An Iranian political group designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization is offering large payments to orators willing to speak at events on their behalf. Among those with connections to the organization, Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) aka MKO/PMOI, are Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s chief foreign policy adviser and liberal politician Howard Dean.
“This is clearly an invitation to provide a service to a designated group[MKO/MEK/PMOI/NCR]. This would be a clear violation of the law,”says Cole, who last year argued a major material support case before the Supreme Court. The material support law bars providing not only money and weapons to a foreign terrorist organization, but also”service,”defined by the government as anything of benefit to the group performed in coordination with or at the direction of the group.Cole adds ..
this time they[MKO/MEK/PMOI] have stooped to new lows: hiring the needy and desperate to do their dirty work, enlisting what seems like a busload of homeless to turn out in grand numbers for a spurious representation of support. It was purely a show of spectacular exploitation—the latest and greatest example of the MKO’s multi-million dollar effort to build support among Washington political elite,…
The MEK’s ongoing delisting campaign is guided by the belief that the American public and the U.S. government are ignorant enough to believe its statements no matter how many times they’re proven false. The breathless claims of seeming support made by former U.S. officials are marketed by the MEK as a testament to its legitimacy, especially when these people conflate the human rights issue at the MEK’s base in Camp Ashraf near the Iran-Iraq border with its FTO delisting campaign…
The MEK/MKO/PMOI is spending the big bucks to influence that decision.Private jets to speaking engagements and fees that range from $25,000 to $100,000 have gone to a wide political spectra of speakers..That these people would sell their names and reputations is shameful. The speaking fees are paid by local Iranian-American groups and contracts specifically state that “We are not a front organization for the MEK,” in a crude effort to skirt US laws regarding the support of terrorist organizations.
Dean has invoked the same argument when it comes to his work in support of the MEK, the Iranian militant group. Dean and other luminaries from across the political spectrum have been paid vast sums of money by the group — as much as $20,000 for a 10-minute speech — to appear at events pushing the Obama administration to remove the MEK from the official list of terrorist organizations.
If you have been wondering who among us Iranian-Americans supports the MEK and its delisting as a”foreign terror organization,”wonder no more. Meet The Great Lonnell and his 200 friends from his church in Staten Island, who attended a 1,000-1,500 person rally in DC on Friday.”We are here representing on behalf of the Iranian community,”The Great Lonnell told Foreign Policy’s The Cable.
Kennedy wouldn’t tell Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin whether or not he was paid to speak at the rally to remove the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) from the State Department list of foreign terror organizations. But asked by ThinkProgress, Kennedy replied that he had been paid $25,000…The MEK has been on the U.S. list of terror groups since 1997, which prevents members from traveling to or raising funds in the U.S….
Those who have sold their advocacy for big bucks deserve shame; those who have done so for a meal or two maybe deserve our pity. Those who have gotten mixed up in the campaign through a crude belief that Iran is an enemy and the enemy of my enemy is my friend need to realize that being an enemy’s enemy does not make one a friend..Secretary of State should keep the windows closed and just pay attention to the terms of the law..
..many apparent non-Iranians came out as well, most wearing flags, headbands, and even yellow vests with images of the group’s leaders — Maryam and Massoud Rajavi — on the chest. Of this group, few seemed to have many details about the MEK, and instead pledged vague notions of support for human rights and democracy, often even getting the name of the MEK/MKO wrong…Some of the attendees had been bused and flown in at no personal cost, receiving transportation and in some cases lodging and meals.