60 thoughts on “New Comment is Free Post on U.S. Delisting of MEK as Terror Group – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Yes, the Guardian may have deigned to publish your piece, but not without a slight sting in the tail – their frontpage link to the story an hour ago this morning literally read “Richard Silverstein is a cynical sham”. I presumed it was an attack piece on you and that was the only reason I actually clicked on it, curious to see how they would back up this libel, to open in a new tab. By the time I actually got around to reading it, I was quite surprised to discover that it is in fact an article by, not about, you. I then went back just now to get a screenshot, but it seems to be that these short sectional undertitles scroll off after a while, so it has disappeared. If you go to the CiF page, the title linking to the story reads “Terror delisting the MEK is a cynical sham”.

    Sorry to be the bearer of somewhat alloyed news, but just thought I’d better let you know, all is not entirely well in the State of CiF.

      1. It is no ‘play’ at all, Mr Silverstein. I follow your blog occasionally and generally respect what you are trying to do here – therefore I was struck by the extreme unfairness of that title, which caused me to do a double-take and report this fact to you as accurately and soon as possible. I suppose if you prefer to shoot the messanger rather than guard your own reputation, that is your own prerogative. Good luck!

  2. The “terrorist organization list” is a fake, politically and financially motivated, and it’s easily proved by this embarrassing piece of news. How does a group, for example, prove it has “renounced terrorism” but by making heavy campaign contributions to a major political campaign?

    You nailed it here, using the Dersh as a prime example of an incredible self-serving rationalization for making an enemy into a friend: “In fact, Alan Dershowitz has argued that the MEK should be removed from the treasury list not because it has stopped being terrorist, but because it collaborated with US covert activities inside Iran, meaning that it was serving US interests. Or put more simply: the MEK may be terrorists, but they’re our terrorists.”

    What stinks to high heaven is the money, money, money, not only from Sheldon Adelson but from lobbyists working on behalf of the MEK. Pennsylvania’s former governor, for example, has been paid more than $120,000 in speaker’s fees for his shilling to promote this cynical political joke.

    1. RE: “How does a group, for example, prove it has ‘renounced terrorism’ but by making heavy campaign contributions to a major political campaign? . . . What stinks to high heaven is the money, money, money, not only from Sheldon Adelson but from lobbyists working on behalf of the MEK. Pennsylvania’s former governor, for example, has been paid more than $120,000 in speaker’s fees for his shilling to promote this cynical political joke.” ~ mary

      MY ELUCIDATION: What is particularly galling to me is the likelihood that the money for the MEK’s “heavy campaign contributions” (so-called “speaker’s fees”, lobbyist’s fees, etc.) is at least partly derived from the $400,000,000 (in taxpayer’s money) that George W. Bush and the Congress secretly allocated in 2007 towards covert efforts in support of “regime change” in Iran!

      SEE: “Preparing the Battlefield”, By Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker, 7/07/08

      [EXCERPTS] Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. . .
      . . . The use of Baluchi elements, for example, is problematic, Robert Baer, a former C.I.A. clandestine officer who worked for nearly two decades in South Asia and the Middle East, told me. “The Baluchis are Sunni fundamentalists who hate the regime in Tehran, but you can also describe them as Al Qaeda,” Baer told me. “These are guys who cut off the heads of nonbelievers—in this case, it’s Shiite Iranians. The irony is that we’re once again working with Sunni fundamentalists, just as we did in Afghanistan in the nineteen-eighties.” Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is considered one of the leading planners of the September 11th attacks, are Baluchi Sunni fundamentalists. . .
      . . . “The Finding was focussed on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” a person familiar with its contents said, and involved “working with opposition groups and passing money.” The Finding provided for a whole new range of activities in southern Iran and in the areas, in the east, where Baluchi political opposition is strong, he said.
      Although some legislators were troubled by aspects of the Finding, and “there was a significant amount of high-level discussion” about it, according to the source familiar with it, the funding for the escalation was approved. In other words, some members of the Democratic leadership—Congress has been under Democratic control since the 2006 elections—were willing, in secret, to go along with the Administration in expanding covert activities directed at Iran, while the Party’s presumptive candidate for President, Barack Obama, has said that he favors direct talks and diplomacy.
      The request for funding came in the same period in which the Administration was coming to terms with a National Intelligence Estimate, released in December, that concluded that Iran had halted its work on nuclear weapons in 2003. The Administration downplayed the significance of the N.I.E., and, while saying that it was committed to diplomacy, continued to emphasize that urgent action was essential to counter the Iranian nuclear threat. . .
      . . . The C.I.A. and Special Operations communities also have long-standing ties to two other dissident groups in Iran: the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, known in the West as the M.E.K., and a Kurdish separatist group, the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan, or pjak.
      The M.E.K. has been on the State Department’s terrorist list for more than a decade, yet in recent years the group has received arms and intelligence, directly or indirectly, from the United States. Some of the newly authorized covert funds, the Pentagon consultant told me, may well end up in M.E.K. coffers. . .

      ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh

      1. P.S. ALSO SEE – “Iran: Who’s Diddling Democracy?”, By Steve Weissman, t r u t h o u t, 6/18/09

        [EXCERPT] Watching the protesters in Tehran, many Americans feel a strong sense of empathy, exhilaration and hope. I strongly share those feelings, especially since I know firsthand the danger the protesters face from government thugs on motorcycles, provocateurs and the secret police. But none of this should blind us to the likelihood that our own government is dangerously meddling in Iran’s internal affairs and playing with the lives of those protesters.
        Back in 2007, ABC News reported that President George W. Bush had signed a secret “Presidential finding” authorizing the CIA to mount covert “black” operations to destabilize the Iranian government. According to current and former intelligence officials, these operations included “a coordinated campaign of propaganda broadcasts, placement of negative newspaper articles, and the manipulation of Iran’s currency and international banking transactions.”
        In the language of spookery, this was an updated version of the destabilization campaign that the CIA had earlier used to overthrow the progressive government of Salvador Allende in Chile.

        The plan had the strong backing of Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Steve Hadley and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams. As ABC noted, Abrams had earlier pled guilty to withholding information from Congress about efforts to destabilize the Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the Iran-contra affair of the 1980s.
        ABC News also reported that American and Pakistani intelligence were backing a separatist militia of militant Sunni tribesmen from the non-Persian Baluchi region of Iran. The group – Jundallah (Soldiers of God) – conducted deadly raids into Iran from bases in Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province. Funding for this was reportedly funneled through Iranian exiles with connections in Europe and the Gulf States.
        US officials denied any “direct funding” of Jundallah, but admitted regular contact since 2005 with Jundallah’s youthful leader Abd el Malik Regi, who was widely reputed to be involved in heroin trafficking from Afghanistan.
        “I think everybody in the region knows that there is a proxy war already afoot with the United States supporting anti-Iranian elements in the region as well as opposition groups within Iran,” said Vali Nasr, adjunct senior fellow for Mideast studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. . .
        . . . Flash forward to the new presidency of Barack Obama. Did he and his CIA chief Leon Panetta cancel the destabilization program? Not that I can find. The tea leaves are murky, but they suggest that, so far at least, Team Obama remains wedded to the Bush-Cheney-Abrams destabilization of Iran. . .

        ENTIRE COMMENTARY – http://archive.truthout.org/061809J

        P.S. I dearly wish I could say that I feel embarrassed to be an “American”, but I really can’t say that because I’m way beyond feeling embarrassed. In fact, I’m way beyond feeling. I’m finally numb. Uncomfortably numb! ! !
        David Gilmour & David Bowie – Comfortably Numb [VIDEO, 08:40] – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM0Pl80Zf00

        1. RE: “I dearly wish I could say that I feel embarrassed [and/or ashamed] to be an ‘American’, but I really can’t say that because I’m way beyond feeling embarrassed [and/or ashamed]. In fact, I’m way beyond feeling. I’m finally numb. Uncomfortably numb! ! !” ~ me (above)

          DAVID BOWIE:

          . . . Johnny’s in America
          No tricks at the wheel
          Nobody needs anyone
          They don’t even just pretend
          Johnny’s in America . . .

          . . . Johnny wants a plane
          Johnny wants to suck on a Coke
          Johnny wants a woman
          Johnny wants to think of a joke
          Johnny’s in America . . .

