Mark Dankof interviews former MeK member Anne Singleton and Dr. Paul Sheldon Foote
(aka; Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, Rajavi cult)
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... Mark Dankof spoke with Anne Singleton and Dr Paul Sheldon Foote about the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist group. The discussion covered issues concerning the MEK's role in the US and Israel, France and Iraq. Is the MEK a danger to the US is one of the questions asked. Describing Rajavi as a mercenary who will sell his group to anyone to perform acts of violence, Anne Singleton stressed the need to differentiate between Rajavi loyalists and the majority of ordinary members trapped in Iraq who want to leave but are prevented from doing so. The US must do more to help she said ...
The ugly truth, June 14 2012
http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/
mark-dankofs-america-pod-broadcast-june-13-2012/
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Also
http://www.iran-interlink.org/index.php?mod=view&id=11958
Sheldon Foote: US supports terrorists that kill friends and foe alike
(Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult)
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... We've had American soldiers die in Iraq taking the MEK terrorists on shopping trips from Camp Ashraf to Baghdad. If their parents knew that their children died supporting communist terrorists they would be outraged, but instead they think they were doing something of value in the country. This is how terribly misinformed or uninformed the American public is about these folks. Not only have they killed large numbers of Iranians, they killed a huge number of Iraqis; they lined up the Kurds and ran over them with APCs. They killed American military officers in Iran; they've killed Rockwell international employees in Iran ...
Press TV, March 18 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232293.html
A major US professor insists that the American public is deliberately misinformed while the US government supports terrorist groups that have killed friend and foe alike.
Press TV has conducted a revealing interview with Dr. Paul Sheldon Foote, professor at California State University in Irvine, to further discuss the issue.
The following is a transcription of the interview.
Press TV: How do you explain the fact that the United States administration calls for actions to be taken against terrorist groups while what we're seeing is actually supporting and financing groups and, of course, speaking on behalf of them?
Foote: This is political corruption at its best and also the ignorance of the American population to rely on the American media.
In an example of the FBI, the FBI closed down the office of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK or MKO) years ago in Washington DC and put them out of business there. And the head of the office immediately was hired by the Fox News channel as a foreign affairs analyst.
So you have all these people calling themselves Republicans, conservatives, anti-communists watching a communist terrorist on their Fox News channel.
The FBI…for a long time in a law suit against MEK terrorists in Los Angeles airport who have been collecting donations!
I said what are you guys doing - why aren't going after the top dogs in Washington DC - why are you going after these little collectors?
And here you've got the former head of the FBI collecting tens of thousands of dollars along with a large number of other Americans who have received support.
You even have a Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum who is a strong supporter. And the Republican voters are stupid and they don't even know this guy is supporting communist terrorists. This is the ignorance of the American population who rely on the major American media.
We've had American soldiers die in Iraq taking the MEK terrorists on shopping trips from Camp Ashraf to Baghdad. If their parents knew that their children died supporting communist terrorists they would be outraged, but instead they think they were doing something of value in the country.
This is how terribly misinformed or uninformed the American public is about these folks.
Not only have they killed large numbers of Iranians, they killed a huge number of Iraqis; they lined up the Kurds and ran over them with APCs. They killed American military officers in Iran; they've killed Rockwell international employees in Iran.
They are a very nasty bunch that's been around and continues to be around in Iraq against the wishes of the Iraqi government.
The American government and neo-conservatives and President Obama have imposed these people on the government of Iraq for a long time over their objections. What about democracy in Iraq? They're still there!
Some have been moved to Azerbaijan; some are wandering around Europe, but a large number are still right in Iraq against the will of the Iraqi people.
In 2002, George Bush at the United Nations gave out a background paper and cited by naming the MEK as a pretext of why we should go to war against Iraq saying that Saddam Hussein was supporting him and keeping him in Iraq. We went to war with Iraq over the MEK and then we defend them once they’re there.
We have the stupidest voters in the world who are uninformed about these things.
Press TV: In this election year, what kind of approach or policy would we expect from the US towards the Mujahedin-e Khalq organization - will it change?
Foote: No. As long as the Zionists and the neo-conservatives are in power it will not change. Israel is a big supporter of the MEK. Saudi Arabia has delivered bars of gold to Camp Ashraf to support the MEK.
