Congressional backers look to exiled Iranian group for regime change. It's been over two months since the toughest Iran sanctions ever approved by Congress were signed into law, three months since the UN's latest resolution, and 15 months since Iran's post-election demonstrations began. Despite all of this, Iran's clerical government is not crumbling, nor has Iran shown any sign of giving in to the West on its nuclear program. Recent weeks have seen a renewed discussion of military options for stopping Iran's nuclear program - kicked off by Jeffrey Goldberg's cover article in the Atlantic. But there is also a campaign underway to promote a different option on Iran: regime change, via Iranian dissidents in exile. Members of Congress led by Rep.
According to a letter from Filner to his House colleagues: Neither war nor appeasement is a solution to Iran's threats. The designation of the MEK as a terrorist organization stems from its activities inside Iran aimed at overthrowing both the Shah's government and, later, the Islamic Republic. Rep. AFP/Getty images. Www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG871.pdf. MEK Supporters in Congress Turn up Pressure on Administration to Take Group off Terrorist List. Source: National Iranian American Council (NIAC) Washington, DC - Efforts in the House of Representatives to press the Obama Administration to remove the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) from the United States list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations have accelerated in the past week.
The State Department describes the MEK as a "cult-like" terrorist organization that "uses propaganda and terrorism to achieve its objectives. " Human Rights Watch has reported that MEK leadership has engaged in human rights violations against its membership at Camp Ashraf in Iraq. But last Tuesday, six Members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging that the State Department remove the Marxist Islamist group from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
The letter highlights a House resolution, H.Res. 1431, calling for the group's removal from the terrorist list, introduced by California Democratic Representative Bob Filner, one of the MEK's staunchest supporters in Congress. Www.niacouncil.org/site/DocServer/Filner_Letter_to_Clinton.pdf?docID=601. People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran. The People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), is the largest and most militant group opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Its ideology is a blend of Marxism and Islamism.
Masoud Rajavi is the leader of the PMOI, while his wife Maryam Rajavi is called "President Elect of the Iranian Resistance. " The PMOI was "founded in 1965 by a small group of intellectuals led by Muhammed Hanifnejad. " [1] The PMOI's political arm is the National Council of Resistance of Iran. [2] From 1981 the group supported Iraq in its eight-year war against Khomeini’s Iran. From 1986, it was headquartered in Iraq. "The MEK also has the support of the state of Israel.
The Iran Policy Committee regards the PMOI as a major potential asset in its proposed policy of "destablization". Intiating nuclear inspections in Iran "The MeK's biggest claim to fame has been its revelation in 2002 that Iran had a secret nuclear site at a place called Natanz. Camp Ashraf controversy Staff. US Officials: Israel Works With Terror Group to Kill Iranian Scientists. Israel has financed, trained, and armed Iranian dissident groups in order to carry out terrorist attacks on Iranian soil, according to top U.S. officials. The group, Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK), is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and is accused of carrying out terrorist attacks in the past, including on American citizens.
With the help of Israel, MEK has carried out five assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists since 2007 and may have destroyed a missile research and development site. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration knows of the assassination campaign but has no direct involvement. However, there has been a big money push by many influential people in Washington to get MEK removed from the State Department’s terrorist list, presumably to make them eligible for U.S. funding. Last 5 posts by John Glaser. Israel's Assassins and Tehran's Killers. They are dying one by one. They are Iran's nuclear scientists, and they are being murdered. Since 2007, five Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Iranian territory, many victims dying from magnetic bombs that terrorists had attached to the exterior of their cars. The latest attack took place on January 11, 2012, when Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan, deputy director in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, died without warning in a blast in Tehran shortly after two assailants on a motorcycle placed a bomb on his car.
According to news reports, confirmed by Truthout, the United States denied that it was to blame for the killing of the 32-year-old Roshan after Tehran said Washington and Israel were responsible for the attack. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor added, "The United States had absolutely nothing to do with this. US opposition to the program initially intensified as President Obama made overtures aimed at thawing decades-old tension between the two countries.