"Mojahedin's November 19 Washington rally and march from the White House
to the US Congress was well organized and disciplined, even though the
promised American entertainers were absent. No sane eyewitness would
agree with Mojahedin's PR about 15,000 participants. As someone who
believes it is a mistake to underrate your opponent, I cannot go any
higher than 1,500 to 1,800. Mojahedin's own photos of the event on their
websites and TV broadcasts, showing the entire procession, make this
abundantly clear. For further evidence, look below for a photo of
Freedom Plaza, where the march started. Keep in mind that Mojahedin
supporters filled LESS THAN HALF on the right side of the Plaza ( raised
two to three feet above the surrounding sidewalks) on November 19 and
that no "feeder marches" or individuals joined their procession later on
its way to Congress. You can judge the scale of the Plaza by the
dimensions of the windows and the cars.

On the map below, Freedom Plaza is the area bounded by 13th and 14th
Streets, E Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue ( the White House is marked
on the left). Judging by the map scale, the entire Freedom Plaza --
including the four sidewalks, the thick waist-high walls, the raised
grass platform on the right end, and the raised pond on the left end --
cannot be more than 10 thousand square meters. Usable space on the right
half could not possibly be more than 2,500 square meters. If Mojahedin
supporters stood tightly one per square meter of that space with their
paraphernalia, that would be 2,500 demonstrators. But they were instead
moving with their hundreds of flags and banners in a circular pattern
while they chanted, leaving the center of the circle nearly empty.
So there could not have been more than 1,800 participants at most. Is
the Mojahedin leadership lying when it claims 15,000 demonstrators? Can
we now trust their strength estimations at their other rallies in the
recent past ? If they lie on purpose, is that meant to help them milk
their supporters for the "campaign contributions" (we used to call that
bribery in Iran) that flow abundantly to their "friends" in Congress
according to official records? More importantly, was it similar
exaggerations of their strength that convinced hundreds, if not
thousands, of their impressionable volunteers to rush to their tragic
deaths in Operation Forough Javidan in
Iranian Kurdistan in1988 ?

In addition, Mojahedin's claim of 15,000 was refuted by the Capitol
(Congress) Police Chief, in an otherwise favorable report in today's
Washington Post. But Mojahedin's Farsi translation of that report fails
to mention the police chief's comment. The translation also left out an
entire paragraph about the US State department's explanation to the
reporter of the reason Mojahedin were designated a "terrorist
organization." (see the translation at
http://www.hambastegimeli.com/node/view/12235 ).

As a seasoned observer, I have no doubt that many tens of thousands of
dollars were spent to stage the November 19 event. To that you must add
the cost of airfare and hotel (not cheap in this city) for hundreds of
"warm bodies" to attend. A dozen participants who I talked to had all
travelled from faraway places, including three from Europe. Several said
they came for the free weekend in Washington. Although presumably
several hundred must have been locals, my friends and I did not
encounter any.

Ten of us were there to wave oversize "Freedom Yes; Mercenaries No" and
"US Hands Off Iran" placards and be generously photographed and
videotaped by the rally organizers. three of us gave interviews to
reporters, but the Washington Post reporter refused to talk to us. See
the Post's glowing account of the event at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A64120-2004Nov19?language=printer.
They are recognized in the business as the second most influential
newspaper in the US, which means they need to be careful and protect
their credibility.

You may want to send a concise letter of complaint to the paper's
ombudsman, whose job is to keep the paper neutral and accurate. His
address is
ombudsman@washpost.com.
For samples of his past columns, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/ombudsman/.

For better effect, you could send a copy of your complaint to Accuracy
and Fairness in Reporting, an independent and progressive media watchdog
NGO, at www.fair.org.

You can also email a polite note to Washington Post's Letters Editor, at
letters@washingtonpost.com, who may publish it.
Their limit is 250 words and you must make clear that you have read the
article and find it incomplete or biased.
If you write, do mention that it was sloppy journalism when they named
the "Council for Freedom and Democracy in Iran" and the "Global
Coalition Against Fundamentalism" as sponsors of the event, because no
such organizations exist anywhere. All the reporter had to do was search
the internet for one minute or ask the organizers for the names and
addresses of the principals and the size of the membership of these
"organizations". A high school newspaper editor would have wanted to
verify these before publishing a report that helps demonize an entire
nation, especially if Americans may soon be paying with their dollars
and their lives to "civilize" that nation. If you write, please also ask
why they sent a "general purpose" reporter to cover an issue that,
according to Washington Post's own Iran specialist, Robin Wright, is at
the top of the Bush Administration's foreign policy agenda (see the
reporter's bio below and Robin Wright's article at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A7434-2004Oct28?language=printer
). Couldn't the Post send a reporter who knows more about the US-Iran
tensions than his readers do to cover this event ?

The event organizers were careful not to allow their participants to
challenge our small group, as this would have attracted more attention
to us. We also remained calm and friendly, even though it seemed every
one of them who approached us initially suspected us of working for
Iran's government. One of them followed us for a little while during the
march, stopping to tie his shoelaces every time we stopped. But I was so
friendly to him that he gave up and left. My attitude is that many, if
not most, in their crowd were well-meaning Iranians and I would do
anything not to alienate them more than I have to.

One Rajavi fanatic was so incensed at my "Rajavi = Chalabi" placard (a
reference to the Iraqi traitor who brought war on his own countrylast
year) that he ranted at me nonstop for 10 minutes to say that my
comparison was worse than calling his mother and sister something or
other! No less brainwahsed were others who insisted they were there not
to encourage US aggression on Iran, but to persuade the Bush
Administration to stop helping Iran's government! We must be living on
different planets. You see, I don't watch the trash on exile satellite
TV, Mojahedin's or others'

Something else that was new to me was that every marcher to whom I
talked believed that Mojahedin should ally themselves with whoever they
can grab to overthrow Iran's government, no questions asked. US
warmongers, Likudniks, Israel, whoever. If this is what Mojahedin's
supporters believe, I am not surprised the Rajavi mafia became Saddam's
mercenary army. I shudder to think how my country will go from bad to
worse if these delusional fanatics take over in Iran.

My group counterdemonstrated with one modest but critical goal : To
BEGIN to let Mojahedin as well as US policymakers and media know that
those Iranian immigrants who have until now tolerated Mojahedin's
attempts to help the US attack or destabilize Iran are beginning to have
second thoughts. I am satisfied that we accomplished our first step.

Lastly, it is interesting that a day after the event, Mojahedin's
multiple Farsi websites have details of what their bought politicians
and other allies said at the podium yesterday and what the US media
reported. Glorious proclamations and coverage, but all in Farsi.
You think possibly that the text of the same are left out on their
English-language websites for a reason ?
Doesn't it take longer to translate something for publication than to
publish the original text ?