intelligence officials.

The statement also said the group is barred from participating in political activities and ordered it to cease media campaigns.

The Shiite-led Iraqi government, which has close ties to Iran, has for years threatened to shut down Camp Ashraf because it regards the MEK, also known as the People’s Mujaheddin Organization of Iran, as a terrorist organization.”

The MEK was founded in the 1960s in opposition to the late shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. They were accused of carrying out several attacks in Iran, including some targeting U.S. officials.

When Iraq and Iran were at war during the 1980’s, the MEK relocated its headquarters to Iraq where they were embraced by Saddam Hussein who provided them with weapons and financial support.

According to the Kurds and Shiites, these rebels are guilty of suppressing the failed Kurdish and Shiite uprisings that followed the Persian Gulf War.

“Shortly after the 2003 invasion, the U.S. military persuaded the MEK to disarm and offered to protect the group. The arrangement was awkward because it tasked the U.S. military with sheltering a group that remains on the State Department’s terrorism list.

The group’s charismatic leader, Maryam Rajavi, is based in Paris, but France and many other countries have been reluctant to resettle the group’s members.

Also Sunday, Iraq’s Interior Ministry issued a statement calling the recent detention of ministry officials by a special unit that reports directly to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ‘a brazen act of political retribution.”

On New Year’s Day, Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced that he would expel the Iranian armed opposition group from the country after taking over their base from US forces.

“Based on taking over everything and in accordance with our constitution and our policies of opening up to our neighbours… our forces are going to take full control of the camp where the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) live,’ Maliki said.

Maliki was speaking to reporters on the sideline of a ceremony during which the United States handed over to Iraqi forces security control of the Green Zone, symbol of the American occupation of the country.”

Maliki made it clear that the PMOI is a terrorist organization and, therefore, cannot and will not operate in Iraq. Iraq officials are in fear that the PMOI will create a political crisis in contradiction with their constitution.

Maliki while making it perfectly clear that Iraq is no longer a home for the rebels, indicated that the rebels would be treated in accordance with international laws. Iraq will not force the rebels to return to Iran. They will instead give them the opportunity to either go back to Iran or another country.

“Maliki, who was speaking ahead of a visit Saturday to Tehran, told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in March that he would take steps to ensure that Iraq was not used by ‘terrorists’ from Al-Qaeda, or from Iranian rebel groups.

Last month the White House said it received assurances from Baghdad that the rebel group will not be expelled to a country where they may be persecuted, apparently excluding their return to Iran.”

Pumabydesign

January 5, 2009 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Maliki: Iraq to Expel MKO

TEHRAN (FNA)- Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed that he would expel the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from the country after taking Based on taking over everything and in accordance with our constitution and our policies of opening up to our neighbors... our forces are going to take full control of the camp where the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization live over their base from US forces.

"Based on taking over everything and in accordance with our constitution and our policies of opening up to our neighbors… our forces are going to take full control of the camp where the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization live,"" Maliki said alluding to Camp Ashraf.

The MKO "is a terrorist organization and thus cannot operate in Iraq because it will create a political crisis in contradiction with the constitution," Maliki said.

"We will treat them based on the international laws. We will not force them to go back (to Iran) but we will give them the opportunity to either go home, or to another country," he added.

"(Staying in) Iraq will not be an alternative for them," Maliki said.

Maliki, who was speaking ahead of a visit Saturday to Tehran, told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in March that he would take steps to ensure that Iraq was not used by "terrorists" from Al-Qaeda, or from Iranian rebel groups.

US forces confiscated the organization’s weapons following the March 2003 US-led invasion, taking away some 300 tanks, many of which were subsequently given to the Iraqi armed forces.

Two years ago Iraq decided to restrict the movements of the estimated 3,500 MKO members to their base at Camp Ashraf, near the Iranian border, where they have been held under a kind of US-supervised house arrest.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

In recent months, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s.

FNA- 2009-01-03

January 5, 2009 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Iraq Seeks to Send Terrorist Group Out

Iraq said on Wednesday it wants thousands of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) members at a camp north of Baghdad to leave the country, although it does not plan to expel them by force.

Iraqi forces take over responsibility for Camp Ashraf, home to 3,500 MKO terrorists, on Jan. 1 as part of a bilateral deal governing the presence of US troops who guarded the camp in the past.

The US embassy said this week some US troops will remain at the camp to help Iraqi authorities protect it after it passes to Iraqi control, but the MKO members say they fear Baghdad may still try to shut it and drive them out.

US forces declared the MKO terrorists “protected persons” after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam. Baghdad and Washington both consider the exiles to be a terrorist group.

