Mujahedin Khalq Organization’s Propaganda System

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Interesting”Iranian-Americans”at the MEK Rally in DC!

If you have been wondering who among us Iranian-Americans supports the MEK and its delisting Interesting "Iranian-Americans" at the MEK Rally in DC! 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.

According to ThinkProgress website:

"But 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 wrong.

Some of the attendees had been bused and flown in at no personal cost, receiving transportation and in some cases lodging and meals.

One attendee who spoke with ThinkProgress, Melvin Santiago, 23, a homeless man living in shelters in Staten Island, New York, said he’d found out about the protest from a friend he’d come with. They made the trip along with about 100 other people in four rented coach buses.

“He saw [a flier] yesterday passing by the church,” said Santiago of his friend. “He usually goes there for the food pantry.”

On a day’s notice, Santiago said he hadn’t had a chance to learn too much about the MEK — he thought the group was called “Ashraff,” which is the name of the camp in Iraq where 3,400 members currently live."

Here are some of the people who went to the rally yesterday, talking about why and how they joined the delisting rally:

click here to view the video

by Ali Lakani

August 30, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Patrick Kennedy Paid $25K To Speak At Rally For Controversial Iranian MEK

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) told ThinkProgress he was paid $25,000 to speak at a rally to remove a controversial Iranian exiled opposition group from the U.S. terrorist rolls afterpreviously not saying if he was paid.

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 and that he wouldn’t accept the money if he didn’t believe in the cause:

Kennedy at pro-MEK rally (photo: Josh Rogin)

THINKPROGRESS: Were you paid for this appearance or the other one?

KENNEDY: Yes, I have.

THINKPROGRESS: Do you mind if I ask how much it was?

KENNEDY: Y’know, $25,000.

THINKPROGRESS: By whom?

KENNEDY: By the Iranian-American diaspora. […] I have no problem with it. I wouldn’t support a group just because I was paid for it if I didn’t believe in them. And the implication of some of these questions is, “Well, if you’re getting paid you must be getting paid for something you don’t agree with.” […]

The real thing is that the money is being funneled out of Tehran to oppress this group. So let’s be balanced when people start talking about follow the money.

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. The group, whose leadership is based in Paris while about 3,400 members live in a camp in Iraq, renounced violence in 2001 and was forcibly disarmed by the U.S. in 2003. Critics allege that the group’s renunciation of violence may not be genuine, de-listing them could hurt Iran’s indigenous Green opposition movement, and that the group has no backing inside Iran as a democratic opposition group.

The camp in Iraq, called Ashraf, was under U.S. control until 2009 when the U.S. handed over security control to the Iraqis as part of a larger deal. Since then, residents of Ashraf have accused Iraqi forces of abuses including attacks that reportedly killed dozens of members of the group.

Speaking before a large crowd outside the State Department that included attendees bused-in from afar on all-expenses-paid trips, Kennedy cited one such attack — in April, which reportedly killed 34 Ashraf residents — as having spurred his support for the group.

The campaign to de-list the MEK has drawn attention because of the millions of dollars spent on the effort.

Kennedy joins other former U.S. officials, mostly from conservative circles but including some liberals, such as former-Vermont governor and DNC chairman Howard Dean.

To cheers from the crowd, Kennedy — invoking the memory of his father, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy — compared the MEK’s Paris-based leader Maryam Rajavi to South Africa’s first post-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, who led a spate of guerrilla sabotage bombings against the Apartheid regime before going to prison and eventually leading the country’s transition. (Mandela admits his guerilla past and his group’s human rights abuses. Rajavi’s MEK often denies having committed any acts of terror over it’s 45 year history and disputes allegations made by Human Rights Watch about abuses against the group’s own members.)

Kennedy told ThinkProgress his work to de-list the MEK and support for them as a democratic Iranian opposition was in line with his long-standing support of human rights worldwide.

By Ali Gharib and Zaid Jilani – Think Progress

August 30, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Attendees Don’t Really Understand What The MEK Is

Attendees Bused Into MEK Rally, Some Of Whom ‘Don’t Really Understand What The MEK Is’

A large crowd gathered today outside the State Department today to protest the designation of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) as a “foreign terror organization.” Police at the scene told ThinkProgress the groups organizing the demonstration said at least two thousand people were there, though the estimate seemed high.

The MEK’s profile has risen as stateside supporters — including former government officials — have launched a massive, coordinated, and multi-million dollar campaign to have them removed from the terror rolls. Critics argue that the group may still have designs on committing violent acts and that their public support in Iran is virtually non-existant.

