U.S. Handling of Mujahedin-E-Khalq Since U.S. Invasion of Iraq Is Examined
(The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq , A Policy Conundrum)
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Jeremiah Goulka, Lydia Hansell, Elizabeth Wilke, Judith Larson, RAND, August 04, 2009
http://www.rand.org/news/press/2009/08/04/?ref=homepage&key=t_iraqi_mek_flags
(Massoud Rajavi and Saddam Hussein)
At the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Coalition forces classified the Mujahedin-e Khalq, a militant organization from Iran with cult-like elements that advocates the overthrow of Iran's current government, as an enemy force.
The MeK had provided security services to Saddam Hussein from camps established in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War to fight Iran in collaboration with Saddam's forces and resources. A new study from the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, looks at how coalition forces handled this group following the invasion.
Although the MeK is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States, coalition forces never had a clear mission on how to deal with it.
After a ceasefire was signed between Coalition forces and the MeK, the U.S. Secretary of Defense designated this group's members as civilian "protected persons" rather than combatant prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. The coalition's treatment of the MeK leaves it – and the United States in particular – open to charges of hypocrisy, offering security to a terrorist group rather than breaking it up.
Research suggests that most of the MeK rank-and-file are neither terrorists nor freedom fighters, but trapped and brainwashed people who would be willing to return to Iran if they were separated from the MeK leadership. Many members were lured to Iraq from other countries with false promises, only to have their passports confiscated by the MeK leadership, which uses physical abuse, imprisonment, and other methods to keep them from leaving.
Iraq wants to expel the group, but no country other than Iran will accept it. The RAND study suggests the best course of action would have been to repatriate MeK rank-and-file members back to Iran, where they have been granted amnesty since 2003. To date, Iran appears to have upheld its commitment to MeK members in Iran. The study also concludes better guidelines be established for the possible detention of members of designated terrorist organizations.
The study, "The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum," can be found here.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG871.pdf
For more information, or to arrange an interview with the authors, contact Lisa Sodders in the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 393-0411, ext. 7139, or lsodders@rand.org.
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Also read: Mass grave found in Ashraf garrison (Mojahedin Khalq Organisation base) in Iraq . . Al alam, Baghdad, August 02, 2009 According to confirmed reports reflected in the Iraqi media, a mass grave containing victims of Saddam Hussein's regime during the war against Kuwait in 1991 was found in Ashraf garrison, the base of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, in the Diyala province in Iraq. -------- 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-iongVI 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: 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'. ------ Also read: I. Summary II. Background III. Rise of Dissent inside the MKO IV. Human Rights Abuses in the MKO Camps V. Testimonies May 2005 -------- Also read: Iraq slams US for contacts with insurgents (Americans meeting with Terror group in Istanbul)
... Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in Washington Thursday the Iraqi government found it shocking that representatives of "the Iraqi resistance movement" met at least one US official last spring. Zebari told Al-Hurra, the official Arabic-language US television station, that the insurgent groups adopt violence and terrorism ... IRIB, July 24, 2009 Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has complained to President Barack Obama about a US meeting with Iraqi insurgents, Baghdad's top diplomat said. Maliki complains about US-insurgents meeting (Iraq calls US officials meeting with Iraqi insurgents shocking) . . Press TV, July 24, 2009 The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has complained to the US President Barack Obama about a meeting between US officials and Iraqi insurgents, a Baghdad official says. . Iraq Presses U.S. on Pact With Sunnis in Turkey SAM DAGHER, New York Times, July 23, 2009 BAGHDAD — Iraq’s government said Thursday that it was demanding explanations from the United States and Turkey about a protocol signed this year between an American official and a representative of a group of Iraqi Sunni insurgents in Istanbul as a precursor to negotiations between the two sides.
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=6751
Link to original (arabic)
http://www.alalam.ir/newspage.asp?
newsid=111170120090802014919
Translated by Sahar Family Foundation (Baghdad)
http://www.saharngo.com/en-index.html
Iraqi media reports also reflected the joy of the inhabitants of the Diyala province that the Iraqi government has imposed its rule over what was described as the "camp housing the terrorist MKO".
