Unleash the Iranian Opposition[, the Mujahedeen-e Khalq]

Submitted by Ed Melik, Esq. (United States), Jul 13, 2007 at 22:22

Some facts about the MEK for those who would like to have different perspective to this phenomenon called "MEK".

The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran was founded by middle-class students at Tehran University, Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saied Mohsen and Ali-Asghar Badizadegan in 1965. The PMOI opposed the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi because it considered it corrupt and oppressive. In its first five years, the group primarily engaged in ideological work, combining both fundamentalist interpretations of Islam and Marxist philosophy. Before carrying out any military operations against the Shah's regime, a raid by the Shah's secret police, SAVAK, arrested the entire leadership and 90 percent of its cadres. All but one of its leaders were executed. Other members remained incarcerated for many years, with the last group, including Massoud Rajavi, being released just before Khomeini arrived in Tehran in January 1979. The PMOI conducted anti-Western attacks prior to the Islamic Revolution. Since then, it has conducted militant attacks against the interests of the cleric-dominated governmental system in Iran and abroad. According to the presentation of the MEK by the Foreign Affairs group of the Australian Parliament, the group has been accused of conducting several assassinations of U.S. military personnel and civilians working in Iran during the 1970s and of having actively supported the U.S. embassy takover in Tehran in 1979.^[12]

The fall of Saddam Hussein‘s regime affected the circumstances of the designated foreign terrorist organization Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The MEK was allied with the Iraqi regime and received most of its support from it. The MEK assisted the Hussein regime in suppressing opposition within Iraq, and performed internal security for the Iraqi regime. The National Liberation Army was the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), and Rep.Tancredo in 2005 formed the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus.

On April 6, 2005 the caucus convened a briefing on Capitol Hill organized by the Iran Policy Committee, the most prominent policy institute dedicated to advancing a U.S. government-supported regime change strategy that relies on the MEK as the main instrument of a violent revolution. At that briefing, Tancredo called for the Bush administration to remove MEK from the list of terrorist organizations. According to Tancredo, MEK was designated not because it was involved in terrorist activities, but because the Clinton administration sought to curry favor with the Iranian regime.

Tancredo says "We should be aiding them, instead of restricting their activities. We can use the MEK, they are in fact warriors. Where we need to use that kind of force, we can use them."

Tancredo describes Maryam Rejavi as "very charismatic, she believes in women's rights, she believes in democracy in Iran … I do support their efforts. I understand that the United States characterizes them as a terrorist organization, but what you have to understand is that they were identified as such only after the Clinton administration agreed to mollify the regime in Iran. They wanted to reach some kind of detente with Iran, with the mullahs. The mullahs had only one demand, and that was that we put the Mujahedin-e Khalq on the terrorist list and so it was done for political reasons, not because they posed any threat to the United States."

On May 10, 2005 Tancredo organized another Capitol Hill briefing through the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus that featured a variety of witnesses who spoke favorably of the MEK, including at least two U.S. military officials who had worked with the MEK in Iraq. On May 18, 2005 Tancredo took his support of MEK to the House floor when he asked that excerpts of the briefing be included in the congressional record. In his statement, Tancredo said that 65 political groups in Iraq had organized a petition signed by 2.8 million Iraqis that criticized Iran-sponsored "Islamic fundamentalism's stealthy domination" of Iraq and strongly supported the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran. Tancredo called the organization the "main Iranian opposition group." Describing the petition, Tancredo said its supporters demanded that "the PMOI should be recognized in Iraq as ‘a legitimate political movement'"—which is also one of the demands of the Iran Policy Committee.

Tancredo and Filner, the co-chairs of the Iran caucus, offered their support to a pro-MEK rally in Washington on January 19, 2006. In a letter to the rally organizers, the Council for Democratic Change in Iran, the co-chairs of the House caucus, said, "We believe a possible alternative to the current government can be achieved through supporting the people of Iran and the Iranian resistance … We extend our solidarity to you and to the Iranian people and their defiance against tyranny."

The pro-MEK rally was endorsed by two U.S. Senators: Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and by four individual congressional representatives: Christopher Shays (R-CT), Ed Towns (D-NY), Bob Filner (D-CA), and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).

By publicly supporting the MEK and the Iran Policy Committee, Tancredo has positioned himself with the most radical wing in the intensifying debate about how the U.S. government should pursue an Iran "regime change" strategy. All sides that favor such a strategy agree that the U.S. government should be working more closely with Iranian dissidents both inside and outside Iran.

Tancredo continues to be an enthusiastic supporter of the U.S. war in Iraq. In a section on his official website on Iraq, Tancredo says: "The United States did not invade Iraq to conquer it, but rather to set it free. The United States does not stand to gain territory, oil, or any other spoils of war. We all should be proud of that sacrifice."

Concerning the war on terrorism, Tancredo states: "Ultimately, I believe that the leadership of President Bush and the determination of the American people will result in the needed investments in technology, people, and weapons systems to combat, deter, and respond to future acts of brutality and terror by our enemies."

According to Wikipedia:

The People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, also MEK, MKO) (Persian: سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران sazmaan-e mujahedin-e khalq-e Iran) is a Socialist political party that advocates replacing Iran's theocracy with a democracy. The organization previously used militant tactics, but has since renounced the use of violence.

PMOI is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, European Union, and Iran.^[1][2] Although the European Court of Justice has overturned this designation in December 2006,^[3] the Council of the EU declared on 30 January 2007 that it would maintain the organization on the blacklist.^[4][5] (See: #Designation as a terrorist organization)

PMOI says that it is the main organization in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an "umbrella coalition". However this claim has been criticised by the FBI,^[6] and individuals including Michael Axworthy, a senior public servant in the United Kingdom^[7] that believe NCRI is merely a front group for the PMOI. The PMOI's armed wing is called the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA). The Iranian government officially refers to the organization as the Monafeqin (i.e., "Hypocrites").^[8] PMOI and NCRI were the first entities that revealed Iran's clandestine nuclear activities in 2002, which has turned to be a major concern of the intenational community today.

The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran was founded by middle-class students at Tehran University, Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saied Mohsen and Ali-Asghar Badizadegan in 1965. The PMOI opposed the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi because it considered it corrupt and oppressive. In its first five years, the group primarily engaged in ideological work, combining both fundamentalist interpretations of Islam and Marxist philosophy. Before carrying out any military operations against the Shah's regime, a raid by the Shah's secret police, SAVAK, arrested the entire leadership and 90 percent of its cadres. All but one of its leaders were executed. Other members remained incarcerated for many years, with the last group, including Massoud Rajavi, being released just before Khomeini arrived in Tehran in January 1979. The PMOI conducted anti-Western attacks prior to the Islamic Revolution. Since then, it has conducted militant attacks against the interests of the cleric-dominated governmental system in Iran and abroad. According to the presentation of the MEK by the Foreign Affairs group of the Australian Parliament, the group has been accused of conducting several assassinations of U.S. military personnel and civilians working in Iran during the 1970s and of having actively supported the U.S. embassy takover in Tehran in 1979.^[12]

It would be very amusing to see what more we are going to find in cesspool of our failed American policies and its doubly failed manupulations by the criminal NeoCons!

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