Saudi Arabia claims to be Muslim and religious and they support the most evil liberation theology communist terrorists in the world.
This extends to France. France is the headquarters right now of the MEK. They have actually provided in the past free telephone lines and security for these people in France.
You have a lot of countries who will continue to use these folks, I mean, thousands of terrorists don't sit around for free - someone's paying their bills. And those bills are being paid by a lot of countries.
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/index.php?mod=view&id=11921
Mojahedin Khalq, True Mercenaries
(aka; MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult)
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... In Washington D.C. the MEK cosy up to the neoconservatives, Israeli lobby and regime change pundits to press for military strikes and war against Iran. The MEK's black/white version of events infects the Republican electoral campaign with a crass warmongering stance. Conversely, in Europe and the Persian Gulf States, where such a stance is highly unpopular, the MEK instead claim that the sanctions are working and that they should be given a chance to work further. The Democrats must be pleased to hear such posturing echoing way over across the ocean. The MEK vilify the Green Movement but praise them as well ...
Anne Singleton, Author of "The life of Camp Ashraf" and "Saddam's Private Army", Marc 12 2012
www.Camp-Ashraf,com
The media spotlight having uncomfortably focused on the MEK's alleged involvement in Israeli linked assassinations of Iranian scientists in recent weeks, the MEK has given up for the time being on advertising for their original purpose of killing and martyrdom. Instead they have turned up the volume on what France 24 dubbed their 'battle by press release'.
There can be few journalists in the world who have an interest in Iran and have not been subjected to the MEK's famous confetti, or ticker-tape, campaign of press releases. After terrorism, the MEK's expertise is in propaganda. (Being ridiculously well funded is of course another, lesser investigated area of this group's range of expertise.)
Over in Iraq, long term home to the MEK's foreign terrorist base, the group's members - formerly known as Saddam's private army - are being moved from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty before they are removed from Iraq altogether.
In response to this imagined affront, the MEK has pursued two tactics in its battle by press release - the first was to demand they be sent to a defunct refugee tent camp at the Jordanian border - and in direct contradiction to this to bleat about the terrible inhumane conditions at Camp Liberty - former home to up to 5,000 US army personnel, which must surely earn the MEK the new soubriquet of the 'MEK Princess Corps'.
But as the pleas for help have fallen on deaf ears and its camp looks set for closure, the MEK has more recently woken up to the need to distract from this existential crisis.
They have turned up the volume of press releases. But that is not all, taking a cursory look at the articles and stories engendered by this exercise, we see that the MEK is apparently advising anyone and everyone on what should be done about Iran. You would imagine the MEK is the expert of choice on everything to do with Iran.
But on closer scrutiny it is clear that none of this advise has come from the MEK's own analysis or knowledge or from any verifiable or valuable information sources inside Iran - which the MEK simply does not have.
Instead the plethora of messages all contradict one another.
In one article the MEK swears at Nouri al Maliki accusing him of being an 'agent of the Iranian regime'. Then in another article they refer to him as 'brother al Maliki'. On one hand the MEK are aligned to Israel, at the same time they are associated with Saddamists from the former Iraqi dictatorship regime. The MEK have been linked with Mossad and the CIA, and also allegedly work with Iran's ultra right intelligence gangs.
In Washington D.C. the MEK cosy up to the neoconservatives, Israeli lobby and regime change pundits to press for military strikes and war against Iran. The MEK's black/white version of events infects the Republican electoral campaign with a crass warmongering stance.
Conversely, in Europe and the Persian Gulf States, where such a stance is highly unpopular, the MEK instead claim that the sanctions are working and that they should be given a chance to work further. The Democrats must be pleased to hear such posturing echoing way over across the ocean.
The MEK vilify the Green Movement but praise them as well.
If these contradictions arose from a clever manipulation of world politics they might be worthy of note. But this must be the only mercenary group in the world which offers its services to all sides of the equation, including those which are deadly enemies. Instead of the soft hum of smooth politicking, all we really hear is the loud 'kerching' of more money landing in Rajavi's coffers.
Maybe this is why the MEK have so rapidly lost credence and relevance in the Iran debate - even those who use them are discovering they really can't be trusted.
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.jpg)
(Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, cult leaders)
(Rajavi cult or MKO aslo known as Saddam's Private Army)
(Maryam Rajavi directly ordered the massacre of Kurdish people)
(Ali Safavi, coach witnesses before and during the hearing)
(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 and Michael Mukasey prior to his testimony)
Jafarzadeh representing terrorist organisation NCRI
(Picture form MKO/ NCRI clandestine television)
Jafarzadeh has already published his suicide bombing note
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=10854
New Book
The Life of Camp Ashraf
Mojahedin-e Khalq – Victims of Many Masters
By Anne Singleton and Massoud Khodabandeh
First published September 2011 by IRAN-INTERLINK
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ISBN 978-0-9545009-1-7
The book is now available through bookshops and Amazon websites throughout Europe and America
Alternatively contact Iran Interlink directly for your copy
Product Description
The fascinating story of the controversial life of Camp Ashraf in Iraq from its foundation in 1986 to the present day is told in this book. Originally created to accommodate the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (aka MEK, MKO, PMOI, Rajavi cult) and its leader Massoud Rajavi for coordinating the violent overthrow of the regime in Iran, Camp Ashraf became the MEK’s main military and ideological training base. The MEK later became known as Saddam’s Private Army as it became an integral element in the Iraqi dictator’s repressive apparatus.
But, even years after the fall of Saddam the MEK still has the support and backing of many in the West and is therefore able to resist opening its doors to the outside world. It is the hidden life inside Camp Ashraf which renders it so controversial. The isolated garrison became the experimental ground for Rajavi to turn his group into a dangerous, destructive mind control cult. Rajavi keeps the rank and file in the camp in a state of modern slavery to perform acts of terrorism and to fulfil propaganda roles in Western countries for the group’s many masters.
Massoud Rajavi’s methods of enthralling his followers include banning marriage and having children, instilling irrational phobic reactions to external factors, denying any contact with the outside world through radio, television, letters or telephones. In particular members must have no contact with their families. This book exposes the hidden life of the camp and its inhabitants. It speaks for the silent victims of the Rajavi cult and for the families who wait outside the camp for news of their loved ones.
In conclusion, the book examines the ways to deal with the problem of how to dismantle a dangerous destructive mind control cult and free its members as various parties vie for control over the group for their own agendas.
CONTENTS Page
INTRODUCTION 1
1965 – 1986 THE MEK AND IRAQ 4
1986 – 1991 THE GOLDEN AGE 18
1988 – 1993 THE IDEOLOGICAL PHASE 37
1991 GULF WAR ONE 50
1991 – 1997 THE MEK’S DECLINE 61
1997 – 2003 CAMP ASHRAF PRISON – NO EXIT 84
2003 – 2007 THE MEK PLACED ON LIFE SUPPORT 104
2007 – 2009 A GROWING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS 130
2009 INEVITABLE CHANGE 153
CAMP ASHRAF - PAST ITS ‘BEST BEFORE’ DATE 174
CONCLUSION 196
APPENDICES 201
INTRODUCTION
The controversial life of Camp Ashraf from its foundation to the present day makes a fascinating story in itself. The camp was created by Saddam Hussein in 1986 to accommodate the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its leader Massoud Rajavi. Founded in 1965 the MEK first took up arms to try to oust the Shah. Two years after the 1979 Iranian revolution Rajavi tried to engineer a coup against Ayatollah Khomeini. It failed and he fled to Paris in 1981. Rajavi then tried to conduct his armed struggle against the new Islamic Republic from Paris but when this failed he was given succour in Iraq where Camp Ashraf became the MEK’s main military and ideological training base.
The close relationship between Saddam and Rajavi led to the MEK being dubbed Saddam’s Private Army; Camp Ashraf played an integral role in the survival of the Iraqi dictator after the First Gulf war when Rajavi used his forces to help crush the Kurdish and Shiite uprisings. In 2003 Camp Ashraf became an enemy target for the Multi National Forces when Operation Iraq Freedom removed Saddam Hussein from power. Then in a paradoxical move the US Government provided military protection for Camp Ashraf for eight years while its inhabitants remained on the US Terrorism List.
