US Lawmakers Call For Supporting Terrorists In Iran
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Charles Davis, Anti War, July 03, 2009
http://original.antiwar.com/charles-davis/2009/07/02/
us-lawmakers-call-for-supporting-terrorists-in-iran/
(Massoud Rajavi and his pay master Saddam Hussein)
The Obama administration should be doing more to support Iranian resistance groups — including the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK), a "cult-like" terrorist organization that has engaged in suicide attacks against their own countrymen, according to the U.S. State Department — in an all-out effort to affect regime change in Tehran, two American lawmakers said at a recent press conference in Washington, DC.
The lawmakers’ call for greater U.S. support for self-styled resistance groups opposed to Iran’s government comes as the Islamic regime has accused groups protesting the recent disputed presidential election of receiving Western backing, an allegation that has been used to justify a harsh crackdown on dissent
At a Capitol Hill press conference on June 26th, Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, declared that the U.S. government, which has imposed stringent economic sanctions on Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and supported Iraq’s invasion of the country in the 1980s, had too often sought "to mollify or appease those in charge" of that country. Instead, Filner argued the U.S. should explicitly side with Iranian "resistance groups", including the MEK, which he described as a "democratic, non-nuclear, secular group fighting for freedom for all the people in Iran."
The U.S. State Department notes that the MEK "advocates the violent overthrow of the Iranian regime and was responsible for the assassination of several U.S. military personnel and civilians in the 1970’s," and that the group maintains "the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts in Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and beyond."
Following the Iranian revolution the MEK fled Iran for neighboring Iraq, where it received support from Saddam Hussein’s regime to launch "suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces." The MEK’s fighting on behalf of the Iraqi regime in a war that killed hundreds of thousands of Iranians is generally seen as undermining their credibility among the Iranian public.
Human Rights Watch has also accused the group of perpetrating serious human rights abuses, including torture, at a number of secret prison camps.
Nonetheless, citing the internal unrest in Iran over last month’s disputed presidential election and the fact that an invasion "is not an option today," Filner said the U.S. government should be doing much more to support "one of the biggest resistance groups in Iraq, the so-called MEK.
"They say, ‘Let us do the job; get out of our — just get out of our way,’ because we have not helped the internal resistance movements," Filner said. "We can help internal resistance movements in Iran, and we should not stand in their way of trying to get rid of the present regime."
Joining Filner in the call for greater U.S. support for the MEK was Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), who briefly fought alongside the Afghan mujahideen in their war against the Soviet Union. Though declared "freedom fighters" by the Reagan administration, the mujahideen proved to be fertile recruiting grounds for the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Conceding that, like the Afghan mujahideen, the MEK is not "perfect," Rohrabacher said that "during the American revolution there were a lot of imperfect organizations around too. But the fact is, the mullahs are what now — they are the ones who are murdering their people. They are the ones who are threatening world peace."
Rohrabacher also rejected the premise of a question about whether overt U.S. support for terrorist groups opposed to the Iranian government might undermine future U.S.-Iran negotiations.
"Who wants to cooperate with Hitler or the mullahs who are murdering their own people? We don’t want to cooperate with those bums," Rohrabacher responded. "They’re murdering their people. They’re threatening to blow people up with nuclear weapons. We don’t want any — to establish a relationship with the mullahs that’s going to make it more cooperative with them."
Filner and Rohrabacher appeared at the press conference with Soon Sansami, currently the executive director of the Women’s Freedom Forum. Previously she was the spokesperson for the National Council of Resistance, identified by Filner as "the umbrella Iranian internal resistance movement in the United States." The U.S. Treasury Department lists the group as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" organization and one of many "aliases of [the] MEK."
