StopFundamentalism.com

I was among thousands of Iranian-Americans from 41 states across the country who took part in a huge rally and march outside the State Department last Friday, urging Secretary Clinton to act swiftly and delist the principal Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK).

Several senior former US Government officials also spoke at the rally, including Governor Ed Rendell; Rep. Patrick Kennedy; FBI Director Louis Freeh; CIA Deputy Director for Covert Operations, John Sano; and Col. Wesley Martin, chief of counterterrorism for the Coalition forces in Iraq and commandant of Camp Ashraf in 2006. 

Aware that if the Secretary of State were to base her decision strictly on law and fact, she would have no choice other than to delist the MEK, the Iranian regime and its lobby inside the Beltway have embarked on an unprecedented campaign to distort the facts. To this end, in the past few weeks, a battery of articles have appeared in the U.S. media lashing out against the Iranian-American communities and their campaign to uphold the rule of law by calling for an objective review of the FTO status the MEK. Based on all the evidence reviewed by U.S. courts, MEK should have been delisted by now. 

Most notable among these articles is Elizabeth Rubin’s hit-piece in the New York Times on August 14, 2011, which suggests that senior former U.S. officials endorsing the MEK’s delisting have been “paid” to do so. This and other articles like it have been widely distributed via social media, and their false claims are embedded in the talking points of the pro-Tehran lobby group National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its head, Trita Parsi.

To set the record straight, we are proud to fund the activities of our own community in the exercise of our First Amendment rights and aimed at bringing democracy to Iran. The Iranian regime has spent millions of dollars in an attempt to delegitimize the MEK. They have many willing accomplices.

Ms. Rubin is the sister of Jamie Rubin, who served as Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration that listed the MEK at the behest of Tehran, unsurprisingly failed to cite a single act of terrorism and parrots the Iranian regime’s party line. She ignores the fact that the European Union and the United Kingdom have already removed the group from their lists and a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals ruled the State Department had violated the MEK’s due process rights.

Rubin cites a RAND Corporation report to justify her arguments. That report was spearheaded by none other than James Dobbins, who has a long history of involvement with NIAC and Trita Parsi and former Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations. Not surprisingly, she fails to mention a thorough rebuttal to that report published shortly afterwards.

Ms. Rubin’s piece can only be used to justify the killing of 47 unarmed civilians in Camp Ashraf in July 2009 and April 2011. About 1,000 residents were also injured. Her assertions encourage the Iraqi Army to attack the camp again, presumably to “free” the residents.

Ms. Rubin implicitly endorses the use of violence against the residents of Camp Ashraf and portrays the residents–most of whom were former political prisoners in Iran — as individuals who deserve to be mistreated.

It is no coincidence that Ms. Rubin went to Tehran before her Ashraf visit in 2003, and described the then president of the Iranian regime, Mohammad Khatami, as “a moderate” and “Iran’s Mikhail Gorbachev.”

The regime and its allies, particularly NIAC, have undertaken an unprecedented campaign against the delisting of the MEK. They are good company. The despotic and cruel Iranian theocracy has adopted at their instrument of influence in the U.S. an outfit that is itself facing widespread accusations of illegal lobbying. Their complicity has cost lives: in Camp Ashraf, in Evin Prison and throughout Iran. The New York Times should be ashamed for enabling their continued collaboration.

Ahmad Moein is an Electronics Engineer in Silicon Valley and Executive Director of the Iranian American Community of Northern California (info@iacnorcal.com)

THE WASHINGTON POST

Politicians, former national security officials and thousands of others gathered outside the State Department on Friday to call for the removal of the Mujahedin-e Khalk, an Iranian opposition group, from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.  

Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” blasted from large speakers and doves and clouds of confetti flew into the air as former congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) introduced the group’s leader, Maryam Rajavi, to speak by video link from Paris.

“I salute your protest and gathering, which symbolizes an uprising for the freedom of the Iranian people,” said Rajavi, speaking in Farsi.

