“Leaving the determination of whether a group is a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ to the executive branch … is both a reasonable and a constitutional way to make such determinations,”Judge Andrew Kleinfeld wrote for a three-judge panel. …. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was made in a case involving people who raised money in California for Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK,
As a former member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq, Iranian terrorist group based in Iraq, I have always lived in fear since I’ve left the group; fear from being assassinated or kidnapped by the MKO …9/11 events stressed this fact that the idea of getting to political aims by terrorism, anywhere in world with any justification, only helps its expansion. These attacks once again attracted world’s attention to terrorism and exposed the uniform nature of all terrorists….terrorism is not limited to Taliban and Bin Laden..
The US treats all terrorist groups and prisoners in the same manner. For instance, after the US invasion on Iraq, the US took the control of the MKO/PMOI which has been listed as a terrorist organization since 1997. The US disarmed the group and restricted its members into Camp Ashraf near Baghdad. ..Terrorist attacks around the world have created international unity in the field of fighting terrorism and have forced the nations to cooperate and exchange intelligence and information. The threat is serious so that the US has even asked its old enemy, Iran, for help and active presence on the issue.
Congressional supporters of an Iraq-based terrorist organization kept a low profile…the State Department identified the MEK as a foreign terrorist organization. Last Tuesday, General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged in a briefing at the Pentagon that the U.S. bombed MEK forces. . ..Although the MEK’s political arm, the National Council of Resistance, has garnered signatures of support from a number of U.S. lawmakers, it’s unclear whether those members were adequately informed about the group when they signed on.
The U.S. army surrounded camps of an Iranian opposition group in eastern Iraq on Friday, demanding they lay down their arms or”be destroyed.”..
State, Treasury and Justice departments closed the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) or PMOI on Friday, placing notices on its doors declaring that it was now banned, officials said. …suspected members of the group in the United States had been notified that their continued affiliation was now illegal.