Nick Hoover | Washington | April 14
Reps. Bob Filner, D-Calif., Tom Tancredo, R-Col., Dennis Moore, R-Kan., and staffers for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, addressed a convention of Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) supporters today in Washington. The MEK has been listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department since 1997, but some in Congress and close to the Administration want the group to be removed from the terrorist list. Even President Bush has called the MEK a "dissident group."
In addition to incursions into Iran and targeted killings of Iranian officials and security agents, MEK attacks have often killed civilians there. The MEK carried out attacks on the Iranian consulate to the UN and 12 other Iranian embassies in 1992, assisted Saddam Hussein in his suppression of Shiite and Kurdish insurgencies in the early 1990s, and killed U.S. military and civilian personnel working in Iran in the 1970s out of anger for American support of the shah. Members of the MEK also supported the 1979 takeover and hostage taking at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Here is more on the group.
Tancredo called Maryam Rajavi, the MEK's leader, "quite an extraordinary lady."
The Administration is rallying the political support for an Afghanistan style intervention in Iran. And MEK appears to be volunteering to be the instrument of intervention, like the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. Where is the major media coverage?
Complete Article
Members of Congress Adress MEK Convention
Nick Hoover | Washington | April 14
The Agonist - Reps. Bob Filner, D-Calif., Tom Tancredo, R-Col., Dennis Moore, R-Kan., and staffers for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, addressed a convention of MEK supporters today in Washington.
The MEK has been listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department since 1997, but some in Congress and close to the Administration want the group to be removed from the terrorist list. Even President Bush has called the MEK a "dissident group."
In addition to incursions into Iran and targeted killings of Iranian officials and security agents, MEK attacks have often killed civilians there. The MEK carried out attacks on the Iranian consulate to the UN and 12 other Iranian embassies in 1992, assisted Saddam Hussein in his suppression of Shiite and Kurdish insurgencies in the early 1990s, and killed U.S. military and civilian personnel working in Iran in the 1970s out of anger for American support of the shah. Members of the MEK also supported the 1979 takeover and hostage taking at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Here is more on the group.
Tancredo called Maryam Rajavi, the MEK's leader, "quite an extraordinary lady."
Much more after the jump. I hope to scan some documents from the convention by tomorrow. jnh.
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By Nick in Iran on Thu Apr 14th, 2005 at 05:38:53 PM PDT
The only way to a free Iran is "the third option," Moore said. Rajavi often refers to "the third option" when she talks about MEK-led uprising from within.
Rajavi herself spoke to the group by live video feed, urging removal of the MEK from the list of terrorist groups.
"The worst aspect of appeasement, which plays a crucial role in keeping the regime in power, is the terror tag on the Iranian Resistance," Rajavi said.
"The message of this terrorist designation ... to our people is that the West is on the side of the dictators and is opposed to change," she added.
Asked if there was any opposition to the event, Shahab Sariri, a representative for "the Council for Freedom and Democracy in Iran," said that since MEK has been listed as a terrorist group and especially since the groups office in Washington was closed in 2003, everything has been done by "expatriates" who "naturally" include lots of supporters for the MEK. The MEK is the largest organized resistance group against the current Iranian regime.
Sariri also said that there was more opposition to an event last year, but said that was nothinig more than a ploy by Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who Sariri called a "lobbyist for Iran."
"It was a bankrupt card that they played on behalf of the Iranian government," Sariri said.
Rajavi also praised a petition she said was signed by 2.7 million Iraqis in support of the People's Mujahideen of Iraq, which is another name for the MEK.
She characterized the MEK as democratic, inclusive, heavily supported by Iranians and only on the terrorist list because of a policy of appeasement by the Clinton Administration, citing one anonymous quote in a 1997 Washington Post article.
Hundreds of supporters greeted Rajavi with deafening applause and the waving of signs and banners emblazoned with images of Rajavi and her husband. Her speech was punctuated numerous times by applause and Farsi cheers.
"U.S., U.S., listen this, Iran mujahideen not terrorists," the crowd chanted several times.
"Freedom and democracy and support for Rajavi," supporters urged in unison.
"God bless you, Rajavi," the people cried after urging from an older Iranian man who sat near the back of the large hall.
Another speaker at the event, Neil Livingstone, is often interviewed by the press as a terrorism expert. He has been quoted as saying he has had good relations with the MEK for 30 years and also advised Ahmed Chalabi's INC. Livingstone urged the government to step up its efforts to destabilize the Iranian government, saying "we must recognize the Iranian government in exile." This refers to Rajavi, who was declared by her movement to be President-in-exile. "We are all members of the Iranian Resistance," he closed.
Two of the speakers at the event were American soldiers who dealt with the group at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where the U.S. government has detained and disarmed them.
Lt. Col. Thomas Cantwell was the commander of the 324th MP Batallion at Camp Ashraf from June through December 2003.
"Our assessment was that the mujahideen represented a minimal threat to U.S. forces," he said.
He also questioned the designation of the MEK as a terrorist group. "If we have a terrorist group in Ashraf, where are the terrorists?" he asked. He said this despite admission in a later interview that he was not "routinely granted access" to intelligence on the group and left Camp Ashraf before debriefings of MEK members there moved into full swing.
Captain Vivian Gambara was a Jag officer who participated in disarmament negotiations with the MEK. Although, by her own admission, she was one of the most junior lawyers there, she said that she and special forces soldiers around her recognize the security possibilities that the MEK represented.
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