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http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/08/u-s-not-ready-to-remove-iranian-group-from-terror-list/

U.S. not ready to remove Mojahedin Khalqfro m terror list

... Robert Loeb, who argued the case on behalf of the administration, said the lack of total unfettered access to the MEK's base inside Iraq demands more deliberation and time be given to the decision. Loeb argued questions still remain whether "hard core" elements of the group harbor weapons inside the base and thus retain the "capacity" to launch attacks. Once the base is completely emptied, a decision on MEK's status could be made within 60 days, the U.S. government has said. In court, Loeb stipulated that 60-day period could be subject to extension based on anything learned within that period ...
Jamie Crawford, CNN, May 09 2012 An Iranian dissident group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations is showing signs of cooperation, but the United States has not decided whether to remove it from the list, a Department of Justice attorney told a federal appeals court panel Tuesday. An attorney for Mujahedin-e Khalq urged a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to issue a writ of mandamus, essentially an order compelling the State Department to comply with a previous order, and to make a decision on delistment in a timely manner. MEK is seeking the enforcement of a 2010 ruling by the same court ordering the State Department to review the group's status on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list. In its ruling, the District Court gave the State Department 180 days to review the request from MEK to be removed from the terror list. Robert Loeb, who argued the case on behalf of the administration, said the lack of total unfettered access to the MEK's base inside Iraq demands more deliberation and time be given to the decision. Loeb argued questions still remain whether "hard core" elements of the group harbor weapons inside the base and thus retain the "capacity" to launch attacks. Once the base is completely emptied, a decision on MEK's status could be made within 60 days, the U.S. government has said. In court, Loeb stipulated that 60-day period could be subject to extension based on anything learned within that period. The group has been on the terror list since 1997 because of the deaths of Americans during the 1970s. The group was granted refuge in Iraq by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. The MEK supports the overthrow of the Iranian theocracy. The Obama administration has argued it needs to assess the MEK's move from its previous
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http://irdiplomacy.ir/en/news/20/bodyView/1901202/

Washington gives refuge to Camp Ashraf residents

Mojahedin Khalq terrorists, Obama's anti-Iran card in the elections

... Before the Iraq war, the Americans claimed that weapons of mass destruction could be found in Iraq and that this country supported terrorism. At that time, a reporter for NBC News asked Dick Cheney, George W. Bush's Vice President, what terrorist groups Iraq supported. Cheney was reluctant to answer this question, but after the journalist insisted, which was in itself rather interesting, he finally said that the MKO was a terrorist group that Saddam supported... Foad Izadi, Iranian Doplomacy, Tehran, May 14 2012 Iranian Diplomacy's interview with Dr. Foad Izadi, US affairs expert Iranian Diplomacy: The US has announced that it will take in a number of MKO members. What has this country's position been toward this terrorist group from the inception of the group until today? Foad Izadi: What we had seen was that the MKO had been in alliance with Saddam's regime, and were financed by the regime in Iraq, and a base had even been created for them. Keeping this in mind, the US should have confronted them and, given that the MKO had also committed many crimes inside Iraq as well, put them to trial. The MKO's terrorist history inside and outside of Iran makes it totally clear that, according to the opinion of Americans and based on the US State Department's terrorism list, it is definitely a terrorist group. What happened after the invasion of Iraq was that unexpectedly the US not only did not confront the MKO, but it continued to financially support them just as Saddam had done, and thus smoothed the way for their terrorist acts. Before the Iraq war, the Americans claimed that weapons of mass destruction could be found in Iraq and that this country supported terrorism. At that time, a reporter for NBC News asked Dick Cheney, George W. Bush's Vice President, what terrorist groups Iraq supported. Cheney was reluctant to answer this question, but after the journalist insisted, which was in itself rather interesting, he finally said that the MKO was a terrorist group that Saddam supported. But after the invasion of Iraq, Dick Cheney was himself a sponsor of the MKO. (Americans, Mojahedin Khalq Terrorists, Camp Ashraf, 2005) Therefore, the US government's relations with the MKO continued and even during the period in which they were considered a terrorist group by the US, they had an office in Washington. They held conferences in Washington and many non-US citizens came to the US to attend these conferences, something that the US was completely aware of and supported because they issued visas for them. In reality, a terrorist group was easily able to get visas from the US and its members were able to enter the country. They also held meetings in Congress, and the MKO even held a ceremony for the Iranian New Year in the Capitol. The issue of financial and arms support for the MKO did not stop with Iraq. As the American media reported, the US government trained members of the MKO in Nevada for anti-Iranian spying activities in the nuclear domain and in issues regarding the assassination of nuclear scientists, bugging and listening systems, and other ways to damage Iran. They used members of the MKO for spying and terrorist activities due to the fact that they spoke the Persian language and that they would not be recognized on the streets of Tehran because of their appearance. This terrorist group is completely coordinated with a government that is the biggest supporter of terrorism. The recent news that the US will accept a number of MKO members is nothing new, because these individuals have been living in the US for many years now and have been active there, and this is a sign of the US' double standard. Because, if the US claims that it