“The Iraqi government will deal with the people in this camp in a humane way and according to internationally adopted standards, the Iraqi constitution and Iraqi laws,” Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

“The government of Iraq does not have any intention to expel the people of this organization or force them to leave Iraq. But it calls on those people to find another place outside Iraq in any state that may accept them as refugees, or for those who wish to return to Iran to go of their own free will,” it said.

“Iraq is no longer a suitable place for them because the Iraqi constitution does not permit dealings with an organization classified as a terrorist group.”

Meantime, a senior Iraqi official said Iraq has decided to shut down the Camp Ashraf as soon as possible, expel the MKO members from Iraq and close their file forever. Political advisor of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Mohsen Al-Hakim told the Islamic republic news agency that Baghdad considered the MKO as a terrorist group.

Most of its members are based in Ashraf Camp north of Baghdad. According to Al-Hakim, continued presence of the terrorist group in Iraq would be against Paragraph 33 of the Resolution 687 of the United Nations Security Council.

It would also be against the Iraqi Constitution, decisions made by the country’s presidency council and approvals of the Iraqi parliament, added the advisor.

The Paragraph 33 of the UN Security Council resolution, approved in April 3, 1991, required the government of Iraq to expel all terrorist groups that are present in the country.

The MKO members have two options of either returning home or leaving for another country but they cannot remain in Iraq any longer, Al-Hakim said stressing that the terrorist group was legally in an unclear situation as its members are neither considered refugees nor prisoners of war.

According to reports by human rights advocates, former members of MKO who returned home were living in good conditions, Al-Hakim added.

The advisor stressed that the grouplet has been barred from conducting all political, social and media activities on Iraqi territory. He added that an Iraqi battalion was currently in charge of providing external security of Ashraf Camp while its internal affairs are undertaken by the foreign nationals department of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations. According to Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

In recent months, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group. The UK initiative, however, has prompted the European Union to establish relations with the exiled organization now based in Paris. The European Court of First Instance threw its weight behind the MKO in December and annulled its previous decision to freeze its funds.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s.

Iraq Seeks to Send Terrorist Group Out

January 4, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Mujahedin’s stay in Iraq doesn’t tolerated

Al-Maliki: There is one thing that will not be tolerated and that is for them (Mojahedin Khalq, Rajavi cult) to stay in Iraq

Q: What will become of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/PMOI) after US forces relinquish the provision of Camp Ashraf security to the Iraqi government?

Al-Maliki: Today, another one of the results of the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty was that Camp Ashraf was returned to Iraqi security forces. In this camp there are organization members, of course I don’t acknowledge them nor approach them as members of an organization, but anyway there are people living in the camp whose stay in Iraq is illegal and are therefore not permitted to reside in our country.

They do not have the necessary requirements to be granted refugee status. Furthermore, Iraq is determined to put an end to this [Mujahedin Khalq] Organization because it is effecting relations between Iran and Iraq. This organization participated in many operations that harmed Iranian and Iraqi civilians under the Saddam regime.

This organization has perhaps committed acts that have caused more harm to Iraqis than to Iranians. We have been clear and frank on the issue both before we took control of the security of the camp and even after we received control. They cannot remain in Iraq. They can return to Iran or go to any other country but remaining in Iraq is not an option for them.

We will not force them to choose among these options. There is also the possibility that Iran will grant them amnesty if they would so choose to return. If they do not, there may be countries that would open their doors to them. They are free to choose.

But all this aside, there is one thing that will not be tolerated and that is for them to stay in Iraq.

—————–

Full interview:

Iraq: We won’t bow to pressure about Iran

The following is a Press TV interview with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki conducted on the New Year and ahead of his visit to Iran.

Al-Maliki: In the very beginning I would like to thank you for this interview and congratulate the New Year. I ask God to make this year a year of peace, safety, prosperity and stability in both Arab and Muslim countries and the world.

You have asked me about what is happening today. If we look at the hardships imposed on the Iraqi nation because of international punishments and the country being subject to Chapter VII of the UN Charter and the military adventures and the wars, the executions and the starvation and the hunger and the threats to our sovereignty, which led to the invasion of the country by foreign forces stationed here, I must say that the Iraqis have endured a great tragedy.

But we have named this day, the 1st of January, as a national day. The Iraqis and all of the people from other countries deserve this day and have to congratulate us for this day because it is a national feast, a feast for our sovereignty and a feast for the result of the efforts of the Iraqi nation today. We have received the symbol of sovereignty, the presidential palace, and the green zone, and the power over Iraqi skies. We will also receive the rest.

