Who Are We Today?

A high-powered array of former top American officials is advocating removal from the US terrorist list of a controversial Iranian opposition group with a long anti-American history.

With a decision due within weeks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former US four-star generals, intelligence chiefs, governors, and political heavyweights are calling for the US government to take the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/MKO) off the terror list it shares with Al Qaeda and Hezbollah.

Many of these former high-ranking US officials – who represent the full political spectrum – have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak in support of the MEK.

[...]

Legal cases have seen the MEK removed from terror watch lists on procedural grounds in the UK and European Union in recent years. A decision on the US designation is now imminent; a federal appeals court in Washington last year ruled that the State Dept. had violated the group’s right to due process, because it had not been allowed to contest unclassified information used to justify its designation.

[...]

The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001, after claiming responsibility for 350 attacks in 2000 and 2001, according to a RAND tabulation. It is not known to have carried out any attacks for several years, though a 2004 FBI report found that the group was "currently actively involved in planning and executing acts of terrorism."

That conclusion was based on wiretaps of calls between MEK bases and headquarters in Iraq, France, and Los Angeles that discussed "specific acts of terrorism to include bombings" – and were corroborated by French intelligence and German police wiretaps, according to the FBI report.

[...]

[C]urrent US officials and many Iran experts – hawks and doves alike – question the MEK's ability to change in light of the group's unique history and its cult-like characteristics. They say the fact that it is widely despised inside Iran also makes it a dangerous tool to change Iran’s Islamic regime.

All have been stunned by the speed, heft, and sheer wealth of the current delisting campaign, after years of determined but fruitless efforts.

  Christian Science Monitor

Sadly, cooler heads have rarely been known to prevail.

So where did they get all this money?

Former US officials taking part in MEK-linked events told the Monitor or confirmed publicly that they received substantial fees, paid by local Iranian-American groups to speaker bureaus that handle their public appearances.

The State Dept. official, who is familiar with the speech contracts, explains the mechanism: “Your speech agent calls, and says you get $20,000 to speak for 20 minutes. They will send a private jet, you get $25,000 more when you are done, and they will send a team to brief you on what to say.”

"Top-level national security officials never heard about the MEK; it never rose to their level until now," says another US official. "So when MEK representatives show them a political platform comprised of the '15 greatest ideas of Western civilization,' it looks pretty compelling."

I’m sorry? “Top-level national security officials never heard about the MEK?” How old are these top-level national security officials? Did they just become top-level national security officials in the last 5 years, and were they then not educated regarding our war in Iraq? WTF?

The contracts can range up to $100,000 and include several appearances.

I guess that much money makes you forget things.

They sometimes explicitly state, according to the State Dept. official, that "We are not a front organization for the MEK."

This is a joke, right? We’re talking Rudy Giuliani, Howard Dean, former co-chair of the 9/11 Commission Lee Hamilton, Bill Richardson, former CIA chiefs James Woolsey, Porter Goss, and Michael Hayden, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, and Wesley Clark, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO ferfuxsakes. And more. Yes, I believe you are right – we are planning an attack on Iran, and the MEK are our boots on the ground to start. If you’re still unsure about the idea:

Former Governor Dean told an MEK-linked audience in July: "Let's stop the name-calling and foolishness and look at this for what it is. This is genocide, and we will not have it!" Then he spoke of broader ambitions: “We will free the people of Ashraf, and we will free the people of Iran from the tyranny of the mullahs.”

You may read this CSM article for a list of the terrorist acts the MEK has performed in the past, including its attacks on Americans. You can also refresh your memory of the MEK in Iraq if you are a “top-level national security official” who has never heard of them by reading this and this.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.