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remarkable piece by Elizabeth Rubin in the New York Times. Rubin relates the testimony of Salahaddin Mukhtadi, an Iranian historian living in exile, who says dissident MEK members are locked up if they disagree with anything. And sometimes killed. In the MEK cult, having particular friendships is strictly forbidden: sitting and talking together is considered a crime, especially when the subject is ones past life before joining the cult. Wives are ordered to divorce their husbands, celibacy is mandatory, and families are broken up: nothing must come between the members and their devotion to the cause. Forced confessions and criticism sessions occur on a daily basis, in which participants are subjected to group abuse called ideological cleansings. After the American invasion and occupation of Iraq, Massoud Rajavi ordered his followers to greet the Americans as liberators and promptly went into hiding. He has not been seen since, but is said to retain his control over the cult, using his wife, Maryam who has been proclaimed the selfstyled President of Iran by the group as a front. The US government took charge of the MEK facility, known as Camp Ashraf, and, although the Bush administration continued to characterize the group as a terrorist organization, President Bush cited Massouds cult as the source of intelligence on Irans alleged nuclear weapons program. Prominent neoconservatives began agitating for utilizing the MEK the way the Bush administration had used Ahmad Chalabis Iraqi National Congress, but efforts to openly put them on the CIA payroll stalled, along with the administrations war plans. Somebody in the Bush administration must have figured out that funding and supporting a terrorist group that had killed Americans would not sit well while we were conducting an international war on terrorism. However, it turns out the Bush administration secretly brought MEK cadre to the US for military training, including communications intercepts and other clandestine cloak-anddagger stuff: the program supposedly ended just before the Obama administration took office. Apparently the MEK were turned over to the Mossad, who utilized them to carry out the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists in Iran. The MEKs campaign to get their terrorist group legitimized has been characterized by large cash payments to prominent politicians and public figures in both parties: the list of MEK endorsers reads like a political Whos Who of Washington bigwigs. The payments are ostensibly for speaking engagements at MEK rallies, but the size of these disbursements ranging upward from $50,000 indicates

some good old-fashioned bribery. There is an awful lot of MEK cash sloshing around the halls of Congress, and the cultists havent been shy about handing it out. Whether the Clinton Foundation or some Clinton-affiliated charity has partaken of the MEKs largesse is presently unknown, but, as they say at the National Enquirer, inquiring minds want to know. Its fair to ask: where is all this unaccounted for cash coming from? While the Rajavi-ites use the familiar methods employed by cults to strip their members of all their assets see the Al Jazeera video for a heart-rending account of how a major MEK spokesman ripped off his own elderly parents it seems likely that, during their sojourn as Saddam Husseins favorite assassins, the MEK received compensation from the Iraqi dictator for slaughtering the Kurds and other regime opponents so efficiently and ruthlessly. Which means people like former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, who has shilled for the MEK, and former Democratic party chairman Howard Dean, are recipients of Saddams gold. Like so much of US foreign policy, the idea that the US would legitimize a crazed cult like the MEK sounds like the plot of a bad thriller. Yet its all about the timing: as the US -Iran nuclear talks loom, the prospect of our State Department in effect legalizing the MEK and its activities in the US is an open provocation that could possibly shut down the sensitive negotiations and pave the way for war with Iran. No doubt hardliners within the Obama administration are using the MEK issue as a backdoor way to torpedo the Baghdad talks: whether they will succeed remains to be seen. As one State Department official told the Wall Street Journal: To make that assertion on your own that the MeK will be removed is a realistic one. But in policy making you never know for sure what will happen. I have to add that the MEK, while claiming to have renounced terrorism, exists in an atmosphere seething with violence, and my own experience with them has borne this out. Whenever I have written about them I have invariably received emails from MEK supporters laden with explicit threats of violence. This is to be expected from members of a psycho cult, but in the case of the MEK its not like theyve never killed any Americans before. Just ask the families of Paul Shaffer, Jack Turner, Louis Lee Hawkins, William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard.

