MEK Is Not Part of the Iranian Opposition!

In recent reports, the Washington Times has misinformed the public about the Iranian group MEK. Here are the facts.

The Times foreign service reports that a group of prominent U.S. Republicans associated with homeland security just spoke to a forum of cheering Iranian exiles in Paris. The exiles demanded that the Obama administration remove the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) Iranian opposition group from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, and that the U.S. incorporate it into efforts to overturn the mullah-led government in Tehran. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, former White House Homeland Security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend, and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey are the new batch of “formers” being recruited to lobby the Obama administration to support MEK.

MEK — which translates as “Jihadists of the Deprived Masses” — was one of the Middle Eastern anti-American groups sponsored and supported by the Soviet Union during the Cold War of the 1960s and 1970s. Led by Massoud Rajavi, MEK is a terrorist organization that robbed millions of dollars from banks and bombed public buildings and police stations. They killed thousands of innocents and law enforcement officials.

They bombed the offices of El Al, Shell, BP, and Jewish-owned offices in Tehran. They bombed numerous other U.S. facilities and properties, killing and maiming. In its publication, The Mojahid, Mr. Rajavi said: “We will make this another Vietnam for America.” During the 1970s, MEK assassinated many American military and civilian personnel, including: General Harold Price, Colonel Lewis L. Hawkins, Colonel Paul Schafer, and Colonel Jack Turner. Donald G. Smith, Robert R. Krongrad, and William C. Cottrell of Rockwell International were among the civilians assassinated by Rajavi’s order.

MEK also attempted to assassinate President Richard Nixon by bombing places he was going to visit when in Tehran. During the 1970s, there were many attempted kidnappings of Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Douglas MacArthur.

MEK joined forces with Ayatollah Khomeini until Khomeini took power. MEK then became the revolution’s terror and killing squad. They spied on and betrayed 186 Iranian Air Force officers, the finest pilots who were planning to take back their country. MEK was the firing squad that killed them all.

Iranians have never forgiven MEK for this betrayal.

MEK attacked and took over the U.S. embassy, taking the hostages. Rajavi insisted on killing the hostages, but Khomeini disagreed with him.

When Khomeini refused to give the position of prime minister to Rajavi, he revolted against the regime and unleashed his assassination squads, exploding leading clerics by children strapped with bombs. Iranians will never forgive MEK and Rajavi for the murder of their children.

After Rajavi fled Iran and was deported from Europe, he went to Iraq and joined forces with Saddam Hussein’s military against Iranian soldiers in exchange for money, a camp, and security. Mr. and Mrs. Rajavi made an unknown amount of money from bank robberies in Iran, millions of dollars from Saddam Hussein, and have raised millions of dollars by having their cult members beg for money in international airports around the world for many years while living in communal housing.

In American culture there are groups who live in communal settings and camps, outside society. They follow a charismatic leader and his dictatorial rules and live for a communal goal set by the leader. They are devoid of individuality or a will of their own. These groups are typically called “cults.” Iranians call MEK “the black Marxist cult,” black being the color of Islam.

MEK has never joined the Iranian diaspora or the opposition groups inside the country. MEK has chosen seclusion, and is not part of Iranian society. Mr. and Mrs. Rajavi have appointed themselves presidents of Iran, voted in by their cult members.

The people of Iran don’t need another batch of Islamist dictators who are even more dangerous than the existing Khomeinism. Iranian Americans oppose another self-appointed Islamist jihadist being incorporated into efforts to overturn the current mullah-led government in Tehran.

The Rajavis know that they have no place among the Iranian people, that they are not welcome. Therefore, they are trying to get themselves installed in Iran by foreign powers. In 1978, Ayatollah Khomeini lied to the people of Iran and the world. Many believed him a man of God, peaceful and humanitarian. Let us not make the same mistake by advocating for another anti-American Islamist jihadist.

The Iranian opposition’s proposal for Iran is to end any and all useless dialogues, trade, negotiations, and talks because all of that violates the human rights of the people of Iran. The Iranian opposition’s proposal for Iran is for America to give total support to the grassroots underground freedom movements of women, labor, and youth. Weaken the regime, and let the people of Iran become our free friends and allies.