Michael Maloof: US, Israel back Mojahedin Khalq Terrorists (aka; MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult)
Michael Maloof: US, Israel back Mojahedin Khalq Terrorists (aka; MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult)
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... Jundollah has been known for some time to be associated with the CIA and FBI In fact their two leaders that were ultimately caught have admitted that they had connections with US law enforcement and intelligence officials. I might add in addition to Jundollah, you might also want to consider that the MKO [ Mojahedin al Khalq Organization] or the MEK as it is also called, which has been in Iraq for years and which is also against the Iranian regime, also might have been involved as well. They would blend in very well, very easily. So it could be a combination of Jundollah and MEK ...
Interview with Michael Maloof, former Pentagon official.
Following the deadly terrorist attack, leading to martyrdom of Iranian prominent scientist, many experts have raised critical questions on the issue of the assassinators identity.
Many experts believe that it could be a joint terrorist assassination attack, carried out by Mossad and MKO, trying to delay the country's progress in its peaceful nuclear program.
Press TV has talked with Michael Maloof, former Pentagon Official to further discuss the issue.
Following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: What is your evaluation of the report? How do so-called false flags work in the Mossad-Jundullah nexus?
Maloof: Well, thanks for having me. I think that they act as proxies. And Jundollah has been known for some time to be associated with the CIA and FBI In fact their two leaders that were ultimately caught have admitted that they had connections with US law enforcement and intelligence officials.
I might add in addition to Jundollah, you might also want to consider that the MKO [ Mojahedin al Khalq Organization] or the MEK as it is also called, which has been in Iraq for years and which is also against the Iranian regime, also might have been involved as well. They would blend in very well, very easily. So it could be a combination of Jundollah and MEK.
Press TV: It seems that the US and Israel are already engaged in a war with Iran through this particular method in killing scientists that is. So, how far can it go? I mean [can they] kill all the scientists?
Maloof: I think that they are trying to be surgical about it. I think that they are trying to go after those critical scientists that are making the program work. I don't think that they can kill all of them - I hope they do not, but I also think that it is also misplaced that they want to engage in this kind of activity.
How far will they go? I think it is already a subtle war that is underway because they know they cannot invade, successfully, Iran, so they are going to be much more surgical about it and go after those elements that are critical to Iran's nuclear development program.
Press TV: What image will this give to the rest of the world, I mean the fact that what we are seeing, what is apparent was the fact that they actually cooperate with terrorist organizations, groups which the US claims to be fighting. How contradictory is this?
Maloof: Well, the Jundollah and certainly the MEK have been on the US terrorist list for years. But that doesn't preclude the US when it suits their national interests to engage and work with elements of these groups. After all, they are anti-Iranian, so they are going to be employed as much as they can and I do know that there has been an effort underway to remove the MEK [MKO] certainly from the US terrorist list.
Press TV: And so, how do you relate this recent terrorist attack in Tehran to this whole story?
Maloof: I think it is hand in glove. I think that it is part of an effort by the Israelis to undertake a very quiet behind the scenes engagement against the Iranian regime in an effort to cripple the program itself; hitting those critical choke points in an effort to try to delay the program. I think it is unrealistic to believe that they think that they are going to be able to eliminate the program altogether.
In fact, it is my personal view that Iran has every right to enrich, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation treaty [NPT].
Press TV: And finally, what can Iran do to pursue the case legally?
Maloof: Well, I think they can undertake maximum exposure to the international organizations, making that very clear and plain that this is illegal; that the United States and Israel are engaged in a subtle engagement of warfare and that they ought to take it to the International Court of Justice and certainly keep and make it public to keep an eye on it, so that the world's public is viewing this and that it is absolutely wrong.
Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cut) had the clearance of their American handlers in Washington to murder the Scientist in Tehran
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... Roshan was head of technical procurements at Iran’s first uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. His killing bears all the hallmarks of a targeted assassination by foreign covert military agents. Iranian state-owned media and parliamentarians immediately denounced “Mossad”, “Zionists” and the Western proxy-terrorist group, the Mujahedine-e Khalq Organisation (MKO), for having a role in the murder. Such involvement is likely true, but ultimately the author must have been Washington. None of the groups would dare carry out this high-profile hit without clearance from handlers in Washington ...