          . . . I’m afraid of Americans
          I’m afraid of the world
          I’m afraid I can’t help it
          I’m afraid I can’t
          I’m afraid of Americans . . .

          . . . God is an American
          God is an American . . . ~ from the 1997 album Earthling

          • David Bowie (feat Nine Inch Nails): I’m Afraid Of Americans (VIDEO, 04:24) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slKNd22GGaQ

  3. You’ve got a lot of support in the comments section there. Did you have a falling out with The Guardian previously or were you just taking a break from the site?

  4. The removal by the U.S. government of the Mujahadeen e-Khalq (MEK) from its terror list reminds me of the old popular expression to the effect that “a man is judged by the company he keeps”.
    To the extent that the United States is judged by the company it keeps, it will surely be judged very harshly.

    A SHORT POEM: “Judged By The Company One Keeps”

    One night in late October,
    When I was far from sober,
    Returning with my load with manly pride,
    My feet began to stutter,
    So I lay down in the gutter,
    And a pig came near and lay down by my side;
    A lady passing by was heard to say;
    “You can tell a man who boozes,
    By the company he chooses,”
    And the pig got up and slowly walked away. — Unknown Author

    P.S. A WORD TO THE WISE: It’s never too early to begin preparing for the inevitable “blowback” that this decision and our more overt alliance with the MEK will ultimately precipitate. May G_d help us (not that we deserve it) ! ! !

  5. I don`t think the money played such a big role. A more plausible explanation for the act and the timing is the broader plan against the current regime in Iran. Make no mistake, the US is determined to pull the plug on them – just about all its allies in the region will be weakened dramatically if this regime stays and eventually inevitably acquire nukes. Politics is always about trade-offs and the extra benefit from an MEK with a free-hand to operate from inside Iran (they have the local connections and network) have been judged to outweigh the prices.

      1. If you’d bothered to read the comment rules, which I urge you to do before embarrassing yourself by revealing your ignorance about how the comment threads work, you’d know that first time commenters are moderated. Once your first comment is approved you may publish comments freely as long as you respect the rules (again, read them).

      2. You are an MEK member. No one who is Iranian supports the MEK. The MEK sided with Saddam Hussein to kill Iranians in the Iran-Iraq war.

        That is enough to show to readers here that they are too smart to accept your falsities and propaganda.

        1. You are abusing my hospitality, monopolizing the comment threads, and a fraud to boot. If you want to accuse people of being paid agents by God you’re gonna do that somewhere else. And tell your MEK superiors that you’ve been exposed.

          I am not going to spend my waking hours responding to your drivel. I have better things to do.

        2. No problem Richard.

          I sent you 4 emails of facts about your biased, and absolutely fictitious accusations and you decided to censor all. Where ever truth could be discussed and defended, MEK comes out a winner. As they cleared the sham “terrorist” label in courts against EU, UK and now US.

          Now, only the Iranian regime and their supporters call MEK terrorist. That’s ok. Iranian courts are no place to defend justice and truth.

          1. Don’t flatter yourself Richard. No member of MEk would ever visit or comment on your false accusations. You are getting too old and too rude for this.
            You see Richard, if MEK was as non-existential as you claim, you wold not get 57 comments on this column.
            If MEK did not even have 1 supporter in Iran, as you and your associates claim, why then, all the 8 people who were immediately executed after the 88 elections, were MEK sympathizers?
            The dark colonialist glasses you wear, does not allow you to see or understand a shred of reality of what really happens/happened in iran. If MEK did not have a single supporter in Iran, why then the regime had to execute over 5,000 of them in the summer of 67? Why execute and kill tens of thousands of their members and supporters?

            I am willing to participate in an honest open discussion with you and respond to all your accusations, but I doubt your hatred of MEK is fueled by lack of knowledge, I have only seen this level of hatred in two groups; the Iranian regime & her British/European supporters.

            Do you really think Patrick Kennedy , Howard Dean and the other 11,000 Western parliamentarians/politicians who support MEK are all blind and support MEK because they are paid?

            The truth is there like sunshine, only the blinds can’t see it.