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Miliband rejects UK interference in Iranian affairs as Iran Airs Washington backed terrorists conversation with HQ in London . ... Iranian security officials reported Saturday that they have identified and arrested a large number of MKO members who were involved in recent riots in Iran's capital.According to the security officials, the arrested members had confessed that they were extensively trained in Iraq's camp Ashraf to create post-election mayhem in the country. They had also revealed that they have been given directions by the MKO command post in Britain... Press tv, june 23, 2009 -------- Iran denies permission for anti-UK rally Press TV, June 23, 2009 Amid growing public anger against 'British interference in Iran's internal affairs', the Iranian Interior Ministry has refused to issue a permit for a rally outside the UK embassy in Tehran. ------------ Iran airs Washington backed Mojahedin Khalq Terrorists confessions Also the Audio tape of terrorists' contacts with their HQ in London . . Press TV, News in Breif, June 21, 2009 ------------ Also read: Iran finds US-backed MKO fingermarks in riots (Confessions of arrested MKO members linked to London) . . Press TV, June 21, 2009 . The terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) has reportedly played a major role in intensifying the recent wave of street violence in Iran. They had also revealed that they have been given directions by the MKO command post in Britain. Confessions of arrested MKO members in recent disturbances Habilian Association, reporting from Fars News, June 21, 2009 I was trained in camp Ashraf how to set fire to buses and attack the military bases -------- Also read Washington backed Mojahedin Khalq Terrorist agents arrested in Tehran riots . . IRNA, June 21, 2009 Tehran – Agents of the terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) have been found and arrested among the agitators of Tehran streets in the past few days. ----------- Also read: Wahsington backed terrorists used to discredit Iranian demands for justice Fox News Channel: Communist Terrorist Television for Dupes . . Professor Paul Sheldon Foote, USA, June 20, 2009 On October 1, 2007, I posted “Fox News Channel: Communist Terrorist Television for Dupes”. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-iongVIwherPSJekBajGbbDj1yv4Tfku0?p=193 On June 20, 2009, the Fox News Channel devoted the entire day of live programming to coverage of the unrest in Iran. For supporters of the Iranian communist MEK (MKO, PMOI, NCRI, Rajavi Cult, or Pol Pot of Iran) terrorists, there was no need to watch their Sima Azadi television channel via satellite. Throughout the day, the Fox News Channel provided favorable coverage for the communist terrorists. Some examples were:
----------- Also read: Iran - Democracy in Action Leaves Regime Change Rajavi in the Cold . . By Massoud Khodabandeh, June 18, 2009 For five days Iran has been the scene of demonstration and counter demonstration in favour and against two clearly different candidates. Both, of course, are proven believers in and supporters of the fundamentals of the Islamic Republic (IRI). The peaceful demonstrations and debates and insistence on achieving demands is clearly on going and while no one doubts that this political struggle will continue even after the Friday prayers led by Ayatollah Khamenei, it is now clear that the advocates of violence and so called revolution or ‘regime change’ have been left out in the cold. The more that time passes the more it becomes clear that this is no "regime change" or for that matter a pro-west or pro-east velvet revolution. I have always believed that the theory of ‘democracy without democrats’ would emerge as the major factor in the Middle Eastern path to democracy. I believe that democracy will not emerge through democrats lecturing those in power to accept the benefits of democracy. Rather it is the people who are in power who will fight each other to the point that they clearly see that their insistence on the policy of ‘winner takes all’ will not only fail to deliver them ‘everything’, rather it is going to leave both sides with ‘nothing’. I believe this is the point that both sides come to understand that compromise and sharing in order to have something is a better option than losing everything. At this point of course indigenous democrats can have a role as guides and experts to analyse and explain the ways forward, even though they themselves are probably still experimenting and maturing in this transitional period. There are a few historical examples to back this theory. For example, certain periods in Algerian, Turkish and even Sudan's history where treaties have been achieved to give ‘something’ to each side instead of the ongoing bloodshed and power struggles over ‘everything. Treaties and power sharing of course by no means derive from a belief in democracy; rather they are the starting point toward understanding the benefits of democracy for all parties. I have been watching with interest as the tone of media reports have changed