US Steps Up Covert War Against Iran with yet Another Assassination of a Nuclear Scientist
It’s not just an act of war; it’s a taunt for response
The US covert war against Iran raised the stakes even higher today with the assassination of yet another nuclear scientist, with some analysts saying that the Islamic Republic is being pushed into a corner to either back down in its confrontation with the US or retaliate – the latter most certainly triggering an all-out war.
Thirty-two-year-old chemical engineer Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was inside his small Peugeot car when two assailants on motorbike rode up alongside and planted a magnetic bomb on his vehicle in the capital, Tehran. The scientist was killed instantly by the explosion. His driver died later from injuries. And elderly bystander was also killed in the attack.
Roshan was head of technical procurements at Iran’s first uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. His killing bears all the hallmarks of a targeted assassination by foreign covert military agents. Iranian state-owned media and parliamentarians immediately denounced “Mossad”, “Zionists” and the Western proxy-terrorist group, the Mujahedine-e Khalq Organisation (MKO), for having a role in the murder.
Such involvement is likely true, but ultimately the author must have been Washington. None of the groups would dare carry out this high-profile hit without clearance from handlers in Washington. Noticeably, Iranian sources shied away from articulating this obvious conclusion, perhaps realizing the gravity of the consequences.
For the past two years at least it is an open secret that Washington (along with British MI6, Mossad and local proxies) has been orchestrating a campaign of terrorist subversion in Iran – the ultimate aim being to overthrow the 33-year-old Islamic Republic, which replaced the West’s favourite client, the Shah of Iran in 1979. This is the real reason for the contrived confrontation over Iran’s nuclear activities.
Dozens of Iranian scientists, engineers and academics have either been abducted or assassinated by US-led covert ops. Most of them have been closely involved in Iran’s nuclear research. Two years ago, Professor Massoud Ali Mohammed was killed when a booby-trapped motorcycle exploded outside his home in Tehran. Last year, in an attack identical to the latest, nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari was murdered when motorcyclists planted magnetic bombs on his car. Another scientist, Fereydoun Abbassi, who is now head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, was seriously wounded in a simultaneous attack.
On 12 November last year, a massive explosion ripped through a military installation at Bid Kaneh, near Tehran, killing 17 personnel, including Brigadier Hassan Moghadam who is believed to have been a senior missile technician. In that attack, there is suspicion that the explosive payload may have been fired from a CIA aerial drone. Then two weeks later, another explosion hit a nuclear facility in Isfahan, Western Iran.
Combined with CIA cyber-attacks on Iranian research networks and increasing drone incursions into Iranian territory, it is clear that the cold-blooded murder of the country’s nuclear experts is part of a deliberate cover campaign of terrorist subversion – orchestrated by Washington.
The latest assassination in Tehran comes only two days after an Iranian court sentenced a former US marine to death after he was convicted of operating in Iran as a CIA spy. That announcement provoked condemnation from the White House and an irate response in the American media. A US state department spokeswoman lashed out at the Iranian regime accusing it of committing routine political abductions of American citizens.
The details on the convicted man, Amir Mirzae Hekmati (28) from Flint, Michigan, seem murky. But it appears that he was given due process since his arrest in August, including access to a lawyer. He has 20 days to appeal the verdict. It should be noted that three other American citizens arrested previously in Iran on suspicion of espionage were eventually released by the Iranian authorities. It has been mooted that the government in Tehran released those detainees as a gesture for diplomatic dialogue with the Obama administration. The rebuff from Washington may have hardened Tehran to push for the full prosecution in the case of Hekmati.
But the wider context is the concerted efforts by Washington to overthrow the Islamic Republic’s government headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The sentencing of Hekmati is another twist in the spiraling tensions between Iran and the US and its Western allies – tensions that have escalated because of relentless Western aggression over unsubstantiated claims about Iran’s nuclear programme. According to Tehran and undisputed by countless UN inspections, Iran’s nuclear programme is for civilian energy and medical applications and is legitimately within the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
With tightening US-led sanctions bearing down on Iran’s Central Bank and oil industry, the naval war of nerves in the Strait of Hormuz, and the constantly amplified, provocative threats of pre-emptive military strikes against Iran, it is any wonder that Tehran needs to show defiance and assert its sovereign rights with regards to foreign nationals suspected of covert operations.
