Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK), terrorists masquerading as freedom fighters

By J. Michael Springmann

(Springmann is an American political commentator, author, and former US diplomat in Saudi Arabia. He is based in Washington. He wrote this article for the Press TV website.)

MEK—A FAVORITE TERRORIST GROUP? 

Is MEK America’s favorite terrorist organization? John Bolton seems to think so.  Paid, as one individual suggested, $180,000 for his efforts, President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor had often pressed for the group’s removal from the U.S. government’s terrorist list.  He has spoken at MEK rallies and conferences.

Journalist Caitlin Johnstone once said that Bolton “…declared [in 2017] that the cult was “a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

But the extremist organization is planning a Free Iran World Summit in Paris, July 10-12, 2021.  Speakers will include a good many serving and former U.S. government officials, as well as French and Canadian ones.  Curiously enough, given the MEK’s background, it is not on the European Community’s terrorist organization list.
DISGUSTING BACKGROUND.  According to the Establishment-oriented Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), “The People’s Mujahedin of Iran, more commonly known as the Mujahedin-e-Khalq or MEK, is a controversial Iranian resistance group; it was once listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the United States for its alleged killing of U.S. personnel in Iran during the 1970s… the [U.S.] State Department delisted the MEK in late 2012…”

What the CFR neglected to mention was that, as wire service Reuters wrote, “the U.S. State Department changed its decision only after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took the decision, …in view of the MEK’s public renunciation of violence, the absence of confirmed acts of terrorism by the MEK for more than a decade, and their cooperation in the peaceful closure of their paramilitary base in Iraq, the State Department said in a statement…”

Western MEK support contradicts claim of valuing democracy

An analyst says Western countries support for the anti-Iran terrorist group, MEK, contravenes their claims to be advocates of democracy.

PAY TO PLAY?  

Continuing, Reuters noted ,“The U.S. decision comes after years of intense lobbying by the MEK, which had seen many of its members stranded in Iraq as the group fell out of Baghdad’s favor after Saddam Hussein’s downfall in 2003.”

“The group marshaled the support of dozens of members of Congress as well as political, government and media notables.”

“Public figures who have endorsed the MEK’s campaign included former CIA directors R. James Woolsey and Porter Goss, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, and Mitchell Reiss, a former State Department official who is a top foreign policy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.”  A rogue’s gallery of questionable officials who don’t know where their true loyalties lie.

“Prominent Democratic Party figures who have supported the MEK have included former Pennsylvania and Vermont Governors Ed Rendell and Howard Dean. People familiar with its activities said that the MEK had paid generous fees to some of those who made speeches in support of its de-listing.”

The “generous fees” are the key, given the corrupt nature of U.S. government officials at all levels.  The British paper the Guardian commented “[Pro-Israel] Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the chair of the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee…accepted at least $20,000 in donations from Iranian American groups or their leaders to her political campaign fund.”
Moreover, “Three top Washington lobby firms - DLA Piper; Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; and DiGenova & Toensing - have been paid a total of nearly $1.5 million over the past year to press the US administration and legislators to support the delisting of the MEK and protection for its members in camps in Iraq.”

“Scores of former senior officials have been paid up to $40,000 to make speeches in support of the MEK's delisting. Those who have received money include the former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, General Hugh Shelton; ex-FBI director Louis Freeh; and Michael Mukasey, who as attorney general oversaw the prosecution of terrorism cases.”  So, they prosecute only certain terrorists?

What is the point of MEK terror organization’s leader?

Over three decades, Maryam Rajavi has proven incapable of commanding attention or support.

FINALLY

In keeping with its secretive, terrorist nature, the MEK doesn’t list the venue of its upcoming Paris meeting.  But, if you want background on what a monstrous organization it is, go to their website and read their lies.

Compare them to what The American Conservative magazine wrote: “Terror has always been a hallmark of MEK’s strategy for assuming power. Through much of its past, the party exulted violence as a heroic expression of legitimate dissent. One of the central precepts of the party is that a highly-dedicated group of militants could spark a mass revolution by bravely confronting superior power of the state and assaulting its authority. Once, the masses observe that the state is vulnerable to violence, then they will shed their inhibitions and join the protest, thus sparking the larger revolution. Thus, the most suitable means of affecting political change is necessarily violence. Although in its advocacy in Western capitals, the MEK emphasizes its commitment to democracy and free expression, in neither deed nor word has it forsworn it violent pedigree.

So why does France, which never fails to denounce “terrorism”, permit this group to hold its World Summit in Paris?  Because Bernard Kouchner, former French foreign minister is speaking?  Or because Michelle Alliot-Marie, former French foreign minister, former French defense minister, and French former justice minister will address the meeting?  

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk