western journalists in Brussels are surprised to see the volume of cooperation and coordination between the MKO and Iraq’s Sunni oppositions. These journalists state that they had earlier received reports that Sunni oppositions had talked about the dangers of Safawis of Iraq and their threat and in response to questions that who they meant by Safawis they pointed to ..
Part of the problem is that US intelligence sources didn’t want to say how they knew—and, thus, how much we knew—so the story that NCRI ratted out the Iranians persisted. This summer, though, I think the last piece of the puzzle appeared.In The One Percent Doctrine, Ron Suskind confirmed that US intelligence had flipped Urs Tinner —a member of the Khan network—in the 1990s and had allowed him to remain in place to identify Khan’s customers.
In a widely reprinted story, the February 8 Washington Post reported that Iran has completed drawings of an underground shaft that could be used for testing a nuclear weapon. Citing unnamed US officials who claimed to have examined classified documents held by US intelligence for 20 months, the drawings included sensors for measuring heat in the envisioned 400-metre tunnel.
Following publication of this Human Rights Watch report, individuals associated with the MKO and others, in communications to Human Rights Watch as well as publicly on Web sites connected with the MKO, raised objections to the findings of the report. We have investigated with care the criticisms we received concerning the substance and methodology of the report, and find those criticisms to be unwarranted.
It has been variously described as a cult . The People’s Mujahedeen is listed as a terrorist organization in Europe and the United States …. The U.S. military that bombed its Iraq-based armed wing two years ago now protects its camp north of Baghdad, where its members have been granted Geneva Convention refugee status…Critics argue that supporting the People’s Mujahedeen grants legitimacy to a disreputable organization, dogged by allegations of human rights abuses and undemocratic behavior
Recent events could be a victory for the MKO only if the Westerners paid attention to them; but the current situation indicates that the West has to stand against this group to prove its own credibility. In addition, the survival of the group- despite the claims of its leaders- requires getting out of terror list. Diplomatic encountering with Iran will keep this group in the list of terrorist organization.
The Bush administration sees itself now in a situation similar to that of pre-Iraq war. At that time Ahmed Chalabi, the head of Iraq National Congress, had close relations with senior officials in the US….He had convinced them that Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction …Maryam Rajavi, so-called president-elect of the NCRI, wants to repeat the scenario again by repeating this claim that “Mujahideen-e Khalq is ready to give urgent valid information …
with the clear implication being that the members of the strange Marxist terrorist (ex-terrorist?) Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization were being used by the United States to gather information on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Doubtless with the MKO in mind, David Kay made the important point yesterday in the Washington Post:[D]issidents and exiles have their own agenda —
..the Mujahiddeen /PMOI/NCR/MKO stays on the terrorist list for at least another two years and in return for this goodwill, Iran is more forthcoming in its nuclear pledges…the exiled Iranian resistance groups’ terrorist label can either be used as little more than a bargaining chip or -less likely- they might find that they might be fitted into a US cooked up plan for inciting popular uprisings inside Iran. Both ends of the spectrum have implications that might be unforeseen….”The MKO are highly disliked and disregarded by Iranians worldwide. During the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein financed and utilized the MKO to institute several attacks against Iranians,”
The German weekly “Focus” quoted a former CIA employee and said that the US is spying on Iran by using Mojahedin-e Khalq members.
Beside the pictures of MKO tanks (which were received from Saddam Hussein), Focus quoted Ray McGovern saying: “There’s no doubt in Washington that this group (MKO) can be a good leverage against Iran.”