However, in the climate of hostility, any such move by Tehran is immediately portrayed as a provocation – just as its warning was last week over the closing of territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz to oil trans-shipments if the West proceeds with sanctions. If the murder of the Iranian scientist is a US strike over the sentencing of the alleged CIA spy, then the Iranians are being told that they have no room for manoeuvre – even when the manoeuvre is covered by a claim to sovereign rights.
It seems that the near decade-long Western confrontation with Iran has now shifted gear to an irrevocable vicious cycle where war is all but inevitable.
The latest murder of a senior Iranian scientist seems to be a trenchant ultimatum dispatched from Washington to Iran. The assassination campaign on Iranian territory against its citizens and scientific experts is not just as an act of war. It is a premeditated taunt for a response.
Finian Cunningham is Global Research’s Middle East and East Africa correspondent
Behind American support for Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult)
Terrorist groups exist because someone wants them to
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... A strong napalm bomb blasted at 3 o’clock on the Sunday’s afternoon 8 Shahrivar, and martyred president Mohammad Ali Rajaii and the prime minister Hoj. Dr. Bahonar and some others were left injured. This explosion occurred while the National Security Council’s meeting was being held in the presence of the president, the Prime Minister, and the military authorities. Besides these faithful friends of Imam, Mr. Daftarian, the prime ministry’s authority, was also martyred. Forthwith after the explosion, the guards, fire brigade, the police and emergency services arrived and ...
On Aug 30, 1981, then president and his premier were assasinated by MKO
A strong napalm bomb blasted at 3 o’clock on the Sunday’s afternoon 8 Shahrivar, and martyred president Mohammad Ali Rajaii and the prime minister Hoj. Dr. Bahonar and some others were left injured.
This explosion occurred while the National Security Council’s meeting was being held in the presence of the president, the Prime Minister, and the military authorities. Besides these faithful friends of Imam, Mr. Daftarian, the prime ministry’s authority, was also martyred.
Forthwith after the explosion, the guards, fire brigade, the police and emergency services arrived and began the rescue operation. Fire was blazing and the conference room was filled with smoke and soot. The people in other floors were evacuated immediately and the relief teams’ helicopter strove to extinguish the flames of fire.
Meanwhile, having heard the sound of explosion, people gathered outside the building to help the relief teams but the president and the prime minister were not among the injured. Recognition of the burnt dead bodies was also impossible.
Some of the injured were given immediate treatment and some others were rushed to hospital.
At last, at midnight it was to be known, that unfortunately, both the president and the prime minister had surrendered their souls to God.
The assassin was identified as Massoud Kashmiri, an operative of the Monafeghin terrorist grouplet (dubbing themselves as the MKO), who had infiltrated the Prime Minister's office.
Mohammad Ali Rajaee's Biography
Mohammad Ali Rajaee was born in the city of Qazvin in 1933. He lost his father at the age of four but could manage to complete his studies at the elementary school under the supervision of his mother and elder brother.
At the age of 14, he left Qazvin for Tehran to work in Tehran bazaar. Later he took part in the Air Force Entrance Examination at 17. In there, he cooperated with Fadaeeyan Eslam', which carried out activities against Pahlavi regime and benefited from the late Ayatollah Taleqani's classes.
In 1953, for his political activities against Palavi’s regime, he had to resign from the Air Force. Therefore he began his new career in Education Ministry as a mathematics teacher.
In 1970, he left Tehran for the city of Khansar and later returned to Tehran to continue his studies in the field of statistics. Although he continued his political activities and cooperated with Students’ Islamic Association. He was arrested in 1973 and got imprisoned but was released in 1978.
He endured harsh tortures in Savak jail, but he didn’t abandoned his revolutionary aspirations.
After the Islamic Revolution, Rajaee was appointed Minister of Education. In 1980, for his conspicuous activities in order to help the Islamic government, he was appointed prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran and was later elected as president.
In his presidency period, he appointed Shahid Bahonar as his prime minister. His presidency period was along with the beginning of Imposed war and for this reason he faced many difficulties made by internal and external enemies. But he was not dissapointed.
During his life he was so humble and respectful.
Although in the last years of his life, he had high ranking positions but he always preferred to introduce himself as a teacher, not as a minister or president.
He considered these positions as God’s examination and always advised his friends be careful about his behaviors and attributes in order to control his sensual desires.
