Why Are U.S. Politicians Cheerleading Iran’s Mujahedeen e-Khalq?

although there’s certainly a case to be made that throughout history, groups that have engaged in terrorism have later become part of the political process in their countries.
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Menahim Begin… and Israel, anyone?

It is a distraction from our real problems?

Hadn’t thought of that… but it works too.

Terrorism is not simply an epithet applied to those we don’t like;

NOW you tell us!!!!!!
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If you were to draw your definition from it’s usage in forums such as this one, you would take “terrorist” it to mean “No Longer Human” and find that it’s applied to refer to about 1/3rd of humanity.

“Terrorism is not simply an epithet applied to those we don’t like; if the term is to have any meaning at all it has to have an objective definition — and typically, in international forums, that definition involves the systematic directing of violence against non-combatants in pursuit of political goals.”
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And to get rid of the false idea that a ‘freedom fighter’ using terrorist tactics is somehow more palatable than being considered a ‘terrorist’ using terrorist tactics….whether or not you agree with the attacker’s motivations, it’s still wrong.

Interestingly, a significant number of the U.S.’s foreign policy establishment (and Rudy Giuliani) may have committed felonious violations of the Patriot Act in supporting the MEK:

From David Cole, NYT :
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DID former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Tom Ridge, a former homeland security secretary, and Frances Townsend, a former national security adviser, all commit a federal crime last month in Paris when they spoke in support of the Mujahedeen Khalq at a conference organized by the Iranian opposition group’s advocates? Free speech, right? Not necessarily.
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The problem is that the United States government has labeled the Mujahedeen Khalq a “foreign terrorist organization,” making it a crime to provide it, directly or indirectly, with any material support. And, according to the Justice Department under Mr. Mukasey himself, as well as under the current attorney general, Eric Holder, material support includes not only cash and other tangible aid, but also speech coordinated with a “foreign terrorist organization” for its benefit. It is therefore a felony, the government has argued, to file an amicus brief on behalf of a “terrorist” group, to engage in public advocacy to challenge a group’s “terrorist” designation or even to encourage peaceful avenues for redress of grievances.

” . . . . . and Yasser Arafat . . . oh, well, never mind . . . . “

In 1965, MEK was formed by a group of Iranian college students as an Islamic political movement. Grounded in the democratic tradition of Iran’s Constitutional Revolution, the ideals of Premier Mohammed Mossadeq, and the pro¬democracy protests of the 1960s, the organization held a liberal interpretation of Islam.[2]
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The PMOI was originally devoted to armed struggle against the Shah of Iran, capitalism, and Western imperialism.[1] The group claims to have renounced violence in 2001[2] and today it is the main organization in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an “umbrella coalition” claiming the role of a parliament-in-exile dedicated to a democratic, secular and coalition government in Iran. The group has had thousands of its members for many years in bases in Iraq, but according to the British Broadcasting Corporation “they were disarmed in the wake of the US-led invasion and are said to have adhered to a ceasefire.”[3]
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The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, also MEK, MKO) (Persian: سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران sāzmān-e mojāhedin-e khalq-e irān) is an Islamic socialist organization

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Hmmmm….a “socialist” organization.
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Getting in bed with these people is like getting in bed with your worst enemy. But, we know that the far left libtarded extremists right here in our own country would welcome this type of group. They have the word “socialist” in their name.
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Beck would be proud that his latest discoveries are being proven true. That Islamists are joining forces with the devil himself, the socialists around the world represented by the various Communists and Socialist groups right here in America.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Mujahedin_of_Iran

Have these guys learned nothing from history? Remember when we used to back the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan and didn’t they end up forming Al-Quaida?

As again history has taught us so well, “the enemy of your enemy is NOT necessarily your friend”

“the enemy of your enemy is NOT necessarily your friend”
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In Rusty’s World, everyone is your enemy.
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“Beck would be proud that his latest discoveries are being proven true.”
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The world economy has collapsed and those non-hybrid survival seeds you’ve been stocking up on are finally paying off? I must have missed that news item this morning. I’m sure the George Soros run ‘libtard’ media would just cover it up anyway.
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The important thing is that Beck and Rusty know what’s really going on, eh?
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Fun fact: Glenn Beck’s also an alcoholic. Coincidence?
http://www.peele.net/blog/100222.html

That’s fake librul history. Real Amerikans know that reagan beat the soviets, the libruls, and the crazy brown people.

Adam,

The piece you have advertised has Tehran’s stench all over it.

Why bother shopping it yourself.

Read my rebuttal to it.

Tony Caron, is expected to do better than that. I just can’t follow his argument. It is a hodgepodge that seems to me a copy paste of various people’s argument without going thru journalistic scrutiny.
If it is true that this MEK group is so detested by its own people because it sided with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, so that means the war has to be a very popular thing and that war heroes would be the heroes of the nation.
Now, wouldn’t that make Ahmadinejad, who was a top commander in the Iran-Iraq war, the most popular person in Iran? and by extension, the Islamic Republican Guards, otherwise known as the IRGC, would also be very popular?!
But the youth in the streets of Tehran don’t seem to be interested in a war with Iraq (especially if it was fought before they were even born), or the Great Satan, do they? The only evidence you are producing that the group is hated by its people is that two opposition figures who are threatened by the regime have distanced themselves from the group! Well, I would do the same if I were Mussavi and Karobi.
However you cite no evidence that the group is engaged in terrorism and yet you argue that it should remain on the terrorist list? I just don’t understand why? Are you saying that the U.S. should keep a group on the terrorist list because both the Iranian regime and a former prime minister and a former speaker of the parliament say they should remain on the list?!
I think I have more faith in the judgment of Lee Hamilton, whom I respect a lot, than that of Iranian regime officials. Unless you come up with a better argument, I am, so far, tilting toward this MEK group. At least they have shown some guts to stand against Ahmadnejad and the big ayatollah.

Adam, you should do your own research first, before posting somebody else’s post, which does not make sense. Just a thought, not a sermon.

You’re damn right they are sick and tired of being blacklisted for purely political reasons and under the table deals with the Savages of Tehran. So are the majority of patriotic Iranians who for years now have endured the pain, not only fr…om the barbarians dominating Iran, but from the State Department and people like you, who play a double game and engage in double entendre…as you have done throughout your article.

The brave Iranian people who have poured into the streets of Tehran and other cities throughout the country are Mad as Hell, to see their main opposition group, these true children of their liberation, with more than 120,000 fallen for the cause of liberty, and thousands in the dungeons of the Butchers of Tehran, to be called these infamous names, all to appease a gang of thugs, who have brought nothing but misery, torture, rape and murder to their people.

The organization has renounced violence, and has been extremely patient with the crimes committed against it, whether at Ashraf Camp in Iraq, or inside Iran against its supporters and the parents and relatives of Ashraf residents, and instead has acted responsibly by providing the West with valuable information regarding mullahs nuclear weapons sites, and for all intents and purposes, has displayed its bona fides as the friend and ally of the US and Western World.

The European Union and the UK were ordered by their high courts to de-list the group, why shouldn’t the US? Except that the State Dept. and people like you are in the business of appeasing, not the national security of the United States of America.

The whole fraudulent dossier was compiled by Jack Straw (former British Foreign Secretary) along with foreign office’s mullah experts, and the collusion of the mullahs in Tehran, and presented to the Europeans and the US, who mistakenly saw an opening and a rapprochement with the mullahs at the time of Mohammad Khatami’s presidency who supposedly headed the so-called reformist faction of the savages.

Well, now let’s look at this carefully. How is it that neither the UK nor the EU courts found any so-called classified documents, and threw the case out of court and gave back the PMOI and the Iranian people their honor. It’s quite simple… there is no indication that the group has engaged in any violent act for more than 8 years.

Why does the State Department and the US government still insist on a failed policy that was initiated in 1997, and the blacklisting of the PMOI was one of the key demands the mullhas made, to start some sort of dialogue which ran into a dead end and the catastrophic emergence of a lunatic like Ahmadinejad?

The response to this question is also very simple…Appeasement, Accommodation and God knows what goes through the mind of State Dept. functionaries.

And finally a word of advice to the columnist…bone up on your writing, sense of history and integrity in journalism. You’re all over the map buddy…contradictory and malicious throughout your so-called column.

All that said, the american Judicial System is a hallowed institution and its court system will soon make the right decision; that is giving back the PMOI their rightful place in history, and consider them and American ally and friend rather than keeping them in the blacklist.

Why are these writings being circulated like hell? Who is benefitting from spread of this sort of negative propaganda against PMOI? Other than the Iranian regime? Then can you guess who is behind all this, orchestrated campaign? None but Iran’s Ministry of Information and Security (MOIS)!
Now paid or unpaid (more foolish if unpaid), advocates of this brutal regime spread lies that have been contested in at least 11 courts in Europe and North America and all have been proven false and unsubstantiated. Why they do this? Because the removal of this unjust and “perverse” label removes the most important obstacle to democratic change in Iran.
So Mrs Clinton has only one way forward if she is serious about her standing with Iranian people on their struggle for freedom. Remove this unjust and illegal label and let forces of change to be free. Then you will see a democratic Iran free of nuclear weapons and at peace with its neighbors emerge very fast. The whole world would become safer. So please do not waist more precious time.
The sheer number of these sorts of articles against PMOI proves that it is important and the removal of the label matters significantly.

