Commentaries on the Need to De-list the MEK
STATE DEPARTMENT: Delisting of the Mujahedin-e Khalq
It is official. MEK is now de-listed. In a statement released by the US Department of State earlier this afternoon, it is stated that : " The Secretary of State has decided, consistent with the law, to revoke the designation of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its aliases as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under the Immigration and Nationality Act and to delist the MEK as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. These actions are effective today. Property and interests in property in the United States or within the possession or control of U.S. persons will no longer be blocked, and U.S. entities may engage in transactions with the MEK without obtaining a … [Read More...]
U.S. to remove Iranian group from terror list, officials say
THE WASHINGTON POST The State Department is preparing to remove the Iranian opposition group Mujaheddin-e Khalq from the U.S. government’s terrorist list, siding with advocates who say the controversial organization should be rewarded for renouncing violence and providing intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program, senior Obama administration officials said Friday. The decision to begin the process of formally lifting the terrorist label is expected to be conveyed to Congress in documents as early as Friday, according to two senior officials briefed on the matter. The move comes two weeks before a court-ordered deadline and just six days after the dissident group vacated its former enclave in … [Read More...]
United States is Iran’s handmaiden against opposition
THE TAMPA TRIBUNE By LEO MCCLOSKEY, DAVID PHILLIPS, WESLEY MARTIN One year ago, the peace at a refugee camp under the “protection” of Iraq’s government was shattered by the thunder of military vehicles storming the gates. Iraqi soldiers murdered 36 defenseless Iranian dissidents, and left hundreds injured in the rampage. Despite calls from the U.S. Congress, the European Union and the United Nations, there has been no independent inquiry into the incident. No one has been held accountable. How could this massacre go unpunished? The answer goes into a dark, uncomfortable place. This was not the first deadly attack on the unarmed residents, who are members of Iran’s … [Read More...]
The most powerful weapon Obama can deploy against Iran
FoxNews.com By Tom Ridge, General Hugh Shelton, Patrick Kennedy To believe that the resumption of negotiations in Istanbul could — or ever will –avert Iranian nuclear breakout and a possible Middle East conflagration, is to believe in the triumph of hope over experience. When it comes to the Mullahs’ intentions, however, we believe that the past is best viewed as prologue. Consider that on the eve of these new negotiations, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brazenly mocked President Obama’s “last chance” proffer to the Mullahs, declaring that sanctions were a failure because Iran has stockpiled enough hard currency to survive for years without selling any oil. True or not, the fact remains … [Read More...]
Former US Officials Reiterate Backing for Delisting the Iranian Opposition Group, Say They Will Not be Intimidated or Silenced
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — A group of prominent former officials say they refuse to abandon their support for the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and their efforts to have the group removed from the State Department’s terrorist list, despite indirect warnings from the Treasury Department that their support for the group could constitute a crime. “I never knew obtaining a subpoena from your own government would be so much fun,” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told a crowd of nearly 1,000 at an event to commemorate the first anniversary of an attack by Iraqi military forces against Iranian citizens in the Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where 36, including eight … [Read More...]
Bipartisan Political Leaders Urge Removal of MEK from Terrorist List, Denounce Attempt to Silence State Department Policy Critics
PRNEWSWIRE WASHINGTON, March, 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – With a federal appeals court deadline looming for the U.S. State Department to answer why it has defied earlier court rulings requiring review of a decision to maintain the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khaq (MEK) on the terrorist list, top former US officials and Members of Congress are urging the Department to remove the group immediately. “I believe we will not only get our day in court, I believe we will succeed,” former U.S. Department of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told an audience of Members of Congress, staff members, and Iranian-Americans during an event, marking the Iranian New Year, … [Read More...]
Iran group gets U.S. backers
THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL Coalition urging State Department to take dissidents off terror list For nearly 20 months, the legal status of a dissident Iranian group has remained in limbo, mired in a U.S. State Department review of the association’s official designation as a foreign terrorist organization. A federal appeals court in Washington directed the agency in July 2010 to take another look at the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, saying the government violated the group’s rights during an earlier assessment. But the agency, almost two years later, still hasn’t made a decision. Frustrated by the government’s protracted silence, lawyers for the People’s Mojahedin, or … [Read More...]
Camp “Liberty”: A Cruel Hoax?
THE HUFFINGTON POST In 1932, the eminent theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote "Moral Man and Immoral Society" warning of the tendency of institutions to lose their sense of humanity. How better to explain today's actions of the US State Department in toying with the lives and hopes of over 3000 Iranian dissidents being "voluntarily" relocated from Camp Ashraf , a small city 40 miles north of Baghdad, where they have lived for the last 25 years? From there they are being moved to a small isolated section of Camp Liberty, an abandoned American base, looted by the Iraqis, with no basic amenities and under the watchful eyes of Iraqi police who have viciously attacked them before. In the State … [Read More...]
Bipartisan Group of U.S. Leaders Calls on State Department to Remove Iranian Dissidents From Terror List, Urges UN to Protect Them
PRNewswire NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A bipartisan group of former U.S. political and military leaders is calling for the U.S. State Department to remove a prominent Iranian dissident group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran/Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (PMOI/MeK), from its list of terrorist organizations, saying the classification is unjustified and 3,400 Iranian dissidents housed at Camp Ashraf in Iraq cannot be safely resettled until the change is made. "What troubles me is the politicization of the national terrorist list," former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-RI, said at a conference attended by more than 1,000 Iranian-Americans and community leaders Saturday in New … [Read More...]
Bi-Partisan Members of Congress, Prominent Former Officials Call for Peaceful Resettlement of Camp Ashraf Residents, Removal of the Dissidents from Terrorist List
PRNEWSWIRE WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Members of Congress, prominent scholars and former U.S. officials called for a speedy and peaceful end to the standoff over the fate of 3,400 pro-democracy Iranian dissidents at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, amid warnings that a failure to quickly and safely relocate them would endanger their lives. "There is a looming genocide that could occur if a number of different things don't go right in the next weeks and months," warned former FBI Director Louis Freeh. "Our goal here is to make sure that genocide does not occur." "This issue is simple, and at this critical time, the U.S. position must be clear and steadfast," added Rep. Ileana … [Read More...]
Statement of European-American Conference in the European Parliament
Statement of European-American Conference in the European Parliament February 7, 2012 A European-American Conference was convened on invitation of the Friends of Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament on February 7, in relation to the current political situation in Iran and the region, and the necessity of protecting Ashraf residents, members of the Iranian opposition. The conference was presided over by Jim Higgins, member of the European Parliament’s Bureau. Dozens of EU parliamentarians, including Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Struan Stevenson, head of the Delegation for Relations with Iraq in the parliament, and many prestigious American … [Read More...]
EU Parliament hosts conf. on situation in Iran
KUWAIT NEWS AGENCY BRUSSELS, Feb 7 (KUNA) -- A European-American Conference was convened at invitation of the Friends of Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday on the current political situation in Iran and the region, and the Ashraf camp in Iraq, The conference was presided over by Jim Higgins, member of the European Parliament's Bureau. According to a statement released by the organisers, dozens of EU parliamentarians, including Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Struan Stevenson, head of the Delegation for Relations with Iraq in the EP, and many prestigious American personalities such as Howard Dean, former US Presidential … [Read More...]
The message we need to send Iran
FOX News Several years ago, a political leader from the war torn country of Lebanon observed that in his part of the world it is better to be respected than liked. When it comes to Iran, the U.S. is neither. On the contrary, Iran's leadership is hateful and disdainful of Western values and the United States. President Obama, time is running out. It is time to act unilaterally and decisively, and publicly support the democratic opposition in Iran. Following Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, recent events further demonstrate the impotence of five years of UN Security Council Resolutions and the West’s economic sanctions to stop the Mullahs’ terrorist regime from achieving … [Read More...]
Move Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty
THE WASHINGTON TIMES Former U.S. base in Iraq could shelter Iranian resistance until resettlement. Is Iran serious in threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz or is this simply saber-rattling? Whatever the motives, inaction is not an option - not any more. Fearful of the impact of expanded U.S. sanctions, Iran’s first vice president Mohammad Reza Rahimi told the official news agency IRNA on Dec. 27, “If they impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz.” This could spell disaster for the whole region as skyrocketing oil prices would wreak havoc on the global economy. In any contingency planning, it is imperative to establish who … [Read More...]
Political Turmoil in Iraq – Camp Ashraf
Fox News "Special Report" with Shannon Bream Special Guests: A.B. Stoddard, Steve Hayes, Charles Krauthammer Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com MICHAEL MUKASEY, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Now these people are in a camp where they are defenseless, and the United States troops have pulled out with the result that they are now at the mercy of the Iraqi government which is really doing the biding of the Iranian government. They've attacked them twice, both times when the U.S., then U.S. Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, was in country. SHANNON BREAM, GUEST HOST: That is former Attorney General Michael Mukasey talking about a group of Iranian dissidents who actually live in Iraq, and … [Read More...]