People were always surprised by seeing his simple life as a president.
Mohammad Javad Bahonar's Biography
Martyr Mohammad Javad Bahonar was born in 1312 (1933) in "Mahalleh Shar" of Kerman. At the age of 5, he entered the tradition school of maktab to learn Quarn and when he was 11, he entered "Masoomiyeh" school of Kerman where he started the theological education. Along with this, Bahonar also under took the normal high school education.
In 1332 (1953) when he was 20 years old, he left for the Holy city of Qom in order to complete his theological education. In Seminary, he enjoyed the guidance of the outstanding figures such as Ayatollah Soltani, Mojahedi and Sheikh Mohammad Javad Esfahani.
Among his other professors one could refer to Ayatollah Borujerdi (the professor of urisprudence (Fiqh), late Imam Khomeini (Rh) the Great founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran (the professor of theological principles (Usul) and Late Alameh Tabatabaee (Rh) (the professor of Quranic Commentary (Tafsir) as well.
He was also successful in his Academic studies for, he completed his studies to the extent that he received his B.A of Theology and later, M.A of pedagogical sciences and finally PhD of theology at Tehran University.
Martyr Dr Mohammad Javad Bahonar in spite of the objections of Savak (then security and intelligent service) was employed in the Ministry of Education.
He was not only involved with teaching, but also was cooperating so closely with the office of propaganda and planning of the education ministry to the extent that the syllabus of religious classes of the different levels was prepared and managed under him.
Along with fore- mentioned activities, he began to write the religious text books for different levels of education which resulted in 40 books and pamphlets. Nothing could make him give up his aims for; even when he was forbidden to give lectures and doing some modifications on the text books.
Thanks to God's blessings and efforts of some of his colleagues, he was dealing with install and run of the office of the spreading the Islamic culture, schools of "Refah" and "Mofid" and the like.
He had been arrested for several times by Shah's regime, due to his politico- religious activities, but he kept right on adhering to his ideas.
After he was freed in 1357 (1977), he officially started his activities through formation of the Islamic Republic party among his colleagues at this time one could refer to Martyr Beheshti who is famous enough in the history of Islamic Revolution.
Bahonar after martyrdom of Dr Beheshti was appointed Secretary General of the party and until the time of his premisrship he held the position.
Paul Sheldon Foote: Terrorist groups exist because someone wants them to
(US, UK, Israel use Mojahedin Khalq, PJAK terrorists)
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... They have existed throughout those regions for a number of reasons: one is strong American support. Even though the American government denies it, it's been reported by Seymour Hirsch in The New Yorker; it's been reported by Laura Rosen in the War and Peace Blog. They can deny it all they want, but we do strongly support it -- independent journalists have gone through the region and videotaped all these communist terrorist groups and they all admit they are working with the American government. They also of course have strong support from Israel. What the American media doesn't bother to report is ...
Terrorist groups exist because someone wants them to. The US, England, France, Israel and Saudi Arabia finance, train, house and protect them.
Press TV talks with Paul Sheldon Foote, Professor of California State University from Irvine who provides an outline of the extent of involvement both the US, Israeli and Saudi Arabian governments and intelligence services have with terrorist group PJAK that targets Iran, Turkey and Syria. Following is a transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Would you please explain who PJAK is and what their goals are?
Paul Sheldon Foote:PJAK as was mentioned in your report is a branch of communist terrorists that includes the PKK -- same leadership; the only difference is one attacks Iran, one attacks Turkey and one attacks Syria.
They have existed throughout those regions for a number of reasons: one is strong American support. Even though the American government denies it, it's been reported by Seymour Hirsch in The New Yorker; it's been reported by Laura Rosen in the War and Peace Blog. They can deny it all they want, but we do strongly support it -- independent journalists have gone through the region and videotaped all these communist terrorist groups and they all admit they are working with the American government.
They also of course have strong support from Israel. What the American media doesn't bother to report is that one of the two branches of the Kurdish groups is a Jewish branch. There is a large Jewish population of Kurds both in Iraq and in Israel. There used to be a pipeline that went from Iraq to Israel.
And so the Israelis have had Mossad members on the ground in Kurdistan. They have even tried to create a central bank in Kurdistan and they have been manning the terrorist attacks and directing the terrorist workers and providing weapons. And so there's a very strong Israeli element in all of this.
