NEWSDAY

The death last week of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi means focus will soon shift back to the single most significant threat America is facing: Iran. Officials in the Obama administration are still scratching their heads for an appropriate response to the foiled plot by agents of the Iranian regime to assassinate the ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Washington. All too often with Iranian provocations, U.S. policy options swing ineffectually between the uncreative (economic sanctions) to the unrealistic (military strikes).

One option sure to get the attention of the ruling mullahs in Tehran — and that could help set the stage for a democratic transition there — is to unleash Iran’s main opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which remains constrained by an ill-advised U.S. policy.

The MEK was put on the U.S. government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations during the Clinton administration as a well-intentioned but naive attempt to gain the confidence of Iran’s new and, it was hoped, reform-minded President Mohammad Khatami. However, Iran continued to be the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism and to develop its nuclear program.

The Bush administration left the group on the list, fearful that delisting it would prompt Tehran to escalate its efforts to murder U.S. soldiers in Iraq. That decision was also ill-advised; the Iranian regime not only sent explosives to Iraq, but has continued to train, arm and finance an assortment of terrorist groups, which have been responsible for the deaths and injuries of hundreds of U.S. service members.

Today, 3,400 members of the MEK sit in Camp Ashraf, their Iraq-based home for the past quarter century, after they fled persecution in Iran. After protecting them for six years, the U.S. military handed over the camp to the Iran-backed Iraqi government, which was responsible for two deadly attacks on the camp. At Camp Ashraf, they are useless to America’s larger strategic objective to contain and neutralize Iran’s radicalism.

A large number of prominent former national security officials, including former directors of the CIA and the FBI, James Woolsey and Louis Freeh, President Barack Obama‘s former National Security Adviser James Jones, and President George W. Bush‘s Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, agree that the MEK is not a threat to the United States. They point out that the group renounced violence against the Iranian regime years ago and has dedicated itself to secular, democratic governance there. It has already proven an able partner by providing critical intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program and the regime’s role in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

So what’s the holdup?

After the MEK appealed a 2009 decision by the State Department to maintain its designation, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that the government had erred and remanded the case to the State Department for a review. Fifteen months after the ruling, the department has yet to announce its decision. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) has introduced a congressional resolution urging the State Department to delist the MEK, and it has garnered 95 co-sponsors, including the chairmen of the Armed Services and Select Intelligence committees.

A well-organized lobbying effort by proxies of Iran operating in the United States has tried to demonize the MEK as a cult with terrorist intentions. But this runs counter to all of the experience by the top brass of the U.S. military, as well as intelligence officials who’ve worked with and studied the MEK over the years. It also flies in the face of eight different court rulings in the United Kingdom, the European Union and France, which have resulted in the group’s delisting.

This propaganda war has served Iran faithfully by keeping the MEK in shackles. The MEK’s terrorist designation gives Iran a license to kill its members at will. In addition to the dozens who have already died in Camp Ashraf, many more were hanged by Iranian authorities.

The still-unraveling plot against the Saudi ambassador demonstrates the reach of the Iranian regime in its attempts to destabilize the United States and our allies. It’s ironic that while Tehran’s agents are running loose in this country and may be planning terrorist acts, our government has hampered the opposition the mullahs fear most.

It’s time to revisit this policy. Delisting the MEK is not only warranted by law, it’s the strongest signal the United States can send to the mullahs of Tehran. The timing could not be better.

Gen. Hugh Shelton was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001.

http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/shelton-mislabeling-iran-s-enemies-1.3264024

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

General Hugh Shelton, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

The foiled plot by agents of the Iranian regime to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. has officials in the Obama administration furiously scratching their heads for an “appropriate” response. All too often with Iranian provocations, U.S. policy options swing ineffectually between the uncreative (economic sanctions) to the unrealistic (military strikes). One option sure to get the attention of the ruling mullahs in Tehran – and that could help set the stage for a future democratic transition there – is to unleash Iran’s main opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), which remains constrained by an ill-advised U.S. policy.

The MeK was put on the U.S. list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” during the Clinton administration as a well-intentioned but naïve attempt to gain the confidence of Iran’s new and, it was hoped, reform-minded President Khatami. However, Iran continued to be the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism and continued to develop its nuclear program.

The Bush administration followed suit, fearful that the delisting of the MEK would prompt Tehran to send IEDs to murder U.S. soldiers. That decision was also ill-advised as the Iranian regime not only sent the deadly explosives to Iraq, but has continued to train, arm and finance an assortment of terrorist groups, which have been responsible for hundreds of U.S. service members being killed or wounded.

