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About 15,000 people, most of them Iranian Americans or
exiles, recently flocked to Washington to denounce the fundamentalist
Islamic government of Iran. The crowd shouted slogans against Iran's reviled
clerical regime and hoisted placards encouraging President Bush to take
whatever action necessary - including preemptive military strikes - to
ensure that Iran did not develop nuclear weapons.
By all appearances, the march seemed like a protest by concerned Iranians
who supported regime change in Iran. In reality, it was a meticulously
orchestrated political rally in support of a violent, pseudo-Marxist Iranian
religious cult - the People's Mujahedin of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin
Khalq (MEK) - an organization that has been on U.S. and European Union
terrorist watch lists for years.
Ever since the invasion of Iraq, the MEK (and its Paris-based political
front, the National Council of Resistance in Iran) has tried to establish
itself as the Iranian equivalent of Ahmad Chalabi's "government in exile,"
the Iraqi National Congress - and not without success. Like the INC before
the war, the MEK has advocates in the highest levels of government. And like
the INC, the MEK has been inundating the U.S. intelligence community with
uncorroborated and, according to some intelligence officials, highly suspect
information meant to encourage the White House to carry out the same policy
of regime change in Iran that it did in Iraq. But the United States will
probably discover that the MEK - just like the INC - can't be trusted.
The MEK, formed in the 1960s as one of several anti-imperialist
organizations struggling to overthrow the oppressive and corrupt regime of
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, gained widespread fame by killing dozens of the
shah's political cronies, as well as several U.S. soldiers and civilian
contractors who were working in Iran at the time. But after the shah's
expulsion in 1979, the MEK found itself left behind in the ensuing power
struggle over who would control the new Iran. Neither the secular democrats
who formed the provisional government nor the religious factions who
followed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wanted anything to do with the MEK's
Marxist agenda.
With the establishment of clerical control, the MEK was eventually outlawed
and forced to flee to Iraq, where in exchange for assistance and
intelligence during the Iran-Iraq war it was provided with protection and
arms by Saddam Hussein. It was the MEK's support for Hussein during that war
that has made it the most reviled group in Iran. In fact, the MEK - now
perhaps 10,000 strong, half of them fighters - may be the only group the
Iranian population detests more than the ruling clerical establishment.
The cease-fire between Iran and Iraq in 1988 put the MEK in a vulnerable
position. Isolated in remote camps along the border between Iraq and Iran,
the group gradually transformed from a revolutionary Marxist guerrilla
organization into a fanatical cult of personality centered on absolute
devotion to its husband-and-wife leaders, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi.
As with most cults, it is incredibly difficult to break through the veil of
secrecy that shrouds the MEK. However, based on the research of Baruch
College history professor Ervand Abrahamian, who has written extensively on
the group, and the testimony of former members, a horrifying history of
terrorist activity, mass murder and human rights abuses has emerged.
From their headquarters in Paris, the Rajavis rule the MEK with draconian,
god-like authority. Every morning, MEK members living in the Iraqi camps -
many who joined the group as orphaned children - line up and salute pictures
of Maryam and Massoud. Indeed, when French authorities arrested Maryam
Rajavi in 2002 for her involvement in terrorist activities, nine of her
followers immolated themselves in protest.
According to Human Rights Watch, members who have criticized the Rajavis or
their organization have been detained against their will; some committed
suicide. As the public face of the MEK, the National Council of Resistance
in Iran presents itself as a democratic and egalitarian organization, often
flaunting the number of women in its political and military hierarchy. But
this is not so much a sign of progressivism as it is a result of the group's
control mechanisms. The Rajavis have outlawed all contact between their male
and female followers. Celibacy is strictly enforced, and all members must
undergo weekly ideological cleansings in which they publicly confess their
sexual desires. Married couples live apart, save, of course, for Maryam and
Massoud.
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, members of the MEK were rounded up and
detained by the U.S. military. The Iranians, eager to get their hands on
them, entered into negotiations with U.S. officials for a prisoner exchange,
offering Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters they had captured in return for
members of the MEK. The Iraqis, who wanted to see the group brought to
justice for its role in the massacre of the Shiites and Kurds after the
Persian Gulf War, supported the negotiations. However, before talks could
conclude, the MEK was inexplicably granted protected status under the Geneva
Convention. It seems that some members of the U.S. Congress and Bush
administration now deem the MEK to be the most viable alternative to Iran's
clerical regime. Thus, during last weekend's rally, Rep. Bob Filner (D-San
Diego) referred to the group as "our best bet to counter the [Iranian]
regime."
The MEK is nothing of the sort. This is a fanatical cult that, despite its
rhetoric, has no interest in replacing Iran's clerical regime with a
democratic alternative. On the contrary, its leaders want to replace the
clerics with themselves. They want to substitute one kind of religious
totalitarianism with another.
Tantalizing promises aside, we must not be fooled.
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