Press TV: Can you describe the strength of the MKO inside Iraq? The Iraqi government doesn't appear to be doing what should be done to counter the MKO in many respects. And how does PJAK have complete control of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which is almost autonomous?
Paul Sheldon Foote: This goes back to December of 2002 when former US President Bush spoke at the UN and they issued a background paper specifically mentioning the Mujahidin-e Khalq (MKO) as a pretext for whenever we needed to go to war with Iraq. In 2003 American coalition forces attacked Camp Ashraf Iraq and killed some of the terrorists there. They quickly settled and they turned around and started using them to go inside Iran to kill Iranians.
We have been using them as terrorist tools -- the only question is who they work for. Terrorists exist because someone wants them to exist. Their headquarters is in Paris, France because the French government wants them to exist. They have broadcasting facilities in England because England wants them to exist.
Terrorism only exists because someone's paying the bills and that includes America, France and England.
Press TV: We have the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia -- all are trying to push, through financing and training, this group to militarily get engaged and cause instability inside Iran. Does not Iran therefore have the right to defend itself?
Paul Sheldon Foote: Yes of course. I can give you an example of this Saudi financing. You could get Massoud Khodabandeh on a future show -- he owns a website called www.iran-interlink.org. Last time I was in London he told me that when he was at Camp Ashraf, Iraq in a very high position in the Mujahidin-e Khalq he personally supervised the receipt of a large shipment of gold bars from Saudi Arabia to the MKO.
The agreement they made with the Saudis is that they had to shave off the insignia and markings on the gold bars so no one could know where the gold came from. You can verify he was there at their head quarters at Camp Ashraf Iraq and a large shipment of gold came in. The Saudis fund every terrorist organization they can imagine in the region.
Press TV: Do you think if there wasn't this interference by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia that this problem would perhaps have been resolved regionally along with the neighbors of Iran, let's say Turkey and Syria along with the local governments there in Baghdad?
Paul Sheldon Foote: Absolutely. There is no reason for these problems. A large percentage of Iraqis are actually Iranians who have been living in Iraq for more than 100 years.
The borders of the Middle East were imposed on the Middle East after WWI by France, England and the rest of the world. These are artificial lines. My wife has relatives buried in Iraq and she is from Iran. Who's to say that anyone outside the region should be defining the lines and imposing these kinds of conflicts on the region? The only objection to Iran is that Iran finally has a government independent; that stands up and will not tolerate having its oil stolen as it was under the Shah.
Ali Safavi, a senior member of the MEK's political wing, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), coached witnesses before and during the hearing. The NCRI is designated as a terrorist affiliate of the MEK.
(Ali Safavi as the commander of Saddam's Private Army in Iraq)
(Daniel Zucker, Maryam Rajavi and ALi Safavi in terror HQ in Paris )
Alireza Jafarzadeh, who has served as NCRI spokesman, counseled former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey prior to his testimony
Iran exile group should stay on terror list, say experts
(Joint Experts’ Statement on the Mujahedin-e Khalq)
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... “Removing the MEK from the foreign terrorist organisation list and misconstruing its lack of democratic bona fides and support inside Iran will have harmful consequences on the legitimate, indigenous Iranian opposition,” the 37 experts say in the letter. “By attempting to claim credit for Iran’s democracy movement, the MEK has aided the Iranian government’s attempts to discredit the green movement and justify its crackdown on peaceful protesters by associating them with this widely detested group.” The signatories include ...
The letter is an attempt to counter an aggressive lobbying campaign by supporters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or People’s Mujahideen of Iran, to be taken off the list a decade after it renounced violence.
The experts contend that delisting the MEK would be a huge blow to the pro-democracy “green movement” that formed in Iran during the 2009 presidential election, which Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad is widely viewed as having stolen. Months of protests followed but the movement has since lost its momentum.
“Removing the MEK from the foreign terrorist organisation list and misconstruing its lack of democratic bona fides and support inside Iran will have harmful consequences on the legitimate, indigenous Iranian opposition,” the 37 experts say in the letter.
“By attempting to claim credit for Iran’s democracy movement, the MEK has aided the Iranian government’s attempts to discredit the green movement and justify its crackdown on peaceful protesters by associating them with this widely detested group.”