“MEK is a cult”, they “don’t have support in Iran” and they are a “small group” of Iranians who pay for speakers on their events; none of the above is justification for labeling them terrorists. This is a fact and DC District Court concluded that none of the allegations expressed in articles aginst PMOI taken from Iranian regime’s MOIS and reproduced in SD files, are substantiated enough to merit such designation. So it is wise of Mrs Clinton to undo her husband’s gross mistake and unchain the aspirations of Iranian people for real change.

In recent days the Iranian regime orchestra is playing a harmonic piece. It started with the composer in Tehran. An unknown reporter named Jason! Rezaian, apparently from the office of Iran’s MOIS (because all independent journalists are either imprisoned or were forced to leave the country) leads the orchestra. The players are Iranian regime’s known lobby in the USA who follow the official line – 80% against the regime and 20% demonize the real opposition, the PMOI.

Jason! claims that the PMOI has no support amongst Iranians. He was quoted in one article “but good luck finding a single person who is pro MEK” while Hillary Clinton mentioned two by name last December who were later executed after a third, Ali Saremi.

Another falsely claims “ When the Green Movement took to the streets to challenge the regime…” while the Green leaders assert they are not challenging the regime but they want to correct its behavior to bring back the dead ayatollah’s values and follow Khomeini’s line. The Khamenei-Ahmadinejad gang also claim they are the true followers of the dead imam’s line. But what is the dead imam’s line? 120,000 executions, 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners great majority of whom were supporters of PMOI, the 8 year war with Iraq and all the devastations, an economy that belongs to ‘donkeys’ (ruling Iran today); in short nothing but death and destruction. I don’t think the brave people of Iran who risk their lives coming to streets chanting death to principle of velayate faghih and death to Khamenei have anything to do with the green leaders who don’t even call for death to Ahmadinejad. So when you hear these slogans in the streets you know very well that the regime officials are right to blame all the unrest on PMOI. After all it is only the PMOI and their allies in NCRI who have called for a total downfall of the regime of Velayate Faghih, the absolute rule of the clergy.

It is foolish to expect to judge the support of PMOI in Iran (and for that matter in the USA so long as this unjust and perverse label is hanging over their head), by asking people to openly express their allegiance. I just say if they are as insignificant as the composer of this orchestra suggests, then what the fuss is. Why on earth you encourage the US government to reject the US court ruling and become an outlaw government for keeping a “small” group that does not matter for Iran, enchained. It is interesting that this “small” group can pay for so many top officials to ‘buy’ their support.

The reality is that the PMOI represents the aspirations of millions in Iran who cry freedom and want to get rid of this medieval dictatorship. Hence Iranian regime’s lobby is worried about losing their lucrative but disgraceful job, advocating for the evil regime.

and Abraham Lincoln, Charles de Gaulle, Nelson Mandela,and ….

There is a vast difference between terrorism and resistance against tyrants and state organized rapists.

So the fact that so many more public figures have stood up to support the MEK and removal of the illegal and unjust label ever since this article was published proves that there is no basis in the above argument.

majidsaatchi & justicendpeace,
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“The reality is that the PMOI represents the aspirations of millions in Iran who cry freedom and want to get rid of this medieval dictatorship. Hence Iranian regime’s lobby is worried about losing their lucrative but disgraceful job, advocating for the evil regime.”
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You make many very good points.
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Americans, who have any understanding of the hell that the brave Iranian people are going through, were deeply disappointed that President Obama did not come out in support of the Iranian demonstrators after the last election in Iran. This was a terrible example of his lack of experience as a leader.
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You have the worst of two worlds to deal with, a government that is little more than a Fascist Dictatorship with a large SS like group to stop any protest even if it means killing innocent people and a small group of fanatic Religious leaders who care nothing about the freedom or interest of their people.
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I believe, if there were fair and honest elections held in Iran, all of these people would be defeated and a government truly responsible to the people would be elected overwhelmingly.
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I only hope I live to see the day that the Iranian people truly have freedom in their country.
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Yes the PMOI should be taken off the list.

It is interesting that Adam does not write one of his own just reproduces the rubbish in his blog. How desperate the mullahs’ regime has become that hastily reproduces these fabricated arguments here and there. The two meetings in Washington and Paris on February 19 and 26 have been like purring water in ants nest.
http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/9957-i-am-not-aware-of-any-facts-that-require-the-mek-to-be-on-us-terrorist-list-lee-hamilton

grape,
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Wow. We actually agree on something. Maybe there hope for both of us yet.
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Good Post

Garbage

ohiolibb,
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Congratulations.
Your record is intact. You are batting 1000 at having never said anything of intelligence in all your posts.

Reply meant for square1
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Garbage

I agree.

MEK is not a terrorist organization and because they are labeled as such, innocent people whose name is similar to their group members are banned from visiting US.

My mom is one of those who is banned from traveling to the US because her name sounds similar to one of the MEK members; she has no political connection to this group whatsoever, but because her name sounds the same, she is not allowed to travel to US to visit me, a US citizen.