from describing a ‘coup d’etat’ and the expectation of violence, to describing the gatherings of demonstrators as "pro-government" and "opposition". Yesterday the BBC, Aljazeera and many other outlets consciously or unconsciously referred to Ahmadi Nejad as "the president" and Mirhossein Mousavi as "the head of the opposition". That reminded of my history books and the long ago days that Tories and Liberals in Britain were representing the very different interests of very different sectors of British society. From there emerged the left side and the right side of Parliament with political parties sitting on each side. The unwritten constitution of the British establishment accepted the voting system, the way the government was to be elected and the way the opposition and the government would "struggle" to represent the interests of their constituents. Looking at the current prominent political figures in Iran on each side I can’t help envisaging the emergence of political parties in Iran (there are no actual political parties at this moment of time in Iran even though some groups may call themselves ‘parties’). I also believe that even if Mirhossein Mosavi would have been the name coming out of the ballot boxes (I neither endorse nor reject the possibility of vote rigging but I certainly believe that both sides have enough support and constituencies to be heard), the recent demonstrations and political struggles in Tehran and other Iranian cities would have been inevitable. It is no longer about "who takes everything". This time it is about "rejection of the theory of winner takes all". I have heard this too many times that the political struggle in western countries is over representative seats in parliament but the same struggle in the Middle East is over the necks and heads of candidates. I see clearly that Iran is emerging one step (and a very big step) closer towards a more pluralistic political system in which various politicians will be fighting over seats rather than each others’ necks. More importantly, the winners and the losers of every period will have to accept the rights of their opponents not because they are lover of democracy but rather because they have matured to see they have no other choice. Irrelevant of the short term results of the power struggle during the next few weeks, there is no doubt about the big leap the Iranian nation has taken in her journey toward a real democracy. A big leap for the people of Iran and an irreversible huge falling backwards for the advocates of ‘regime change’ by foreign interventionist forces and supporters of terrorist groups like Mojahedin Khalq Organistion (aka: Rajavi cult; which lost it's backer Saddam Hussein in 2003), Jondollah (the group affiliated to mass murderer Abdolmalek Rigi who is based in Pakistan) and Pejak (the Turkish PKK paid to relocate to the Iranian border for carrying out sabotage). This weekend the Mojahedin Khalq cancelled its planned event in Paris. Instead, the cult is recruiting people through false associations and groups in order to take advantage of the current unrest in Iran. The idea is to bring Maryam Rajavi to Brussels to jump on the bandwagon of unrest. Anyone who knows anything about Iran will recognise this as an attempt by advocates of regime change to destroy the progress of democracy in Iran. These people will deploy terrorists to undermine the real opposition and democracy movement inside Iran. --------- Also read: US has not changed its regime change policy . . By Massoud Khodabandeh, May 7, 2009 Following the AIPAC meeting, Senator John Kerry, a Democrat, said that Washington is not in a 'regime change mode'. 
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=98819§ionid=351020101
"Iran's Interior Ministry condemns Britain's interference but has granted no permission for the gathering outside the British embassy on Tuesday," the ministry said on its website.
Some university students were planning to stage a rally outside the British embassy to protest what they call foreign in Iran's June 12 election which has provoked unrest in the country.
Iran's Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has called on the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission to make a revision in Tehran-London ties.
In recent days, the US and a slew of European powers -- namely Britain, France, Italy and Germany -- have lashed out at the Iranian government for the nature of its measures in restoring security in the country.
Following the victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's 10th presidential elections, Iran became the scene of rallies with defeated presidential hopefuls Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi rejecting the result as fraudulent and demanding a re-run.
Iranian officials have accused Western powers of interfering in the country's internal affairs.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has rejected the claims, saying turning the dispute among Iranians about the election results into a battle between Iran and other countries -- the UK in particular -- "is without foundation."
"I reject categorically the idea that the protestors in Iran are manipulated or motivated by foreign countries," Miliband said on Sunday. "The UK is categorical that it is for the Iranian people to choose their government, and for the Iranian authorities to ensure the fairness of the result and the protection of their own people."
http://www.presstv.com
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=6542
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/98647.htm?sectionid=351020101
MKO Leader Maryam Rajavi has called the MKO
as the real winner of Iran's election.
Iranian security officials reported Saturday that they have identified and arrested a large number of MKO members who were involved in recent riots in Iran's capital.
According to the security officials, the arrested members had confessed that they were extensively trained in Iraq's camp Ashraf to create post-election mayhem in the country.
Street protests broke out after defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi rejected President Ahmadinejad's decisive win in the June 12 election. His supporters have staged a series of illegal rallies ever since.
Iran's deputy police commander, on Saturday, warned against the mass gatherings, asserting that those who engage in any such actions would be severely reprimanded.
Earlier on Saturday, MKO leader Maryam Rajavi had supported the recent wave of street violence in Iran during a Saturday address to supporters in Paris.
Rajavi had reportedly described the MKO terrorists as the real winners of the Iranian election.
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization is a Marxist guerilla group, which was founded in the 1960s.In the past two decades, MKO leaders have been resettled in the northern outskirts of Paris.
The terrorists are especially notorious for taking sides with former dictator Saddam Hussein during the war Iraq imposed on Iran (1980-1988).
The group masterminded a slew of terrorist operations in Iran and Iraq -- one of which was the 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party, in which more than 72 Iranian officials were killed.
A 2007 German intelligence report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has identified the MKO as a "repressive, sect-like and Stalinist authoritarian organization which centers around the personality cult of [MKO leaders] Maryam and Masoud Rajavi".
Anne Singleton, an expert on the MKO and author of 'Saddam's Private Army' explains that the West aims to keep the group afloat in order to use it in efforts to stage a regime change in Iran.
"With a new Administration in the White House a pre-emptive strike on Iran looks unlikely. Instead the MKO's backers have put together a coalition of small irritant groups, the known minority and separatist groups, along with the MKO. These groups will be garrisoned around the border with Iran and their task is to launch terrorist attacks into Iran over the next few years to keep the fire hot," she explains.
"The role of the MKO is to train and manage these groups using the expertise they acquired from Saddam's Republican Guard," Singleton added.
A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report also condemns the MKO for running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations. According to report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
http://www.habilian.com/view-en.asp?ID=03629
According to Political correspondent of Fars News Agency, after confessing to direct communication with MKO terrorist group, the two arrested members of MKO in recent disturbances in Tehran stated that they had been trained by this terrorist cult for launching terrorist operations and creating unrest and insecurity in Iran after the elections.
One of these MKO elements in detention said during confessions: I was trained in Camp Ashraf which is the MKO headquarters in Iraq for 3 months and learned how to use weapons, burn down buses and attack the military bases.
The other detained member also pointed to his direct communication with MKO base in England and said: Some one named Zohre constantly called me from London and followed up issues such as burning governmental centers and armed struggles and I did what he wanted me to do.
Detained members of MKO terrorist group in recent disturbances expressed a wide range of information that specifies the details behind much recent unrest. More detailed reports in this regard would b publicized in near future.
Translated by Habilian Association
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=6540
http://www.irna.ir
Arrested people have confessed that after being trained in Iraq, they have infiltrated into Iran and that they were guided and supported by MKO operation room in Britain.
Iranian television broadcast their confesses and their telephone conversations with a number of leaders of that group in which they ordered them for sabotage like setting fire on buses, gas stations, attacking the Bassiji barracks and demolishing public properties.
The commanding headquarter of the group which supports and finances terrorist actions in Iran and Iraq is located in the outskirt of Paris, France.
The British government removed the group's name from the terrorist group list last year, so that they could expand their centers to guide operations in the country.
