Mr Hooshang Mirza Ghorbani, escaped Camp Liberty (Temporary Transit Location) and surrendered himself to Iraqi Police…practically the removal of the MKO aka MEK/PMOI from the black list has no impact on members’ defection. Most of the members will run away as soon as they find the opportunity.
The decision of the US State Department to remove the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) aka MEK/PMOI from its list of foreign terrorist organizations created an atmosphere of ambivalence particularly in the West. Public opinion in the West may face contradictory ideas regarding the decision. On the one hand well-paid supporters…
“The US government’s decision to take Mujahedin-e Khalq, the exiled Iranian organization, off its list of terrorist groups is a vivid example of the influence of money and lobbying in Washington. At worst it highlights the analytical fog that clouds many US policy heavyweights’ view of Iran.”
MEK is led by the husband-and-wife team of Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi. Massoud Rajavi heads the organization’s military forces. Experts say that MEK has increasingly come to resemble a personality cult that is devoted to Mr. Rajavi’s secular interpretation of the Koran and is prone to sudden, dramatic ideological shifts.
The selective branding of WikiLeaks, the MEK aka MKO/PMOI or other organizations aligns with the security interests of the U.S. While the MEK may share some of the same goals, namely, regime change in Iran, the labeling indicates an underlying desire to justify alliances in the name of security.
The so-called Free Syrian Army, the main armed rebel group fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s government, is building a military base for the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) in the bordering areas of Syria and Lebanon.
The six people the MEK/MKO/PMOI killed in the 1970s are still dead. They were dead when the State Department designated the MEK as a foreign terrorist organization and they have been dead all the years since and they won’t get any less dead when the State Department removes the MEK from its FTO list. The MEK is the organization that once allied with Saddam Hussein; that historical fact hasn’t changed…
it is not clear whether Washington actually sees the MEK/MKO/PMOI as a possible asset and a viable ally in the event of direct confrontation with Iran as the window for a diplomatic compromise rapidly narrows. The delisting was perhaps just an effort to annoy Tehran or, more important, to appease the anti-Iran establishment amid the current US presidential election campaign.
Ambassador Daniel Fried, special advisor to US Secretary of State on Camp Ashraf in Iraq, is on a tour of Europe to discuss about developments concerning the Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK)..Asked if the MEK can play some kind of a political role in the future to resolve the Iranian crisis, he replied”they think they have a role but the United States does not think so.”
Ironically, while they cursed the secretary from the sidewalk, inside the State Department, Clinton and her aides were quietly working on a plan to save thousands of brainwashed MEK foot soldiers .. This being a cult, however, the leaders initially refused to let anyone leave Ashraf unless they all left as a group. But as one former U.S. diplomat said to me,”What the hell kind of country is going to agree to take in 3,000 militant cult members?”…