“Bagherzadeh”was one the bases of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organisation (MKO) in Iraq before the fall of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. This base was normally used for the group gatherings of the MKO members in Iraq – otherwise knows as the National Liberation Army (NLA). The time to time sessions which always had ideological themes were usually held with the presence of the co-leaders of the organisation Mas’ud and Maryam Rajavi. The members used to get together from different bases in Iraq for one week or more to listen to the teachings of the leaders.
When the 11th of September 2001 catastrophe occurred, about 2000 people were assembled in Bagherzadeh Base to attend the general meeting of the NLA and to receive the speeches delivered by the Rajavis. At the very day the loudspeakers throughout the base called everyone to meet in the main hall to become aware of very important and crucial news. After a good number of people were gathered, a video clip containing the news was shown from the widescreens. The news was about how the twin towers were blown up by some fanatic extremist so called Moslems. The video clip was shown over and over for several times and each time it received jubilations from the members and officials of the MKO. The officials were encouraging the others to dance and be cheerful.
The following day a meeting was arranged for Mas’ud and Maryam Rajavi to deliver their speeches to the members and officials. The same clips were shown several times again and each time it received the same jubilations. Mas’ud started speaking about the terrorist incident. He did not condemn the act at all and even virtually accepted that it was an anti-imperialistic move. He claimed that his group is far more superior to the Al-Qaeda and”if they could do such a sophisticated military operation we must be able to do so in a much better manner”. He called the operation the consequence of the US policy and also the exhibition of the power of the ideology of Islam! He declared that”wait and see the fruits of our revolutionary Islam!”
Maryam started her speech next. She clearly stated that the terrorist disaster is to the advantage of the MKO since it draws the attention of the US administration to Afghanistan and at least for a while they would forget about Iraq and Saddam Hussein. She then related the suicide bombing to the Islamic theology and claimed that only this sort of ideology could carry out that sort of complicated task.
Many MKO members who were present in that meeting have bared witness about that day and about that meeting after they left the group. When the US Forces occupied the Ashraf base “ the main base of the MKO in Iraq “ they interviewed many former members and they all explained the same story which was mentioned above. Although the US State Department has called the organisation a foreign terrorist group as well as a personality cult in its annual report, but unfortunately the report has deliberately failed to mention this mere fact that they practically hailed the 11th of September terrorist occurrence.
Some of ex-members emphasised that just before the US Forced occupied the Ashraf Camp, the MKO authorities destroyed a lot of tapes, discs and documents including the shots taken from the meeting mentioned above.
It should also be noted that since the incident of 11th of September up to now, the MKO has not by any means officially condemned this terrorist act and other military operations done by the Al-Qaeda in Europe. This in fact is despite the reality that the organisation continuously emphasises on the necessity of countering terrorism and in this manner even calls the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) the godfather of terrorism. The fact that the MKO has totally focused its antiterrorism propaganda on IRI and stays completely silent about the 11th of September terrorist act as the obvious symbol of international terrorism proves that the issue of countering terrorism is only considered by the leaders of the MKO as a useful tool and they do not basically reject it.