Western Bloggers - Page 81 of 88

Mujahedin Khalq are not democrats or freedom fighters

Nejat SocietyJuly 7, 2011056 views

The MEK have been lobbying hard in Washington since the 80s at least, despite being on the terrorist list for killing American diplomats and military personnel in the days of the Shah. .. they seem able to persuade Congressmen .. Yet besides their track record of killing US personnel in the Shah’s day, they are based in Iraq, fought on the side of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, maintain to this day a cultlike”Camp Ashraf”in Iraq..Their PR skills are good. In my journalism days they used to drop by regularly to try to cultivate me, and while I listened politely, I had too many US military friends ..

Bachmann and the Mujahideen e-Khalq

Nejat SocietyJuly 6, 2011087 views

I was disappointed, therefore, to see Bachmann’s uncritical support for the Mujahideen e-Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK/PMOI), which the State Department defines as a terror group…I also welcome the debate on whether the MKO is a terrorist group or not (I believe it is), there are certain incontrovertible facts: (1) the MKO has targeted Americans in past terrorist attacks; (2) they have embraced Saddam; (3) they operate as a cult which remains hostile to freedom, liberty, and democracy; and (4), they have very little if any support among Iranians in Iran.

MEK Terrorist Group Lobbies Congress for De-Listing

Nejat SocietyJuly 3, 2011061 views

Maryam Rajavi, leader of the MEK The Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian Marxist-Islamist group opposed to the government there, is lobbying the Obama administration to have its name removed from a list of foreign terrorist organizations.MEK has been on the State Department’s terrorist list since 1997, although even prior to that it was accused of killing Americans in Iran in the 1970s and supporting the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein…Opponents of the de-listing point out that an FBI report from 2004 showed the group continued to plan terrorist acts at least three years after it renounced terrorism.

Lobbying for MKO terrorists

Nejat SocietyJune 19, 2011065 views

The MEK has for years lobbied aggressively via a myriad of front groups to be taken off the terrorism list. Shrewd lobbyists, they have moved well beyond their street corner and airports campaign (“support Iran’s starving children”) to “grassroots” organizations and hired guns. And I get why they don’t want to be on the terrorism list; it comes with a spate of sanctions and restrictions that are odious to most groups no matter their intentions. But what of their partisans? Do they know the MEK/MKO/PMOI? If not, check out Michael Rubin’s piece on the MEK or this FBI report from 2004,

Blind support for MEK terrorists damages American diplomacy

Nejat SocietyJune 18, 2011065 views

… An Iraqi government spokesman responded that Iraq would pay not “a cent” and the Foreign Ministry then demanded that the delegation leave Iraq. The Iranians in question are members of the Mujaheddin e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian terrorist group that found shelter in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. It has been listed as a terrorist organization by the US government for the past ten years and has been implicated in the killing of Americans. It seems that Rohrabacher and some fellow wingnuts to include Ileana Ros Lehtinen…

Protest against the MEK intensifies security treats in Iraq

Nejat SocietyJune 12, 2011069 views

The protesters who gathered at the front of the Ashraf camp called on the government to deport the members..This is the right time for the Iraqi government to now step up its actions against the MKO/MEK/PMOI group as well as other armed groups which are directly or indirectly linked with any other armed group in or outside of the Iraq territories, the tightening of securities in and outside of Iraq will create an enabling environment for more investment companies to thrive and even expand their operations in the country,

European lawmakers: Try MKO members for crimes against humanity

Nejat SocietyMay 19, 20110109 views

Shortly after this raid, German MEP Barbara Lochbihler wrote a letter to fellow MEPs and maintaining “the claim by Ashraf residents to be cut off from water supplies was incorrect.” She stated that the “inhabitants of the camp [were] themselves victims of this totalitarian cult”…They said the recent bloodshed at Camp Ashraf “should not … distract us from an objective and level-headed analysis of the PMOI’s track record,” urging “all members [of parliament] to seriously consider the history, actions and behaviour of the PMOI before signing any declarations or letters of support in favour of this group in the future.”

Will Giuliani invite MEK “freedom fighters” to relocate in Manhattan?

Nejat SocietyApril 28, 2011056 views

The MEK issued a statement late last week that not only casts serious doubt on their claims to have renounced terrorism but demands that they be allowed to come to the U.S.The group cites a disarmament deal they negotiated with the U.S. as the basis for the demand ..The fact that the MEK is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization would prevent them from legally coming to the U.S., but an assortment of prominent U.S. politicians, lobbyists, and consulting firms are working to reverse that terror designation…now that the MEK is threatening “resistance at any price” and demanding relocation to the U.S., the question is: will U.S. officials supporting MEK, some of whom have acknowledged receiving “substantial amount” of cash, invite these “freedom fighters” into their own backyards?..

German HRC calls on Ashraf Camp Leader to forego violence

Nejat SocietyApril 24, 2011060 views

… I appeal to the leaders of Camp Ashraf to forego violence and to grant an independent investigation commission full access to the camp. The leaders of Camp Ashraf must enable all of the injured to receive medical care, and must ensure full protection of the rights of the camp’s inhabitants. This includes the right to leave the camp.” Some 3500 members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MKO) and their family members currently live in Camp Ashraf. During the Iran-Iraq War, the MKO fought under Saddam Hussein against Iran. They are viewed as a strictly hierarchical organization which has never distanced itself from terrorist violence. It has often …

Should Washington Embrace the MEK?

Nejat SocietyApril 20, 2011064 views

..the MEK should not be declassified as a terrorist group, or for that matter receive any U.S. backing, for several reasons…Those who argue for backing the MEK aka MKO/PMOI because it would allegedly help destabilize the regime in Tehran give no specific recommendations, meanwhile affirming that they do not endorse the MEK as future rulers of Iran…Although the U.S. government should urge the Iraqi government to treat MEK members humanely, it must not remove the group from the list of terrorist organizations, or work with it in any way.