Who is responsible for the continued suffering of the families of Ashraf captives?

The bombing in the city of Zahedan (south east of Iran) claimed several casualties (Thursday 15 July 2010). President Barak Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other western leaders immediately condemned the terrorist act. This terrorist attempt took place a few days after the Supreme Criminal Court of Iraq issued the arrest warrants for 38 leaders of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO – Rajavi cult) including Massoud and Maryam Rajavi who are charged with crimes against humanity and expanding terrorism.

Two days after the terrorist act in Iran, a Federal court in the United States of America urged the State Department to review its decision on finding the MKO as an FTO (foreign terrorist organization). This call received a positive response from the Secretary of State. Apparently the show which was performed in Europe is now starting in the US.

The US administration and western countries do always condemn terrorism but for some reasons they are not so keen on condemning the terrorist. It is interesting to learn that the European countries which no longer, despite piles of documents, recognize the MKO as a terrorist group are still not ready to accept the people who they imposed to Iraqi people in their own countries. Of course they do not want these terrorists in their own countries; they would rather have them close to Iran and on the shoulders of the Iraqi people.

 

The US government describes the MKO as a cult of personality and as a terrorist group and says that they have murdered Americans in Iran and even made songs to celebrate it. But it is noteworthy that when a victim of this cult tries to escape from Ashraf garrison in Iraq and the elements of the cult, right in front of the eyes of the families, grab him and beat him up and take him away, the American soldiers, who are supposed to evacuate the place, hover over the heads of the families by helicopter and threaten them and afterwards do not allow any investigations into the matter.

 

Apparently some elements and factions within the US Administration and in the west have started a dangerous game and did not learn from the history. The terrorism of the Rajavi cult could not be in a better situation than that of Al-Qaida and Ben Laden for the west. One day, not far away, they will start killing in Europe and America. The MKO at the present time have established security systems in Iraq and have gathered the elements from the previous regime and have sent their members who were trained under Saddam Hussein to France and Germany. One former member in Europe once quoted Mehdi Abrishamchi a top official in the MKO saying that “now that the west calls us terrorist let us be real terrorists”. The security authorities in the west, who were insisting that the MKO not be de-proscribed, had the analysis and knowledge that the threat of the MKO is far greater for the west rather than for Iran.

 

The Americans could do to recall their support for the Falun Gong cult in China; assuming that since they are opposed to the Chinese government they could be America’s friends. This support resulted in the cult being able to recruit Chinese-Americans in the US and entering them into organized crimes in that country and creating enormous problems. This cult was no longer a problem for the Chinese but in its place became a disastrous difficulty for the Americans and they still are struggling with.

 

The MKO is no longer an issue for the Iranian regime. This problem is in the first place on the shoulders of the Iraqis. This, then, is reflected inside western countries, and the solution becomes a burden for the western countries that imposed this problem on Iraq in the first instance. Iraq will not carry this problem anymore, but some in the west - for their short term benefits - try to keep them in Iraq. The inhuman face of some western elements, who do not care about the human rights of the inhabitants of Ashraf, is revealed when they intend to use these unpaid, psychologically manipulated terrorists for their wicked tasks. If they are sincere why don’t they open the gates of Ashraf garrison and let everyone learn about what is going on inside there and let its inhabitants learn about what is happening outside.

 

But innocent people, including the members confined inside Ashraf and their suffering families, are the victims of this paradox and this uncertainty in western foreign policy. That faction of the west which is under the influence of Israel apparently has problems with the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the only concern of the families is why they cannot freely visit their loved ones just a few hundred yards away after waiting for months. What is the obstacle? The leaders of the MKO of course who consider families as their nightmare are the main obstacle. But who is supporting them to be able to continue their crimes? Certainly some warmongering and narrow minded elements in the US Administration and Israeli lobby are doing so. But why do they do so? Because they arrogantly think that the enemy of their enemy is necessarily their friend and of course while totally miscalculating the events have forgotten the experience of Hitler and Bin Laden. Further to this, it should be far from their dignity to try to use the used handkerchief of Saddam Hussein which has proved to be useless for many years.

 

The US government has no choice but to let the Iraqis to dismantle the MKO in their country. Nowhere in the world has a foreign terrorist organization had the privilege to establish a garrison and not let the host county know what is happening there. This is of course the heritage of Saddam Hussein for the Iraqi people, created by the Europeans. And American Forces, according to the RAND report, protected their base and kept it exactly as the MKO leaders desired. If the Americans are worried about their human rights why don’t they take them to their own country? The truth is that the Americans are not prepared to issue even one single visa for MKO members to enter their country while they force the Iraqis to maintain them even against their national security and other interests.

 

An Iraqi official told us that in Saddam Hussein’s era, after the ceasefire in the war with Iran, it was arranged for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to interview Iranian prisoners of war (POWs) who were staying with the MKO and ask them whether they wanted to stay with them or go back to Iran. At that time both Saddam and Rajavi were forced to fulfill the demand and consequently these people were interviewed outside MKO bases without the presence of the MKO and even a representative from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad was present and in some cases members of families or their photos and their letters were brought to the meetings. Finally, although the cult had tried to intimidate them by telling them that they would be executed if they go back to Iran, a considerable percentage of them did not go back to the MKO bases and returned safely to Iran and to their families. Now how is it that the ICRC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and even the American Forces, even though Saddam Hussein, Rajavi’s mentor, is gone and the Iraqi government opposes the presence of the Rajavi cult on their soil, they cannot arrange even a simple meeting of the members with their families outside Ashraf garrison?

 

At this time, Rajavi is facing a very tough situation. Cult and family are each other’s diametric. The existence of one is the rejection of the other. Maryam Rajavi called the family ‘the nest of corruption’ and rightfully describes the family as ‘the main enemy’ of the cult. Now the families are standing outside the cultic castle of Rajavi without any weapons and equipment and are trying to counteract its witchcraft and free the imprisoned members. What would Rajavi, who has no tool to reach his goals except machine guns and bombs and of course lying and deceiving, do against the unshakable stand of these standing families and how long will the warmongering elements in US policy continue with this situation? The future will reveal all.