Today, 3,400 members of the MeK sit in Camp Ashraf, attacked and massacred as recently as this April by Iran’s proxies in the Iraqi military, useless to America’s larger strategic objective to contain and neutralize Iran’s radicalism.

A large number of prominent former national security officials agree that not only is the MeK not a security threat to the U.S. (the group has dedicated itself to secular, democratic governance in Iran), it has already proven an able and willing partner to the U.S. by providing critical intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program, and the regime’s role in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

So what’s the hold up?

While the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled in July 2010 that the U.S. government had erred in not delisting the MEK and remanded the case to the State Department for a thorough review, the department has yet to announce its decision. A well-organized lobbying effort, again by proxies of Iran operating freely in the U.S., has mischaracterized the MeK as a cult with terrorist intentions. But this runs counter to all of the experience by the top brass of the U.S. military as well as intelligence officials who have worked closely with and studied the MeK over the years. It also flies in the face of eight different court rulings in the UK, EU and France, which have resulted in the group’s delisting in those countries.

The still-unraveling plot against the Saudi Ambassador demonstrates the skill and reach of the Iranian regime in attempting to threaten and destabilize the U.S and our allies. It is somewhat ironic that while Tehran’s agents are running loose in this country, hatching terrorist bombings and assassinations of foreign diplomats, our government has shackled the main opposition, which the mullahs fear the most. It is time to revisit this policy. While the administration, obviously caught off guard, is scrambling to find the proper response, delisting the MeK is the strongest signal the U.S. can send to the mullahs of Tehran. The timing could not be better.

Gen. Hugh Shelton is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/20/2706257/for-an-effective-response-to-iran.html#ixzz1bNsBUmBe

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL – Real Time Brussels Blog

Louis Freeh, Former Director of FBI

The Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, has forged a core of support at the heart of Europe by flying in U.S. political heavyweights for lavish conferences. In January, it was former U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton (and his body double), former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and former U.S. National Security Advisor director James Jones.

This week, Louis Freeh, FBI boss under Bill Clinton, was in town. Mr. Freeh, now a senior partner at his Washington consulting firm Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP, has positioned himself as an MEK ally and fierce opponent of the regime in Tehran. “We’ve been appeasing these guys since 1979,” he said over coffee, describing his support for a tougher stand on Iran.

The thorny issue of Iran regained prominence last week with the Obama administration’s announcement that it had foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S in Washington. Iran has said that the Iranian defendent in the case, Gholam Shakuri, actually belongs to MEK and recently visited Camp Ashraf, its compound in eastern Iraq. The allegation is nonsense, says Shahin Gobadi, an MEK spokesman. In a statement, he said the mullahs routinely “blame their crimes on their opposition for double gains.”

Instead, the MEK says the recent plot legitimizes its campaign to be taken off the U.S.’s official terrorist list, where it landed in the 1990s following negotiations between the Clinton administration and Iran. It had become, it says, a bargaining chip. The designation was due to MEK’s links to Saddam Hussein’s regime. After much lobbying, it is now off the EU’s list but has yet to be successful in the U.S.

Its other signature issue is the fate of Camp Ashraf, a refugee village of 3,400 MEK sympathizers which the Iraqi government, under pressure from Iran and its Shiite allies in Iraq, has vowed to close by the end of the year.

MEK fears an imminent military crackdown by the Iraqi government, such as one in April that ended with the death of 34 people. “We have received word from inside the Iranian government that another crackdown is planned,” said Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which bills itself as the parliament in exile of Iranian dissidents.

Mrs. Rajavi shows pictures of listening devices near the camp she says have been placed there by Iranian agents. Tehran has heavily lobbied Iraq to put more pressure on Camp Ashraf.

Supported by Mr. Freeh, she is calling for the 3,400 residents of Camp Ashraf to receive refugee status. “Right now, many countries, the U.S. included, won’t take these guys in,” he said.

Mr. Freeh, who receives occasional speaker fees and travel expenses from Iranian exile groups, called MEK’s political future unclear. “It’s hard to judge their popularity in Iran,” he said. “I don’t have a position on MEK, except that they’re not a terrorist group.”

Once the MEK is removed from the U.S. terrorist list, said Mr. Freeh, Camp Ashraf residents will be able to obtain refugee status and emigrate outside Iraq.

After that, “the camp should be shut down,” he said.

http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2011/10/19/iranian-opposition-denies-role-in-plot/