Camp Ashraf came under the control of the democratically elected Government of Iraq in January 2009 (under the Status of Forces Agreement). After that time it was inevitable that the camp would close. Successive Iraqi governments since 2003 insisted that the Americans close Camp Ashraf and expel the foreign terrorist group Mojahedin-e Khalq from the country because of the group’s history of terrible crimes against the people of Iraq.
In the course of twenty five years Camp Ashraf has seen many changes. But the real story of course is not about the camp but about the lives of the people who inhabited it; how they came to be there and why they must now leave.
In its forty five year history, the MEK organisation has undergone many public image changes; from guerrilla fighters, resistance army, terrorist entity to feminist democratic opposition. The man who has led the group through all these superficial incarnations is Massoud Rajavi. And behind the glamorous advertisements of a sophisticated and relentless propaganda machine, his single-minded pursuit of power at any cost and his fundamental belief in the use of violence to achieve this aim of power, has not changed one iota in all this time.
Rajavi was a charismatic speaker and skilled psychological manipulator. He discovered in himself a talent for totalitarian control which matched his narcissistic ambition for power. Although he began to convert the Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation into a cult while still in Paris, it was the acquisition of the isolated, closed world of Camp Ashraf which provided the perfect crucible to extend his experiment. In Camp Ashraf he has forced the MEK members along a most extraordinary route of mental and physical anguish to meet his needs.
Over the years former members who escaped from Camp Ashraf have told their stories to a world unwilling or unable to listen. Thousands of them consistently and courageously described the conditions of the internal revolutions and Rajavi’s bizarre requirements for members to divorce and to remove all the children from the camp; to undergo the daily humiliations of public self-confessions which enforce the celibacy and gender apartheid; to suffer micro-management of their every waking moment which imposed deliberately exhausting work schedules and disorienting indoctrination sessions; to be deprived of any information from and contact with the outside world and their families. Rajavi did all this to keep his members from leaving. When this failed, he imprisoned them.
Camp Ashraf is now a double prison for the residents. They are trapped by Rajavi’s psychological manipulations which engender paralysing fear in everyone behind the barbed wire fences which he has had erected to keep them physically inside. But they are trapped ultimately by the misguided ignorance and misplaced sympathy of all those external agencies which could take action to free them but don’t.
The life of Camp Ashraf has reached a critical juncture. It must close. The residents must leave. But over and above Massoud Rajavi’s refusal to leave, there are a host of third parties with their own agendas which militate against closure. The main players are the Americans and the Iranians who have developed their own narratives and myths around the MEK in order to use it as a tool to aggravate and intensify their thirty year enmity. Between the ‘bomb Iran, regime change’ pundits in America and the ‘crackdown on foreign backed violent opposition’ proponents in Iran, all the bases are covered.
It is these voices which dominate political debates and media reporting on Camp Ashraf. But the political and security issues are a decoy to avoid answering the fundamental question. After twenty five years of testimony describing severe human rights abuses why do the individual residents of Camp Ashraf still have no voice? Why do people continue to escape the camp even in spite of the severe restrictions? At the time of Saddam Hussein perhaps these questions could be ignored. But now?
The original inspiration to write the story of Camp Ashraf came from witnessing the determination of the families of the camp’s residents to rescue their loved ones. Since 2003 they braved bombs and bullets to reach the gate of Camp Ashraf in the hope of finding their relatives. They refused to give up, refused to take no for an answer. Even when the MEK began to pelt missiles at them they refused to give up. Their extraordinary love and courage needs to be voiced and this voice needs to reach above the cacophony of the false hand wringing and political wailing to those who are in a position to help.
But as the story unfolded it became obvious that the really voiceless victims of Camp Ashraf are its residents. As the stories of individual members emerged it was clear that many had died and many more had suffered before their information could reach the public domain. Currently around 3500 people continue trapped and held hostage to the callous whims of the various pitiless powerful political forces who do not care about their individual fates. This book must speak out on their behalf.
This book therefore is an attempt to tell their story in the hope that this will halt the diversion of this issue to everything else except this fundamental question – why are people risking everything to run away from Camp Ashraf and the MEK and why is no one listening to them?
ISBN 978-0-9545009-1-7
The book is now available through bookshops and Amazon websites throughout Europe and America
Alternatively contact Iran Interlink directly for your copy
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