Among Iranians, who dominated the crowd, many said they rallied for the MEK because they supported democracy in Iran and opposed the post-revolutionary Islamic regime.

But 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 wrong.

Some of the attendees had been bused and flown in at no personal cost, receiving transportation and in some cases lodging and meals.

“He saw [a flier] yesterday passing by the church,” said Santiago of his friend. “He usually goes there for the food pantry.”

Some of the other attendees knew little about the MEK’s history. The State Department designated the group in 1997 and made allegations of decades of terrorism, including against Americans when the U.S. had good relations with the Shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Two attendees from Arkansas, who’d come up with an Iranian friend who lives nearby, said that they suspected collusion — “hanky panky” — between the State Department and the Islamic Republic.

Others had an interest in Iran. One attendee said he lived in Iran and played professional basketball there. He said he supported human rights in Iran. He said the reverend at his church informed him about the rally, though he admitted that “to be honest, I don’t really understand what the MEK is.”

By Zaid Jilani – Thinkprogress

August 28, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Hundreds demonstrate in DC for Mojahedin Khalq

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of people are demonstrating in Washington to demand that an Iranian opposition group formerly allied with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq be removed from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy were among those speaking in support of the Mujahedin-e Khalq. The midday crowd filled a street outside the State Department for a rally with confetti and doves released into the air.

The U.S. declared the group a terrorist body in 1997. But a court last year ordered the State Department to reconsider the designation.

The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations in Iran in the 1980s, and fought alongside Saddam’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war. The group says it renounced violence in 2001.

August 27, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Some participants in the rally had no knowledge about MKO

Several hundred supporters of the Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, aka MEK and People’s Mujahedin) gathered on August 26 in front of the State Department in Washington, D.C., to urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove the group from the United States’ list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The participants, who were wearing yellow vests with pictures of the leaders of the group, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, chanted, "We want justice, we want peace, we want MEK off the list" and also "Iran, Rajavi, Rajavi, Iran."

The State Department is reviewing the status of the MKO, which it put on the list of terrorist organizations in 1999. The group, which has been described by former members as a Marxist/Islamist cult, is also designated as a terrorist organization by Iran.

The MKO, which was involved in a series of attacks in Iran in the 1980s, says it has renounced violence and is working for democracy in Iran. The group sided with Iraq during the bloody Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, and more than 3,000 members are still based in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

Today’s event included speeches by several former U.S. officials and congressmen, including former Representative Patrick Kennedy (Rhode Island-Republican) who said in Persian, " I am Iranian, I am an Ashrafi," referring to the camp in Iraq. He also warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that he will be put on trial in the International Criminal Court for attacking Camp Ashraf.

Organizers said the event was broadcast live for Camp Ashraf members. Several rally participants told RFE/RL they have family members in Ashraf.

One of the organizers, who identified herself as Shirin, told RFE/RL the removal of MKO from the list of foreign terrorist organizations would allow MKO members in Ashraf to move to other countries.Shirin said the MKO’s removal from the list would allow those who are "hesitant" because of this status to join the opposition group.

Rally participants also included a number of non-Iranian-Americans. Several of them told RFE/RL they had little or no knowledge about the MKO. "We’ve come for Iranian people," said one African-American.

When asked whether he and his female companion received money to attend the rally, the woman first said yes, but then retracted her statement at the man’s behest.

Another MKO supporter said describing the group as a cult is a label by intelligence agencies, which he said do not understand the nature of the group. In response to a question about the whereabouts of MKO leader Massoud Rajavi, who hasn’t been seen for years, he said his location should be kept secret for his personal safety.

Today’s rally was the latest event in a series the MKO has held in recent months in Washington to push for its delisting. Western media have reported that former U.S. officials have received substantial financial contributions to speak at MKO events and express support for the delisting of the group.[..]

Tehran-based political analyst Nejat Bahrami told RFE/RL earlier this month the delisting of the MKO would make average Iranians frustrated with the United States.

"The messages [U.S. President Barack] Obama has sent to the Iranian people on several occasions, including for Norouz, have been very encouraging," he said. "But I think [the delisting of the MKO] would neutralize those positive statements. And it might lead to frustration with U.S. policies and even hatred."

By Golnaz Esfandiari, Hossein Aryan

August 27, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

MEK rally planned for Friday at State Department

Supporters of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) movement are planning their largest-ever gathering in Washington on Friday in front of the State Department.