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=6538
http://360.yahoo.com/paulsheldonfoote
wherPSJekBajGbbDj1yv4Tfku0?p=193
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.
(Daniel Zucker, Maryam Rajavi and ALi Safavi)
(Ali Safavi as the commander of Saddam's Private Army in Iraq)
(Maryam Rajavi directly ordered the massacre of Kurdish people)
(Rabbi Daniel Zucker with Maryam Rajavi!)
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.
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=797http://hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iran0505/
No Exit
Human Rights Abuses Inside the Mojahedin Khalq Camps 
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=6701
http://english.iribnews.ir/NewsBody.aspx?ID=3736
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in Washington Thursday the Iraqi government found it shocking that representatives of "the Iraqi resistance movement" met at least one US official last spring.
Zebari told Al-Hurra, the official Arabic-language US television station, that the insurgent groups adopt violence and terrorism.
Zebari said Baghdad was still investigating the meeting, adding that it apparently took place in March in Istanbul and that the Iraqi government had discussed the issue with US officials.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=101482§ionid=351020201
Although officials at the US State Department said that they were unaware of the alleged meeting, Maliki implicitly confirmed that he had raised concerns about the issue with Obama.
Commenting on the issue, the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in Washington that Baghdad found it "shocking" that representatives of the "Iraqi resistance movement," Turkish officials and at least one US official had reportedly met in Turkey in March.
Zebari, however, said that Baghdad was "still investigating" the alleged meeting with the "resistance political council," confirming that the Iraqi government had discussed the issue with US officials, AFP reported.
The Iraqi premier, speaking at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), said that he was assured that conditions would be attached to any US talks with insurgents.
"The US government and President Obama told us that they will not be tolerant against those who kill the Iraqi soldiers, kill the US soldiers and kill Iraqi citizens," Maliki said.
"So there will not be negotiations by the US government or any of its representatives with those killers," added Maliki, who held his first White House talks with Obama on Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast
The Iraqi government said in a statement that the protocol amounts to “an interference in Iraq’s internal political affairs” and that it was expecting “clear explanations” from American and Turkish officials at the embassies in Baghdad.
Contacts between the American government and Iraqi insurgent groups are nothing new, and the most recent ones have occurred with the coordination of an Iraqi government reconciliation unit attached to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s office. The goal is to get insurgents to renounce violence and embrace the political process.
But the release of the document of the protocol appears to be an attempt to embarrass the United States and show how deeply involved it remains in Iraq’s affairs. It also underscores just how hostile Mr. Maliki’s Shiite-led government remains to any serious engagement with Sunni insurgents, especially those suspected of having links to Saddam Hussein’s former ruling Baath Party.
The United States Embassy and the military’s Force Strategic Engagement Cell, a special task force working with some of Mr. Maliki’s closest advisers on reconciliation, refused to comment.
The current controversy erupted July 15, when Ali al-Jubouri, identified as the secretary general of the Political Council of the Iraqi Resistance, was interviewed on Al Jazeera television.
Mr. Jubouri revealed that his council, which represents Sunni insurgent groups, met in March with representatives of the American government in Istanbul. He said a protocol was signed then to govern future negotiations between the two sides.
He said that a second meeting took place in May but that talks ended because the American side showed it was “not serious” in fulfilling the council’s demands, which included an apology by the American government for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, compensation for all the damage suffered by the Iraqi people and the release of all prisoners, Mr. Jubouri said.
He said that even though actual negotiations never began, the protocol itself was an “achievement” and an “admission” by the Americans of the legitimacy of the Iraqi insurgency.
The Iraqi government discussed the protocol, made available to it, a few days after the interview, according to its statement.
The most noteworthy point deals with promises by the United States government to ease the movements of 15 members of the insurgent council who will take part in negotiations, and even to pressure the Iraqi government to have them released if some were detained by Iraq.
A senior adviser to Mr. Maliki said that talks between the United States and insurgents have occurred before, including in Turkey, but that the Iraqi government was unaware of these particular contacts with the Political Council of the Iraqi Resistance.