The signatories include John Limbert, head of Iranian affairs in the state department until recently and one of the diplomats held hostage during the 1979 siege of the US embassy in Tehran; Paul Pillar, a former US intelligence agent now at Georgetown University; Trita Parsi, head of the National Iranian American Council; and Hadi Ghaemi of Human Rights Defender.
The state department is expected to rule this month on whether the MEK will be removed from the list, which also includes al-Qaeda and Hizbollah.
The UK removed the MEK from its list in 2008 and the European Union in 2009 after courts found no evidence of terrorist actions since the MEK renounced violence in 2001. It won more than 20 battles in courts across Europe as it sought to be delisted there.
A Washington DC court last year ruled that the MEK had been denied due process during its last appeal to the Bush administration to be taken off the list and ordered the state department to reconsider the request.
But many US analysts agree with the signatories that delisting the MEK would be a setback for Iran’s grassroots opposition.
The MEK presents itself as Iran’s main opposition group but is widely reviled in the country for supporting Saddam Hussein during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and his crackdowns on the Shia population in Iraq.
“The MEK has halted all military activity since 2001, renounced violence and condemned terrorism in all its forms in 2004, handed over all its weapons voluntarily to the United States in 2003,” said Ahmad Moein, executive director of the Iranian American Community of Northern California, a group that supports the MEK.
The MEK could now lead a viable alternative to the current Iranian regime, he said. “We support the aims of MEK for the establishment, through the electoral process of a democratic, secular, non-nuclear republic that is at peace with all its neighbours,” Mr Moein said.
We the undersigned would like to convey our concern regarding the potential delisting of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list, and its false claims to be “Iran’s main opposition” with a base of popular support in Iran.
The MEK has no political base inside Iran and no genuinesupport among the Iranian population. The MEK, an organization based in Iraq that enjoyed the support of Saddam Hussein, lost any following it had in Iran when it fought on Iraq’s behalf during the 1980-1988 war. Widespread Iranian distaste for the MEK has been cemented by its numerous terrorist attacks against innocent Iranian civilians. Since Saddam Hussein’s ouster, the MEK’s ability to maneuver in Washington and Iraq now depends almost entirely on the uneven enforcement of existing U.S. laws concerning Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Prominent human rights organizations – including Human Rights Watch – have determined the MEK to be a cult-like organization with a structure and modus operandi that belies its claim to be a vehicle for democratic change. When Iran’s post-election turbulence commenced in 2009, the MEK quickly sought to associate itself with the wave of popular opposition inside Iran. By attempting to claim credit for Iran’s democracy movement, the MEK has aided the Iranian government’s attempts to discredit the Green Movement and justify its crackdown on peaceful protesters by associating them with this widely detested group. When the MEK began its efforts to claim the mantle of being “Iran’s main opposition,” genuine Iranian opposition leaders such as Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard immediately pushed back. Karroubi pointedly said, “The Iranian Government is trying to connect those who truly love their country (the Green Movement) with the MEK to revive this hypocritical dead organization.”
Removing the MEK from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list and misconstruing its lack of democratic bona fides and support inside Iran will have harmful consequences on the legitimate, indigenous Iranian opposition. We urge the U.S. government to avoid conflating a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with Iran’s Green Movement as the Iranian people continue their struggle for democracy and human rights.