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=6538
http://360.yahoo.com/paulsheldonfoote
During the 11:00 – 11:30 AM (PST) segment, Fox News Channel showed MEK supporters in front of the White House waving their communist flags. The panelists for this segment, Charles Krauthammer and Courtney Kealy, failed to identify or to condemn the supporters of the communist terrorists. These terrorists have murdered American military officers, Rockwell International employees, and large numbers of Iranian and Iraqi civilians. In September 2002, former President George W. Bush’s White House published a background paper for Bush’s remarks at the United Nations listing the MEK as a pretext for the Iraq War. In 2003, American and coalition forces attacked and killed some of the MEK terrorists at Camp Ashraf, Iraq.
In a later segment, Congressman Darryl Issa (Republican—California) commented that empowerment of people has changed Communist China for the better!
During Shepard Smith’s segment, Smith showed a video of the MEK rally in Paris, France and identified them as the PMOI. The only negative reference to the MEK occurred when Amy Kellogg speculated that the MEK might be responsible for a possible suicide bombing at Ayatollah Khomeini’s shrine in Tehran. Shepard Smith neither responded nor indicated that PMOI and MEK are two names for the same communist terrorist organization.
During Geraldo Rivera’s segment, former Senator Rick Santorum, who was a strong supporter of the MEK in the United States Senate, noted that former Senator (and now Vice President) Biden had originally opposed the Iran Freedom Support Act.
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=792
Then, Geraldo Rivera showed video of Maryam Rajavi’s MEK rally in Paris, France and interviewed Fox News Channel Foreign Affairs Analyst, who headed the NCRI office in Washington, DC until the Federal Government closed the office.
In 2007, Fox News Channel viewers could claim to have been duped by relying upon the Fox News Channel for news. Now, Fox News Channel viewers have no excuses. Those who rely upon the Fox News Channel as a source of accurate news are traitors to all Americans who fought or died fighting communists. Americans do not need to look to Iran or to the Middle East in search for America’s worst enemies. America’s worst enemies are in America.
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=6534
http://iran-interlink.org/index.php?mod=view&id=6346
"Our efforts must be reciprocated by the other side: Just as we abandon calls for regime change in Tehran and recognize a legitimate Iranian role in the region, Iran's leaders must moderate their behavior and that of their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas," said Kerry, who currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Irrelevant to any position taken, observers are aware that this is a government which has been happy to host the head of Jondolla terrorist group on a "Voice of America" programme in which Jondolla was presented as a democratic alternative to the Iranian government.
This is a government whose CIA is holding regular meetings in Soleimaniyeh to create and develop FTOs to target Iranian people.
This is a government which has established offices in London, Dubai and Frankfurt under the Patriot Act in order to recruit people who travel to Iran to meddle in the internal affairs of the country.
This is a government with a long and continuing history of support for Saddamists in Iraq in the hope that they can be paid to foment and maintain hostilities against Iran.
By far the most blatant example of this is that from 2003 until now the US has desperately tried to keep together what is left of the Mojahedin-e Khalq at Ashraf terrorist camp (the MKO is on the US’s own list of terrorist entities) against the wishes of the Government and people of Iraq and against the human rights of the people inside the camp. The US has shown clear resistance in front of the Government of Iraq and the families of victims of this terrorist cult to the process of dismantling and disbanding it. The US has 25 soldiers stationed at the camp, plus five US citizens inside it. They have prevented families from freely visiting their relatives at the camp, they have interfered in the Iraqi process of dealing with individuals and imposing law and order in the camp and have interfered in the process of human rights organisations getting in and helping people individually.
Once the US stops these activities then it can claim it is not in ‘regime change mode’. If Senator Kerry or Nicholas Burns or any other ‘we have changed now it’s your turn’ pundits in the US have any doubt about the veracity of these activities or if they believe they are not perceived – particularly by Iraqis – as a continuation of ‘regime change policy’, then please feel free to contact me and I can appraise them further to this information.