          2. I’ll bet you use a proxy IP to disguise who & where you are.

            Do you really think Patrick Kennedy , Howard Dean and the other 11,000 Western parliamentarians/politicians who support MEK are all blind and support MEK because they are paid?

            Oh yeah, Kennedy, Freeh, Dean, Dershowitz, Rendell–they’re all paid handsomely & it’s amazing the PR that money can buy from shlockmeisters like these.

            If you get through my comment filter again, I’ll simply delete your comment. So stop wasting everyone’s time you MEK symp.

            Still waiting to hear a single word of criticism of the MEK, you liar & fraud.

          3. And as far as my criticism of MEK, let’s begin by saying that I don’t think I would get a chance to openly present my criticism of MEK in one of the many sites/blogs they or their supporters have. i am grateful to you for allowing me to express my views , as much as you despise them, on your blog.

    1. You’re probably on the right track but this is just too speculative at this point, because the idea of any war with Iran is about 2 or 3 years premature, and a terrorist group is not a spy organization, so what good would they be except as an illegal front for CIA activity a la the Contras?

  6. Not sure what the Brits have against Iranian democratic forces. First the brought down Mirza koochak in early 1900’s, then it was the Mosadegh government in 53 and now the MEK. You who have no knowledge of the facts should not cast judgement.

    Why a terror group? Because they fought a battle against the barbaric mullah’s and killed over 50,000 of them? MEK was the first group who recognized the danger of Islamic fundamentalists in 1976, 3 years before the 79 revolution, and declared them enemy number one.

    MEK called on Islamic Republic to stop it’s export of terror, violation of human rights, and was the first ever group who alarmed the world about Mullah’s nuclear intentions.

    Islamic Republic, backed by its European allies, who benefited the most after America was kicked out by Khomeini, bought cheap Iranian oil, exported their arms and goods, and were the first to supply Iran’s thirst for nuclear technology, is the real terrorist.

    They killed thousands of American and NATO forces in Iraq & Afghanistan; thousands of Civilians in Syria, armed Hizbollah to the teeth, killed two hundred Marines in Khobar, 200 Marines in Beirut, bombed the Jewish centers in Argantine killing 230 innocent Jews, and are behind most id not all terror attacks.

    MEK is the ONLY group that had the courage to fight these bastards and I for one, am grateful for their courage and dedication. US, under pressure from its European allies, and Britain, enlisted the MEK in 1997 to appease the Mullahs. Hoping this would bring the Iranians around.

    1. Your history is skewed. The U.S. overthrew Mossadegh, not Britain. Nor do they have anything to do with the latest U.S. MEK delisting.

      So you’re arguing that because the MEK allegedly murdered 50,000 Iranians this means they’re representatives of Iranian democracy and heroes of the nation?

      The only reason the MEK “recognized the danger of Islamic fundamentalists” was that the regime identified the MEK as opponents of the regime & began murdering & repressing them. MEK’s hostility toward Iran’s rulers isn’t based on principle but rather purely on self-preservation.

      ALso, you somehow neglect to mention all the U.S. diplomatic & military personnel the MEK either murdered or attempted to murder during all those years. I wonder why that is?

      When the MEK warned the world about the Iranian Republic’s embrace of terrorism, why didn’t it also mention that the MEK itself is an exporter of terror? Does the pot get to call the kettle black?

      As for your other claims about Iranian terrorism, they’re just that unproven claims. They may be true, they may not. But they’re certainly not proven as you say.

      The MEK doesn’t have “courage.” It has an urge to rule dictatorially just as it runs its own internal affairs currrently. I say to Obama & anyone that makes common cause with the MEK: be careful of lying with dogs because you’ll get up with fleas.

      I don’t accept MEK symps like you taking over these threads.

      1. The point is Richard that with all added up, especially, at this time, the nuke urgency (particularly for Israel but also very much so for Arabs) and the wish to avoid a looming conflagration (even just a cyber-warfare) then whatever the MEK is or is not – the devil you know has been judged in this case to be far worse than the devil you don`t know.

