Posted By Jason Rezaian
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - 8:15 PM
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With the rumblings of fresh protests in Tehran after over a year of relative quiet from the opposition, some members of the US congress, along with several other former officials, appear to be again dreaming of the possibility of a post-theocratic Iran. One significant sign is their renewed push to have the People's Mojahedin of Iran (also known as the MEK) removed from the State Departments list of designated foreign terrorist organizations. Echoing this sentiment last month, former Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, in an event designed to raise support for the MEK's removal from terror list, asked the audience, "Is it even possible to oppose a terrorist state, and be a terrorist yourself?"
No matter how one looks at that question, the answer must be a resounding "yes." MEK is a non-state organization that, at regular intervals over the years, has taken pride in attacks that have left innocent civilians dead. In the lexicon of our times that qualifies as terrorism. With their designation as a terrorist organization currently under review, the larger issue is not just whether the MEK is engaged in terrorism at the moment, but that if the organization is further legitimated by U.S. policy makers, it will prove to be yet another disastrous read by the U.S. government.
In my ten years of traveling to Iran and writing about it for a mostly American audience, I have not once met an Iranian who had a favorable opinion of the organization. Just over a year ago I wrote an article in which I warned of unpopular, exile opposition groups opportunistically attempting to high jack the homegrown Iranian civil society movement.
While many argue that the Iranian regime is too repressive to allow opposition, I would venture to say that there are still thousands, perhaps millions, of Iranians completely willing to speak openly about their attitudes on the 2009 election -- but good luck finding a single person who is pro-MEK.
While it is obvious that expressions of dissent in Iran are extremely limited, they are by no means non-existent -- which should make the group's total lack of public support seem all the more suspicious. In the absence of direct access into Iran, the words of the group's so-called "President Elect," Maryam Rajavi, are instructive in displaying the group's detachment from reality. In reference to the hangings of two protesters in January who allegedly had ties to her organization, the imaginary Commander-in-Chief said, "the mullahs are enraged over the MEK's role in the uprisings last year as well as the popularity which [Camp] Ashraf enjoys among Iranians."As one domestic Iranian journalist told me, however, this is little more than another self-aggrandizing claim by a self-congratulatory cult leader. "The MEK are not a real threat. They haven't been a threat for a very, very long time."
For many people in Iran, though, especially those who remember the early years after the 1979 revolution, the MEK has come to represent an evil much more toxic than the American view of the Taliban and Al Qaeda -- and the Iranian state has seized that boogeyman and used it to their advantage when faced with threats, skillfully pinning all manner of attacks on an organization that has had no local presence since the 1980s.
It's a natural move. Many of us can recall the reaction we had to learning that an American, John Walker Lindh, was fighting against U.S. forces in Afghanistan, just after September 11. In Iran, the memory is of the thousands of Mojahedin members fighting alongside Saddam Hussein's army, against Iran in the 1980s, and those memories will never be forgotten. As one Iranian veteran told me, "Ultimately as a people we have more loyalty to our nation than we do to anything, even our religion, and nothing will make us forget what they did. As the regime says, they are truly hypocrites."
If the voices of the majority of Iranians aren't proof enough, why not ask others within the U.S. government that might have some insight into Iran? Indeed, the State Department staffs several of its regional consulates and embassies with Iran watchers who are tasked with following social and political trends inside Iran. Before taking decisive action, why not ask them what they are hearing from Iranians about the MEK? Isn't that what the American taxpayers are paying them to do?
The unfortunate reality in Washington is that Congress is often ill-equipped to deal with our toughest foreign policy questions. If I were to distill all the questions I've been asked by Congressional staffers into one coherent inquiry, it would look something like this: "Is the MEK's Green Movement on the verge of taking down the Islamic Republic -- or do we need to give them more time (and money)?". Given the 32-year freeze in relations between the U.S. and Iran, it is perhaps not so surprising that some are so out of touch. Still, uninformed backing for a group that enjoys no popular support among the people of Iran, by American officials playing off the longstanding standoff between the U.S. and Iran, for their own political gains, is unacceptable and could very likely come back to haunt the U.S.
Yet it's not just in the halls of Congress where common sense has been replaced by an uninformed and misguided approach to the MEK. Even Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a former ambassador to the United Nations, gets it wrong. In advocating sanctions against Iran, the former presidential candidate added, they had to be, "combined with new approaches to talk to the Iranian people -- one is through the MEK group. At least give them some credibility, and talk to them, and find ways that we work together."
In fact, working with the MEK would mean to cease speaking to the Iranian people. Furthermore, it would provide validation for those voices in the Iranian regime that have long accused the U.S. of meddling in their affairs, unnecessarily strengthening the domestic position of hardliners within the system. In a country with varied opinions on all subjects, the contempt reserved for the MEK is nearly universal.
Sitting here in Tehran, the mere thought of the MEK becoming a legitimate contributor to the policy dialogue on Iran is laughable, except to those of us who would actually like to see an end to the more than three decades of animosity between the U.S. and Iran, and hope for a productive future relationship through real diplomacy. To us -- and we are much stronger in number than the MEK could ever hope to be -- the idea is insane, heartbreaking and reprehensible.
Jason Rezaian is a Tehran-based journalist
AFP/Getty images
EXPLORE:MIDDLE EAST, MIDDLE EAST, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, IRAN, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, TERRORISM, U.S. CONGRESS, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY 
It's fascinating how many Members of Congress have been deceived into supporting a terrorist group by a small group of dedicated (cult) members with money.
Here are 10 facts about the MEK everyone should know:
1) Iran's opposition Green Movement rejects the MEK: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/26/iran_green_movement/index.html
2) Most, if not all, of the MEK's most prominent supporters are paid handsomely for their efforts. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/ex-officials_say_they_were_paid_to_attend_pro-mek_events.php
3) The MEK has no support in Iran. http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/02/24/washingtons_dangerous_and_deluded_support_for_the_mek
4) The MEK is a cult. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/magazine/13MUJAHADEEN.html
5) Before his overthrow, the MEK received most of its financial support and all its material support from Saddam Hussein. http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2009/140900.htm
6) The MEK supported Saddam by aiding his deadly crackdown against the Kurds and Shia. Maryam Rajavi, the MEK’s leader, even instructed her followers to “take the Kurds under your tanks.” http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/magazine/13MUJAHADEEN.html
7) The MEK strongly supported the takeover of the US Embassy in 1979, advocated for the US hostages to be tried and executed, and even opposed their eventual release. http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1993_cr/h930929-terror-pmoi.htm
8) The MEK wasn't added to the Foreign Terrorist Organization List as a Goodwill Gesture to Iran. It's been on the list since it was first created in 1997, and was listed in the Patterns on Global Terrorism for years prior to that. http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/annual_reports.html
9) The Bush administration determined in 2007 that “MEK leadership and members across the world maintain the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts in Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and beyond.” http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82738.htm
10) The MEK abuses its own members in Camp Ashraf and has even tortured at least two individuals to death. http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=printdoc&docid=45d085002
To state the obvious, American credibility and goodwill among the Iranian people would be destroyed if the US supports this group.
the MEK is paying "a substantial amount" of money to the politicians like Torricelli who have come to their conferences and questioned their listing as a terrorist organization.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54675
What a snigger!
An Iranian against finds an opportunity to express that the Iranian main democratic opposition have no popular support and it will make US a serious lost of credibility if the Delist the MEK.
One wonder since when the agent’s Iranian religious fascisms so care about the credibility of USA!?
The truth is UK, EU had scrutinised the issue and fund no ground for such designation and delisted the MEK and a Federal US Court of appeal have also found no ground for sustaining such designation and strongly advised the Secretary of State to revise this matter.
But more than any thing else those against who are paid to write such preposterous note and other to against to highlight it can fool no one particularly when the Iranian brutal regime kills peace full demonstrators in broad day lights and call them Mohareb (waging ware against God), a term that in the past 30 yours has been used to defined the MEK.
I also like to make this comment for such online papers who think to offer space to such like agents is an act of upholding values of democratic and freedom of speech to think twice before publishing such slanders and misinformation because this only serve the tyrannical regime such as the Mullahs ruling in Iran.
One wonder since when the agent’s Iranian religious fascisms so care about the credibility of USA!?
An Iranian against finds an opportunity to express that the Iranian main democratic opposition have no popular support and it will make US a serious lost of credibility if the Delist the MEK.
Sitting here in Tehran Indeed!!
Well Mr Jason Rezaian, it seems you are the only one having a laugh sitting in Tehran!! The rest of the country is angry and demands regime change in Iran.
This regime is so repressive and barbaric that it can not tolerate people like Moussavi who was prime minister!
You can not fool the outside world anymore. We have seen millions of Iranians out in the streets demandind regime change, they want freedom. Freedom is the very thing the Mojahedin have been struggling for over 30 years.
Finally if what your saying is true and no one in Iran support Mojahedin then why have you spent so much time in bad mouthing them?
I am for a free and democratic Iran and I support all those forces who are fighting to achieve this and I believe the Mojahedin are one those.
It is only a matter of time. Iran will be from the Mullahs.
It is real interesting to see whenever there is an opportunity for individuals, groups, societies, and people’s of the world including their representatives in their parliaments join hands to side by Iranian people and its main opposition/resistance movement known as MEK/PMOI (People’s Mojahedin Khalgh organisation of Iran) in order to stand against one of the most tyrant regime ( namely Iranian Mullah’s regime), suddenly few known individuals who also claim to be for democracy feeling endangered and start writing comments or articles in medias, blogs, etc… warning everybody that you are all wrong and making a big mistake.
I would like to discuss this, but, for ease of reference and understanding, I’ll break this in to the following 4 Sections;
1. References and its source (Mullahs Regime) that all these so called democrat individual / Group make and use to warn us about danger of siding by MEK/PMO
2. References that are repeatedly used by Mullahs’ Regime (Source of References) and its representatives throughout their speeches, gatherings, Regime’s TVs and radios “That The danger of overthrowing of the Regime is real and all the demonstrations are planned, organised, and even slogans that shouted in Street of Iran are first announced and Published By MEK/ PMOI in their Satellite TV, Websites and by their Members and Supporters around the World including Camp Ashraf.”
However, references made by Mullah’s regime which Cleary show the MEK/PMOI ‘s Popularity both inside and Outside Iran are never referred to by this group of individuals, denying the MEK/PMOI People’s Support when warning everyone in their Speeches, Notes or Articles.
3. Well Known Facts: Which are referred to by more Than 2000 European members of Parliaments, Senators who represent their own people in their countries, World Solicitors, Educational Bodies, in addition to 7 European Court orders and English Court Decisions, bearing witness to that;” the MEK/ PMOI has never been a terrorist Organisation”, and it is the true Democratic Opposition / Resistance Movement who is against tyrant Mullahs’ Regime In Iran. Who benefits the world wide support and is the only hope for the regime change , true Peace and Stability in the Middle East and the World ,without the need for entering another war like Iraq/ Afghanistan,
4. Conclusion, it should be noted that all the references used by this group of individuals, directly / indirectly connected to the sources that are provided by the Iranian Regime. All having the same tunes, wording, blaming others for the killings, terrorizing people, bombings, etc.
These are similar stories of crimes that the Mullahs ‘Regime commit today, but, puts the blame on the Iranian People and its main opposition/ resistance movement MEK/PMOI.
The important question is; why this group of individuals who share the same source of references, using the same tune and wording blaming MEK/PMOI for all these crimes, why they never make any references to what can be heard and seen from Mullah’s regime state TVs, medias, website , parliament, throughout the day and night that the uprising is organised, planned, and even the slogans shouted in street are advertised and announced by MEK/PMOI in their Satellite TV, Websites and by their Members and Supporters around the World including Camp Ashraf., before any demonstration taking part in Iran.
They know well, by saying that they have no platform for saving the Mullah’s regime and attacking its main opposition MEK/PMOI.
They also know this too , The MEK/PMOI is keen and willing to end the tyrant Mullah’s regime, replacing it by a true elected and Democratic Government chosen by people, resulting in peace and stability through region and the world.
Finally, as Middle East is going through a transitional period and the rests of the world is watching the outcome of these events carefully, one thing is transparent and clear, that is all the people are united in their demand and desire for democracy and justice, wanting an end to the tyrant regimes.
World Powers and others have to respect what people desire and allow them to decide what they want (democracy and justice). The world Community has one crucial responsibility and that is to ensure the implementation of all International regulations and Conventions and safe guard the Human rights of all nations,
Changes in North Africa and the Middle East will inevitably reach Iran and the tyrant Regime and its dictatorship, as the worst oppressor in the world bound to topple.
Like everywhere else, this change is done by people and it is for Iranian people to determine what kind of change they want. What world should do is to support the Iranian people and their rights.
In recent months, former US Officials publicized that the MEK/PMOI was blacklisted as a concession to the Iranian regime in order to initiate dialogue and closer relations with Mullahs.
Group of Individuals who oppose the delisting of MEK/PMOI from US blacklist under the pretext that it is interference in Iran’s internal affairs were silent at the time when the MEK/PMOI was listed as a favour to the Mullah’s tyrant regime.
The European Court and British Court could not justify blacklisting of MEK/PMOI.
D.C. appeal Court could not find any reason for blacklisting.
What only remains, it appears to be more concessions to Mullah’ Regime and to its leader Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad.
If MEK/PMOI is so unloved by people, then, why the Mullah’s regime and this group of individuals who oppose the delisting from US blacklist are so concerned?
If one believes on Democracy and justice, and truly believe people should be left to decide, then why should MEK/ PMOI remain on the US blacklist and tied down by the united State? Is United State unbiased, fair and neutral?
Demanding/ asking US Government to keep MEK/PMOI on the US blacklist, means, depriving Iranian people from making their own decision by having their own choices, thus, resulting in continuing the concession to Mullahs Regime.
By: Farhood
It is real interesting to see whenever there is an opportunity for individuals, groups, societies, and people’s of the world including their representatives in their parliaments join hands to side by Iranian people and its main opposition/resistance movement known as MEK/PMOI (People’s Mojahedin Khalgh organisation of Iran) in order to stand against one of the most tyrant regime ( namely Iranian Mullah’s regime), suddenly few known individuals who also claim to be for democracy feeling endangered and start writing comments or articles in medias, blogs, etc… warning everybody that you are all wrong and making a big mistake.
I would like to discuss this, but, for ease of reference and understanding, I’ll break this in to the following 4 Sections;
1. References and its source (Mullahs Regime) that all this group of individuals / make and use to warn us about danger of siding by MEK/PMO
2. References that are repeatedly used by Mullahs’ Regime (Source of References) and its representatives throughout their speeches, gatherings, Regime’s TVs and radios “That The danger of overthrowing of the Regime is real and all the demonstrations are planned, organised, and even slogans that shouted in Street of Iran are first announced and Published By MEK/ PMOI in their Satellite TV, Websites and by their Members and Supporters around the World including Camp Ashraf.”
However, references made by Mullah’s regime which Clearly show the MEK/PMOI ‘s Popularity both inside and Outside Iran are never referred to by this group of individuals, denying the MEK/PMOI People’s Support when warning everyone in their Speeches, Notes or Articles.
3. Well Known Facts: Which are referred to by more Than 2000 European members of Parliaments, Senators who represent their own people in their countries, World Solicitors, Educational Bodies, in addition to 7 European Court orders and English Court Decisions, bearing witness to that;” the MEK/ PMOI has never been a terrorist Organisation”, and it is the true Democratic Opposition / Resistance Movement who is against tyrant Mullahs’ Regime In Iran. Who benefits the world wide support and is the only hope for the regime change , true Peace and Stability in the Middle East and the World ,without the need for entering another war like Iraq/ Afghanistan,
4. Conclusion, it should be noted that all the references used by this group of individuals, directly / indirectly connected to the sources that are provided by the Iranian Regime. All having the same tunes, wording, blaming others for the killings, terrorizing people, bombings, etc.
These are similar stories of crimes that the Mullahs ‘Regime commit today, but, puts the blame on the Iranian People and its main opposition/ resistance movement MEK/PMOI.
The important question is; why this group of individuals who share the same source of references, using the same tune and wording blaming MEK/PMOI for all these crimes, never make any references to what can be heard and seen from Mullah’s regime state TVs, medias, website , parliament, throughout the day that the uprising is organised, planned, and even the slogans shouted in street are advertised and announced by MEK/PMOI in their Satellite TV, Websites and by their Members and Supporters around the World including Camp Ashraf., before any demonstration taking part in Iran.
They know well, by saying that they have no platform for saving the Mullah’s regime and attacking its main opposition MEK/PMOI.
They also know this too , The MEK/PMOI is keen and willing to end the tyrant Mullah’s regime, replacing it by a true elected and Democratic Government chosen by people, resulting in peace and stability through region and the world.
Finally, as Middle East is going through a transitional period and the rests of the world is watching the outcome of these events carefully, one thing is transparent and clear, that is all the people are united in their demand and desire for democracy and justice, wanting an end to the tyrant regimes.
World Powers and others have to respect what people desire and allow them to decide what they want (democracy and justice). The world Community has one crucial responsibility and that is to ensure the implementation of all International regulations and Conventions and safe guard the Human rights of all nations,
Changes in North Africa and the Middle East will inevitably reach Iran and the tyrant Regime and its dictatorship, as the worst oppressor in the world bound to topple.
Like everywhere else, this change is done by people and it is for Iranian people to determine what kind of change they want. What world should do is to support the Iranian people and their rights.
In recent months, former US Officials publicized that the MEK/PMOI was blacklisted as a concession to the Iranian regime in order to initiate dialogue and closer relations with Mullahs.
Group of Individuals who oppose the delisting of MEK/PMOI from US blacklist under the pretext that it is interference in Iran’s internal affairs were silent at the time when the MEK/PMOI was listed as a favour to the Mullah’s tyrant regime.
The European Court and British Court could not justify blacklisting of MEK/PMOI.
D.C. appeal Court could not find any reason for blacklisting.
What only remains, it appears to be more concessions to Mullah’ Regime and to its leader Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad.
If MEK/PMOI is so unloved by people, then, why the Mullah’s regime and this group of individuals who oppose the delisting from US blacklist are so concerned?
If one believes on Democracy and justice, and truly believe people should be left to decide, then why should MEK/ PMOI remain on the US blacklist and tied down by the united State? Is United State unbiased, fair and neutral?
Demanding/ asking US Government to keep MEK/PMOI on the US blacklist, means, depriving Iranian people from making their own decision by having their own choices, thus, resulting in continuing the concession to Mullahs Regime.
By: Farhood
I write as a retired University Professor, a serving Magistrate and a UK citizen with a particular interest in justice, human rights and democratic change. It is important to base judgments about the current transitions going on in the Middle East on actual evidence, not on the polemics put out by tyrannical regimes. The evidence indicates that masses of people in several societies are united in their basic demands for a more accountable and democratic system, and they will no longer tolerate unjust, totalitarian and absolutist regimes.
The task of foreign powers is to respect what people desire, and in the interests of a stable Middle East, allow their societies to evolve into self-governing democracies. There is a crucial duty devolving on the world community, and that is to help guarantee the implementation of international rules and conventions on human rights.
Iran is one of the worst offenders in the world community in terms of human rights, and it is in the interests of all of us to support the democratic movement for change. There is a solid and well-expressed wish for democratic change in Iran, and if the regime had not put down so brutally the demonstrators, using the weapons of mass suppression, illegal detention, torture and execution, the people would already have succeeded in bringing about the much-needed peaceful transition to a stable democracy.
Insider accounts have now provided solid evidence of the concessions offered to the Iranian regime by the US government. These concessions have been unsuccessful and Iran continues on its path to achieve nuclear capability, with all the instability in the Middle East that that entails. Some of these concessions have involved blacklisting the MeK/PMOI, as a favour to the fundamentalist regime. This blacklisting flies in the face of all the recent evidence about the true democratic ideals and practice of the MeK/PMOI, which have been thoroughly tested in the highest courts in the UK and Europe.
The upshot of exhaustive legal processes was the removal of the MeK/PMOI from the blacklist in the UK and in Europe after a long judicial process supported by the finest legal minds in the UK. The courts of the UK and Europe could find no evidence to support the blacklisting of the PMOI/MeK, and neither can the D.C. Appeals Court. The only reason for it was to appease the regime of Khameini and Ahmadinejad. The time for appeasement is over: it is a morally and politically bankrupt policy. The people of Iran have made their own choice abundantly clear, and it is the responsibility of the US and other foreign powers to support the clearly expressed wish for democratic change in Iran.
If you presume the MEK doesn’t have any support, my dear friend … why are you together with those fascists in Tehran who have taken my nation in hostage so horrified by the idea of the US taking the MEK of FTO list … remove the obstacles and trust me we’ll show the world how much we support this true Iranian opposition movement . Stop this madness, the only thing we want is a total regime change, there is no place in Iran for these fundamentalists (conservatives or reformers) they will have to clear the way for a true democratic change, after that the people will have the chance to speak out and vote who they find suitable for national parliament , my deepest respect goes out to those in ASHRAF and the true freedom fighters in the streets of Tehran … BURN THIS REGIME TO THE GROUND. Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth". (George Washington)
Jason Rezaian , enjoy your stay in Tehran … I find it strange while you write these articles about an Iranian opposition movement a revolution is taking place on those same streets you’re walking on, OPEN your eyes, see how many of your own colleague have been killed for writing the truth, how many are jailed because of their ideologies. JASON look at the streets, listen to the people whispering....
LIKE IT OR NOT, PEOPLE WANT REGIME CHANGE, AND TRAITORS LIKE YOU CAN'T DO A DAMN THING TO STOP THIS ! ;))
Greetings from Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I am sure that under american law, this man is helping and abetting terrorists!
get this man to jail, where he belongs!
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