The controversial group, usually called by the acronym MEK, is made up of exiled Iranian dissidents who organized in the 1960s and now are mounting a political and legal campaign to end their designation as terrorists.

The group violently opposed the rule of the shah and initially supported the Islamist regime that came to power in 1979, but they became disillusioned with the theocracy and eventually fled amid growing hostility.

Some went to Europe, and others went to Iraq, where they built a heavily fortified base, called Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad. MEK fought with Saddam Hussein’s forces against Iran. The U.S. designated MEK a terrorist group in 1997 after blaming it for attacks on Iranian government institutions in which dozens were killed, including Americans working in Tehran.

Kennedy said the group does not nowcommit acts of terrorism or pose a threat to the United States. He and others hailed the group as a legitimate alternative to Iran’s repressive government.

“How much worse can we do than the mullahs in Tehran now?” Kennedy asked. “Does it make sense to shackle the primary opposition group internationally? You may not like them. They may not have a lot of support. . . . But we ought to be on the opposite side of what Tehran favors as a matter of principle.”

Retired Army Col. Wesley Martin said: “The opposition in Iran has been sent to the gallows or prison. [MEK is] the only external organization with influence.”

A growing number of high-profile figures support removing the MEK from the list of terrorist groups. Those who have spoken in support of the move include retired Army Gen. Hugh Shelton and retired Marine Gen. Peter Pace, both former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, who was President Obama’s national security adviser; and former Vermont governor Howard Dean (D).

Lawmakers from both parties have criticized the Obama administration for not moving swiftly to clear MEK’s name or to facilitate a move to a country outside Iraq. Administration officials say there remains concern about the group’s nature.

“This is a group that has a lot of blood on its hands, including American blood,” said a senior administration official, who insisted on anonymity because legal and political decisions were being made about MEK. “We don’t want to be in a position where we later determine that a de-listed group has returned to violence.”

Many people in the Iranian diaspora support MEK, but within Iran, it has limited support even among opposition movements.

After the 2003 invasion, MEK members were offered American protection in exchange for giving up their weapons, but they are reviled by the Iraqi government because of their association with Saddam Hussein. About 3,400 members still live at Camp Ashraf, where there have been clashes with Iraqi government forces.

Speaking at the event Friday, former FBI director Louis J. Freeh called for American support for the group as U.S. troop levels decline in Iraq. He said abandoning MEK to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom he accused of collusion with the Iranian regime, could lead to a massacre “worse than Srebrenica,” a reference to a notorious 1995 atrocity during the war in Bosnia.

Iraqi authorities have long called for MEK to leave the country. Members would likely face detention and punishment in Iran, and it is difficult to resettle them in other countries as long as the United States designates them as terrorists.

“I think the U.S. should be willing to take at least some of these people, because we have agreements with them,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who in most cases is a hard-liner on immigration issues. He said the group had provided intelligence on Iran to the United States.

Rohrabacher said he had received campaign donations from individuals linked to the group. Many other officials, including Freeh, have received money for speaking at events supporting MEK. Freeh said he received no compensation for attending Friday’s event.

“The issue is whether the group should be on the list,” he said. “Are these people being paid to say something they do not believe in? Absolutely not.”

MEK says it receives money largely from wealthy Iranian American families who support its cause, but it does not disclose the names of donors.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for MEK, said the group should be removed because it does not currently support terrorism and poses no threat to the United States.

There were large numbers of people at the demonstration Friday, but some seemed confused about its purpose.

“We need to go out and let our voices be heard,” said David Smith, 27, who had traveled from New York on a bus with other members of his church after their pastor encouraged them to attend. Smith said he did not know the name of the organization holding the rally or the country it is from. 

Staff writer Joby Warrick contributed to this article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iranian-dissidents-gather-high-profile-support/2011/08/26/gIQAIuREhJ_story.html

THE MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — Thousands of supporters of Iran’s leading opposition group rallied outside the State Department on Friday, calling on the agency to take the group off its list of terrorist organizations.
 
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and several other politicians addressed the mostly Iranian-American crowd, which gathered at midmorning in support of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, commonly referred to by the initials of its Farsi name, MEK.

The State Department has classified the MEK as a terrorist organization since 1997, citing its alleged involvement in multiple assassinations of Americans in the 1970s and the 1979 takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran. From 1986 through the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the group relied on the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for funding and military support, according to a State Department report released this year.   

Supporters of the group, however, say it’s posed no threat to the United States for years. They say it serves the U.S.’s national interest to back the group, which ultimately could help topple Iran’s dictatorship as opposition groups have done in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” Rendell, a Democrat, told the demonstrators Friday as he called on the State Department to delist the MEK. “The time is now.”

Demonstrators — decked in the MEK’s blue and yellow — heard a similar message from Patrick Kennedy, a former Democratic congressman for Rhode Island.

“The future of Iran is right in here in front of me,” Kennedy said. “Your cause is our cause, is the cause of democracy and human rights.”

The State Department is reviewing the MEK’s designation, but no final decision has been made, spokesman Mark Toner said last month at a news briefing. Reached late Friday afternoon, a department spokesman declined to comment about the day’s protest.
 
The rally brought Iranian-Americans to Washington from across the country. Hoora Mostashari, 50, flew in from Orange County, Calif., to protest what she sees as American appeasement of Iran’s leaders.

“It’s a failed policy from Neville Chamberlain until now,” she said, in reference to the former British prime minister who favored appeasement over confrontation with Adolf Hitler.

Mostashari said she was hopeful that the Arab Spring revolutions would reach Iran, a country she left for the United States in 1976.

“It is coming our way,” she said.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/08/26/122145/protesters-hope-to-end-terrorist.html#ixzz1WB3PQ3x9

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2011/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — This morning, thousands of Iranians from 41 states across the U.S. staged a huge and colorful rally outside the State Department urging the immediate delisting of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK), Iran’s main opposition movement. They also called for ensuring protection of MEK members in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, according to Human Rights and Democracy International.

The ensuing march stretched several blocks around the State Department. The police were very cooperative by blocking the lanes for the peaceful marchers.

Among the participants were more than 100 university professors, eminent scholars and physicians from all over the U.S.

A number of former senior U.S. Government officials including Louis Freeh, Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (1993-2001); Ed Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania (2003-2011); John Sano, former Central Intelligence Agency National Clandestine Service first Deputy Director ; and Colonel Wesley Martin (Ret.), Coalition’s counter terrorism commander in Iraq and U.S. commander for protection of Ashraf spoke at the rally and asked the U.S. to live up to its commitments regarding 3,400 Ashraf residents. They reiterated that no delay in removing the MEK from the FTO list is permissible. Patrick Kennedy, U.S. Congressman (1995-2011), and son of late Senator Edward Kennedy, moderated the rally. 

In his speech, the British Conservative MP Brian Binley announced the support of 4,000 parliamentarians from across the globe, including a significant number of members of the UK Parliament and House of Lords, for delisting the PMOI from the U.S. FTO list.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian resistance, who was addressing the rally via satellite link from Paris, said, “It has been more than a year since the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, which ordered the State Department to review the terrorist listing of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance have paid the price for this unjustified delay with the blood of their most courageous children…The terror listing in the U.S. is openly used as a justification to legitimize such bloodletting, both by the cruel mullahs in Tehran as well as their proxy government in Iraq…”

“Clearly, the U.S. bears special responsibility for ensuring the protection of these residents on the basis of its agreements with every single one of the residents in Camp Ashraf,” Mrs. Rajavi reiterated.

Video of rally: http://youtu.be/8cB0LCSFSe4

 SOURCE Human Rights and Democracy International

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thousands-demonstrate-outside-the-state-department-calling-for-delisting-irans-main-opposition-movement-the-mek-and-protection-of-camp-ashraf-128500998.html

WASHINGTON, DC – Thousands of Iranian-Americans from 41 states took part in a huge rally outside the State Department on August 26, 2011, urging Secretary Clinton to act swiftly and remove the principal Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.