Rudy Giuliani shills for the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) again:
We strongly support the largest and most organized Iranian opposition, known as the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK).
The MEK has no support inside Iran, and it has scant support among Iranians in the diaspora. They cannot be the “largest” opposition group when they have virtually no supporters outside the ranks of their own totalitarian cult, and it doesn’t mean anything to say that a cult is organized. Giuliani’s lame argument that the MEK must be powerful and influential because the Iranian government hates them doesn’t pass the laugh test. The Iranian government perceives the MEK as their enemy for obvious reasons, but it doesn’t follow that Iranians want to have anything to do with them. Legitimate opponents of the Iranian government hold this group and its Western fans in contempt, and most Iranians don’t desire the regime change that Western Iran hawks and the MEK seek.
Giuliani is just one of many former American officials and retired officers to embarrass and discredit themselves by advocating for the MEK, but he is also one of the most vocal. As the president’s lawyer, he has access to Trump and may be able to influence him on matters relating to Iran, and his fellow MEK booster John Bolton would have no problem with that. It is a measure of how ideological and fanatical many Iran hawks are that they have cultivated a relationship with such an appalling organization.
No matter what one thinks our Iran policy should be, the MEK is not a credible alternative to the current government. Seeking regime change in Iran is folly, but to promote an obnoxious cult as the answer to Iran’s problems is simply insanity. In addition to being a nasty cult, the group is responsible for killing Americans in the 1970s and aligned itself with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war. Iranians understandably view them as traitors. Anyone who is cheerleading for the MEK is advertising both his ignorance of Iran and his hostility to the Iranian people.
By Daniel Larison ,Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com
