Terrorists living among us

Terrorists living among us

By: Charles Kent

Terrorists living among us: The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) - Also called
MEK by Iranians
MKO was founded in September 1965, by three graduates of Tehran University
involved in religious-nationalist political activism, namely: Mohammad Hanifnezhad,
Saied Mohsen and Asghar Badizadegan.

The central ideology of MKO was based on revolutionary armed struggle as being the
only viable opposition against the U.S. backed and supported government of the Shah
in Iran. Their ideology relied heavily on an interpretation of Islam as a revolutionary
message compatible with modern revolutionary ideologies of Marxism.

The Mojahedin-e Khalq (also known as MEK inside Iran) means People's Advocates,
yet more than 90% of their intended targets and almost 95% of their casualties have
been Iranian civilians.

After completing its primarily efforts on developing a revolutionary ideology and

training its members in urban guerilla warfare, thirteen MKO members traveled to
Jordan and Lebanon in 1970, and received 4 months of military training inside
Palestinian Liberation Organization camps.

Prior to carrying out any armed activities, the MKO planned to develop its ideology
further and built an infrastructure and train new recruits. However, this strategy was
thwarted by the emergence of a competing Marxist guerilla group, the Fadaian Khalq
Organization.
On February 8, 1971, members of the Fadaian launched their first operation by
attacking a police station in the village of Siahkal in the northern province of Gilan.
This incident marked the emergence of armed struggle against the Shah’s government.

The MKO’s leadership, surprised by the Siahkal incident, decided to expedite their
plans for armed operations by organizing a spectacular bombing attack against the
electric power grids in Tehran. At this time, the government was in the midst of
promoting a large-scale celebration marking 2500 years of Persian monarchy in Iran.

During their efforts to acquire explosives, the MKO were infiltrated by the SAVAK
security forces who tracked their activities and arrested thirty-five members of the
MKO on August 23, 1971, just days before the scheduled onset of their first operation.

MKO's remaining members who escaped detection by the security forces continued to
recruit new members as well as carrying out a number of armed operations against
Iranian government and, in particular, targeted American personnel and tourists in Iran
since they regarded the U.S. support for the Shah as his Achilles Heal.

There were about 40,000 American citizens and military personnel living and working
in Iran. MKO assumed that if they could stop U.S. support for the Shah, his control
over the country would collapse. During these attacks against Americans many more
Iranian civilians also died (a ratio of 25 to 1).

There is no doubt that the MKO is a terrorist organization and has long been on U.S.
government's terrorist list. European countries have detailed records of countless
numbers of terrorist activities, planning, and funding initiated in Europe (although not
targeting European citizens) against Iranian government officials and citizens including
a bombing that maimed current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. However, MKO states
that they target civilians because that is the only way to overthrow governments in Iran
by putting pressure on the people.

When Nixon was supposed to visit Iran in 1972, MKO launched time bombs in more
than ten Iran-U.S. centers in Tehran where Americans and Iranians would be gathered
to welcome Nixon during his visit. These centers included: Association of Iran-US,
Office of US Information, Iran-U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Offices of Pepsi Cola and
General Motors in Tehran.

From 1972 to 1975, Mujahedin Khalq Organization continued bombings and damaged
some targets like the offices of Pan-American Airlines, Shell, Du Pont, and EDS.

In 1975, U.S. State Department concluded that 4 American citizens were murdered by
MKO to pressure the U.S. to stop its support for the Shah of Iran and leave the country.
During the same year, there were more than 40 attacks against American tourists in
Iran. There were many American casualties in Iran directly contributed to MKO and
they promptly claimed credit for all at the time.
Lt. Col. Lewis L. Hawkins, Col. Pal Shiffer, Lt. Col. Jack Turner, Donald J. Smith,
Robert R. Grengrad and William C. Catrel from Rockwell International were victims
of MKO attacks against U.S. interests in Iran.

It was shocking for the U.S. to lose six of its senior officers in a country which had
closest ties with the U.S. in the Middle East. MKO's deliberately targeted and planned
sabotaging operations against US personnel and interests in Iran.

The Shah of Iran and his Israeli trained security forces (SAVAK) conduced a sweeping
operation and many of MKO leaders and planners were arrested and imprisoned. The
list included: Masoud Rajavi (the current leader of MKO), Hadi Roshanravani (top
Intelligence official) , Mohammad-Ali Jaberzadeh Ansari (high ranking theorist), and
the frequent FOX News guest, Alireza Jafarzadeh, the group's spokesperson. The other
key figures arrested included of: Reza Qaremi, Saied Mohsen, Mohammad Hanif-
nezhad, Abdelreza Nikkbin called Abdi, Ali Asghar Badi Zadegan, Mahmoud
Asgarizadeh, Rasoul Meshkinfam and Ahmad Rezaim and Lotfollah Meisami. All had
taken part in assassinations, bombings, and planning operations against U.S. personnel.

One of the consequences of the Islamic Revolution was the freedom of all political
prisoners, including Masoud Rajavi, and all the other senior operatives and senior
members. Although the revolution was Islamic in nature, Marxist members of Leftist
groups and also Marxist-Islamist members of MKO were also among the freed and
subsequently merged.

