Mujahedin Khalq Organization’s Propaganda System

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

MEK Terrorist Group Lobbies Congress for De-Listing

Maryam Rajavi, leader of the MEK The Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian Marxist-Islamist group opposed to the government there, is lobbying the Obama administration to have its name removed from a list of foreign terrorist organizations.

MEK has been on the State Department’s terrorist list since 1997, although even prior to that it was accused of killing Americans in Iran in the 1970s and supporting the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

One of Washington’s top lobbying firms, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, has been hired by MEK supporters (the Iranian American Community of Northern California) to remove the organization from the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. Lobbyists working on behalf of MEK include former congressman Vic Fazio (D-California) and Hal Shapiro, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, whose State Department originally put MEK on the list.

MEK has also garnered support from the political odd couple of Howard Dean and John Bolton, along with former Republican Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Democratic ex-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.

Supporters claim MEK should no longer be designated a terrorist group because it renounced the use of violence in 2001. The European Union did remove the MEK from its terrorism list in 2009.

Opponents of the de-listing point out that an FBI report from 2004 showed the group continued to plan terrorist acts at least three years after it renounced terrorism.

allgov.com

July 3, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Yves Bonnet’s French lawyers condemned MKO’s fake announcement

French lawyers of Yves Bonnet seriously condemned the group’s misinformation on his court ruling and reproached MKO for distortion of the ruling.

Following the biting failure of Yves Bonnet, former Head of French Secret Service, in French appeal court in Paris, Rajavi’s band set off for a disinformation campaign quoting fake words of Bonnet’s French lawyers.

In the announcement allegedly related to 5 French lawyers published on MKO’s websites in Persian, Yves Bonnet has won two courts against his plaintiffs during the 2 past years.
In fact, Mr. Yves Bonnet absolutely lost his two courts in Paris where Rajavi’s Band had mobilized 600 people and attacked and bit critics.

He was sentenced to pay penalty and publish an apology letter in three French newspapers.
He was required by the court to mention in the letter of apology that his book:” Vevak at Ayatollahs service” was written under the orders of Mujahedin Khalq Organization. He also had to pay a 3000 – euro penalty.

Following the publication of the distorted announcement regarding Bonnet’s Court, plaintiffs of the court complained to french judiciary .Yves Bonnet’s attorneys, to respond the court judge, denied the announcement published on MKO official websites and declared that they didn’t compose or publish any announcement regarding Yves Bonnet’s court.

They seriously condemned MKO’s obstinate act to distort the ruling of French judiciary.

The attorneys told that they hadn’t been aware of the text of the announcement and admitted that the court ruling was based on Mr. Bonnet’s failure.

June 8, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Mr. Karami Open Letter to President Obama

Mojahedin Khalq propaganda in US

Mr. President,

You must be aware of the accelerated propaganda machine of Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MEK/MKO/PMOI). A number of prominent politicians and former officials of Bush administration including former national security advisor General James Jones, former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, former undersecretary of State, Nicholas Burns, former US secretary of energy, Bill Richardson and Professor Ruth Wedgwood who fail to have enough information on Iran and the true substance of MKO were allured by the group to attend their events in Paris and European Parliament.

You may wonder what is the MKO’s motivation behind launching such an American campaign! The motivation lies in the organization’s objective to use these politicians as a lever pressure against your administration in order to remove the group from DOS’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Mujahedin -e- Khalq make efforts to delist themselves not only politically but also through civil procedures and they do not hesitate to pay large amounts of money for that cause. It’s been many years now that MEK has been spending huge amounts to magnify the group as an alternative to the Iranian regime. It has bought a large range of people from all over the world to run its cause. The above-mentioned objective was not important to Rajavi until the fall of Saddam but after his collapse finding a new sponsor became Rajavi’s concern.

Before the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Massoud Rajavi used to brag to his audience saying that he didn’t care if MKO was in the list of terrorist organizations of the DOS and that it could list them a dozen times and MKO didn’t fear! But after MKO lost its main military and financial supporter (Saddam Hussein), the group’s political gesture changed entirely. They set off active champagne to remove their organization from the blacklist at any cost, although their activities against Islamic Republic haven’t changed significantly since they were removed from EU’s terror list.

Mr. President,

People’s Mujahedin Organization began its struggle in the 1960’s based on an anti imperialism ideology which considered the US as its main target. They launched several terrorist attacks against American civilians and officials in Iran:

In December of 1970 carried out an abortive attempt to kidnap U.S.Ambassador Douglas MacArthur.

In May, 1972 they assassinated the US. Counselor General Price and exploded some bomb in American installations.

President Richard M. Nixon’s trip was marred by a series of bombings, including one explosion at the tomb of the Shah’s father shortly before the President and his hosts were scheduled to arrive.

Explosion in Shell-Lavan Oil Cogan .Jan. 28 , 1973

Sound bomb explosion in International Hotel Cafeteria – Jan. 29 , 1973

General Hawkins assassination – Jun. 1 , 1973

Assassination of US embassy translator Hasan Khan – July 2 , 1975

For sack of the regime dependence on world monopoly and exploitation in Jan. to Feb.2, 1973, they exploded and set on fire several offices such as US Oil companies, TV & Radio stations and Pan American airlines.

In May24, 1974 for the anniversary of hanging of their leaders, this organization operated some explosive actions in American and Jewish economic companies and internal depended capitalists such as American and Jewish General, English0-Court Insurance Company Pork Shire and Jewish company Techno vice.

In Jan., 26, 1975 as a result of Kissinger entering –the US foreign minister- to Iran and some objections against him, a set of explosion in ITT companies (US multinational), Naraqi agricultural & industrial and John deer (American Insurance).

In May10, 1975 while returning of Shah from US and as a reaction to killing 9 persons of the former political members in April18, 1974(Bijan Jozni – Hassan Ziya zarifi – Aziz Sarmadi – Masha’of Kalantari – Mostafa Javan Khshdel – Kazem Zol-Anvar – Mohammad Choupan Zadeh – Ahmad Jalil Afshar) they chased the John Turner’s car and general Shepherds, two US counselors in Iran and then blocked two sides of the car and set fire on them by machineguns.

In July 3, 1975 the plan designed for assassinating Donald Eruona the American diplomat have been run. Assassinators blocked the way of US service car in Hashemi and Kheradmand junction and set fire on it. But because of darkness of the inside of the car an Iranian embassy employee have been mistakenly killed.

Following this operation a powerful bomb exploded in Iran & US committee for the memorial of Tir 30th 1331 movement and another one in English Consulate in Mashhad which have destructed a part of that building.

In August 27, 1976 three employees of the American Rockwell international company in California who have intended in a confidential spy process named “Ibex” in Iran, have been assassinated. In this year a powerful bomb have been exploded in Shemiran municipality.

May 11, 1975 – assassination of Colonel Paul Schaeffer and Lieutenant Colonel Jack Turner, U.S. Air Force officers in the mission.

In 1979, 25 members of MEK had an active role in the takeover of US embassy in Tehran. Here, I provide you with a film in which an MEK official is being interviewed in front of the Embassy. The fil

m was shown by Iranian TV only once.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mm46368666nnsb#p/a/u/0/edeh3g4fhtY

When the terrorist attack on US World Trade Center on September 11th, ended with massacre of a large number of innocent civilians, the whole world were shocked and left in sorrow and all the governments, and international bodies condemned the inhumane act while MEK were celebrating that catastrophic event in Camp Baqerzadeh where Massoud and Maryam Rajavi congratulated members, giving out sweets and candies. Massoud Rajavi addressed the members: ”this was the reactionary Islam [Bin Laden /al-Qaida] that trembled the basis of the US Imperialism and destroyed the twin towers that were their symbols of power. What if Revolutionary Islam [pointing to his Saddam-made army NLA] comes on the scene? ‘’

As a main violator of human rights, MKO hasn’t been able to exploit human right abuses in Iran, yet. In 2005, Human Rights Watch published a detailed record on cases of human rights abuses in the organization. Besides it has been about 14 months that families of Ashraf residents have been awaiting to visit their children in front of Ashraf gates but MKO officials ,under the order of Massoud Rajavi do not allow them to visit their families but they order the residents to launch catapults to their own families .

https://st.nejatngo.org/media/Report/MEK_Throw_Stones_Families_T.wmv

Sir,

The US Department of States has designated People’s Mujahedin of Iran and its political wing National Council of Resistance as a terrorist organization since the 1990’s when DOS didn’t have a large amount of important information on the group. In 2005, DOS report on MEK noted that MEK has the potential threat of a dangerous cult. The significant example of that potentiality turned into practice in June 2003 after the arrest of Maryam Rajavi by French police when members of the group set themselves on fire to protest her arrest in European cities.

Although the reports of DOS on MEK in 2005 and 2006 are not complete, they offer a few examples of numerous cult-like approaches of MEK.

Today, considering valuable information on MEK published by DOS and DOD, including RAND report, the terrorist cult of MEK must not be allowed to spread lies and feed American politicians with its disinformation campaign. MEK’s re-designation as a foreign terrorist organization will disappoint the group and its propaganda machine. You may want to take a look at the group’s latest request made by its spokesman Ali Reza Jaafarzadeh to find out how its deceptive propaganda machine works.

Some documents are attached that expose the real nature of Mujahedin Khalq Organization:

Lets create another Vietnam for America (pdf). [Mojahedin English language paper April 1980]
Letter to Imam (Khomeini) (pdf.)[Mojahedin English Language paper April 1980]
Some questions unanswered regarding the US military invasion of Iran (pdf)[Mojahedin English Language paper June 1980 ]
The song, War with America which is an epic song
Lets create another Vietnam for America(pdf).
(Mojahedin English language paper April 1980)
Letter to Imam (Khomeini) (pdf).
(Mojahedin English Language paper April 1980)
Some questions unanswered regarding the US military invasion of Iran (pdf).
(Mojahedin English Language paper June 1980)