"Join us in solidarity with the Iranian people, Camp Ashraf, and against the dictatorship ruling Iran," reads the flyer advertising the Aug. 26 rally and march at the 22nd and C Street entrance of the State Department’s Foggy Bottom headquarters. MEK supporters have been gathering there for months, imploring State Department employees and visitors to press Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove the MEK from State’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

"Dear Hillary, My name is Shaghayegh. I am 14 and I live in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. I am afraid I am going to be murdered," begins an open letter from an MEK member to Clinton that has been printed in full-page ads in the Washington Post.

The State Department placed the MEK on its list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1999 for its involvement in bombings that killed six Americans, but is reviewing that status now.

The event is the latest and greatest example of the MEK’s multi-million dollar effort to build support among Washington’s political elite. The speakers at the event will include: Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, former Sen. Robert Torricelli, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, and former CIA Deputy Director of Clandestine Operations John Sano.

The MEK also lists among its supporters in Washington former National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers, former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, Gen. Wesley Clark, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, former CIA Director Porter Goss, senior advisor to the Romney campaign Mitchell Reiss, Gen. Anthony Zinni, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, former Sen. Evan Bayh, and many others.

So what is the MEK? Well, that depends on who you ask. The group, which has an ideology based on the fusion of Islam and Marxism, was formed in Iran in 1965. It allied itself with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and fought against the Shah and his Western backers. After falling out of favor with Khomeini, the group was given shelter in Iraq by Saddam Hussein, who used them to conduct brutal cross-border raids during the Iraq-Iran war.

MEK leader Maryam Rajavi, who lives in Paris with her husband Massoud Rajavi, reportedly told her followers in 1991, "Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards."

After the fall of Saddam, the United States helped broker an agreement whereby 3,400 MEK members were confined to a complex in Iraq called Camp Ashraf, which was protected by the U.S. military but then handed over to the Iraqi government in 2009. In an interview on Tuesday, Iraq’s ambassador Samir Sumaida’ie said that the MEK was dangerous and "nothing more than a cult."

In 2005, Human Rights Watch published a report accusing the MEK in Camp Ashraf of enforcing loyalty by subjecting "dissident members to torture and prolonged solitary confinement," and being responsible for "two cases of death under interrogation."

Elizabeth Rubin wrote about her 2003 trip to Camp Ashraf in the New York Times earlier this month. "Access to the Internet, phones and information about the outside world is prohibited. Posters of Ms. Rajavi and her smiling green eyes abound," she said. "Friendships and all emotional relationships are forbidden. From the time they are toddlers, boys and girls are not allowed to speak to each other. Each day at Camp Ashraf you had to report your dreams and thoughts. If a man was turned on by the scent of a woman or a whiff of perfume, he had to confess."

The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001 and professes to be leading the resistance to the Iranian regime. That claim, in addition to lucrative payments to former officials in both parties, has bought it a lot of attention and friends in Washington. But how can senior officials take money from a terrorist group?

"The MEK’s delisting campaign is funded by a fluid and enigmatic network of support groups based in the United States. According to an MEK leader, these groups are funded by money from around the world, which they deliberately shield from U.S. authorities," the Huffington Post reporter Christina Wilkie wrote. "These domestic groups book and pay for their VIP speakers through speaker agencies, which in turn pay the speakers directly and take a fee for arranging appearances. That way, the speakers themselves don’t technically accept money from the community groups."

An event organizer told The Cable that the MEK is expecting between 5,000 and 10,000 people at its rally at the State Department on Friday, which begins at 10 a.m.

Foreign Policy.com – By Josh Rogin

August 27, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Supporters of Iranian resistance group rally at State Department

Hundreds of supporters of the Iranian resistance group Mujahedin-e Khalq rallied in front of the U.S. State Department in Washington Friday, demanding the United States remove the group from its list of foreign terrorist organizations. In a sophisticated display of its public relations ability, the demonstration featured scores of young supporters wearing matching yellow T-shirts and straw hats chanting slogans, live big-screen broadcasts of the speakers, appearances by well-know U.S. politicians and the release of white doves that flew up toward the State Department’s enormous navy-blue flag as a storm of yellow and blue confetti filled the air.

The protest took place as the State Department prepares to decide whether to remove the organization from its list of foreign terrorist organizations. The MEK denies that it supports terrorism.

The department placed the MEK on the list in 1997. The group initially supported the 1979 Iranian Revolution, but later turned against the ayatollahs and, until 2003, carried out bombings and killings of Iranian officials.

The State Department also cites eyewitness accounts and MEK documents that it says demonstrate that MEK members participated in and supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and, in the 1970s, carried out terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in Iran as well as assassinations of Americans.

