the opinionist

Does history not teach those in power anything? Is President Bush comfortable placing his gut instincts (thus far proven rudimentary to say the least!) in a covenant with evil? Can the U.S. once again make a pact with truly bad people under the hackneyed expression, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”?

As previously mentioned, the Bush Administration passionately believes the United States “may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran.”

So the Bush Administration, under the reported direction of then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, makes parley with a flavor of terrorist organization so virulent that it comes with a slew of names, including:

- The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI)
- Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK)
- Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO)
- The National Liberation Army of Iran
- National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

Use whatever name grabs your fancy but peruse its terrorist activities since it was founded in 1965.

- Opposed the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
- Assassinated U.S. military personnel and civilians working in Iran in 1970s
- Actively supported the U.S. embassy takover in Tehran in 1979
- Largest opposition group in Iran against newly appointed Ayatollah Khomeini
- Relocated to France, after Khomeini-backed crackdown, until 1986.
- France made deal with Iran to force MEK from France. They moved to Iraq.
- Iraq’s Saddam Hussein gave military and financial aid and base of operations.
- Iraq armed the MEK and used it against Iranian forces in Iran / Iraq war
- MEK assisted the Iraqi Republican Guard in suppressing the Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War
- MEK leader, “Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.”

See report by Human Rights Watch for more examples should this not be enough evidence that the MKO was, at the very least, complicit with the actions of the sick dictator Saddam Hussein. The MKO have the blood of American servicemen and citizens on its resume of terror.

Yet even as recently as 2003 there have been reports of political support for the MKO by members of the U.S. Congress - across party lines I must say - including the reputable Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas).

When chasing an updated position from Rep. Tancredo (R-Colorado) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) It was suggested (view email) by Sam Stratman, communications director for the House Committee on International Relations, that Rep. Ros-Lehtinen was unavailable for comment and I should redirect my inquiries to “Rep. Bob Filner [D-CA] and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee [D-TX] who are active on this topic.” Interesting use of partisan politics in a friendly “fudge-off”!

Thus far no updated position has been forthcoming from Rep. Tom Tancredo, Rep. Jackson-Lee nor Rep. Filner.

In the past few months there have been a number of reports of collusion between the Pentagon and the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) which includes U.S. sponsored insurgency operations inside Iran.
It is not know to what extent the MEK have been unleashed and certain no formal acknowledgement of any such agreement exists but rumor and innuendo are rife.

What can be deduced is MEK (PMOI) activity inside Iran is an unwanted distraction for the Iranian Government - to such a degree that the topic has been listed as a negotiation chip between the U.S. and the Iran in recent months.

A recent story by the BBC indicated that an olive branch gesture from the Iranians had been quickly snubbed by the Bush administration as disingenuous and without merit. The Iranians specifically requested the U.S. “disband the Iranian rebel group the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) and repatriate its members” in return for Iran’s willingness to open up its Nuclear program for U.S. and IAEA inspection.
Obviously the U.S.-sponsored MEK are causing more than a few annoying pin pricks within the Iranian government.

Presidential hopeful Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) - a ranking member of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations - has taken the reports of U.S. sponsored insurgency activities seriously enough to send a provocative letter to President Bush.

Whilst the issue remains cloudy and unsubstantiated, the notion that the United States of America is willing to partner with anyone of any sick repute in order to achieve its objectives - even though the objectives lay in a pool of terrorist bloodshed is sickening. Does this truly reflect American values? God I hope not.

Posted on January 25th, 2007 under BBC, Bush, Filner, Iran, Iraq, Jackson-Lee, Kucinich, MEK, Ros-Lehtinen, Rumsfeld, Saddam Hussein, Sam Stratman, Tancredo •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback