Edwynn
Posts: 4105
Joined: 10/26/2008
Status: offline
|
Slow down, people, there is something very fishy here. The story was a plant, which happens all the time, unbeknownst to us. It is obvious to me at the behest of some back-channel group that is hell-bent on open warfare at all costs as a 'solution' the the Iranian situation . MEK is a 'terrorist' group in the same way that the French Resistance were to the Vichy government.
There's plenty. PMOI/MEK is the lead opposition group the against the Islamic theocratic regime in power in Iran. There has been support for them by prominent parties in the US and Europe for over ten years. The 'terrorist' designation was bestowed upon them ~ 15 years ago by EU and US at the behest of the Ayatollah as appeasement in reference to some negotiation.
Read in the Salon link from above about half way down the commentaries and you will see one very good refutation of the horse crap this article is.
Then read all this below, very carefully.
Here is some better info, for starters.
"Women comprise 50% of the council's members. Five organizations are also members of the NCRI (National Council of Resistance of Iran), including the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (aka MEK in EU/US), the largest and most popular resistance group inside Iran." (emphasis added)
The current and most recent Sec. Generals of PMOI/MEK are women, and the regime's abuse of women is a major focus of the group. Wonder how well that would play in the current Iranian government?
Unshackling Iranian Dissidents
The most acceptable and only sustainable solution to the Iranian nuclear threat is the emergence of a free and democratic Iran. This is what the mullahs see as the greatest threat to their rule, which has become ever more tenuous since massive uprisings in 2009.
Yet this is where the U.S. is making a grave mistake by shackling the main Iranian opposition movement, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). By keeping it on the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations (FTOs), where it was put 15 years ago as part of a failed attempt to appease the mullahs then, the U.S. is frustrating its own strategy.
The D.C. Court of Appeal has asked the State Department to reconsider, finding that MEK had been put on the FTO list without due process, and has challenged the government to produce any evidence it has to justify its contradictory stance. To date, zero evidence has been produced – because there is zero evidence.
Dozens of senior former officials in the government – a bipartisan group of individuals of great integrity – have joined together with more 100 members of Congress to publicly support delisting the MEK.
The MEK, led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the charismatic and fearless leader of the Iranian Resistance, enjoys widespread support inside Iran and among the Iranian diaspora. Ironically it has been the MEK that has made the most significant revelations about Iran’s clandestine nuclear program, including the enrichment sites of Natanz and Arak in 2002, which were kept secret until then. Without MEK information Tehran may already have had the bomb.
Delisting of the MEK would send the strongest message to Tehran that Washington has really got to grips with reality. Tehran opposes delisting of the MEK and is intent on destroying Camp Ashraf, the home of 3,400 MEK members in Iraq that acts as a symbol of resistance for freedom for the Iranian people.
To contain Tehran's drive for nuclear weapons, Washington should view the MEK as an ally, not as terrorists. All sides in Iranian politics – both the mullahs and the Iranian people – will hear that message loud and clear.
Who Is Telling the Truth About the Status of the Residents of Camp Ashraf and Their Plight?
After the 2003 U.S. led war, every one of the residents, in return for their voluntary disarming, signed an agreement with the U.S. guaranteeing their protection until final disposition. The plight of the Iranians began in 2009 when the U.S. reneged on its commitment and turned over the security of the Camp to Government of Iraq. As a result of two massacres of defenceless residents by the Iraqi armed forces, at the behest of Iranian regime, almost 50 of the residents were killed and about 1,000 seriously wounded. Subsequently, the Iraqi government under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, vowed to close Camp Ashraf as a favour to his allies and political masters in Tehran. As a result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq and assurances provided by the U.S. Secretary of State to Ashraf residents and the charismatic leader of Iranian opposition, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, in late December 2011, Ashraf residents agreed to move to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad to be interviewed by the UN refugee agency as a prelude to their transfer to third countries.
The majority members of the U.S. House of Representatives and dozens of the most prominent former U.S. national security officials have defended the rights of Ashraf residents and have been critical of the U.S. for reneging of its legal, political, and moral obligation to the residents. Actually, on February 7, an impressive group of senior former officials and military commanders volunteered to go to Iraq at their own expense to monitor the transfer of the first 400 Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty as impartial observers; a call that got no heed from neither the U.S. nor Iraq.
Despite all the assurances, when the first convey of 400 of the residents got to Camp Liberty, they noticed that the difference between what they were promised and the reality, was the difference between heaven and hell. With no running water, no electricity at night, vipers roaming free, no access to doctors or lawyers, and excrement from the broken sewage plant running around the dwellings like a stream, any comparison between Camp Liberty and hell was wholly appropriate.
The residential area of Liberty is surrounded by 4 meters-high concrete walls and Iraqi armed forces roam all over the area around the clock. The place fits the description for a prison perfectly.
Despite all these, in order to prove their good will beyond any doubt, upon the insistence of Mrs. Rajavi, the second group of 400 Ashraf residents moved to Camp Liberty on March 8.
When the world community and the American dignitaries began to protest and asked for observation of the commitments given to Iranian dissidents by the U.S., and kept seeking answers to scores of unanswered questions regarding the conditions at Liberty, what was the response? Instead of speaking out about the truth and being critical of the Government of Iraq for its violations of the MoU, an anonymous U.S. official lambasted the group of U.S. dignitaries, that includes three Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces, an attorney General, two Directors of CIA, a Secretary of Homeland Security, and a Director of FBI, just to name a few of the U.S. officials who have called for adhering to the U.S. commitments and principles.
< Message edited by Edwynn -- 3/13/2012 8:37:13 PM >
|
Hanging oneself ... - 
Profile
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread