Jason Kenney, Conservative MP, has been called a hypocrite for criticizing Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj who spoke in support of a terrorist group this past week, but who himself appeared at a rally for yet another terrorist organization in April 2006. That group was listed as a terrorist group, under a different name, in May 2005.
Jason Kenney’s appearance at this rally has caused some grief:
The Liberals accused Jason Kenney of hypocrisy on Thursday, after it was revealed the Conservative MP had appeared at a rally earlier this year for an Iranian group with terrorist links.
A photo of Kenney, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s parliamentary secretary, at the April rally appears on a website for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political wing of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran.
The PMOI is one of the names used by Mujahedin-e-Khalq, an Iranian rebel group put on Canada’s official terror list in May 2005. The U.S. and Britain have also designated it a terrorist organization.
Kenney didn’t even know that the rally was for the PMOI:
The NCRI website says the April rally that Kenney attended was organized by "the Committee in Defence of Human Rights in Iran."
In an interview with the Star, Kenney said he did not remember attending the rally, then recalled an invitation from "something called the Committee for Human Rights in Iran."
The invitation came from a man Kenney said he met at the foreign affairs sub-committee on human rights.
Kenney, MP for Calgary Southeast, said he "would be shocked" to hear his picture was posted on the group’s political wing website.
For this, the Liberals are tearing into him:
Liberal interim leader Bill Graham, who accepted [Borys] Wrzesnewskyj’s resignation, condemned Kenney’s actions on Thursday.
"I think it’s so hypocritical when you heard the words that came out of his mouth a couple of days ago about the observations made about one of our members and then you find he himself is standing there embracing a terrorist group."
Liberal Denis Coderre, who was criticized for marching in a peace rally in Montreal earlier this month where Hezbollah flags were present, said Kenney should apologize and denounce the group.
"Jason Kenney, who likes to play politics and is as subtle as Barney Rubble in politics, should know better," Coderre said.
I suppose that Liberal MPs Alan Tonks and Derek Lee can expect to be at the receiving end of similar abuse. Why? Because each wrote letters to Peter Mackay, Minister of Foreign Affairs, demanding that the government support the PMOI.
The letters were written sometime after mid-July.
Posted by Steve Janke on August 26, 2006
Western Standard – August 26, 2006
