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The MEK and the Iranian People

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

People’s Mujahedin or Intel’s Mujahedin

Following the publication of reports on the then Secretary of state, Hillary Clinton’s decision to delist the People's Mujahedin or Intel's MujahedinMujahedin Khalq Organization from the US  State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations in September 2012, one of the group’s high profile advocates, Congressman Ted Poe welcomed the Secretary’s intention stating that, the group “has been actively working with US intelligence agencies” (!)

”Some believe that one factor to facilitate the MKO’s removal from terror list was the amounts of money paid to groups like the MKO in order to destabilize the Iranian government,” suggested Mohammad Alavi a blogger of anti-MKO Aria Association "before the MKO was delisted, there was legal prohibition to use the group for that goal". He notices that the US Congress has approved a 3 billion dollar budget for influential efforts to overthrow the states labeled as "rebel" by the United State. The money is paid in cash or for example in exchange for the MKO’s social and political activities.  

The fact leads us to the conclusion that the speaking fees the neo-con figures received for their speeches in pro-MKO rallies – which mounted from 3000$ to 16000 $ for a ten minute speech– were actually guaranteed by the US intelligence services that have already fed the MKO for its spying operations against Iran!

Indeed, American warmonger efforts to delist the MKO and the NCRI were useful in many ways. The dirty business of the MKO and its sponsors is now legally (!) registered under the guise of Democracy for Iran. The MKO opened its office across from the White House to facilitate such financial deals with its intelligence masters and congressional sponsors.

Following the confessions and reports on large amounts of money circulated and laundered among American donors and sponsors of the MKO ,the group so-called analysts assert that lobbying activities and paying money to Guiliani, Tep Poe ,Kennedy, Michael Mukasey , Bob Filner and … will stop bloodshed in the MKO camps. They claim that it will be a move for the sake of "people" and we should regard such payments as the Blood Money of "people"!

Speaking of “people”, you may remind the group propaganda that the  MKO and NCR have not been on the side of “people” for over 35 years; the MKO is stranger to the “ people” of Iran. By regarding the MKO on People’s side, the MKO has to answer many questions over its cooperation with the Israeli and American Intelligence Service and over the 25 years of Massoud Rajavi’s obedience to Iraqi Intelligence chief under Saddam Hussein, General Taher Al Jalil Haboush.

Thus, Labeling the MKO as a popular group and assuming its acts as struggle for people is no honest as well as its paid advocates’ support for “Ashraf” and “Democracy in Iran”. As Michael Rubin former Pentagon official puts, "Mujahedin Alkhalq is a dishonest creepy cult". Even the opposition to Islamic Republic views the MKO as atraitors, spies, terrorists and mercenaries. Based on significant evidences and confessions of the group sponsors, the most meaningful term to address the so-called People’s Mujahedin is "Intel’s Mujahedin".

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MEK actively working for our intel agencies

US Congressman Ted Poe: MEK actively working for our intelligence agencies

STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO REPORTS OF SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON’S INTENTION TO DE-LIST MEK TODAY

Washington, D.C. – “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s expected decision to delist the People’s MojahedinTed Poe: MEK actively working for our intelligence agencies Organization of Iran (MEK) from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list is long overdue, but a much welcomed and warranted decision,” said Poe. “The MEK long ago renounced violence, and in recent years, has been actively working with US intelligence agencies to get information on activities inside Iran. …”

In March 2011, Congressman Ted Poe, a Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced H.Res. 60, urging the Secretary of State to remove the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran from the Department of State’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The bill has 98 bipartisan cosponsors.

US Congress,

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Your Country Needs You

It is patently clear by now that the unilateral US sanctions against Iran:

•Are illegal under international law;

•Constitute a form of economic warfare, indeed even economic terrorism, designed to harm the average Iranian (brutally pushing them to topple the Islamic Republic);

•Are designed to weaken Iran; (see page 10 where this is described as a ‘ benefit’ of the sanctions – obviously written by an American brute with no morals);

•Harm the economies of the West in a deep recession;

•Are having no impact on the stability of the Iranian government or advances in the nuclear programme; and

•Are causing Iran to pivot her economy to the East and South even more strongly and to expand and diversify both her trade partners as well as her industrial output.

The sanctions have been shamelessly supported by extremist elements within the ‘Iranian’ expat community.  

It is rather unthinkable for an Iranian patriot to ever promote war and sanctions against Iranians, no matter what the reason for their own exile condition.   In fact, it would be unthinkable for anyone with the slightest bit of common sense to support such misery against their own community.  

But such treachery is often linked to that strange Mujahedin cult (MEK) that actually joined forces with Saddam in his murderous war campaign against Iran in the 1980s.  Iranians would support the Islamic Republic against the Mujahedin-E-Khalgh, just as they would against the MEK’s foreign masters like Israel and USA.  

