The message that delisting the MKO will send to the public is on the one hand, the fact that you can buy everything in the US. You are able to consider a group a friend or a freedom fighter or a pro-democratic movement rather a terrorist communist cult, just if you are well paid by the group. On the other hand, removing the MKO from the list opens the door for other terrorist group’s lobbying efforts in the US government…
It is not hard to imagine how Americans would react if they learned that Al Qaeda had hired top lobbyists to help promote its agenda in Congress. Or if they heard that influential active and retired government officials were being paid to attest to Hezbollah’s good character. They would be appalled. But, amazingly, a group similar to Al Qaeda and Hezbollah is doing just that. It is the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian exile group that is on the Department of State’s list of FTOs ..
The MEK did not become “radical” as a result of being “listed” as a terrorist organization in 1997. It was an extremist group way before that date. What fuels its radicalism and taste for terrorism is not how it is termed by the State Department or the nature of its relationship with the U.S, but its fanatical ideology, pugnacious discourse, undemocratic structure, leadership, mission and agenda…among the FTOs, the MEK is in one grim sense one of the few exceptions ..
During the conference the organizers and the attendees stated that they have sent a request to Iraqi government to expel the MKO saying that they launched a campaign to collect one million signatures to be attached to the request.They also reminded the Iraqi policy makers of what they called the crimes committed by MKO/MEK/PMOI against the Iraqi citizens under Saddam regime.
The organization, accused of having a cult-like culture, bought a full page ad in the Washington Post and has purchased the support of dozens of American politicians and national security experts. The Huffington Post lists 31 prominent people from both sides of the political aisle who have appeared at Mujahedeen Khalq aka MKO/MEK/PMOI-related events.We get analysis from Narimon Safavi, a Worldview regular and president of the Pasfarda Arts & Culture Exchange.
The Mojahedin Khalq started its terror campaign with the assassination of 6 Americans in Tehran and have, since then over 16000 Iranians, 25000 Iraqis and scores of individuals of American, European, Pakistani, African and even Chinese descent. While we do not expect or even find the American government capable of intervening and halt the influx of Mojahedin Khalq operatives into their capital city, we warn the countries officials against any failure to prevent harm the critics of the terrorist group in the US..
A banned Iranian Terrorist group has been mounting a persistent and expensive lobbying campaign in both Canada and the United States to have its ban lifted. The Mujahideen-e-Khalq/MKO/MEK/PMOI has a violent past. Some describe the group as an authoritarian cult. But the group has supporters, including high profile current and former politicians who see MEK as a possible instrument of regime change in Iran.
Despite rising concerns about the impact of Mujahedin Khalq’s lobbying campaign to get removed from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations of the State Department, the group’s well-paid advocates in Washington D.C do not bother to know about the group more closely.Regrettably, the MKO’s propaganda and its fierce lobby did succeed to get delisted from the European list in 2009 thanks to the funds they had paid European parliamentarians for many years.
Closer to the truth, is not that the MEK’s Western supporters don’t know, it’s that they don’t care. It’s as simple as the proposition that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The MEK is attractive because it offers to provide a neat solution to the problem of a belligerent Iran.At a recent Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill Democratic Congressman Bob Filner was told by an expert witness that the MEK had a”discursive ideology with violent elements”. Filner replied,”So what, so what!”
… The list of American luminaries doing a paid dance with the MKO is long and contains former top officials of both parties. For example, on the Democratic side of the aisle, former presidential candidate and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and former Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana have given short and highly compensated speeches before the group. On the Republican side, former Homeland Security chief ..