Paid advocacy for MKO

Attendees Don’t Really Understand What The MEK Is

..many apparent non-Iranians came out as well, most wearing flags, headbands, and even yellow vests with images of the group’s leaders — Maryam and Massoud Rajavi — on the chest. Of this group, few seemed to have many details about the MEK, and instead pledged vague notions of support for human rights and democracy, often even getting the name of the MEK/MKO wrong…Some of the attendees had been bused and flown in at no personal cost, receiving transportation and in some cases lodging and meals.

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Delisting MEK would be a disaster

Delisting the MEK has little to do with humanitarian concern or support for a democratic Iran, and everything to do with putting the military option at the center of our Iran policy. The group’s biggest supporters in Washington have suggested using the MEK in a ‘tit for tat’ campaign of attacks against Iran that could quickly escalate into war..delisting it would only worsen humanitarian concerns in Camp Ashraf by empowering the group’s leadership.

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Some participants in the rally had no knowledge about MKO

Rally participants also included a number of non-Iranian-Americans. Several of them told RFE/RL they had little or no knowledge about the MKO.”We’ve come for Iranian people,”said one African-American.When asked whether he and his female companion received money to attend the rally, the woman first said yes, but then retracted her statement at the man’s behest..Western media have reported that former U.S. officials have received substantial financial contributions to speak at MKO events..

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MEK rally planned for Friday at State Department

So what is the MEK? Well, that depends on who you ask… The MEK/MKO/PMOI says it renounced violence in 2001 and professes to be leading the resistance to the Iranian regime. That claim, in addition to lucrative payments to former officials in both parties, has bought it a lot of attention and friends in Washington. But how can senior officials take money from a terrorist group?

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Why are U.S. political and diplomatic figures endorsing a terror group?

Dozens of retired U.S. government officials, spanning the liberal-to-conservative political spectrum and some paid tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees, have joined a well-orchestrated lobbying campaign to remove MKO/MEK/PMOI from the list of FTOs..Prominent Americans should not be accepting payments and supporting a group that has shed American blood in the past and has no viable support inside Iran. We urge Secretary Clinton to keep the MEK on the terrorist roster.

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The two-sided demonstration of MKO terrorists

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…

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Why Are Prominent Americans Lobbying for MKO Terrorists ?

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 ..

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What is Iran’s MEK and why is it so popular among American leaders?

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.

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CBC radio on Mujahideen-e-Khalq

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.

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From Terror Group to ‘Our Friends’

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!”

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