Mohammad Karami, Paris

May 18, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

The Chameleon-like Mujahedin-e Khalq

The Mujahedin Khalq (MEK) is a cult which has a long history of terrorism; the leaders, with their chameleon like-nature have targeted and captivated various audiences throughout their existence as a group. They run diplomacy of deception and their opportunistic tactics are now fooling naïve Western sympathizers—so much that some sympathizers will lay down their The Chameleon-like Mujahedin-e Khalq political reputations for them, in the belief that they are supporting a legitimate alternative to the current regime in Iran. With an impressive ability to transform its image, the Mujahedin-e Khalq has managed to court potential allies. They have tailored their principles to obtain sympathy from and stir the attention of neoconservative warmongers who would like to see Iran acted upon with a major political operation. This is dangerous because any type of political operation against Iran, especially one that would result in the use of force would be catastrophic. Notwithstanding what the Iranian people think, an operation which includes the MKO would also include a goal of ending the current Iranian regime—and placing it with the MKO. The Iranian people would not, in any way, stand for it because Iranians have no room for a principle-bending cult who is out of touch with reality and who has not stepped foot in Iran for decades.

Development of Change
During the 1960’s when many Iranian youth were interested in Marxism, influenced by the USSR, founders of MEK based their ideology on a Marxist version of Islam. According to the US State Department report, the “MEK sought to counter what it perceived as excessive western influence in the Shah’s regime. Following a philosophy that mixes Marxism and Islam the MEK has developed into the largest and most active armed Iranian dissident group."[1]

When in the 1970’s, anti-western attitudes came to be shared by most guerilla groups around the world and also among Iranians who supported Ayatollah Khomeini as an Islamic anti-western leader, the MEK found it beneficial to develop an anti-imperialism dimension to their activities. They launched several attacks against American interests in Iran that killed seven American military personnel and civilians. The State Department reports that "its history is studded with anti-western activity.” [2]

During the Islamic Revolution in 1978, the MEK took part in anti Shah protests and supported the Islamic Republic. But soon after the revolution they clashed with the newly-settled government because they couldn’t find any position in the newly formed power structure. The group’s leader, Massoud Rajavi fled to Paris together with the Iranian former President, Abulhassan Banisadr (who now denounces the group and refers to it as a terrorist cult). In Paris, they found it advantageous to change their image and their name; they started the National Council of Resistance which is now the MKO’s political tribune in the West. Kathryn Spellman, a British Professor of sociology writes in her book *Religion and Nation: Iranian Local and Transnational Networks in London*, that "the NCR was founded in October 1981 as a provisional government of the Islamic Democratic Republic."[3]

The NCR was first headed by Massoud Rajavi and included 235 members of whom 90% were Mujahedin members. In response to the female impression on the Iranian government, the NCR cleverly decided to elect a woman, Maryam Rajavi as “President elect” of the Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran. The title "Democratic Islamic Republic" for the MEK’s dream government of Iran was not surprising because at the time Iranian public were seriously interested in Islam and most people wanted Islamic laws to be obeyed in their country. Knowing this, Rajavi adopted the majority “Islamic” view. He felt that it was important to change his group’s principles in order to be accepted as a viable alternative to the regime.
In 1985 the MEK made another transformation and moved to Iraq where Rajavi gradually transformed the MEK into a full blown military cult, appointing himself as the absolute leader.* *Antoine Gessler author of *Autopsy of Anti Ideological Drift*: *Analysis and Background on the* *MKO* describes the group:

"Operating as a political-military sect, based on a cult of personality, the people’s Mojahedin of Iran requires total obedience from their true believers. The hierarchy is very structured and very strict, demanding blind obedience to the leadership. Their methods are reminiscent of Stalin’s. They include the notorious model of the Moscow show trials overwhelming their internal critics with insults, mudslinging lies, accusations of treason, selling out or being enemy agents.“Yet, after almost thirty years of struggle, the PMOI and its National Liberation army have little to show for their efforts. They have squandered all their achievements of the Seventies and Eighties largely through their alliance with Saddam Hussein.

During the last two decades, Mr. Rajavi and his friends have only succeeded in cutting themselves off from the very people who want change in Iran, but will not follow the PMOI. They have never been able to lay the foundations of that ‘Islamic, Democratic Republic of Iran’ which is their principal aim." [4]

In 2003, after the fall of Saddam Hussein when the MEK’s Camp Ashraf was bombed by the American Air Force, Massoud Rajavi found a practical solution—he shifted with the wind and signed an agreement with US Forces, which required him to relinquish arms (to US Forces). This strategic move helped him draw the West’s attention towards his organization which has been listed as a terrorist group since the 1990’s. As the MEK increased its propaganda campaign in Western countries they intentionally distinguished themselves as a non-terrorist group and delivered an agenda which portrayed them merely as an opposition group which was rational, a friend of the West, but more importantly, secular, non-violent, and democratic. By the end of 2004, Rajavi’s democratic Islamic Republic militant group had apparently morphed into a “democratic, independent and secular regime.”

In 2010, the group made a huge effort to purify its image even more in response to the bad press it had been getting regarding its long history of terrorist activities. Ali Safavi, the group’s main lobbyist attempted to clear all religious associations from the MEK’s image and reintroduced them as a purely secular organization. Safavi re-wrote the group’s history in a a series of articles which were published by the *Huffington Post*. According to Safavi, *now* the “MEK was founded in 1965 as a Muslim organization. It saw the society divided between tyranny and liberation forces, and not believers and non-believers. Like most Iranians, its founders sought a secular republic and the establishment of a democracy in Iran. MEK has never endeavored towards an ideological government, be it Islamic or otherwise." [5] For naïve politicians who do not know the real history, this is successful deceit, and will no doubt, help buy support.

