Iraq Prepares to Try MKO

The Nation, Dilip Hiro

March 2004
 

When, during the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) militia attacked MEK bases to avenge the MEK's assistance to Saddam to crush the Shiite and Kurdish uprisings after the 1991 Gulf War, the Pentagon intervened swiftly to save the MEK from total annihilation. Following the White House's decision to disarm the MEK, the Pentagon was deliberately lax toward the organization, permitting the MEK to run its radio station and possibly allowing it to bury its weapons and ammunition.

The Tehran government demanded that MEK fighters be sent to Iran for trial since they had admittedly committed terrorist actions against Iranian territory. Bremer refused. But as Sistani raised the ante, demanding direct elections for the transitional government and marshaling his followers in the streets, he relented. To mollify Tehran, Bremer closed the MEK radio station in January and took DNA samples from MEK detainees as a prelude to charging some of them with terrorist crimes during Saddam's rule. In sum, Iran and America, holding equally strong cards, are watching each other warily and following a negative policy of not alienating each other --a game that is likely to continue until the US presidential election in November.