Today Iraqis have brought into force the provisions of the withdrawal agreement and complete sovereignty will thus be restored to the Iraqi people, the Iraqi government and the armed forces.

For us this is a victory at many levels, a victory in our bid to see freedom from Chapter VII of the UN Charter, a victory in our bid to regain sovereignty, and a victory in building the army and promoting the political process, building a trained and professional army capable to implementing the law and order in the country and a political process capable to improving political procedures. It is from here that the journey starts to take the Iraqis to the sea of freedom.

Q: There have been intensions to isolate Iran politically and introduce further punitive measure on the Iranian economy. Are there any pressures on the Iraqi government on this subject?

I can say openly and frankly that the Iraqi government will not force any kind of pressure or anything else for that matter on Iran or any other country in the region. We will defy any pressure brought against us to do anything that is not in line with our constitution, our policies, our beliefs and our national interests. I can say with great courage!

We will approach issues this way not only in the case of Iran, but also when our neighboring and regional countries or even other countries are concerned. I want to emphasize that it is the will of the Iraqi government, the national unity government of Iraq, to be loyal only to the Iraqi nation and its parliament and to abide by the constitution.

It is the law that opens doors to friendship and relations and prevents us from bowing to the will of others. Our constitution has determined that after today Iraq will no longer be the scene of wars and conflict and a source of regional instability and a place where foreign powers hold power and influence.

Iraq does not want to experience isolation and does not seek to create conflicts or fuel conflicts in the region; we want a situation void of any problems. We want regional peace and cooperation as we will remain a neighbor of Iran, Turkey and Syria and are therefore determined to continue our interaction and relations with them.

All our relations take mutual respect into consideration and that is why my upcoming visits to turkey and Iran and other regional countries will be based on policies that are acceptable for the Iraqi people; policies that they trust.

In addition, the policy of our government will be to resolve all the problems we have inherited from the Saddam regime. We will pursue this with regional countries. Some of these conflicts relate to our borders, some relate to the wars and their consequences and some relate to the common water, oil and natural resources we have with out neighbors. Our policy is to find solutions and not to prolong problems.

We believe that many regional countries will respond positively to our requests to solve all the problems that have been created by the policies and adventurism of the former regime. We have attempted to limit conflicts and tensions to build regional confidence in Iraq and to show that we seek agreements and resolutions and not to intensify difficulties.

Q: What will become of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) after US forces relinquish the provision of Camp Ashraf security to the Iraqi government?

But all this aside, there is one thing that will not be tolerated and that is for them to stay in Iraq.

January 4, 2009 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

MEK Terror Group to Leave Iraq

Al-Maliki also announced that there is "no place in Iraq for the terrorist" Mujahidin-e Khalq (MEK) organization. The Iraqi government has taken control Iraq Regains National Sovereignty; Takes Control of Green Zone, Basra Airport;MEK Terror Group to Leave of Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad, the terrorist training camp leased by Saddam Hussein to 3500 members of the Iranian MEK cult. The MEK carried out terrorist attacks inside Iran on behalf of Iraq, as well as spying on, and making false allegations about, Iran’s civilian nuclear energy program. MEK have probably been triple agents, sharing information with and pushing disinformation on Saddam, Israel and the US through various channels. They also served Saddam as an SS, repressing Iraqi dissidents. When the US took Iraq in 2003, the Neoconservatives at the Pentagon wanted to adopt the terrorist group for covert operations against Iran and against the Shiite fundamentalist parties in Iraq that had been hosted in exile by Tehran. The Pentagon/ Neoconservative interest in the MEK appears to have been connected to its secret ties to Israel, and prominent members of the American Israel lobby such as Daniel Pipes and Patrick Clawson went to bat for this motley crew of bombers and saboteurs (ironically, they have been prolific in accusing ordinary Americans of being ‘terrorist supporters’ if they declined to ask ‘how high’ whenever Bibi Netanyahu commanded us to jump). The State Department, in contrast, pushed for listing the MEK as a terrorist organization. In the end, as usual in the Bush administration, Washington gave us the worst compromise possible, declaring MEK a terrorist organization and going on using it for espionage and sabotage in Iran as well as against Iraqi Shiites. In 2005 the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and the Da`wa Party came to power in elections in Baghdad, the very parties against which MEK had been conspiring, and they have repeatedly tried to get rid of the Mojahedin, but were stopped by the Pentagon. The ‘Islamic Marxist’ guerrillas are likely now to be expelled. Al-Maliki said that they would not be forced to return to Iran, and could go to other destinations of their choice, but could not remain in Iraq.

http://www.juancole.com/2009/01/iraq-regains-national-sovereignty-takes.html

The full article:

Iraq Regains National Sovereignty;

Takes Control of Green Zone, Basra Airport;

MEK Terror Group to Leave

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced Thursday that Iraq had "regained its national sovereignty". It could in fact be argued that for the first time since the end of the Gulf War, Iraq is again for most purposes an independent country in international law. It was put under Chapter 7 of the United Nations charter in the early 90s, having been found an aggressor against Kuwait. In some ways, its Chapter 7 status was taken advantage of by the Bush administration in its invasion of Iraq. There are still some things Iraq wants from the UN, and the Russian ambassador there has suggested that some Article 7 provisions will last for a while yet. But the main thing standing between Iraq and sovereignty now is anyway not international law but the large foreign troop presence on Iraqi soil. Still, that presence is underpinned by a bilateral treaty concluded by a sovereign Iraqi parliament with the United States. Cont’d . . .

US troops now need warrants for arrests, though they can detain suspects for 24 hours while they seek to justify it to a judge. Thousands of Iraqis imprisoned by the US will have to be released unless valid legal cases can be built against them.

In a move of the utmost symbolism, Iraqi troops are now taking control of the Green Zone, the few acres in downtown Baghdad, surrounded by blast walls, where US military and diplomatic personnel have worked, and where parliament and many Iraqi government offices are located. US military control of this area has often provoked tensions. Once Marines manhandled a member of parliament from the Sadr Movement who was coming in for a vote, provoking widespread criticism. The nerve center of the US in Iraq and of its Iraqi political allies had to be put behind blast walls because otherwise it would have been constantly bombed and sniped at. The area took a great deal of mortar fire as it was, endangering US State Department personnel who were sleeping in flimsy shelters. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced his determination to take down the blast walls. Minister of Defense Abdul Qadir al-`Ubaidi pledged to reopen the road between the Green Zone and the Republic Bridge within days, according to al-Hayat.

Bombings and other violence killed 8 in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk or their environs on Thursday.

Basra authorities arrested a leader of the "Army of Heaven" millenarian cult that launched attacks last year this time. It is the beginning of the Islamic new year, and apparently the cult is seeking ways of taking power.

Al-Maliki also announced that there is "no place in Iraq for the terrorist" Mujahidin-e Khalq (MEK) organization. The Iraqi government has taken control of Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad, the terrorist training camp leased by Saddam Hussein to 3500 members of the Iranian MEK cult. The MEK carried out terrorist attacks inside Iran on behalf of Iraq, as well as spying on, and making false allegations about, Iran’s civilian nuclear energy program. MEK have probably been triple agents, sharing information with and pushing disinformation on Saddam, Israel and the US through various channels. They also served Saddam as an SS, repressing Iraqi dissidents. When the US took Iraq in 2003, the Neoconservatives at the Pentagon wanted to adopt the terrorist group for covert operations against Iran and against the Shiite fundamentalist parties in Iraq that had been hosted in exile by Tehran. The Pentagon/ Neoconservative interest in the MEK appears to have been connected to its secret ties to Israel, and prominent members of the American Israel lobby such as Daniel Pipes and Patrick Clawson went to bat for this motley crew of bombers and saboteurs (ironically, they have been prolific in accusing ordinary Americans of being ‘terrorist supporters’ if they declined to ask ‘how high’ whenever Bibi Netanyahu commanded us to jump). The State Department, in contrast, pushed for listing the MEK as a terrorist organization. In the end, as usual in the Bush administration, Washington gave us the worst compromise possible, declaring MEK a terrorist organization and going on using it for espionage and sabotage in Iran as well as against Iraqi Shiites. In 2005 the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and the Da`wa Party came to power in elections in Baghdad, the very parties against which MEK had been conspiring, and they have repeatedly tried to get rid of the Mojahedin, but were stopped by the Pentagon. The ‘Islamic Marxist’ guerrillas are likely now to be expelled. Al-Maliki said that they would not be forced to return to Iran, and could go to other destinations of their choice, but could not remain in Iraq.

The British military has handed over the control tower at Basra International Airport to Iraqi authorities. Britain had been using the airport as a military base, but now will withdraw outside it and allow it to function as a civilian, Iraqi facility. This step is a further phase in the British withdrawal from Iraq; the UK once had 40,000 troops in the country, and is now down to about 4,000. They will likely all be out by July 1.

As the foreign troops leave, Iraqis will have to settle their differences themselves. Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani slammed Iraqi Arab leaders for provoking ethnic tensions with Kurds.

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

http://www.juancole.com/2009/01/iraq-regains-national-sovereignty-takes.html

January 3, 2009 0 comments

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