        1. The MEK is no more a Devil you know than Iran is a Devil you don’t. No one knows what sort of Iran the MEK would bring us. Judging by the sort of Afghanistan our erstewhile Mujahadeen allies brought after they defeated the Russians, I’d say the MEK would be at least as toxic if not more. It’s a misnomer to think the MEK will be benign or manageable or less dangerous than Iran is now. In fact, they are so extreme & bloodthirsty & lacking in any sense of pragmatism that they could be far worse.

          1. Whatever the MEK portends I think, on a more optimistic tone, it is useful to note that the likely scenario is neither-nor. That is, while the MEK is seen as instrumental in the larger effort to undo the present regime there is nothing to suggest that they will inherit it. Those crowds that filled the streets of Teheran last year are not MEK supporters – they just wanted liberation. And when that happens it could very well be that Iran will go democratic – all the signs indicate that way (and moreover, given historical undercurrents there, it is likely to be yet again a Western ally).

          2. You”ve just bestowed the kiss of death on the successor government. Comments like yours are precisely the Green Revolution failed because the Ayatollahs could point to comments like this.

            I’d rather a regime that pursued Iranian interests than U.S. or western interests.

        2. The point is, Tibor, that the MEK has a violent history that upsets both Iranian and US strategic interests, and the intelligence has been very poor other than for some highlights possibly supplied by external agencies. The MEK has “renounced violence” — sure. But, merely supplying fake intelligence led us into Iraq. Is that what we’re seeking here?

      2. You wrote: “Your history is skewed. The U.S. overthrew Mossadegh, not Britain”

        However, this is not true. The British were the prime movers behind the overthrow, with the US involvement and assistance coming somewhat later in the planning process.

        1. Bob, the overthrow came at the request of the British, but Kermit Roosevelt, President Teddy Roosevelt’s Son, was the prime strategist and executor of Operation Ajax, the CIA overthrow of Iran’s nascent democracy in 1953 run by Prime Minister Mossadegh, an educated and noble Iranian.

          1. According to whom? A request was made by the SIS, but the CIA put all of the processes and implementation into play. Yes, Britain has fault in murdering Iran’s democracy, the first in the Middle East, but it is not such that any historian would back your claim that the SIS were the prime “movers” in Operation Ajax, a CIA led mission.

            Again, all of the key players who worked inside Iran to make Operation Ajax happen were American and CIA. Indeed, this is why the leftist STUDENTS (not the Iranian politicians battling for supremacy circa 1979) took over the AMERICAN embassy in 1979 and declared it a “nest of spies” (truth) instead of the British embassy.

            Of course, you are free to say what you want, but I on the other hand am of Iranian heritage and know my own people’s history like you will never come to know.

          2. Here’s a NY Times article from 2000 discussing some of the details that were revealed when information about the coup became available:

            But a copy of the agency’s secret history of the 1953 coup has surfaced, revealing the inner workings of a plot that set the stage for the Islamic revolution in 1979, and for a generation of anti-American hatred in one of the Middle East’s most powerful countries.

            The document, which remains classified, discloses the pivotal role British intelligence officials played in initiating and planning the coup, and it shows that Washington and London shared an interest in maintaining the West’s control over Iranian oil.

            http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/16/world/secrets-history-cia-iran-special-report-plot-convulsed-iran-53-79.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

            The article, and subsequent book on the subject, indicates that Britain initiated the plot.

          3. Bob, the New York Times article indicates that British supplied intelligence and cooperation, but you are ignoring the clear history of what TP AJAX represented. It was the blueprint for fervent and successive overthrows by the CIA, who has ALWAYS been linked to the MI-6 and other clandestine agencies, and not the MI-6. There is no factual history to support your case other than a “new document revealed by the CIA” to show precisely how the British were also involved.

            The real problem is this: when the embassy was seized in 1979, so were MANY important classified documents. The truth is know, the New York Times is hardly a legitimate source for it. They lied to get us into Iraq and were caught with sham reporters. Their editorial staff is clearly biased by any regard.

      3. Richard, either you are a paid agent or an innocent bystander making delusional comments. In case of the latter, please respond with facts and figures to the following:

        1. It was the British government who devised sanctions against any purchase of Iranian oil, who blockaded Iran assuring no one would purchase Iranian oil, because we, the people of Iran led by Mosadegh, did not want to pay the Iranian British Petroleum Company (presently BP) 75% of our our gross oil sale.

