Via Glenn Greenwald, Daneil Denvir writes about former Governor Ed Rendell trying to explain why he shouldn’t be indicted for providing “material support” to the Iranian cult terrorist group MEK/MKO/PMOI:One 10-minute speech earned Rendell $20,000,…
Why, then, nearly two months after it was revealed that the Treasury Department is investigating former Gov. Ed Rendell for receiving money from a terrorist group to undertake just that sort of advocacy, has he not been indicted by the Department of Justice?..
MEK is listed by the U.S. State Department as a FTO, and for good reason. For years, it was a paramilitary arm of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, carrying out bombings and assassinations.In the 70s, MEK/MKO/PMOI assisted in the takeover of the American embassy ..
For some, it seems, although the MEK aka MKO/PMOI may be a terrorist group, it has the “right targets,” and therefore should be supported rather than banned.But the MEK is not simply a run-of-the-mill dissident group employing terrorist tactics. It is a bizarre and dangerous cult run by a strange and fanatical couple,The Rajavis..By legitimizing the MEK, Washington would lose almost all credibility when it comes to opposing terrorism.
This is disgraceful. It is also exactly what I have assumed is behind the push to remove the ME K aka MKO/PMOI from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list: to embrace the MEK as part of a policy of regime change. It’s also incredibly foolish. Iranians loathe the MEK. Aligning the U.S. with the MEK for the express purpose of overthrowing the Iranian government would not only further alienate the Iranian people from the U.S.
Rendell received $160,000 on his MEK-funded speaking tour. He and others are now under a legal investigation and were issued a subpoena by the U.S. Department of Treasury …While citizens concerned about the impacts from fracking and reckless gas industry practices are being labeled “eco-terrorists” and “an insurgengy,” those responsible, directly or indirectly for having them labeled as such, are shilling on behalf of a State Department-designated terrorist organization.
The Treasury Department also sent a subpoena to a speaking company for former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, an MSNBC contributor, who made $160,000 throughout 2011 for appearing at conferences and rallies in places like Paris, Brussels and Geneva.Federal investigators are looking to see if these officials took payments from the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) aka MKO/PMOI, a designated terrorist group, and thereby violating federal law ..
after the creation of the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, MEK was one of the first couple to be put on there. One—well, the factual predicate for them being on there is that they assassinated several Americans in Tehran back during the Shah’s era, specifically three military officers and three civilians who were military contractors. They also did various attacks against American interests and assassination attempts during the time. And the MEK have been violent
Why would Washington political figures publicly associate themselves with a terrorist organization? It might be because they know that the United States itself shelters, arms, trains, and supports the same group—and that prosecutors would therefore face a quandary in going after them. The covert relationship between the MEK aka MKO/PMOI and the U.S. military and intelligence communities has not been very covert.
By every conceivable measure, MEK are terrorists who most definitely have American blood on their hands. Kennedy’s defense preys upon what he must believe to be an infinitely ignorant, intellectually sloven audience and makes a mockery out of the 6,000+ Americans who’ve died in the fraudulent “War on Terror.” In a nation which claims to derive its global moral superiority from the “rule of law,” allowing Kennedy and those lobbying with him on behalf of MEK