In the 1980s, because of the group’s anti-Iran actions, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein provided it with financial support and military training. During the Iran-Iraq War, the State Department says, Baghdad "armed the MEK with heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of MEK fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces."

The MEK surrendered its heavy arms to the U.S.-led coalition that invaded Iraq and, in 2003, said it was renouncing violence. Since then, roughly 3,400 M.E.K. members have been living at a refugee camp called Camp Ashraf on the Iran/Iraq border.

But the new Iraqi government, which is more sympathetic to the Iranian regime, wants to move the MEK out of Iraq. The camp has been violently attacked several times by Iraqi security forces. In one attack this spring, at least 30 of the camp’s residents died.

At Friday’s rally at the State Department, girls wearing yellow tiaras on their heads with the word "Ashraf" led the audience in cheers.

Onstage, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy addressed the crowd, urging support for its cause. The MEK, which is based in France, has spent millions of dollars to win backing in Washington.

The State Department, in its 2010 Country Reports on Terrorism, noted, "The MEK’s political arm, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has a global support network with active lobbying and propaganda efforts in major Western capitals. NCRI also has a well-developed media communications strategy."

Some Iranians in the United States have been critical of the MEK. In a press release Friday, Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said delisting the group "would be disastrous for Iran’s nonviolent democratic opposition ."

Calling the MEK "a cult that abuses its own members," Parsi said it has "no support among the Iranian people." The MEK, he said, has been paying U.S. politicians to get it off the list of foreign terrorist organizations.

"If the MEK campaign is successful," he said, "it means that America’s national security is officially on sale to the highest bidder, and terror groups are free to set U.S. policies if the price is right."

By Jill Dougherty, CNN Foreign Correspondent

August 27, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

The two-sided demonstration of MKO terrorists

The yellow flags of well-funded Mujahedin Khalq’s supporters will be fluttered in front of the State Department on Friday August 26th following the calls the group has made for several weeks and the dollars it has spent for its usually artificially magnified demonstrations. The agenda is to call the DOS to delist MKO which has been on the list since its creation in 1997. The gathering will be surely accompanied by speakers whose pockets are filled with the MKO dollars. The coincidence is that it is the International Quds Day ; an annual event on the last Friday of Ramadan in which people rally to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposing Zionism .

If these efforts made by the MKO and propaganda campaign and its lobby in the US administration end with its being delisted, it will be a remarkable transformation; MKO was a terrorist Marxist cult with the blood of Americans on its hands, it turns into a friend, an ally for the US in its animosities against Iranian government, big change.

Elizabeth Rubin, a contributor to the New York Times Magazine who visited the MKO’s Camp Ashraf in 2003, believes that American supporters of the group are two groups.” in fact, an unlikely chorus of the group’s backers – some of whom have received speaking fees, others of whom are inspired by their conviction that the Iranian government must fall at any cost,” she writes in her new article.[1] as a person who has been eye witness of what is really going inside the MKO, Rubin describes her experiences of visiting an authoritarian cult closely, warning the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.”Mrs. Clinton should ignore their P.R. campaign,”she states.[2]

Removing the MKO from the list will not make it a good, reliable friend. Reza Nasri of Iranian.com asserts that as a “radical” group, MKO’s “fanatical ideology, pugnacious discourse, undemocratic structure, leadership mission and agenda”, signify it as a terrorist designated organization. Nasri uses a very dramatic simily to explain the unchangeable nature of Mujahedin. He writes, “a mere change of designation is as absurd as removing a snake from the list of reptiles and expecting it to act as peaceful dove.”[3]

The message that delisting the MKO will send to the public is on the one hand, the fact that you can buy everything in the US. You are able to consider a group a friend or a freedom fighter or a pro-democratic movement rather a terrorist communist cult, just if you are well paid by the group. On the other hand, removing the MKO from the list opens the door for other terrorist group’s lobbying efforts in the US government. ”just imagine what sort of message such laxity could send to both the defenders and violators of international criminal law,” Reza Nasri concludes.

Another side of MKO demonstration
As I mentioned Friday is also the day of Quds annual rally – a day of protest against illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the city of Quds (Jerusalem) by Israel. As the new patron of Mujahedin Khalq the Israel lobby has employed the MKO agents to bring over 5000 people to a counter rally against the Quds rally, according to Iran-Interlink.

An insider of the National Council of Resistance has told Iran-Interlink that some operatives of the group have already arrived in Washington to prepare the ground for the arrival of the other thousands.[4] the MKO’s gathering on Friday will serve the needs of their new Zionist friends besides what it will bring to their own agenda.