Rajavi would like us all to somehow believe that he can fulfill a promise that will take care of every one–a secular government which offers a foundation for a Democratic Islamic Republic. According to Dr. Ahmad Sadri, an Iranian–American university professor of Islamic World Studies and Sociology at Lake Forest College in Illinois, the MEK wears a mask and is basically telling the world that as long as it is beneficial, “we are whatever you want us to be.”[7]

By Mazda Parsi

References:

[1] United States. *Terrorist Designation Lists*. Washington DC: First published in 1999, updated every two years. Web
[2]ibid
[3] Spellman, Kathryn . *Religion and Nation: Iranian Local and Transnational Networks in London*. 1st ed. London, New York: Berghahn Books,2004. Print.p.28

[4] Gessler, Antoine. *Autopsy of an ideological Drift*. Translated by Thomas R. Forstenzer 2004 Publishing Information is unknown: 13. Print
[5] Safavi, Ali. "Reality Check: Understanding the Mujahedin-e Khalq." *Huffington
Post*. March 3, 2010: Web.
[6] Lach, Eric. "Iranian Prof: U.S. Support For MEK Would Anger Ordinary
Iranians." *Talking Points Memo TPMMuckraker* (07 FEB 2011): Web. 23 Apr 2011

April 28, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

MKO Exploits Crisis for Propaganda

The situation of Camp Ashraf poses complex challenges for MKO leaders with no easy answers.
The group leaders are the same criminals who have the blood of Americans, Iranians and Iraqi Kurds and Shiites on their hands and are the most hated by the majority of Iranians, even those who criticize the current government of Tehran. They find no way to prolong their survival except by attracting the West’s attention towards their bankrupt organization.

The recent clashes at Camp Ashraf were part of MKO’s propaganda campaign to buy support of the West. Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Al-Askari attended a new conference a day after clashes, he showed the media a metal hook used by residents of camp Ashraf to attack Iraqi security forces. [1] While MKO websites claim that 31 Ashraf residents were killed during the clashes with Iraqi Security forces, Iraqi authorities say that these people were killed at Camp Ashraf on Friday when security forces responded to rock-throwing and threats by residents during an operation to reclaim land from the camp, according to Reuters.[2]

Along with their misinformation campaign MEK have posted videos on the Internet showing some soldiers appear to be Iraqi troops walking around and in one case targeting Ashraf residents. The videos also show an American Humvee bearing an Iraqi flag chasing some people on foot around. You see one man throw himself in front of the vehicle. The vehicle stops right away and reverses away. You may wonder who those dead and injured bodies MKO TV shows and claims the number to mount 31 are. The videos are so ambiguous that CNN declared that it could not confirm them.[3]

Haider Adel is an Iraqi policeman who was wounded by MKO forces on Friday. "We were at a checkpoint to provide protection for them (Ashraf residents), but all of the sudden they attacked us with stones and iron bars," he said.[4]

The comments from Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh came shortly after a United Nations Spokesman in New York said 34 people were killed in April8 raid on Camp Ashraf.[5]"Our security forces believe that this (the deaths) has been done by their (the PMOI) guards killing those who were willing to escape from the camp", Dabbagh said in a text message to AFP, adding that government was investigating the issue.[6]"Similar methods have been used before by them", he added.[7]

The Iraqi military, which rings the perimeter of the 19-sq-mil (49 sq km) Camp, denies using firearms and says only three residents were killed – when they threw themselves in front of military vehicles, according to an article by Rania Abouzeid of the TIME. [8]

Things can rapidly devolve into violence, given growing Iraqi frustration with the organization, whose members exhibit a cult-like obedience and willingness to sacrifice themselves for their cause, Abouzeid believes.[9]

Although the allegations of Iraqi officials and MKO propaganda on the case are entirely different, one thing is sure and that’s the victimization of a number of human beings whom unfortunately, among them there are intellectuals and educated people that have been caught in a destructive terrorist cult. Deprived of the most basic human rights, they have no way out except absolute obedience to a power-thirsty cult leader who doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice his followers just to guarantee his own survival.

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1]Reuters, Iraq to probe Iranian camp deaths, April 12, 2011
[2]ibid
[3]NEW JESTIC, Iraq defends violence!, April 11, 2011-04-17
[4]ibid
[5]Agency France Press, Iran camp victims killed by own guards, April 14, 2011
[6]ibid
[7]ibid
[8]Abouzeid, Rania, TIME, Could the MEK Be Evicted From Camp Ashraf by Iraqi Military? , April15, 2011
[8]ibid
[9]ibid

April 21, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

The MKO Advertises—Does Anyone Care About What They Don’t Tell You?