Once regrouped the MKO was stronger than ever before. In November 1979, MKO
officials asked for interrogating embassy staff. Thankfully, it was refused by
"Revolution council".

After the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, MKO claimed that all the violence and
'muscle' against the Shah was directly attributed to the MKO and hence it deserves (it
claimed) that it should be given political and economic control of Iran. When the new
government of the Islamic Republic refused, MKO launched terrorist operations
against Iran and joined Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran war (1980-88). The group
is also known to have carried out order by the former dictator Saddam Hussein in
suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

After leaving his wife Ashraf Rabii, who was later killed in an armed clash by the
Iranian security forces in the company of Moussa Khiabani the head of the MKO
inside Iran, Masoud Rajavi remarried his current wife, Maryam Azedanlu, now known
as Maryam Rajavi who is now the co-leader of the MKO.

Her first decision was to change the name from MKO to National Council for
Resistance (or NCR) which was Maryam Rajavi’s most important contribution to the
MKO in decades. This allowed the MKO to stay on the political scene in Europe and
America and not be treated as a terrorist organization. Its main use was to deceive the
Americans and Europeans against thinking that this is the same Mujahedin responsible
for assassinating American citizens in Iran.

Once the NCR started campaigning for money and influence in Washington for
assistance against the Iranian Islamic government, the U.S. politicians and the Israeli
lobbyist ignored their origins and their past activities against American civilians. The
new face and spokesperson of the NCR became Alireza Jafarzadeh, the frequent FOX
News "Iran Analyst". Mr. Jafarzadeh was comfortable in Washington's power
corridors, much like Ahmed Chalabi, the exiled Iraqi who provided much of the now-
discredited information on Iraq's weapons program.

Fox News now introduces Jafarzadeh as either their employee, or Iran Analyst, or as
the head of a consultancy company. But as recently as 2002 the same man was
interviewed by Fox News as the MKO's representative in the US Congress. And, it
doesn't help the U.S. image overseas or the cause to unite against terrorism when Gen.
McInerney publicly called for the U.S. government to support MMKO terrorist
organization to carry out deadly bombings in Iran.

“This group loves the United States. They’re assisting us in the war on terrorism;
they’re pro-U.S.,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) in an interview. But not
everybody agrees.

Middle East scholars widely dispute the assessment that the MKO is a legitimate
democratic alternative to the Iranian regime. “That’s patently nonsense,” said the Neo
Conservative Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute, who is often
against Iran and supports military actions against the Islamic government.

“I know about support on Capitol Hill for this group, and I think it’s atrocious,” said
Dan Brumberg of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. I think it’s due to
total ignorance and political manipulation. There’s not much debate [about the MKO]
in the academic circles of those who know and understand Iran and Iraq.”

Elahe Hicks of Human Rights Watch said that “many, many Iranians resent” the
MKO/MEK. “Because this group is so extremely resented inside Iran, the Iranian
government actually benefits from having an opposition group like this,” she said. The
families of those civilians that lost their lives as a result of MKO bombing are staunch
opponents of the MKO in Iran.

James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation agreed. “When they sided with Iraq against
Iran in the [1980-88] war, that was the kiss of death for their political future. Even
Iranians who might have sympathized with them were enraged that they became the
junior partner of their longstanding rival,” he said.

“Some of their representatives are very articulate,” Phillips continued, “but they are a
terrorist group. They had a longstanding alliance with Saddam Hussein, and they went
after some of the Kurds at the behest of Saddam Hussein and performed with precision
brutality and catastrophic results. Many Kurdish people died and many others maimed
for life. They regularly performed torture on behalf of Saddam. ”

Now MKO's once 30,000 strong members are living with their families throughout
Europe and some here in United States, almost all on refugee status collecting benefits
paid by taxpayers to live outside Iran and avoid being prosecuted for bombing civilians
to achieve political goals.

While the MKO and Fox News and their friends are weaving a web of deceit, Richard
Perle is giving aid and comfort to MKO terrorist, the same terrorists who wanted to
interrogate our people being held as hostage. MKO has blood on their hands from their
wanton acts of violence. Now the “Conservative” TV network (FOX) takes a MKO
spokesman and pays him to consult with us on Iran. It is indeed tragic.

I don’t know if I’m disgusted or saddened or heart-broken by our government's

indifference to the presence of this terrorist organization in our country despite being
on U.S. State Department terrorist list.

As an American who served in Gulf War I, whose father served in Vietnam, and
grandfather had served in the Second World War, I am bewildered that these
individuals are allowed to stay near our families and live in our cities and towns.
Writers views.com
 HABILIAN ASSOCIATION

Habilian Association is an Iran-based Human Rights NGO which is comprised of the

children of those who were brutally assassinated by Mojahedin-e Khalq organization
(a.k.a. MKO, PMOI, MEK, NCRI, NLA, Pol Pots of Iran…) during the early years of
Iran after the Islamic Revolution and is the representative of the families of over 16000
terror victims in Iran.

www.habilian.com
E mail: info@habilian.com
habilian@yahoo.com
Telefax: +98 511 604 65 98