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http://www.nejatngo.org/en/post.aspx?id=4421

Rajavis Mansions
... Whom Id like to write about here is not among those kings, emperors or Pharos but a power-crazy and delusional personality who has madly imitated those kingdoms and has built a lot of mansions for himself by victimizing and deceiving thousands of innocent individuals who act as his slaves. I write the article to record what I witnessed in the history and to awake those who may Maryam Sanjabi still believe in the MKO leaders so-called honesty, sacrifice, revolutionary, anti-discrimination and anti-exploitation ideas. They should know that their believe is just an illusion because a revolutionary leader who claims honesty and devotion should live a life like ...
Maryam Sanjabi, Baghdad, May 2012, Translated by Nejat Society History is loaded with injustice of kings who built their mansions on bodies of deprived, poor people. Seemingly the glory and majesty of their kingdom depends on their mansions; purity of their thought and action is revealed in the breadth, beauty and number of their mansions. Their large ,small, red, green, white, summer, winter, country mansions, were all nothing but a tall wall that distanced them from masss poverty, hunger and pain and covered their debauchery and sensualism. The common aspect of all kings including Pharos of Egypt, Roman Emperors and Islamic Califats was their luxurious lives in their palaces. They treated masses as their slaves who had to work, to even die so that their masters could live a comfortable life in their luxurious mansions. Whom Id like to write about here is not among those kings, emperors or Pharos but a power-crazy and delusional personality who has madly imitated those kingdoms and has built a lot of mansions for himself by victimizing and deceiving thousands of innocent individuals who act as his slaves. I write the article to record what I witnessed in the history and to awake those who may still believe in the MKO leaders so-called honesty, sacrifice, revolutionary, anti-discrimination and anti-exploitation ideas. They should know that their believe is just an illusion because a revolutionary leader who claims honesty and devotion should live a life like his public; he should be honest to his followers and supporters, but, its a pity that no honesty, no devotion and no sincerity is found in Massoud Rajavis personal life. Rajavis appearance may not seem like Pharos, Emperors and kings but his interior life is the same as them. He has servants, maids, workers and a queen. He has torturers, prisons and turnkeys. He doesnt admit any opposite idea and eventually threatens or kills his opponents or systematically destroy their character. He lives in expensive luxurious mansions. He thinks that it is his right to live a comfortable life but his forces should live in difficult situation to maintain their revolutionary spirit!! Appreciating my friends' cooperation, I note that this series of articles on Rajavis Mansions was authored by the help of a number of my friends who are also former members of the MKO. While the MKOs propaganda was all the time speaking of the groups bad financial situation and the groups urgent need for funds, Massoud Rajavi was spending millions of dollars to build mansions, houses and safe havens for himself and Maryam Rajavi all over Iraqi territory. He built various houses in different parts of Iraq regarding the security and protection condition of the place. Some were used temporarily and some were his permanent mansions. I note some of them: Badee' Zadegan Base This base was located near Baghdad and was founded in 1996 and named Hanif Base. It was essentially one of the five military bases established in 1996 and 1997. Since 1997, the base was turned in to the main political and propaganda headquarters. In western side of Badi Zadegan base, about one fourth of the bases breadth was allocated to Rajavis private mansion. The place was built so strongly and decorated so lavishly. During following years more rooms and halls were added to the main building. The green space included a pool and very beautiful trees. The mansion was departed from other parts of the base with very tall walls. Mohammd Abad Base in Kefri

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The base included some trenches and ramparts in Kefri hills which apprently looked like a village and used by the Rajavis during Kuwait War. When the coalition forces attacked Kuwait, the trenches were camouflaged like a village. It was soon equipped for the Rajavis. Rajavi spent most of that 40-day long war and bombardment in the place while other forces guarding the base had no trenches and had to stay in tents or shelters. After the war ended, the base was destroyed by the group because they didnt want the Kurds to reach it. Forough Base in Karbala Forough 1 was a villa that was given to the Rajavis by Iraqi Intelligence service to protect them from coalition forces bombardment. As the coalition troops didnt target religious cities like Karbala, the rajavis moved to the base where an Iraqi Intelligence official always accompanied them. Following the Iraqi shiits uprisings in Southern cities, the Rajavis were forced to flee the base. Some of Rajavis guards stayed at the base, they were then killed by people. It was later said that those guards had gone there on mission because they didnt want anyone to know about Rajavis covert base in Karbala. A Large Base Near Border There was a large base near Baquba not far from Iranian border. It was turned in to a green zone with elegant buildings that a 5-member team was always guarding. I went to the base a few times but I could never know about its exact name and address. The base was never used publically and just a few members of Rajavis guards had information about it. Tikrit Palace As the result of Rajavis hard work to gain one of saddams palaces, this palace in Tikrit was given to him. Large amounts were spent to make it more luxurious but the base was never used by the Rajavis because of the threatened geographical situation. It only satisfied his greed. Samira Palace It was a two-story villa in Samira, called Agha. It was used for Rajavis pilgrimage time at this religious city. Although it was highly luxuriously equipped, it was not used more than two times. Alavi Base The base was originally an anti-bomb trench and the

headquarters of Saddams Northern front. It had a lot of rooms, a conference hall and an eating place. It was completely reconstructed and furnished but it was destroyed following the American occupation of Iraq. The base had been granted to Rajavi as a gift for the services he offered Saddam Hussein during Iraq-Iran war. Rajavis houses in Baghdad Rajavi had a lot of houses, mansions and gardens in Baghdad. Some of them were located outside the organizations bases and members didnt know about them and some of them were inside the group bases, they were used as Rajavis private place or his office. A number of Rajavis mansions in Baghdad included: 1.Ramsar Ramsar recreational centre in Habania Region: there were a few luxurious villas by the side of Habania Lake. It was considered as one of Rajavis clandestine bases. A very few members knew about the place. Maryam and Massoud Rajavi used to go there for vacation sometimes. They didnt take there all of their security guards. They used to go there by the company of a very small number of the most reliable cadres. 2.Safe Safe base in AlAl-Musbah region: it was a two story building, completely furnished, neighboring two safe houses of Iraqi Intelligence service. The base was granted to the group for Rajavis meetings with Iraqi Intelligence officials. Sometimes, Rajavi had a short stay in the base before the meeting with Iraqi authorities and then an Iraqi agent escorted him to the meeting.

3.Babaiee Babaiee base in Abu Nowas region: region it was a building in a beautiful region opening to Dijla river. This was also gifted to the MKO by Iraqi Intelligence, used for visits between Rajavi and Intelligence authorities or for shortterm stays.
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4. Anzali Base in Aras Hinda region: region the complex was again granted to Massoud Rajavi by Iraqi Intelligence. It was by the side of safe houses of Iraqi Mukhaberat (intelligence service) and used for visits with Intelligence officials. 5. Andolos base: the MKO owned several hotels and a lot of large and small houses in two avenues near Andolos square in Baghdad. Some of the bases were Saadati Seifi,Jalalzadeh,Tabatabaiee,Bakaiee,Zabeti,Dadashzade,T alar Baharstan, Malek marzban and Akbarzadegn.. . After the Kuwait War ended, two four-meter-height walls were built at the beginning and ending of the two avenues and large iron gates were installed at the two ends. There were other houses owned by Iraqi citizens who had difficulty to live there under security restrictions so gradually they sold their houses to the MKO and left the region. Thus the place turned into a strong castle in the heart of Baghdad. (This is exactly what Maryam Rajavi has done in Ouver sur dOise, Paris. She is expanding the base. They may own a large dangerous stronghold in heart of Europe in near future. It is now an isolated place to bar members from the outside world). Some of the houses located in andolos base were as followings: a.Base Base Seifi: Seifi the base was Rajavis home in Baghdad in 1986. The first meetings with Iraqi authorities took place in that building. The houses neighboring Seifi base were evacuated and the street were blocked at both ends. Iraqi Security guards and MKO guards were protecting the base all the time. The basement was consolidated as a trench. b.Base Base Bokaiee There was a gorgeous building on Second Street of Andolos base. It was reconstructed like a palace-which was used for Rajavis meetings and receptions. c.Building Building B: Ultimately Rajavis main base was a large 4story building called Building B in an alley on second street. It was exactly located behind another building called 'Building A. It contained 5 story and 100 rooms. It was kept empty all the time in order to protect Rajavi. It was only used a few months of the year for a limited number of authorities and forces who came to Iraq from abroad. Later, they built a conference hall called Talar Baharestan to hold the group meetings there. In 1995 the hall was used for ideological sessions called Hoze where Rajavi threatened the forces that they would not be sent out any more. Anyone who was willing to leave the group, had to stay in departure prison for two years in order to

remove his information, then he would be handed over to Iraqi Intelligence that would in its turn try them for illegal immigration to Iraq. There they would be imprisoned for eight years and later they would be exchanged with Iraqi war prisoners and sent to Iran. In the meeting, he spoke of Iron fist. He said that he would reply his opponents by Iron Fist and the help of Iraqi Intelligence.) Note on Hotel Nofotil, Baghdad: Hotel Nofotil was located in front of Andolos complex which was like a huge castle. The hotel opened to the street where Rajavis house was located so it was considered a security problem so the organization rented two floors of the hotel at a very high fee. It was always empty to guarantee Rajavis security although Rajavi used to stay in Baghdad only three or four months of the year. When I was a member of security unit in Baghdad, besides a large number of Iraqi forces about a hundred people used to protect Rajavis bases day and night. Camp Ashraf Various bases were built for Rajavi at camp Ashraf. Some of them were the followings: 1.Temporary Temporary houses next to Ashraf conference hall: exactly by the side of Ashraf conference hall, there were two temporary houses allocated to Rajavi. The first house had several rooms for reception and accommodation which was situated on the Southern side of the hall. The other house was on the South-Western side. It had a yard with planted parterre, bedrooms, living rooms and bathrooms. The house was built after some changes were made in the conference hall and Rajavis tribune was moved to another part. The houses were used only when Massoud Rajavi held public meetings in the hall. He was received there while he was taking a break between meetings. 2.Permanent Permanent base in commanding headquarters: this was a luxurious, large palace between St.400 and St.600. It had various buildings and large basements (shelters).it was never said to the MKO forces that the place was Massouds house but gradually members told each other. The following picture shows protecting area around the palace. The blue arrow shows the underground shelter and the green arrow shows the small hall of the headquarters. On the north-Western part of the complex, there was a private shooting hall that was for Massoud Rajavis shooting practice.

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combats terrorism, why does it support these people? This American policy confirms the US as a supporter of terrorism. In fact, from the US perspective, there are two types of terrorists; good terrorists who work in line with the interests of the US and its allies, and bad terrorists who work against US policies. ID: Has the election atmosphere in the US influenced the decision to accept MKO members in the country? FI: There is a presidential election this year and a competitive atmosphere between the Republicans and the Democrats inside the US, for both of which the issue of Iran is very important. The Obama administration intends to pursue more anti-Iran policies than its rivals. Usually, in election years, the two American parties compete with each other in support of the Zionists and Iran's opponents. It should be said that, in the end, the issue of Iran is not the only issue of the election season, but an issue which has always been on the mind of politicians. ID: Have relations between Iran and Iraq and Iran's influence in this country been the cause for this US decision? FI: If it was not for Iran's influence in Iraq, the MKO would still have remained in this country. With all the US pressure on Iraq, they would not have been transferred. But, Irans influence in Iraq led to the upcoming deportation of the MKO from that country. Of course, crimes committed by this group might have helped in this cause, but it seems that this was not the only reason behind their deportation, for if this was the case, they should have left Iraq much earlier. Good relations between Iran and Iraq are the reason for this act. It should be noted that they have not completely left Camp Ashraf, and as long as American forces are present in Iraq, they will not permit all members of the MKO to be deported. ID: Will accepting the MKO members create security problems for Iran? FI: The US administration uses the MKO to create security challenges and problems in Iran, and this trend has continued since many years ago. It does not make any difference whether more numbers of MKO members are admitted to the US or not, for they have always enjoyed the support of the Americans. US support for the MKO has never weakened during previous years.

base of operations at Camp Ashraf in Iraq to a processing center at a former U.S. base in Iraq before making its decision. The move is being conducted under U.N. auspices after the Iraqi government ordered the camp closed at the end of 2011. Mark Toner, deputy State Department spokesman, released a statement this past weekend praising the "continued cooperation" of Camp Ashraf residents. Over half of the approximately 3,000 residents of Camp Ashraf have been relocated to Camp Hurriya, Toner said, with the goal of eventually settling in countries outside Iraq. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate panel last year that the way the transfer was carried out would influence the eventual decision on removing the group from the terror list. Loeb said the administration understands the "duty" to make a timely decision on MEK's status, but said the administration also has a duty to the public to "get it right." The group is also known as the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran. Viet Dinh, a former Justice Department lawyer representing the MEK, said the group no longer poses a military threat because the U.S. Army peacefully disarmed the group after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The U.S. government treated MEK members as protected people under international law until the U.S. turned over responsibility to the Iraqi government. Dinh told the court the State Department's delay in making a decision is a violation of MEK's due process rights, and liberties granted under the U.S. Constitution. "The secretary has recognized (MEK's) renunciation of violence and is legally bound to delist the organization," Dinh wrote in a filing in February." She cannot pocket veto (MEK's) application for revocation of its terrorist status." Col. Wes Martin, who served as base commander of Camp Ashraf in 2006 and was present for Tuesday's proceedings, called Loeb's argument "nonsense." Martin, who supports MEK's removal from the terror list, told CNN he was certain Camp Ashraf has been completely disarmed. The MEK enjoys the support of prominent high-ranking officials from past Democratic and Republican administrations who speak out against the group's continued presence on the terror list.

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http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/05/15/hillarys-terrorists/

Hillarys Terrorists
Hillary Clinton is about to delist a dangerous terror group
by Justin Raimondo, May 16, 2012 On May 21, 1975, Col. Paul Shaffer, a military attach to the US mission in Iran, kissed his wife and two children goodbye, and entered a waiting car with his colleague, Lt. Col. Jack Turner, whose wife was getting their three children ready for school. It was the last time the families of these two US servicemen would see them alive. As the Iranian driver pulled into a side street to avoid traffic a car blocked their passage and another car rammed them from behind. Three gunmen appeared and fired at the two Americans pointblank, killing them instantly: the three escaped in a third car, leaving a leaflet on the blood-drenched seat. The leaflet denounced US imperialism and bore the imprint of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), or Peoples Crusaders, a Marxist-Islamist group led by Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. MEK fighters were used by Saddam to crush uprisings in the south and in Iraqi Kurdistan. Maryam Rajavi told her followers: Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

All in all, the MEK killed 6 Americans in Iran: Lt. Col. Louis Lee Hawkins, an Army comptroller, cut down by gunman in front of his Tehran home, and William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization Krongard, all employees of Rockwell International. (MKO) and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in They wounded Air Force Gen. Harold L. Price, and Washington tried and failed to kidnap the US ambassador, Douglas MacArthur II. After the Iranian Revolution, MEK has been described as a cult, most notably the MEK supported the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, in a scary report by Human Rights Watch, a opposed the release of the diplomats calling a mass demonstration fascinating Al Jazeera video report, and in a in protest and demanded their execution. Today, the MEK is campaigning to be taken off the US State Departments list of terrorist organizations and theyre on the brink of success. According to the Wall Street Journal: Senior U.S. officials said on Monday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has yet to make any final decision on the MeKs status. But they said the State Department was looking favorably at delisting MeK if it continued cooperating by vacating a former paramilitary base inside Iraq, called Camp Ashraf, which the group had used to stage cross-border strikes into Iran. What the article fails to mention is that those cross border strikes into Iran took place during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, when the MEK enjoyed the patronage of Saddam Hussein: MEK cadre fought on the Iraqi side during that conflict. They also were useful to Saddam in repressing internal enemies of the regime: after the 1991 Gulf war, .
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