Sources revealed that the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) is using former US officials and retired Generals to advance its terrorist goals.
According to a report published by the website of the Habilian association – a human rights group formed of the family members and relatives of the Iranian victims of terrorism – the Washington-based ‘Iran Policy Committee’ is one of those agencies that serve the interests of the terrorist group.
Established in February 2005, the Iran Policy Committee (IPC) is comprised of former officials from the White House, State Department, Pentagon, intelligence agencies, and experts from think-tanks and universities.
Members of the IPC, a nonprofit and bipartisan organization based in Washington DC, include R. Bruce McColm; Lt. General Thomas McInerney USAF (ret.); Captain Charles T. "Chuck" Nash, USN (ret.); Lt. General Edward Rowny, USA (ret.); Professor Raymond Tanter; Major General Paul E. Vallely, USA (ret.).
The Habilian report said the IPC’s overt and covert policies are highly influenced by the MKO.
The report stated that the IPC’s stance on the MKO even runs counter to the declared policies of the White House, specially when the interests of the MKO are in danger.
The IPC members even embark on taking such stances which are completely in opposition to the policies that they adopted during the years of their service, the report noted.
The committee also is trying to portray the MKO as an alternative for the Islamic Republic and is trying to convince the US administration to take the MKO off its list of terrorist groups.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
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.
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.
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.