The history never forgets that the Mujahedin Khalq Organization started its struggle as an anti-Zionist, anti-Imperialist movement. Its operatives received military training in PLO camps and Israelis interests, were among their first targets of assassination and bombing during the 1970’s.

You may feel dizzy. No surprise. The history of the MKO is overflowed with controversies.

By Mazda Parsi

References:

[1] Rubin, Elizabeth, nytimes , An Iranian Cult and Its American Friends, August 14, 2011
[2] ibid
[3] Nasri, Reza, iranian.com, Radical by Nature – The MEK will never become a moderate political force, August 20,2011
[4] Iran-Interlink, Growing International support for Palestinians prompts desperate measures from Israeli lobby – Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) mercenaries used to counter pro-Palestinian rally in America, August 18,2011

August 25, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

CBC radio on Mujahideen-e-Khalq

A banned Iranian Terrorist group has been mounting a persistent and expensive lobbying campaign in both Canada and the United States to have its ban lifted. The Mujahideen-e-Khalq has a violent past. Some describe the group as an authoritarian cult. But the group has supporters, including high profile current and former politicians who see MEK as a possible instrument of regime change in Iran.

Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) – Elizabeth Rubin

On April 5, 1992, a large group of Iranians attacked the Iranian embassy in Ottawa. No one was seriously hurt, but the place was ransacked. The attacks were claimed by the Mujahideen-e-Khalq or MEK as they’re often called.

The MEK is on the list of terrorist groups in both Canada and the United States. Ottawa reviewed the group’s status in December, but Public Safety Canada decided the MEK should remain on the list.

Not surprisingly, the MEK is not happy with that status. MEK has mounted an intensive and expensive lobbying effort aimed at politicians in Canada and the U.S. The group’s status is up for review in Washington and a decision is imminent.

To start off our conversation, we spoke with Elizabeth Rubin, a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine who has investigated MEK and its activities. She joined us from Brooklyn, New York.

Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) – Carolyn Bennett

The MEK spends a lot of cash lobbying in the U.S. – tens of thousands of dollars on speaker fees at million dollar conferences. The group’s efforts in Canada have been more subdued. But it has sponsored trips for Canadian members of Parliament to attend its annual rally in Paris.

Our next guest, Carolyn Bennett, is an MP who’s attended one of those rallies. Carolyn Bennett joined us in studio in Toronto.

Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK)

Well, Carolyn Bennett is not the only Canadian parliamentarian who has met the MEK close up. In 2006, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney – then Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper – spoke at a rally in Ottawa organized by a MEK-controlled group. Mr. Kenney later said he had no idea there was any such connection.

We requested an interview with Minister Kenney but received no response. We also put in a request to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, MEK’s political wing, to provide a spokesperson to appear on the show. So far they have not responded.
Download CBC radio on Mujahideen-e-Khalq

August 20, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

MKO Paying Huge Sums to Former US Officials to Exit Terror List

Recent reports revealed that leaders of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) are lobbying and paying big bucks to former high-ranking US officials to help them get taken off the US administration’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The Antiwar Website, the Christian Science Monitor and the Huffington Post disclosed recently that although the group has a record of killing Americans during the 1970s and has subsequently used violent tactics against Iranian targets, many neoconservatives – and other prominent Americans, it seems – would like to rehabilitate the image of the group and use the MKO as a lever against Iran.

The list of American luminaries doing a paid dance with the MKO is long and contains former top officials of both parties. For example, on the Democratic side of the aisle, former presidential candidate and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and former Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana have given short and highly compensated speeches before the group. On the Republican side, former Homeland Security chief and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, former presidential candidate and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Bush chief of staff Andrew Card, and anti-Iranian hardliner former Assistant Secretary of State John Bolton have done the same. And let’s not forget the bevy of former US national security officials who have least implicitly endorsed the "terrorist" organization’s goals: former directors of the CIA Porter Goss and James Woolsey and four-star generals James Jones (also a former national security adviser), Wesley Clark, Anthony Zinni, Hugh Shelton, and James T. Conway.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

Leaders of the group have been fighting to shed its terrorist tag after a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s, and nearly 30 years of violent struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In recent years, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.

The UK initiative, however, prompted the European Union to establish relations with the exiled organization now based in Paris. The European Court of First Instance threw its weight behind the MKO in December 2009 and annulled its previous decision to freeze its funds.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by Neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

August 16, 2011 0 comments

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