Personally, I would not be surprised if the same MEK traitors who assassinated Iranian scientists in the service of Israel were also behind the assassination of people like Neda and the worst violence in Iran in 2009.  

After all, they and their foreign masters would be the only ones to see any gain from such treachery and sabotage. 

With the election of President Rohani, Iranians have clearly demonstrated that they collectively want to take a more conciliatory stance in order to resolve the economic problems caused by the sanctions.  But where is the reciprocal note of reconciliation from the West?  How is it that the drive for more sanctions is still supported in several Western quarters?   

The arrogance and ill will of the West in the sanctions warfare against Iran is even more evident today.   

As a result, a civil society movement to fight the sanctions is taking shape inside Iran, for Iran’s inalienable rights under international law are above any individual or regime.

Question is: are Iranian expats going to use their positions in the West to help their mother country free herself of foreign economic terrorism? Or will they side with Iran’s enemies?

By Niloufar Parsi

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

US Sponsored Iranian Terrorist MKO claims

US Sponsored Iranian Terrorist MKO claims, Iran Builds Secret Nuclear Site

The Iranian terrorist organization Mujahedin e Kkalq, MKO, has accused the Iranian government of building a secret nuclear facility northeast of Tehran. Iran´s Foreign Ministry dismisses the allegations.US Sponsored Iranian Terrorist MKO claims, Iran Builds Secret Nuclear Site

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected allegations, made by the Mujahedin e Khalq, MKO, terrorist organization, in which the MKO accuses the Iranian government of building a secret nuclear facility. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, dismissed the claims as being mere lies from a desperate terrorist group.

The MKO stated, that it has evidence that supports the accusation, that Tehran is building a nuclear site underneath a mountain near the city of Damavand, approximately 43 kilometers northeast of Tehran.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Araqchi dismissed the statements, saying:

“This report is by no means true and the Islamic Republic of Iran denies it. The terrorist MKO has been discredited to such a degree, that the publication of such stories by them is not worth a response”.

The Mujahedin e Khalq, which has been waging a low intensity conflict against Iran since the early 1980s, has been responsible for the death of more than 17.000 Iranians. Its main fighting forces are based in Iraq from where it has operated an insurgency with the approval of the former Iraqi administration of Saddam Hussein. The MKO is known for ties to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, and Israel´s Mossad. It has been tied to several high profile assassinations in Iran, including the assassination of Iranian nuclear physicists.

After the election of Nouri al-Malaki, relations between the MKO and the MKO soured. Iraqi support to the organization ceased, and the MKO was prohibited from launching attacks against targets in Iran from Iraq.

In 2012 both the United States and Canada removed the MKO from the terror list, drawing heavy Iranian and international criticism for double standards in their approach to combating international terrorism. MKO brigades have since been reported to be involved in the attempted subversion in Syria.

Several hundred leading MKO kadres have opened a facility in Kosovo, where the MKO is reportedly cooperating with the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA/UCK, US Special Forces, and civilian as well as military U.S. intelligence services. The MKO´s human rights record has been criticized by Iran as well as international rights organizations. The MKO is, among other, accused of forced recruitment and repression against families, who reject contributing members of their family to the insurgency.

By Christof Lehmann , nsnbc.me

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MEK Re-Ups 3 Year Old Nuclear Propaganda

Dirty Laundry: MEK Re-Ups 3 Year Old Nuclear Propaganda

Terror Group is Sounding Board for Dubious US Intel

Embracing its recent removal from the U.S. State Department’s list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), an exiled Iranian terror cult with deep pockets and close ties to the Washington establishment, is attempting to ramp up the fear-mongering and propaganda over Iran’s nuclear program following last month’s election of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani as the Islamic Republic’s next president.

In April 2013, the group opened an office in Washington DC and officially registered as a lobbying organization the following month.Terror Group is Sounding Board for Dubious US Intel

Now, a Reuters article from July 11, 2013 reported the MEK and its affiliate organizations such as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) claim to have “obtained reliable information on a new and completely secret site designated for [Iran’s] nuclear project,” despite providing no credible evidence to back up the allegation.

The supposed site is said to be “located in a complex of tunnels beneath mountains 10 km (6 miles) east of the town of Damavand, itself about 50 km northeast of Tehran.” The MEK claimed that construction of the site began in 2006 and it was recently completed. “The site consists of four tunnels and has been constructed by a group of engineering and construction companies associated with the engineering arms of the Ministry of Defence and the IRGC (Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards force),” a statement from the terror group said.

Unsurprisingly, the Iranian government immediately denied the allegations.

As in nearly all media reports on the MEK, Reuters credits the group with having “exposed Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water facility at Arak” in 2002. But beyond the fact that Iran’s nuclear program was never a secret, this specific claim is untrue, as nuclear experts Jeffrey Lewis and Mark Hibbs pointed out back in 2006.

In fact, the U.S. intelligence community had been tracking Iran’s nuclear facility development for quite some time, notably its construction at both Natanz and Arak. Lewis notes that, in 2002, “someone leaked that information to an Iranian dissident group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which then released the second-hand dope in a press conference where they got the details wrong.” The information the MEK supposedly gleans from sources inside Iran are actually just leaks received from intelligence agencies in the United States and Israel.

Since then, the MEK has not itself provided a single shred of credible information regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Furthermore, in early 2007, an unnamed senior official at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed to the Los Angeles Times, “Since 2002, pretty much all the intelligence that’s come to us [from the United States about the Iranian nuclear program] has proved to be wrong” and has never led to significant discoveries inside Iran.

“They gave us a paper with a list of sites. [The inspectors] did some follow-up, they went to some military sites, but there was no sign of [banned nuclear] activities,” the official told The Guardian at the time. Additionally, the LA Times reported that “U.S. officials privately acknowledge that much of their evidence on Iran’s nuclear plans and programs remains ambiguous, fragmented and difficult to prove.”

Additionally, the Associated Press reported this past May that, when it comes to accusations about the Iranian nuclear program and despite their terrible track record, “about 80 percent of the intelligence comes from the United States and its allies.”

Reuters, writing about the MEK’s most recent revelation, noted, “The group released satellite photographs of what it said was the site. But the images did not appear to constitute hard evidence to support the assertion that it was a planned nuclear facility.” Clearly, a non-state actor like the MEK doesn’t have satellites of its own floating around in space taking pictures of Iranian mountains; it’s obviously getting the information from government organizations with advanced spying resources.

Though these latest claims by the MEK have garnered quite a bit of attention this week, they are, in fact, nothing new.  Allegations about tunnel systems have long been a go-to source of alarmism over Iran’s nuclear program. Back in January 2010, on the heels of promoting an opinion piece that explicitly advocated an unprovoked military attack on Iran, The New York Times‘ William Broad published a hysterical report, which claimed, “Over the past decade, Iran has quietly hidden an increasingly large part of its atomic complex in networks of tunnels and bunkers across the country.”

The report goes on to lament that Iranian efforts to protect their own nuclear infrastructure from military attack is viewed by the U.S. administration as “a stealth weapon, complicating the West’s military and geopolitical calculus.” Translation: it’s harder to spy on things and then blow them up when they’re not out in the open and that’s annoying.

Broad doesn’t even try to mask the frustration:

“It complicates your targeting,” said Richard L. Russell, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst now at the National Defense University. “We’re used to facilities being above ground. Underground, it becomes literally a black hole. You can’t be sure what’s taking place.”

Even the Israelis concede that solid rock can render bombs useless. Late last month, the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, told Parliament that the Qum plant was “located in bunkers that cannot be destroyed through a conventional attack.”

Despite the decades of threats from the United States and Israel, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn’t realize the blistering irony when, discussing the heavily-fortified uranium enrichment site at Fordow, he said, “If they wanted it for peaceful purposes, there’s no reason to put it so deep underground, no reason to be deceptive about it, keep it a secret for a protracted period of time.”

Later in his report, Broad describes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a tunnel aficionado and quotes Greg Duckworth, a “civilian scientist” described as having “recently led a Pentagon research effort to pinpoint enemy tunnels,” as saying, “Deeply buried targets have been a problem forever. And it’s getting worse.”

As the January 2010 report continues, a familiar name emerges under the heading “An Opposition Watchdog.” Who could that be? Broad writes, “In 2002, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group, revealed that Iran was building a secret underground nuclear plant at Natanz that turned out to be for enriching uranium. Enrichment plants can make fuel for reactors or, with a little more effort, atom bombs.”

He goes on to sing the praises of NCRI for having announced “that Iran was digging tunnels for missile and atomic work at 14 sites” in 2005 and announcing “that Iran was tunneling in the mountains near Natanz, the sprawling enrichment site” in 2007, which he says was confirmed by satellite images.

In December 2009, Broad writes that NCRI issued yet another report on “Iranian military tunneling,” which claimed “Iran had dug tunnels and bunkers for research facilities, ammunition storage, military headquarters and command and control centers.”

“A group of factories” in the mountains east of Tehran, it insisted without providing proof, specialize in “the manufacturing of nuclear warheads.”

Broad even quotes the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Frank Pabian saying of the MEK, “They’re right 90 percent of the time. That doesn’t mean they’re perfect, but 90 percent is a pretty good record.” Mohamed ElBaradei, former IAEA Director-General, had a different take on the group. “We followed whatever they came up with. And a lot of it was bogus.”

In his reporting, William Broad never once identifies the MEK or NCRI as an officially designated terrorist group, which at the time they both were and had been for over a decade.

To hammer home how deliberately alarmist the claims actually were, the Times even published the article with a photograph of a smiling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his entourage in red hardhats emerging from what is apparently supposed to resemble a steel-reinforced underground lair. Yet the photo is wholly unrelated to any of the allegations made within the report.

The caption beneath of the picture reads, “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, center, at a highway tunnel near Tehran. Much of Iran’s atomic work is also in tunnels.”

Yes, that really happened. Fit to print, indeed.

The focus on Iranian tunnels leads inevitably to discussion of American military capabilities and the challenges faced by less vulnerable facilities. Broad, in his 2010 report, noted that the “Pentagon is racing to develop a deadly tunnel weapon” for such circumstances. That weapon has since been completed and tested, but has not been sold to Israel for fear it might be used without American authorization.

Clearly, the MEK’s latest revelations are recycled claims and, like before, are essentially allegations based on vague intelligence leaked to the group by American officials. The MEK merely acts as a laundering service for the unproven accusations of its handlers in the United States and Israel.

Unfortunately, the mainstream press – even when skeptical about the information – continues to dutifully provide a platform for such propaganda and fear-mongering by publishing such accusations.

By Nima Shirazi | Wide Asleep in America

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Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

MEK Stirs Pot in Iran Despite Improved Negotiation Outlook

MEK Stirs Pot in Iran Despite Improved Negotiation Outlook After Rohani’s Election

In a remarkably welcome surprise, moderate cleric Hassan Rohani won last month’s presidential election in Iran and did so with a large enough margin to avoid a runoff. In the immediate aftermath of the election, there was hope that the heated rhetoric on both sides of the dispute over Iran’s nuclear technology would calm a bit:

Though thousands of jubilant Iranians poured onto the streets in celebration of the victory, the outcome will not soon transform Iran’s tense relations with the West, resolve the row over its nuclear program or lessen its support of Syria’s president in the civil war there – matters of national security that remain the domain of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But the president runs the economy and wields broad influence in decision-making in other spheres. Rohani’s resounding mandate could provide latitude for a diplomatic thaw with the West and more social freedoms at home after eight years of belligerence and repression under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was legally barred from seeking a third consecutive term.

“This victory is a victory of wisdom, a victory of moderation, a victory of growth and awareness and a victory of commitment over extremism and ill-temper,” Rohani told state television, promising to work for all Iranians, including the hardline so-called “Principlists” whom he defeated at the poll.

Alas, those who favor violence over negotiation don’t intend to sit idly while moderation has a chance of breaking out. Today, we have a new “revelation” brought to us in a Reuters article:

An exiled opposition group said on Thursday it had obtained information about a secret underground nuclear site under construction in Iran, without specifying what kind of atomic activity it believed would be carried out there.

/snip/

The NCRI said the site was inside a complex of tunnels beneath mountains 10 km (6 miles) east of the town of Damavand, itself about 50 km northeast of Tehran. Construction of the first phase began in 2006 and was recently completed, it said.

The group released satellite photographs of what it said was the site. But the images did not appear to constitute hard evidence to support the assertion that it was a planned nuclear facility.

The Reuters article identifies NCRI as the National Council of Resistance of Iran and in addition to identifying them as “exiled dissedents” also mentions affiliation with the “People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI)” without noting that the more commonly used acronym for the latter group is MEK. That would be the same MEK that was only de-listed by the US Department of State as a terrorist organization last year. Promptly after de-listing, the group moved to register as lobbyists:

An Iranian group that was listed as a terrorist organization until last year has formally registered to lobby the Obama administration.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran told the Justice Department that it plans to “educate” the public and the U.S. government about the need to pursue an Iran policy “based on respect for human rights, non-proliferation, and promotion of democracy.” The council is an umbrella group of five Iranian opposition groups, the largest of which is the delisted terror group Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MEK.

/snip/

The State Department closed the council’s Washington office in 2002, calling it a front group for the MEK. Since then, the group has earned the good graces of U.S. conservatives by drawing international attention to Iran’s clandestine uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.

That bit about NCRI exposing the Natanz facility? Even though it also is cited in today’s Reuters article, there is good reason to believe that MEK came into the information through a leak to them rather than their own intelligence-gathering:

As I understand the sequence of events, the United States—knowing full well that Iran had a clandestine centrifuge program—watched Iran dig two MASSIVE HOLES near Natanz (see the big picture), then ratted the Iranians out to the IAEA. About the same time, someone leaked that information to an Iranian dissident group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which then released the second-hand dope in a press conference where they got the details wrong.

Lewis goes on to cite convincing evidence in that article at Arms Control Wonk. That sequence of events, though, in which US intelligence made the discovery, briefed IAEA and then someone leaked the intelligence to the MEK is a sequence for which we have seen multiple variants over the years since.

I have posted many times on the network of “diplomats” in Vienna who leak either to George Jahn of AP or Fredrik Dahl of Reuters (Dahl wrote today’s Reuters article). Most of those leaks over the past few years have been couched in a way to put Iran in the worst possible light. Late in May, Jahn appears to have had an epiphany and finally pointed out that he likely was being fed slanted information.