1. Prof. Ervand Abrahamian, Author of The Iranian Mojahedin
2. Prof. Ali Ansari, University of St Andrews
3. Reza Aslan, Author of No God but God
4. Prof. Shaul Bakhash, George Mason University, author of Reign of the Ayatollahs
5. Prof. Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University
6. Prof. Juan Cole, University of Michigan
7. James Dobbins, former Assistant Secretary of State
8. Prof. Farideh Farhi, University of Hawaii at Manoa
9. Dokhi Fassihian, Human Rights Defender
10. Hadi Ghaemi, Human Rights Defender
11. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, former reformist member of Parliament
12. Kevan Harris, Johns Hopkins University
13. Prof. Nader Hashemi, University of Denver
14. Prof. Ramin Jahanbegloo, former political prisoner in Iran
15. Prof. Mohsen Kadivar, Duke University
16. Prof. Mehran Kamrava, Georgetown University
17. Prof. Stephen Kinzer, Author of All the Shah’s Men
18. Amb. John Limbert, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and hostage in Iran
19. Prof. Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham
20. Firuzeh Mahmoudi, United4Iran
21. Reza Marashi, Former Iran Desk officer, US Department of State, NIAC Research Director
22. Azadeh Moaveni, Author of Lipstick Jihad
23. Prof. Rasool Nafisi, Strayer University
24. Sahar Namazikhah, Journalist
25. Dr. Trita Parsi, Author of Treacherous Alliance - The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the US
26. Prof. Paul Pillar, Georgetown University
27. Prof. Nasrin Rahimieh, University of California, Irvine
28. Prof. R. K. Ramazani, University of Virginia
29. Jason Rezaian, Iran-based journalist
30. Prof. Ahmad Sadri, Lake Forest College
31. Prof. Mahmoud Sadri, Texas Woman’s University
32. Prof. Muhammad Sahimi, University of Southern California
33. Elaheh Sharifpour-Hicks, Human Rights Expert
34. Sasan Shoamanesh, managing editor of Global Brief, Canada’s leading international affairs magazine
35. Prof. Gary Sick, Columbia University
36. John Tirman, Executive Director, MIT Center for International Studies
37. Wayne White, Middle East Institute, former Deputy Director of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence
Congressman Kucinich to Attorny General Eric Hoder:
Investigate the case of lobbyists for Mojahedin Khalq
(MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) terror group in Washington
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... MEK has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists, PR agents an communications firms to build up pressure on Secretary Hillary Clinton to take the group off the terrorist list. In Horder, the Department of Justice, under both your direction and that of Attorny General Mukasey, argued that it was felony to file an amicus brief on behalf of a foreign terrorist organization, or to engate in pblic advocacy on belahf of such an organization ...
Kucinich Asks Tough Questions About FBI Investigation of Anti-War Groups
“Is it Good Judgment to Direct the Overwhelming Resources of the Federal Government onto Small, Local Groups and Individuals whose Primary Interest is Peace
Washington, Jul 25 - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder asking tough questions about the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s large commitment of resources to investigate small, local groups of individuals whose primary concern is peace. Congressman Kucinich also asked for an explanation for the apparent differential use of vague and broad criminal statutes.
“A federal prosecutor has tremendous power and resources,” wrote Kucinich. “Because of that, he has a concomitant obligation to exercise that power with judgment and discretion. Is it good judgment to direct the overwhelming resources of the federal government onto small, local groups and individuals whose primary interest is peace? Is it good judgment to investigate them under a vague and broad statute whose text and interpretations have changed numerous times over the past decade? Is this really the best use of Department of Justice personnel?”
part of the Document:... The Washington Post and other news sources have reported that fromer Attorny General Michael Mukasy, former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, former Whaite House security adviser Frances Townsend, and former New York Mayor Tudy Giuliani have publicly expressed their support for the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK), and organization that has been on the foreign terrorist list of the State Department since 1997... It has been reported that the MEK has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists, PR agents an communications firms to build up pressure on Secretary Hillary Clinton to take the group off the terrorist list. In Horder, the Department of Justice, under both your direction and that of Attorny General Mukasey, argued that it was felony to file an amicus brief on behalf of a foreign terrorist organization, or to engate in pblic advocacy on belahf of such an organization, unless that advocacy was totally"independent" of the organization. How do you reconcile those arguments with the total absence of attention paid to lobbying activities in support of the MEK? how do you reconcile that inaction with the apparent overkill that has been directed at the anti-war activists in Mineapolis and Chicago? ...
RT: Lobbyist in Capital Hill with pockets stuffed with MEK’s money
(aka; Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, Rajavi cult)
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... The Alyona Show on RT – Russian English –Language news Channel suggests the US media focus on the “Lobbyist in Capital Hill with pockets stuffed with MEK’s money”, on July 9th. The show criticizes US officials’ hypocrisy and double-standard sell the cause of terrorists. Comparing MEK with Al-Qaida the show poses the question that how a terrorist designated organization can be debated in a hearing held in the US congress ...
The Alyona Show on RT – Russian English –Language news Channel suggests the US media focus on the “Lobbyist in Capital Hill with pockets stuffed with MEK’s money”, on July 9th. The show criticizes US officials’ hypocrisy and double-standard sell the cause of terrorists. Comparing MEK with Al-Qaida the show poses the question that how a terrorist designated organization can be debated in a hearing held in the US congress.
