[Mb-civic] FW: Members of Congress Adress MEK Convention (MUST READ)

[Golsorkhi]

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From: Samii Shahla <shahla at thesamiis.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 18:58:54 -0400
Subject: Members of Congress Adress MEK Convention (MUST READ)



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Members of Congress Adress MEK Convention
  Nick Hoover | Washington | April 14

  The Agonist - Reps. Bob Filner, D-Calif., Tom Tancredo, R-Col., Dennis
Moore, R-Kan., and staffers for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas,
addressed a convention of MEK supporters today in Washington.

  The MEK has been listed as a terrorist organization by the State
Department since 1997, but some in Congress and close to the
Administration want the group to be removed from the terrorist list.
 Even President Bush has called the MEK a "dissident group."  

  In addition to incursions into Iran and targeted killings of Iranian
officials and security agents, MEK attacks have often killed civilians
there.  The MEK carried out attacks on the Iranian consulate to the UN
and 12 other Iranian embassies in 1992, assisted Saddam Hussein in his
suppression of Shiite and Kurdish insurgencies in the early 1990s, and
killed U.S. military and civilian personnel working in Iran in the
1970s out of anger for American support of the shah.  Members of the
MEK also supported the 1979 takeover and hostage taking at the U.S.
embassy in Tehran.  Here is more on the group.

  Tancredo called Maryam Rajavi, the MEK's leader, "quite an
extraordinary lady."

  Much more after the jump. I hope to scan some documents from the
convention by tomorrow.  jnh.

-
By Nick in Iran on Thu Apr 14th, 2005 at 05:38:53 PM PDT

The only way to a free Iran is "the third option," Moore said. Rajavi
often refers to "the third option" when she talks about MEK-led
uprising from within.

  Rajavi herself spoke to the group by live video feed, urging removal
of the MEK from the list of terrorist groups.

  "The worst aspect of appeasement, which plays a crucial role in
keeping the regime in power, is the terror tag on the Iranian
Resistance," Rajavi said.

  "The message of this terrorist designation ... to our people is that
the West is on the side of the dictators and is opposed to change," she
added.

  Asked if there was any opposition to the event, Shahab Sariri, a
representative for "the Council for Freedom and Democracy in Iran,"
said that since MEK has been listed as a terrorist group and especially
since the groups office in Washington was closed in 2003, everything
has been done by "expatriates" who "naturally" include lots of
supporters for the MEK. The MEK is the largest organized resistance
group against the current Iranian regime.

  Sariri also said that there was more opposition to an event last year,
but said that was nothinig more than a ploy by Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio,
who Sariri called a "lobbyist for Iran."

  "It was a bankrupt card that they played on behalf of the Iranian
government," Sariri said.

  Rajavi also praised a petition she said was signed by 2.7 million
Iraqis in support of the People's Mujahideen of Iraq, which is another
name for the MEK.

  She characterized the MEK as democratic, inclusive, heavily supported
by Iranians and only on the terrorist list because of a policy of
appeasement by the Clinton Administration, citing one anonymous quote
in a 1997 Washington Post article.

  Hundreds of supporters greeted Rajavi with deafening applause and the
waving of signs and banners emblazoned with images of Rajavi and her
husband.  Her speech was punctuated numerous times by applause and
Farsi cheers.

  "U.S., U.S., listen this, Iran mujahideen not terrorists," the crowd
chanted several times.

  "Freedom and democracy and support for Rajavi," supporters urged in
unison.

  "God bless you, Rajavi," the people cried after urging from an older
Iranian man who sat near the back of the large hall.

  Another speaker at the event, Neil Livingstone, is often interviewed
by the press as a terrorism expert. He has been quoted as saying he has
had good relations with the MEK for 30 years and also advised Ahmed
Chalabi's INC. Livingstone urged the government to step up its efforts
to destabilize the Iranian government, saying "we must recognize the
Iranian government in exile." This refers to Rajavi, who was declared
by her movement to be President-in-exile. "We are all members of the
Iranian Resistance," he closed.

  Two of the speakers at the event were American soldiers who dealt with
the group at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where the U.S. government has
detained and disarmed them.

  Lt. Col. Thomas Cantwell was the commander of the 324th MP Batallion
at Camp Ashraf from June through December 2003.

  "Our assessment was that the mujahideen represented a minimal threat
to U.S. forces," he said.

  He also questioned the designation of the MEK as a terrorist group.
"If we have a terrorist group in Ashraf, where are the terrorists?" he
asked. He said this despite admission in a later interview that he was
not "routinely granted access" to intelligence on the group and left
Camp Ashraf before debriefings of MEK members there moved into full
swing.

  Captain Vivian Gambara was a Jag officer who participated in
disarmament negotiations with the MEK. Although, by her own admission,
she was one of the most junior lawyers there, she said that she and
special forces soldiers around her recognize the security possibilities
that the MEK represented.
---

And if you missed the following article, please click on the link:

Looking for a Few Good Spies
Newsweek


URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6920459/site/newsweek/


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