The Third View on Mujahedin Khalq

Congressional Leaders Voice Support for MEK Violence

Congressional supporters of the drive to remove the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/MKO/PMOI) from the U.S. terrorism list defended the organization’s use of violence at a hearing on Capitol Hill last week. The hearing was also remarkable in that senior leaders of the designated foreign terrorist organization were caught counseling some of the witnesses before the hearing. It is illegal to coordinate with a foreign terrorist organization to advocate on behalf of the terrorist group.

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Austrian FM: Austria opposes all sorts of terrorism

Answering a question about the European bid to drop terrorist Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK/PMOI) from the list of terrorist groups, Spindelegger said that Austria is opposing all terrorist activities.He described his closed- door meeting with Iranian foreign minister as fruitful and said: ‘We discussed openly and transparently different issues such as Iran’s nuclear program, human rights, the Middle East developments and other concerns about mutual relations.

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Tell the U.S. Government to Say NO to Mujahedin Khalq

… Sometime in August, Secretary Clinton will decide whether to keep the Mujahedin-e Khalq on the US’s terrorist list. This is a decision that will have significant implications for the Iranian-American community, the United States and the people of Iran. Members of NIAC have urged us to speak out, because delisting the Mujahedin would would threaten the free voices of the Iranian-American community in the US. And it would allow the Mujahedin to receive US funding …

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MEK supporters brought to testify before Congress

Former U.S. officials have admitted to receiving cash to speak at pro-MEK conferences. Now, officials who may be getting paid to publicly advocate in support of MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq) are being invited to testify before Congress.Today at 2pm, a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee is holding a hearing on the MEK in which three out of the four witnesses have appeared at conferences to advocate for the MEK to be removed from the U.S. terror list.

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The Foolish Embrace of the MEK

I have marveled at the willingness of numerous former government officials, retired military officers, and elected representatives to embrace the MEK. There’s no question that they are motivated by their loathing of the Iranian government, but their hostility to the regime had led them to endorse a group that most Iranians loathe. Michael Rubin has been sharply critical of MEK boosters here in the U.S. for some time now, and he most recently called out Michele Bachmann for her foolish support for the group…

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Don’t Remove the MEK From the Terrorist List

..as a result of intense lobbying and a deceptive campaign by the supporters of the MEK, the EU recently removed the organization from its list of terrorist entities.The same tactics are being used by the MEK in the United States. It has been spending millions of dollars on lobbyists, public relations agents, and communications firms in an attempt to pressure the State Department to remove the organization from the terrorist list. The MEK’s argument is that it renounced violence and terrorism in 2001. This is a lie. FBI documents indicate that as late as 2004 the MEK was involved in planning terrorist operations…If the MEK is removed from the terrorist list, there is no reason to believe it will not use its lobbying apparatus to obtain U.S. funding and to promote war with Iran.

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More on “Washington’s Favorite Terrorists,” the MEK

Iranian politics are complex and can be as confusing as US foreign policy is on Iran, but of this you can be certain: the MEK and it’s “parliament in-waiting” is considered illegitimate at best by the vast majority of Iranians living inside and outside of Iran. It can’t serve the interests of the US government or normal Iranians either.But that doesn’t seem to matter to the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Tom Ridge, John Bolton and other neoconservatives, far right-wingers and their European counterparts..is it naive to hope that the mainstream media which failed so badly in the run up to the Iraq war with figures like Ahmed Chalabi will give this group better investigative coverage?

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Mujahedin Khalq are not democrats or freedom fighters

The MEK have been lobbying hard in Washington since the 80s at least, despite being on the terrorist list for killing American diplomats and military personnel in the days of the Shah. .. they seem able to persuade Congressmen .. Yet besides their track record of killing US personnel in the Shah’s day, they are based in Iraq, fought on the side of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, maintain to this day a cultlike”Camp Ashraf”in Iraq..Their PR skills are good. In my journalism days they used to drop by regularly to try to cultivate me, and while I listened politely, I had too many US military friends ..

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Bachmann and the Mujahideen e-Khalq

I was disappointed, therefore, to see Bachmann’s uncritical support for the Mujahideen e-Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK/PMOI), which the State Department defines as a terror group…I also welcome the debate on whether the MKO is a terrorist group or not (I believe it is), there are certain incontrovertible facts: (1) the MKO has targeted Americans in past terrorist attacks; (2) they have embraced Saddam; (3) they operate as a cult which remains hostile to freedom, liberty, and democracy; and (4), they have very little if any support among Iranians in Iran.

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Iranian dissidents in Iraq want refuge in 3rd country

Ambassador James Jeffrey said Saturday that the U.S. was working with the United Nations to move the 3,000-plus Iranians”to a place that is a bit safer, a bit further from Iran,”but they would have to disband and allow themselves to be registered as refugees by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.But the Paris-based leadership of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran rejected the idea as a”non-starter”and said the Iranians would prefer to die where they now live, a location known as Camp Ashraf, than to relocate within Iraq.

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