On February 16, 2011, the *New York Times* agreed to run a full page advertisement for the terrorist group and cult who are self-labeled the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK/MKO). [1] In an atmosphere of free speech, the MEK, even though they are a terrorist organization, has every right to run an ad to promote their cause. Surprisingly, so far no one has stood up to oppose it, as it was done in a similar situation in Seattle, when an ad was submitted by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (a group who is not affiliated with terrorism or terrorist organizations) to run on a METRO bus which stated “Israeli War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars at Work.” That ad was never run, because over two thousand emails were received by the METRO asking for the ad to be halted, and furthermore, a powerful Jewish lobbyist proposed to run his own ad campaign to counter the message. There was public uproar in Seattle regarding the ad—both for and against.

The decision by METRO to not run the ad, because of its controversial nature prompted a lot of dialogue and the real Palestinian-Israel issue itself was reinforced in people’s minds as indeed “a problem.” This dialogue was good, and hopefully mind-opening. [2]

With the MEK however, and the ad they ran in the *New York Times*, there was little or no resistance to its presence simply because not many people know about the MEK and not many people care. There was no dialogue to speak of, and yet there seems to be a growing concern over Iran. Why isn’t any one questioning this group?

Here’s what you should know about the MEK. The group is a cult and it is true that members’ rights are being violated–by their own leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, not the US government, not the Iranian government and not the Iraqi government. Oddly a few years back, according to an article in the *New York Times*, Elizabeth Rubin reports that MEK leaders do not allow members to marry, and that they must attend weekly “ideological cleansings” and children are separated from parents. Rubin states that “every morning and night, the kids, beginning as young as 1 and 2, had to stand before a poster of Massoud and Maryam, salute them and shout praises to them." [3]

The main leader of the cult, Maryam Rajavi, wants you ignore these infringements of human rights as you read her group’s current full page ad in the *New York Times*. She wants you to believe that the MEK is on the terrorist list because of a diplomatic decision which was made by the Clinton administration in order to appease the Mullahs in Iran. Maryam is banking on the idea that Americans are afraid of Iran and would like to see it diminish. Removing them from the list is one step forward for neoconservatives who would like to see the oil rich region under American control, and who would like to see Iran’s Islamic influence in the Middle East weaken. Some Americans will question NY Times’ motive, and maybe some will actually support the idea, after all, there are political A-listers in favor of Rajavi’s cult. In fact, the ad has listed the following individuals, with accompanying titles, as supporting the MEK’s cause:

Alejo Vidal-Quadras (vice president of European parliament), General James Jones (Former National security advisor to president Obama, Supreme Allied Commander Europe), Bill Richardson (Energy Secretary During Clinton Administration, US Ambassador to the United Nations 1997-1998), Irene Khan (Former Secretary General of Amnesty International), Michael Mukasey (Attorney General of the United States 2007-2009), Abassador Dell Dailey (Former Coordinator for Counterterrorism, US Department of State), Ambassador John Bolton (US Ambassador to UN 2005-2006), Juan Garces (Legal advisor to the late President Salvator Allende), Prof. Ruth Wedgwood (Chair of International Law and Diplomacy in [sic] John Hopkins University), Struan Stevenson (President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq), Dirk Claes (senior Belgian Senator), Paulo Casaca (member of European parliament until 2009), Jan Zahradil (Vice Chair of the European Parliament Conservative and Reformist Group.)Each of these supporters has given a statement in a small blurb in the ad which of course favors the MEK. Some statements are vague, alluding to universal ideals such as “concern for the people in Camp Ashraf” and “appeasement leads us nowhere when fighting the forces of evil.” Other statements are more noteworthy declaring that the “unequivocal policy of the USA should be to overthrow the regime in Tehran” or “we must support Maryam Rajavi.” Finally others statements specifically call for immediate action such as “we must start backing the main opposition” and “we urge the US government to remove the PMOI (MEK) from the blacklist.” All the statements are designed to persuade readers that the PMOI is actually legitimate, and furthermore the rhetoric suggests that they are in fact the “main” opposition group.

What the ad doesn’t tell you is that they are, in fact, a group to whom Israel fed false information to regarding nuclear proliferation in Iran. [4] Nor does the ad tell you the group has killed thousands of people in Iran, including Americans. The ad does not tell you much about the backers of Maryam. For example, Jan Zahradil believes global warming is a conspiracy. Paolo Casaca is a member of *European Friends of Israel* (EFI) is an Israel lobby group formed in September 2006.

Michael Mukasey has Israeli citizenship. General James Jones served on Chevron Oil Company’s board of directors. What do these supporters have in common besides agreeing to allow their names have an association with the MEK? None of them have ever been to Iran. None of them have ever looked into what the Iranians think of the MEK. None of them see the far reaching implications of a MEK-controlled Iran. All of them are full blown supporters of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. And sadly none of them have theprudence to even consider what the Iranian people want.

The ad promotes the idea that the MEK is not a terrorist organization and this is alarming. In actuality, the recently accelerated campaign by US former politicians to remove Mujahedin Khalq Cult from the US list of foreign terrorist Organizations of Department of State stinks of Cold War logic. Bringing down the Islamic Republic and forging a new political order in Iran by embracing the MKO as the foundation just won’t work.

Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett who write for the *Monthly Review*comment on an event held in Washington DC in January 2011, which was “clearly designed to build public support for delisting the MEK as part of a U.S.-led campaign for regime change in Tehran.” [5] The Leverett’s posit how they are “struck by how much the ongoing campaign to rehabilitate the MEK in Washington, as part of a broader, regime-change-in-Iran strategy, rhymes with a similar campaign in the 1990’s and early 2000s to promote Ahmad Chalabi’s expatriate Iraqi National Congress (INC) to overthrow the Iraqi government." They further that “the United States will truly deserve what it gets if it falls for this again with regard to the MEK and Iran." [6]

On January 28, Eric Lach of TPM (Talking Points Memo) posts a detailed report and descriptive background on the pro-MEK gathering that the Leverett’s exposed. Lach details the true nature of the group. In his report he makes some interesting observations, and questions why, despite what the State Department says, none of the speakers of the panel bother to mention that the group is a cult and that Maryam Rajavi has established a cult of personality. According to Lach, the whole case of the MEK and why such heavyweights are supporting them remains unclear to him. [7]

As late as March 7th, Lach is still asking questions and not getting much of an answer. [8]But Professor William Beeman of the University of Minnesota seems to have found the answer. He believes that these prominent American figures "apparently have no ability to look at this situation from the viewpoint of the Iranian people."[9] It seems that professor Beeman is perfectly familiar with Iranian people’s hatred towards MKO terrorists and their wisdom regarding the plot. Beeman thinks that the most important fact that Bolton, Rose Lehtinin and others fail to comprehend is the absolute incapability of the MEK reaching power in Iran. He asserts that the "MEK could never, never in a million years form an alternative government in Iran." He reminds us that majority of Iranians view the MEK as traitors. Beeman concludes that "Washington politicians waste their energy on cockamamie schemes such as getting this group off the terrorist list so that we can throw millions of taxpayer dollars down their rat hole in the utterly vain hope that they will bring about regime change in Iran rather than seriously trying to engage Iran ourselves." [10]

It is now the time to caution Washington warmongers and anti-Iran neo-cons that supporting the MEK is a lost cause. The morally bankrupt MEK, with their million dollar propaganda crusade will never fulfill their dream of taking over Iran. Political backers of the MEK stink of imperialistic puppeteers and their actions merely reinforce the notion that the US will repeat itself as it tries for a foothold into Iran—the US backed the Shah, whom the majority of the people in Iran at the time saw as a dictator. Then the US dumped him.

The MEK ad in the* New York Times* is not the first one, and until there is some real dialogue, it certainly won’t be the last. As we wait for a conversation to flourish, New Yorkers and Americans alike need to be aware of the MEK and their sticky, agenda-seeking foreign supporters.

By Mazda Parsi

REFERENCES
[1] Advertisement posted by The National Association of Iranian Academics in
Britain, titled “Remove Iran’s Democratic Opposition, MEK/PMOI from US
Terror List and Protect Camp Ashraf.” *New York Times* Wednesday February: 2011, 16
A9. Print.
[2]Ervin, K. "Metro’s acceptance of ‘Israeli war crimes’ bus ad draws
complaints." *Seattle Times* December 20, 2010.
[3]Rubin, Elizabeth. "The Cult of Rajavi." *New York Times Magazine*. July: 200313
[4]Porter, Gareth. "Iran Nuke Laptop Data Came from Terror Group." *ISP*February 29 2008,
[5]Leverett, Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett "After "Iran Engagement": *
MRZine* January 24 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[6]Ibid.
[7]Lach, Eric. "Big Time Dems Join GOPers In Support Of Iranian Terror
Group." *TPM.com Talking Points Memo* 28 January 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[8]Lach, Eric. "Big-Name GOP Lawyers Lobbying To Remove MEK From Terror
List." *Talking Points Memo* 07 March 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[9]Beeman, William. "Beeman–Mojaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) Can Never Rule Iran."
*Culture and International Affairs*. William Beeman, 25 January 2011. Web. 29
Mar 2011.
[10] Ibid.

April 3, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

US Officials Paid to Support Terrorist MKO

Two former high-profile US officials acknowledged that they had been paid by the anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), to endorse de-listing the group from the US State Department’s list of terrorist groups, a report said.

The report released by the Inter Press Service on Tuesday said that for years now, supporters of the anti-Iran terrorist group have lobbied in vain to have the organization taken off the US terrorism list.

"A growing number of high-profile defense and foreign policy big-wigs – from former Central Command Chief Anthony Zinni to former Congressman and think tank head Lee Hamilton – have given paid speeches either endorsing de-listing or questioning why the group remains on the list when it has not committed a known terrorist act for many years," Inter Press Service stated.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in the Camp of New Iraq (formerly known as Camp Ashraf) in Iraq’s Northern province of Diyala, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s.
Last July, a federal appeals court in Washington ordered the State Department to review the designation. Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the department would make a decision "as soon as we can".
Ray Tanter, a National Security Council staffer under Ronald Reagan and founder of the Iran Policy Committee, a group that has sought MKO de-listing since 2005, said there have been six recent panels of high-profile individuals dealing with the topic: two in Paris, where the MKO’s political wing, the National Council of Resistance, is headquartered; one in Brussels, seat of the European Parliament; and three in Washington organized by a group called Executive Action LLC.
Executive Action head Neil Livingstone, a former member of the Iran Policy Committee, said another panel might be organized soon on Capitol Hill, the report by the Inter Press Service said.
"Iran-American cultural organizations" had approached him about doing the logistics for the meetings, he said, without giving specific names.
The report added that Zinni, who spoke before a Washington audience Jan. 20 – along with a star-studded bipartisan cast that included former national security adviser Jim Jones, former FBI director Louis Freeh and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson – said in an interview Tuesday that he was unaware of the group’s cultist aspects but still felt it should be taken off the State Department list if it disavowed terrorism.
He also said that the US was responsible for the fate of more than 3,000 MKO members still at the Camp Ashraf even though the camp is now under Iraqi sovereignty.
Zinni acknowledged that he had been paid his "standard fee" for speaking at the Iran event but would not say how much that was. He said he was never told what to say about the MKO, although he clearly knew the views of those sponsoring the event.
Hamilton, a former chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee who headed the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Center for 12 years until last fall, told IPS that he had also been paid "a substantial amount" to appear on a panel Feb. 19 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.
Hamilton appeared with Richardson, two former Joint Chiefs of Staff, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Walter Slocombe, former State Department counterterrorism coordinator Dell Dailey and ex-Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, the report added.
At the event, while Hamilton did not call for removing the MKO from the list immediately, he said he was "puzzled" by why the group remained so designated.
In the subsequent interview, Hamilton – who once had access to classified information – said, "I haven’t seen any reasons that are current" for the MKO to be branded as terrorist.
He also conceded, however, that he was not aware of the cult-like nature of the group.

"They presented me with a platform that was thoroughly democratic," Hamilton said. "Were they misleading me? You always can be misled."
Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.
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.
Numerous articles and letters posted on the Internet by family members of MKO recruits confirm reports of the horrific abuse that the group inflicts on its own members and the alluring recruitment methods it uses.
The most shocking of such stories includes accounts given by former British MKO member Ann Singleton and Mustafa Mohammadi — the father of an Iranian-Canadian girl who was drawn into the group during an MKO recruitment campaign in Canada.
Mohammadi recounts his desperate efforts to contact his daughter, who disappeared several years ago – a result of what the MKO called a ‘two-month tour’ of Camp Ashraf for teenagers.
He also explains how the group forces the families of its recruits to take part in pro-MKO demonstrations in Western countries by threatening to kill their loved ones.
Lacking a foothold in Iran, the terrorist group recruits ill-informed teens from Iranian immigrant communities in Western states and blocks their departure afterwards.
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 months, 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 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.

March 6, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Mojahedin Khalq propaganda machine cannot hide the facts at Camp Ashraf

There are a number of basic facts which even the sophisticated and well-financed MEK propaganda machine cannot make untrue. It is worth repeating them.

The number of MEK members has never risen beyond 6,000 to 7,000. Even in 1988 at the height of their powers the group could only muster 5500 to launch its abortive operation to topple the regime, the infamous Eternal Light operation. American soldiers corralled 3800 members inside Camp Ashraf in 2003. In the rest of the world figures probably do not exceed an additional one to two thousand including the MEK’s non Iranian supporters and backers.

Fourth Geneva Convention Protected Persons’ status was wrongfully applied in 2004 by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He gave ‘Pentagon protection’ to his terrorists in Iraq while the UN and ICRC expressed their concern over the issue and argued (fruitlessly) that the MEK is a paramilitary group, not a civilian population and this designation had no legal basis. But in any case the status would not apply after 2006, a year after the first elections in Iraq – a fact repeatedly corroborated by British, European and American officials. A document produced by the Library of the UK’s House of Commons states: “In the case of occupied territory, the Convention continues to apply for a year after the general close of military operations, and partially thereafter if the occupying power continues to exercise the functions of government. The occupation of Iraq formally ended on 30 June 2004.”

The MEK members in Camp Ashraf do not have any legal right to be in Iraq. No MEK member has refugee status in Iraq. Leader Massoud Rajavi ensured they all entered the country illegally in order to be able to use this against them if they defected (he sent scores to Abu Ghraib in this way). After 2003, the UNHCR in Iraq would not grant refugee status to MEK members because it is a paramilitary group and the GOI has refused to grant refugee status to members of what is known throughout Iraq as a terrorist organisation which has killed some 25,000 Iraqi civilians. In Written Answers in the House of Lords on 20 April 2009, Lord Malloch-Brown (then Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office) told parliament, “The UN High Commission for Refugees has previously determined that Camp Ashraf residents do not qualify as refugees.”

The Government of Iraq has every reason, regardless of Iranian or American influence either way, to wish to expel the MEK from the country. The MEK was responsible for killing 25,000 Iraqi civilians. It is currently the only part of Saddam Hussein’s repressive apparatus which remains intact and active. This is due to the failure of the American military to dismantle the camp and remove the inhabitants. (RAND Report, August 2009) Iraq’s Foreign Minister Zebari a few weeks ago again accused the MEK of trying to maintain a state within a state and said that "the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization is like many other armed terrorist organizations," adding that "the government is determined to impose its sovereignty and not allow any party to impose its policy orientations."

The Iraqi Judiciary would like to prosecute leading members of the MEK for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Iraqis in Iraq. They have been frustrated by the interference of the MEK’s backers in Washington, London and Brussels.

Iraqi soldiers are stationed at Camp Ashraf to provide protection, a role imposed on them by the Americans who failed to deal with the MEK for six years. In the six years that American soldiers protected the terrorist group and its base, fourteen American soldiers were killed during escort missions for MEK shopping in Baghdad. (RAND Report August 2009.)

There is plenty of evidence that the MEK commit serious human rights abuses against their own members inside Camp Ashraf, but to date no independent investigation has taken place into these allegations.

The Iranians outside Camp Ashraf are the families of members trapped inside. The MEK do not allow the members to have contact with them. The families have been recently attacked by MEK special forces from inside the camp which resulted in the hospitalisation of a couple of old people. The American soldiers have repeatedly come to support the MEK in the harassment of the families who have now entered their 13th month of their picket, demanding a simple visit to make sure their loved ones are there of their own free will. So far, no one has established that the people inside Camp Ashraf are there of their own free will.

February 26, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Iranian Prof: U.S. Support For MEK Would Anger Ordinary Iranians

The recent acts by former prominent republicans to lend their support to Mujahedin Khalq terrorists motivated Eric Larch a writer for TPM to have an interview with Professor Ahmad Sadri from Lake Forest College in Illinois. He is a professor of Islamic Word Studies and Sociology. In his phone interview with TPM, professor Sadri described MKO claims as ” They are saying to the world we are whatever you want us to be.”

Eric Lach reports the phone interview with professor Sadri by presenting a background of MKO situation in the United States administration and among US neoconservatives:

As TPM has reported, the MEK has a history of support in Washington, and a number of prominent U.S. national security experts and former government officials have recently taken up the MEK cause, which includes getting the MEK removed from the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. The MEK was put on the terror list in 1997, in a move that has been described as a nod to Iran’s then reformist president.

At a panel in Washington D.C. two weeks ago, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and ex-Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) joined former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey in painting the MEK not only as unfairly shackled by the terrorist label, but also as a critical part of the Iranian opposition movement.

“The Mujahedin have absolutely no backing in Iran,” Sadri told TPM. He said he’d first become aware of the MEK 40 years ago, when he occasionally listened to the group’s clandestine radio shows, broadcast before the fall of the Shah. He described the MEK in its early days as a “vanguard organization.”

Sadri, who moved from Iran to the U.S. in the mid-1970s to attend a Ph.D program at The New School, said he visited Iran once every year or two until the 2009 election, and “never heard a positive word uttered” about the MEK. According to Sadri, many Iranians have never gotten over the group accepting safe haven and patronage from Saddam Hussein, and then fighting on his behalf in the Iran-Iraq war. MEK supporters maintain that they had nowhere else to turn in 1986, when Saddam took them in.

“If there is one thing everyone can agree on Iran, it’s that Saddam Hussein is a really bad guy,” Sadri said.

Professor Sadri describes the group propaganda campaign as “very very active”. “They wheel and deal and they’re willing to sell themselves to the highest bidder”, he told Eric Lach.

February 8, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

MKO members hurt themselves to prevent investigation

Mojahedin Khalq leaders claimed that Iraqi forces attacked their hospital inside Camp Ashraf (now Camp New Iraq) on December 25 and injured several MKO members during the operation. A source in Iraq’s Interior Ministry who is familiar with the MKO’s standoff at the camp told Iran-Interlink privately, “Mojahedin Khalq and their backers can claim whatever they like. They can use their propaganda machine in the US and EU as they wish but it is clear to everyone that the Iraqi police neither attack hospitals nor steal equipment from hospitals. I know that during the time of Saddam, the Mojahedin did all sorts of things including many horrifying criminal acts, but we no longer live under the dictatorship of Saddam, we are now open to the world and everything is clear to those who choose to see”.

According to Iran-Interlink’s reports from this camp, the Iraqi police had been informed that criminal activities were taking place inside the camp and had been dispatched to investigate. Unfortunately upon their arrival, the Mojahedin Khalq refused to allow them access and started fighting with them. At the same time some MKO were seen to be deliberately injuring themselves only later to accuse the Iraqi police of using heavy handed tactics.

Three people have died during the past two months as a result of not receiving early medical attention because the MKO has refused them access to proper medical care. One more person has been killed by hanging (the MKO explains this as a suicide in protest at the families coming to visit them!). This situation is unacceptable. There is a right and an obligation to investigate these deaths.

Iran-Interlink is in receipt of reports that the leaders of the cult are preparing to kill or force the terminally sick people to commit suicide only to put the blame on Iraq so that they can continue their criminal activities backed by some in the western capitals.

Iraq is a sovereign country. Iraqi will not allow the Mojahedin Khalq to remain in the country to carry out the dirty work of their backers in the US, EU or Israel.

According to the Interior Ministry source, while the Government of Iraq is committed to the human rights of every individual, including the MKO members in this camp, it is also committed to putting an end to this ridiculous situation of a camp where there is no school, no marriage, no work, no registry, no children, no visiting rights, and so on. This may have been accepted during the time of Saddam or during the Americans being in charge of the camp, but it is no longer acceptable in this new Iraq.

December 30, 2010 0 comments

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