        When Mosadegh declared the nationalization of Iranian oil and closed all British consulates, the Brits started the wheel of coup D’etat. But since Harriman Government had issued stern warning against any intervention in Iran and was in midst of negotiation with Mosadehg, who spent 30 days in US as the State Guest, the Brits pulled back until Eisenhower came to power and scared the Americans by calling Mosadegh an ally of Communism. The master of the coup d’etat were the Rashidian brothers, well know British Intelligent Service agents, and it was BBC Radio Persian that on the night of coup d’etat, give the order to begin the operation.

        Americans, as naive as they are, were blamed as the masters of the coup d’etat, yest it was American hand coming out of the British mind.

        This is a respond to your first point. My history is not skewed, I am a student of Iranian history and have felt these wounds with my heart and soul.

      4. Point 4.

        I wrote that IRI ” … killed thousands of American and NATO forces in Iraq & Afghanistan; thousands of Civilians in Syria, armed Hizbollah to the teeth, killed two hundred Marines in Khobar, 200 Marines in Beirut, bombed the Jewish centers in Argantine killing 230 innocent Jews, and are behind most id not all terror attacks”

        In response you wrote ” As for your other claims about Iranian terrorism, they’re just that unproven claims. They may be true, they may not. But they’re certainly not proven as you say.”

        I am amazed how you propagate that MEK killed many Americans; without giving a single name of those assassinated, without a shred of proof that it was MEK that made this assassinations, and yet you close your eyes on the number one source of international terrorism.

        1. Iranian made and exported IED’s killed thousands of Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. All Shia’ terror groups from Lashkar Mehdi to Ashabi Ahl -al-Hagh, which last covered Iraq with 20,000 posters of Khomeni and Khamenei , are all trained, armed and paid for by the Iranian regime.

        2. Iran is number one supporter who has sent hundreds of it’s top officials to Syria to help Asad shed more blood.

        3. Lebanese Hizbollah was created by Ayatollah Mohtashami, Chamran, and others right after Iranian revolution with iranian money and arms. There were no organized Hezbollah before iranian Revolution of 1979. This terror group, who spends Iranian oil money for charity and development, is nothing but a band of terrorists responsible for deats and destruction in the Region. Bombing the Marine Barracks and killing over 200 Americans , was Hezbollah first large operation.

        4. Per the head of FBI, Khobar Operation which killed over 200 Marines was ” piad for, organized , and trained by iran.”

        5. Shame on you for closing your eyes on the terror and destruction of the Argentinian JCC and killing of more than 200 hundred innocent people, that’s all I have to say. Shame, shame, shame.

        6. Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar, and over 50 other Iranian opposition leaders have so far been killed by Ministry of Information assassins outside of Iran, over 6,000 political prisoners were massacred in less than 30 days in the summer of 67 ( Iranian year), over 320 acts of terror was recorded outside of Iran,

        As I said, you are either an innocent bystander or a paid agent. No one in their right mind, could/should close their eyes on IRI crimes against humanity.

        I am not MEK member, I have many , many criticism against them, but I must say I honor their commitment and their courage. I honor the fact that they have been fighting against the Islamic Fundamentalism for over 35 years, no matter the cost. For the first time in contemporary Iranian history, a group is selflessly perusing the battle for justice.

        And I understand you have issues against MEK, I do to. But listen Richard, we were not raised in Switzerland, democracy , freedom justice, are not something we practiced back home. We lived either under the sword of a dictator or the spell of Mullah, were tutored and killed if we ever talked about justice. Our fathers were not democratic minded, and killed their own siblings for Honor Crimes, we learned to kiss ass and give in to force in order to survive. We never smiled when walking in the public, as children were to be seen not heard. If you farted in a party, if you kissed or touched someone in appropriately we were condemned as criminals.

        We are just learning to walk, don expect us to run and be perfect.

        Once the IRI is overthrown you and the rest of the world would see that fighting against IRI, and unfortunately killing it’s assassins, was the most honorable thing one could do. You in the West, have no idea.

        1. You should take some time to think this through, as you advise others. I don’t like this kind of math but 230 dead Jews does not offset thousands of dead Arabs at the hands of Israel and the US. As I say, mureder math is obnoxious. But look where all those Americans and NATO were killed…in Iraq and Afghanistan, not the US. What were they doing there? 200 Marines, but in Lebanon, not NYC. As for Hezbollah, I think any group that pushes back on Israel and the US has the moral high ground notwithstanding anything. Who, after all, arms Israel? So you’re not going to get a lot of sympathy for MEK with these citations.

          It is known that MEK has killed American citizens. I am not a researcher but that info has been repeated without dispute innumerable times in the MSM.

        2. ” Iranian made and exported IED’s killed thousands of Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. All Shia’ terror groups from Lashkar Mehdi to Ashabi Ahl -al-Hagh, which last covered Iraq with 20,000 posters of Khomeni and Khamenei , are all trained, armed and paid for by the Iranian regime.”

          You are absolutely spot on. I heard this from many Iraqis, again and again, and they also insisted these groups were cooperating with US military operations inside Iraq.

        3. People like you are liars and frauds. Of course you’re an MEK member. Not only that, but you appear to have taken an MEK hasbara course which taught you to say you have criticisms of MEK and then neglect to say what they are; all the while regaling us with the heroism & courage of the MEK. You’re a total sham.

          Iran has not killed thousands of Americans in Afghanistan or Iraq. Only 6,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed in both conflicts. So unless you’re claiming Iran killed every soldier in both conflicts, you’re full of hot air.

          John Bolton & Maryam Rajavi say Iran has done this. But even U.S. military officers have been much more circumspect in their claims. I know whose opinion I trust more.

          There are claims Iran was involved with the Argentine terror attacks just as there are claims they were involved with lots of other similar acts. They are just that: claims. Not proven fact.

          The list of the MEK’s acts of terrorism is clearly delineated in the Wikipedia entry which I’ve linked to. It’s quite a long list just of American targets & victims, let alone Iranians.

          As I’ve told many similar pro Israel commenters here, the threads are not a boxing match nor a propaganda mill for you to regale us with the sins of Iran or the virtues of the MEK. If that’s your game, you picked the wrong place to play it.

          I’m moderating you. If you choose to publish further comments here & they’re of the same ilk, they won’t see the light of day.

          1. As far as I heard from Iraqis, Iranian-backed militias killed thousands of Iraqi civilians.

            I find this thread most interesting; although I’m not about to believe the MEK is a benevolent group, it’s still a fascinating narrative from another side of the coin that we wouldn’t get in the news media.

          2. These militias were Shiite and Iranian-backed. The killings were inspired by Iraqi Shiite hatred of Sunnis. Not necessarily by an Iranian backed plan to exterminate Iraqi Sunnis. But the original argument was a claim that the Iranian government killed thousands of U.S. troops, which is false.

  7. To paraphrase Clint Eastwood in the classic film DIRTY HARRY

    The US government has no problem with terrorism as long as the RIGHT people are terrorized

    And this way predates 9/11

    For instance I recall back in 1982, some 80 Lebanese were killed in a botched CIA attempt to kill a Hezbollah leader.

  8. I have a modest proposal. Let’s talk with the wives of murdered Iranian nuclear scientists and ask them if they ‘feel terror’ as the result of their husbands’ murders – shouldn’t they, and not the Obama Administration, get to make the call as to whether the MEK is a terrorist organization or not?

    1. Your modest proposal presupposes that MEK was involved.

      BTW. Does MEK, a violent group of Iranian dissidents, even exist? Where’s the proof?

      1. Joel, the MEK is also fronting as the NCRI. Maryam Rajavi is a real human being/figure head you can Google. She is the cult leader.

        No Iranians, not the ones who even vehemently despise the current Iranian government, trust the MEK, who sided with Saddam Hussein to kill their own countrymen in another one of their typical grabs for power.

        The MEK served as agent provocateurs to bring the Shah down in 1979 and their predecessors were at play in the Communist Tudeh party of Iran to bring down Mossadegh.

        To Iranians, over 180 million worldwide, the MEK is the equivalent to Al Qaeda. Go ahead: favor them. It will only serve to hurt the strategic interests you are thinking you will be advancing.