Time will soon tell us whether there is indeed a new secret Iranian nuclear facility or if, as happens when NCRI produces its own “intelligence”, this is just another load of bunk. If NCRI’s satellite photos only appear on David Albright’s site (he has not yet posted them), then this is likely just another disinformation campaign by MEK. Real intelligence of a new site would very likely leak to a much wider array than just the credulous transcription crowd, especially given the tendency of John Brennan and Barack Obama to leak anything that puts them in a more flattering light or stronger bargaining position. My gut leans more toward this being more chaff thrown up by MEK because Iran has known that they have been under the most intense scrutiny ever under the Obama administration and that construction of a secret facility would inevitably be detected by US intelligence, just as Natanz was.

Postscript: Yes, I have used NCRI and MEK interchangeably in the text, as I find them to be functionally indistinguishable.

 By Jim White, Emptywheel.net

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Iran

Iran dismisses MKO allegation of secret nuclear site

The IraSeyyed Abbas Araqchinian Foreign Ministry has rejected allegations by the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) accusing Tehran of building a secret nuclear site.

Reacting to the allegation on Friday, the ministry’s spokesman, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, dismissed the claim as mere lies by the “desperate” terrorist group.

On Thursday, the MKO claimed to have evidence of an underground nuclear site built under a mountain near the city of Damavand, 70 kilometers (43 miles) northeast of Tehran.

The terrorist group alleged that the site had existed since 2006 with the first series of underground tunnels and four external depots recently completed.

“This report is by no means true and is denied [by the Islamic Republic of Iran],” Araqchi said, adding, “The terrorist MKO has been so discredited that the publication of such stories by them is not worth a response,” he added.

The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization – blamed for the assassination of many Iranian people and officials after the 1979 Islamic Revolution – fled to Iraq in the 1980s, where they enjoyed the support of former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, and set up a military base near the Iranian border in Diyala Province.

Members of the anti-Iranian group currently live at Camp Liberty, a former US military camp near Baghdad Airport, after their relocation from their former Camp Ashraf under growing pressure from the Iraqi government and people for the terrorist group to leave the country.

The US, Israel and some of their European allies have frequently accused Iran of pursing military goals in its nuclear energy program with the US and EU using that pretext to impose illegal unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran has categorically rejected the accusation, arguing that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Also, during its numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, the IAEA has never found any evidence that the Iranian nuclear energy program has been diverted toward non-civilian purposes.

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The cult of Rajavi

Ex-Pentagon Official Calls MKO”Dishonest, Creepy Cult”

The Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCRI) is a dishonest and creepy cult that has killed not only government officials, but also ordinary Iranian citizens, a former Pentagon official said in an article.Michael Rubin, former Pentagon official

“The only thing on which Iranians agreed was their dislike of the Mojahedin al-Khalq Organization (MKO),” Michael Rubin wrote in an article published in the Commentary Magazine.

Having lived in Iran during the 1990s, Rubin said MKO’s ”involvement in terrorism that killed not only regime officials but ordinary Iranian citizens, as well as their willingness to accept aid and shelter from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the years after Iraq’s invasion of Iran, delegitimized the group in the face of the public they claim to represent.”

“The Clinton administration designated the MKO to be a terrorist group, but after years of lobbying—and buying support by paying huge honoraria to a bipartisan array of senior officials—the MKO was delisted in 2012,” Rubin added.

“No longer being considered a terrorist group does not make the MKO democratic, however, as anyone who has ever studied their internal workers can attest.”

He also made a reference to Alymkoulova’s dairy about her trip to MKO’s rally in Villepinte, and wrote, “It seems that the MKO leaders must now not only pay speakers to sing their praises at their rallies, but also the audience members.”

Alina Alymkulova, who studies Journalism and Mass Communication in Kyrgyzstan, told RFE/RL last week how she was recruited to travel from Prague to Paris to attend MKO’s June 23 rally.

“I was in Prague listening to music online and checking news on social media when an advertisement caught my eye. It offered a weekend trip to Paris, a city I always dreamed of visiting at least once during my lifetime.”

“The price was amazingly cheap — round-trip by bus and bed and breakfast at a four-star hotel would cost me only 35 euros ($46),” she added. “I met many Russians, Ukrainians, Czechs, and students from Asian countries who were all recruited via the Internet.”

Michael Rubin finally added that the MKO, “is not only a creepy cult, and willing to say anything to buy support regardless of the group’s record, but an empty shell as well.”

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

A brief review on US-MKO ties

Founded in 1965 by a group of leftist Iranian college students, the “Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, a.k.a MEK and NCRI)” was mainly devoted to opposing the rule of the Shah before the Islamic revolution. In its first five years, the group primarily engaged in ideological work, their interpretation of Islam and economic and political ideas. The MKO preached a combination of Marxism and Islamism.
Soon following the Iranian Islamic revolution, the organization started a phase of armed struggle in a bid to destabilize the newly formed regime and have its revenge of failing to assume a share in the power. As a result, MKO’s dedicated terrorist teams launched numerous blind suicide operations, bombings, gun-shot assassinations as well as street gun-battles in which many innocent civilians and key officials were killed. The atrocities and crimes of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization set up one of the bloodiest chapters of Iranian history.
But one of the first times the MKO adopted terrorism as a tool goes back to the era of Shah regime; When the MKO was involved in assassination of American businessmen, military personnel, and even a senior American diplomat in Iran before the 1979 revolution. Some of the attacks on U.S. citizens were reflected in American newspapers back in the 70s. The St. Petersburg independent published an article titled ‘Terrorists Slay Americans in Iran’ in May 21, 1975. It is written in a part of the article: ‘A Woman telephoned the Associated Press office anonymously at noon and said: “The execution of American officers today was a reply to the execution of nine Iranian revolutionaries in prison last month”. Identifying herself as a spokesman for the Iranian People’s Warriors Association, she said Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi is a “stooge of the Americans, therefore we murder Americans.”
Following is a short review on US government’s stance on MKO issue since 1984 until 2013:
In December 1984, the US State Department wrote to Rep. Lee Hamilton, then Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, to clarify its official views on the MKO: “The Iranian Mujahedin remains a highly nationalistic, Islamic, left-wing and anti-western organization…”
On June 14, 1985, the US State Department issued another statement against the MKO. In this statement, the MKO was referred to as “a militantly Islamic, anti-democratic, anti-American, anti-Western collectivist organization.”
On July 24, 1985, 10 years after the MKO assassinated US citizens, Richard W. Murphy, US assistant secretary of state for Middle East affairs, stated to the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East affairs that the MKO was “ militantly Islamic, anti-democratic, anti-American, and continue to employ terrorism and violence as standard instruments of their policies.” He also identified the MKO as having been active in bringing down the former Shah and as being Marxist.
These statements shaped the earliest stances the US had taken on the MKO issue. Some people believe at that time, the US government was trying to persuade Iran to help release American soldiers who were arrested in Lebanon so they pressured the MKO to impress Iran.
About a year later, the US government somehow shifted its policy towards the MKO. The State Department apparently contacted the MKO’s Washington office in November 1986, to arrange a meeting.
At a hearing on April 21, 1987, in line with the change in policy, Mr. Murphy did an about-face when asked about the Department’s MKO statements. He said: “I will very freely admit that there were gaps in our knowledge about the organization,” adding, “We meet, have met with the Mojahedin Organization here in Washington. They are a player in Iran…We are not boycotting them.” This policy shift took place exactly at the time the Iranian forces were achieving big victories in the battle against the Iraqi Ba’ath forces who had started the war on Iran. The MKO was at Saddam’s service at the time and the group needed to be strong enough to help Saddam against Iran.
A couple of years later, the MKO was despised again by the US government. In September 1989, the US State Department replied to a letter from Congressman Mervyn Dymally to Secretary of State James Baker. The congressman had asked the Secretary of State to resume talks with the MKO. The State Department rejected his request and again referred to MKO as an anti-American, anti-Western collectivist organization that continues to employ terrorism and violence as standard instruments of its policies.
In November 1992, The US Secretary of State submitted "a report detailing the structure, current activities, external support, and history of the people’s Mojahedin of Iran”. The report was prepared at the request of US Congress.
Some of the report highlights are as following (all direct quotes):
“The Mojahedin revolutionaries developed and disseminated an eclectic ideology based on their personal interpretation of Shi’a Islamic theology and Marxist tenets. Then as now the Mojahedin advocated a two-pronged strategy of armed struggle and the use of propaganda to gain their political objectives.”
“They assassinated at least six American citizens, supported the takeover of the U.S. embassy, and opposed the release of American hostages. In the post-revolutionary political chaos, however, the Mojahedin lost political power to Iran’s Islamic clergy. They then applied their dedication to armed struggle and the use of propaganda against the new Iranian government, launching a violent and polemical cycle of attack and reprisal. In 1981, the Mojahedin leadership fled to France and with other Iranian opposition movements formed the National Council of Resistance (NCR).”
“In 1986, France expelled the leader of the Mojahedin, Masud Rajavi.”
“After his expulsion form France, Rajavi relocated to Baghdad, Iraq, adopting Saddam Hussein as his patron, In 1987.”
“Rajavi announced the formation of the National Liberation Army (NLA), the military wing of the Mojahedin, which conducted raids into Iran during the latter years of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. The NLA’s last major offensive reportedly was conducted against Iraqi Kurds in 1991, when it joined Saddam Hussein’s brutal repression of the Kurdish rebellion. In addition to occasional acts of sabotage, the Mojahedin are responsible for violent attacks in Iran that victimize civilians. They also engage in violence against Iranian government targets in the West.”
“Since their leadership’s expulsion from Iran, the Mojahedin have conducted a public relations campaign among Western press and public officials, seeking political support and financial backing. Exploiting Western opprobrium of the behavior of the current government of Iran, the Mojahedin posit themselves as the alternative. To achieve that goal, they claim they have the support of a majority of Iranians. This claim is much disputed by academics and other specialists on Iran, who assert that in fact the Mojahedin-e Khalq have little support among Iranians. They argue that the Mojahedin’s activities since the group’s leadership fled from Iran in 1981– particularly their alliance with Iraq and the group’s internal oppression — have discredited them among the Iranian polity. “
“Despite Mojahedin assertions that the group has abandoned its revolutionary ideology and now favors a liberal democracy, there is no written or public record of discussion or debate about the dramatic reversals in the Mojahedin’s stated positions. Moreover, the Mojahedin’s 29-year record of behavior does not substantiate its capability or intention to be democratic. Internally, the Mojahedin run their organization autocratically, suppressing dissent and eschewing tolerance of differing viewpoints. Rajavi, who heads the Mojahedin’s political and military wings, has fostered a cult of personality around himself. These characteristics have alienated most Iranian expatriates, who assert they do not want to replace one objectionable regime for another. Given these attributes, it is no coincidence that the only government in the world that supports the Mojahedin politically and financially is the totalitarian regime of Saddam Hussein.”
“The Mojahedin’s actual military efforts have consisted of occasional strikes against border towns, industrial targets (particularly oil installations), and civilian targets. “
“At the border the Mojahedin’s military record is limited. The group launched its most significant incursion in June and July 1988, when they coordinated an advance into Iran with Iraqi forces. During the same offensive, Iraqi units in other sectors of the front used chemical weapons against Iran. “
United States government’s view on the MKO barely changed until during Clinton presidency, the group was put on the US State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1997. Some believe MKO’s designation as a terrorist organization was a goodwill gesture to the newly elected Iranian government. The MKO was kept on the list for some 15 years in 3 different administrations.
The Bush administration cited Saddam’s support of MKO as a reason to invade Iraq. When the Bush administration sought to justify its attack on Iraq in 2003 by accusing Saddam Hussein of being a sponsor of “international terrorism”, one of its prime examples was Iraq’s “sheltering” of the MKO.
But despite the group was referred to as a terrorist organization and Saddam’s support of it would lead to invasion of Iraq, the MKO enjoyed the support from the US government indirectly and secretly after the US invaded Iraq. The US had planned to use MKO’s terrorist capabilities to confront Iran.
U.S. Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, The former Ranking Member on the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, gave a speech during House debate HR 282, the Iran Freedom and Support Act in which he criticized the U.S. government’s support of the Mujahedin e-Khalq terrorist group.
“HR 282 supports anti-government advocates in Iran promoting regime change. This is highly problematic. While an important amendment offered by Congressman Blumenauer was adopted into this bill during markup, to prohibit U.S. assistance to groups that are on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations, or have been on that list for the last 4 years, there are ways around this. For example, according to a Newsweek article from February 14, 2005, the US has been recruiting individuals from the MKO, a group currently labeled as “terrorist” by the State Department, who have agreed to form a new group with the same mission of the MKO: regime change in Iran. These individuals have been conducting military activity in Iran with the United States’ support. I just want to remind everyone that the MKO was the group responsible for the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran in 1979. The MKO also had a camp in Iraq where Osama bin Laden’s first fighters were reportedly trained. The MKO also trained and supported Taliban fighters. Now we’re recruiting help from members of the MKO, which makes a total mockery of this so-called War on Terror.” Kucinich said.
The renowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersh also revealed striking details of his findings on the aim of the $400 million budgeted US covert operations inside Iran in an article published in New Yorker in July 2008, titled ‘Preparing the battlefield’. He provided valuable information on US military preparations to strike Iran, on the total expansion of the Bush Administration’s executive power, about the US recognition of Iran’s overall positive role in Iraq and on the US support for the anti-Iran terrorist organizations Jondollah, PJAK and MKO. He explained how the Bush Administration’s policy of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” has led the US to support the Baluchi organisation Jondollah and the MKO (Mujahideen-e-Khalq a.k.a PMOI), both of which have clear track records of terrorist activities including against the US. He reiterated that the US has been giving arms and cash to the terrorists in the MKO for years and reveals that “most of the [MKO] leaders have been taking our money and cashing it in an awful lot of bank accounts in London.” He also revealed for the first time that the US has trained MKO teams in the state of Nevada and that “they do a lot of crazy stuff inside Iran”.
As reported by Seymour Hersh, Illegal military and financial support of MKO was not limited to the Bush administration. In April 2012, Seymour Hersh reported at the New Yorker that the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) of the US military gave members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) training in signals intelligence at a facility in Nevada during the Bush era. The MEK was then on the US State Department’s terrorism watch list, so the Pentagon’s deployment of this group was quite illegal.
Hersh revealed a trail of blatant hypocrisy on the part of the US government. The U.S. favorite terrorists are not terrorists even if they have blown up non-combatants, but national liberation groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon are designated terrorists. The U.S. Government officials have even brandished the word “terrorism” to describe perfectly peaceful protesters and dissidents inside the US, while JSOC was flying dyed-in-the-wool terrorists to Nevada for training.
Finally, after the United States played all those games with its favorite terrorists, the Obama administration started a new game and removed MKO’s name from the list of foreign terrorist organizations. They also allowed the former terrorists to open an office in Washington. Again what didn’t matter here at all was the MKO itself. It was about politics and a leverage to pressure Iran.
With a brief review on US-MKO relations, it can be seen the MKO has always been perceived by various US governments as a tool to be used against Iran. In fact, what doesn’t really matter is the terrorist group. It is all about the United States and Iran. MKO is just a terrorist group with a black record that could only serve its Master’s wishes without any independency. The only reason the MKO continues to exist today, is that its masters believe they can still use it to pressure Iran.
 

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Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

MKO Fuels Warmongering Propaganda

MKO grasps at every available opportunity of serious aggression against Iran

Ideologically a violence-oriented group, MKO appreciates any military option against Iran and has kept at MKO grasps at every available opportunity of serious aggression against Iranfuelling anti-Iranian, warmongering propaganda warfare. But the group intensifies the struggle whenever it grasps at every available opportunity that seems a foretaste of serious aggression against Iran by any foreign power antagonizing Iranian regime. MKO calls such a power that adopts or pursues an aggressive approach an ‘alien element’, a most suitable power to depend on and to cooperate with. The ousted Saddam’s regime was the most apt ‘alien element’ at the time that it collaborated with fierce loyalty.

The fall of Saddam advanced Iraq’s political transition and the new government showed no signs of seeking to compromise with other frustrated political factions and mercenary terrorist groups. So MKO had to seek for a new external supporter and ‘alien element’ to form another parasitic alliance. The only elements at the time being and are those countries that are engaged in an ongoing strife over Iran’s nuclear activities and America in particular. The group took the first step to be the main source of intelligence on Iranian nuclear sites and exposing what was believed to be hidden nuclear sites in Iran for alleged military nuclear activities. However, it is said that MKO disclosed the information it had been provided by the United States and Israel. Michael Mukasey, the American advocate of MKO, in providing reasons for removing the group from FTO list stated, “… there are many reasons, including MEK’s close cooperation with the United States in exposing Iran’s nuclear program for removing MEK from that list”.

Since then, Iran has been facing a challenge from America and its Western allies, and Israel as the closest ally; all have been moving on a deadlock negotiation that has further deepened the crisis.

Following a different policy to confront Iran’s nuclear activities, Israel, widely believed to possess an ever-growing nuclear arsenal, has grown impatient with protracted talks and has threatened preemptive war against Iran if it deemed diplomacy ultimately futile. Announcing a full support for Israel, Secretary of State John Kerry has stressed that Obama is determined Iran will not succeed in acquiring a nuclear weapon and noted that his administration is working closely with Israel: “We are deeply engaged with our Israeli allies, friends, comparing on a regular basis. I think we’re on the same page”.

Not only in words but in action is the United States arming and supporting Israel for any possible military option against Iran. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in his first visit to Israel pushed a new arms deal to help preserve Israel’s military edge in the region saying that the arms deal would be “another very clear signal to Iran” that the United States allies in the region were prepared to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

No doubt, MKO is the only opposition that supports and beats drums of a military option against Iran and is ready to walk on any front that might take the lead, be it America, Israel, or any Western ally. However, Israel seems a better option for MKO as an ‘alien element’ since the existing differences between Iran and Israel is far beyond the nuclear issue and is rooted in ideological, political and historical arguments. The United States in contrast has shown eagerness in reaching an agreement through negotiations. Israel, however, risks a loss of credibility over both its “red line” for Iran’s nuclear program and its threat of military action, and its room for unilateral maneuver is shrinking. Patrick Clawson, the head of the Iran Security Initiative at The Washington Institute, in his political analysis entitled Preventing an Iranian Nuclear Breakout  states: “The United States and Israel agree that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, but they may not see eye-to-eye about how to proceed regarding the impasse with Iran. High-profile disagreements surfaced in September 2012 about setting a “redline,” or deadline, for termination of Iran’s program …”

MKO hopes that the old allies develop a unanimous consensus over the military option against Iranian regime. It would make both allies a perfect united ‘alien element’ for a total dependence. What MKO has achieved so far has been an unfortunate outcome; its desperate struggle to achieve the reproachful, anti-national and ambitious goal has brought the group into disrepute among all struggling oppositions. It is not amazing to see MKO, sticking to what is regarded a flagrant example of national betrayal, namely demonizing Iran’s peaceful nuclear activity, spending lavishly to be accepted by any ‘alien element’ that might move on a decisive path of materializing consequent threats.

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