  9. Iran has been a nuclear nation for several years. It’s an idea everyone should get comfortable with while Iran continues to push for a nuclear WEAPON free Middle East and Israel shuns it. http://news.antiwar.com/2012/09/20/israel-calls-for-nuclear-free-middle-east-futile/

    The MEK has not renounced violence because they are linked to the assassination of nuclear scientists in Iran without means to justify or find morally clear the act of doing so. If there were a legal corridor for them to advance through to stop Iran from producing civilian enrichment, they should pursue it through proper international jurisdiction available to hear the bonafide complaint.

    As for us, we supplied aid to Al Qaeda to down the Russians. They came back at us on 9/11 and here we are. Thus, de-listing MEK, still a terrorist group despite a politically motivated designation, who cavort with the worst type of criminal politicians any country has ever faced during the time of man, would be equivalent to repeating the same error with even worse consequences this time around.

    Whenever an article appears telling the truth about the MEK on the internet, a squad of MEK members with aliases troll the forums of the article and try to sway the discussion. With full certification, you can bet the people that are posting here in support of the MEK are the MEK and a minute faction of supporters consisting of those who want to simply usurp power in Iran over the current government and against the Iranian peoples’ wishes for self-government.

    Truth be told, it is an indisputable fact that the Mujahedeen eh-Khalq is hated by a supermajority of Iranians, not just the Iranian government. NCRI is their other front. They are a communal group with fundamentalist “Islamic” (read: they made it up and said it was in the Qu’uran) views. They kill civilians and sided with Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Iran during which over one million souls were snuffed.

    Here, Mossad is to the periphery just loving the unbridled harassment of another UN member state. A car bomb here, another explosion there, and – yes – we can still pretend like Iran is the “terrorist” while Israel drives everyone to continually harass Iran out of a fully legal right entitled to them by internationally recognized and “respected” treaty (the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).

    The love triangle includes the GOP (Neocons). They are in cahoots with the Mossad/MEK faction, likely drawing popularly known US politicians into violating federal anti-terrorism statues for which they suffer no indictments. The US takes the flack for Israel’s behavior because our electoral system is controlled by money. The lobby is powerful, but when the Constitution is amended to overturn the Supreme Court’s error in “Citizen’s United” and/or the people through their state legislatures do the same, people – not money – will drive American interests. Hopefully, this will reign in the villainous foreign policy as well, skewed to make America into Israel’s zombie attack dog.

    There is no way for the MEK to gain power in the Iranian community. Their rhetoric can never match their actions and bloody history – and their intelligence is worthless, serving to damage US interests immensely. Sometimes I wonder if the MEK is a controlled opposition put forth by the Iranian government. If true, the strategy has worked swimmingly.

    1. How Machiavellian can a mind be? But, to his credit, Machiavelli was not into wishful thinking – he was dead realist – while here fantasy reigns.

  10. Sure — this is dirty business and an embarrassment for Obama. Oddly, at the time of the announcement there were several articles about Dershowitz supporting Obama. Dersh has credibility with the American Jewish community (not with me, however). I am just musing about the timings here. Dersh is a paid spokesperson for MEK and called their incarceration a “humanitarian emergency” (can you believe?) Dersh also has the President’s ear. Was there an election oriented deal here? Anybody share this impression?

    1. It’s weird timing, to do something this controversial so close to an election. Just plain weird, and if anyone has a theory as to why, I’d love to hear it.

      1. Dersh is respected, so he goes all out for Obama and brings in the Jewish vote, despite Netanyahoo and every other incitement from Zionists. No?

        1. I cannot imagine the Dersh being pro-Obama. That crowd is sucking up to Romney and banking on Sheldon Adelson and friends to put the GOP puppet in the White House. Dersh is from the PNAC crowd who, if we recall, have been pushing for an attack on Iran for years. PNAC may be gone but its goals are still within the heart of the GOP.

          Bibi wants his attack on Iran now, not at some nebulous future date. Romney has more or less promised he will gratefully repay Israel for helping to put him in the White House by allowing Bibi and his friends to steer US middle east policy.

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