- 21 March 2008
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- 13 Comments
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- Legislative Agenda, US-Iran War
The Mujahedeen is lobbying hard on Capitol Hill
21 March 2008 Posted By Emily Blout
To those who know the Mujahedin-e Khalq, its presence on Capitol Hill is disturbing. After all, the very men and women prowling the halls of Congress are named on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. It recently hosted a conference– complete with a decadent spread of Persian food- for Congress and staff in banquet hall of a congressional office building.
Termed a Marxist cult by Ervand Abrahamian, the MeK and its political arm, the National Council for Resistance in Iran, operates in the US through various front groups such as Committee for Support of Referendum in Iran. Several members of Congress receive campaign contributions by the group’s members and many others have been targeted, including high ranking senators and representatives from California.
Why a group that is on the State Department’s terrorist list can be so active on Capitol Hill is something that baffles many- particularly in the middle of the “War on Terror.”
MeK’s lobbying efforts are nothing new. In 1994, over 100 members of the House signed a letter to the president advocating that MEK be removed from the terrorist list. Privately, several signatories have said they were embarrassed about the move and now look at Iranian-American group that walks in their office with suspicion.
Here in lies the problem. Front groups for the MeK are positing themselves as ambassadors of the Iranian-American community. They urge members of Congress to resist dialogue and push military confrontation, as this, MeK contends, is what Iranian-Americans want. And with no other Iranian-American in sight, many believe them.
Part of my job at NIAC is to dispel this myth and voice the concerns of the majority of the community as reflected by NIAC’s membership, which spans 44 states. But the real burden lies with you. At this time of increased tensions between the US and Iran, Iranian-Americas who favor diplomacy cannot afford to remain outside the political discourse. Contact your member of Congress, write an op-ed in your local newspaper, or ask NIAC how you can get involved.
13 Responses to “The Mujahedeen is lobbying hard on Capitol Hill”
Could NIAC organize something so that people like us could go to or at least a pre-written letter so that we can send to representatives, etc. (something like the ones we see on NIA’s site)?
It appears that since MEK indeed took Iraq’s side during the Iran-Iraq War, they feel as though to have carte blanche to feed Congress any falsehoods they wish, as they did at that time. I wonder how many Congressional representatives from that era are still alive and serving?
Some big MEK supporters on the Hill include Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Ted Poe (R-TX), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). If you, or anyone you know is from these states, please help inform the Iranian American community to put pressure on these representatives.
this is indeed very disturbing and baffling. i can say with confidence that as much as the iranian people dislike the current government in iran, they would prefer the current government to the mek, who are seen not only as fanatics, but traitors for their activities during the iran-iraq war. they are a disgrace to iran, and it is an absolute shame that they march around pretending to be representatives of the iranian people. i would like to see the niac make this issue one of their top agendas, and start a major campaign to bring full knowledge of who exactly the mek are to all members of congress, and senators obama, clinton, and mccain, the candidates for president.
Thank you for your words Farzadn
I totally agree with you on the MEK issue. They are against Iran, its principles, culture, people and history. MEK should not be considered as Iranians, they are traitors, whom for years have tried to sell our country and divide into pieces.
It is NIAC responsibility to pubblish these facts and make our people aware. Let us learn from our mistakes in the history and educate our people. I am just a student 25 years old and lived all my life in Europe, but love my country to death and my heart will always beat for Iran.
Dorood!
I agree with Mehdi. It is good if NIAC can put forth a petition or something of a kind for us members to sign and send to the members of Congress. MEK represent no one but their very small group. Everyone knows that they hire people to attend thier demonstrations. I totally disagree with this group’s ideology.
Thank you all for your ideas on this issue. In fact, we are considering our options right now and trying to come up with an effective way to combat the MEK’s presence on the hill.
In fact, this week, we are launching an action alert specific to California, so if you are a California member, be on the look out for the email and forward it to all your friends in Cali.
The most effective means of combating their propaganda on the Hill, is to have other Iranian Americans set-up and attend In-district meetings with their Reps and Senators. And to share the Berkley poll results which show their ideas to be in the very distinct minority.
It truly is amazing how ill-informed many of the congressional staffers are about the MEk and the fact that MEK members visit them on the Hill.
Another thing that could be done is to create a fact sheet about them and distribute them. These sheets would provide a description of them and their activities. This could provide accurate information about this group and their intentions and activities. These could also then be used by individuals to prepare them for when they meet with their representatives about this issue. Let’s make some noise.
I would also like to encourage NIAC to take a more active role in exposing MEK to the politicians on Capitol Hill. MEK represents a tiny number of brainwashed expatriates of Iran who have been hurt too hard; and to me they seem to be more after avenging their numerous losses (the massacre of their members by the Islamic government; being listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. government and their isolation from the people of Iran due to their siding with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war) rather than acting as a healthy political organization working for the freedom of Iranian people.
Further, I wouldn’t be surprised if they unite with monarchs to form a stronger force against the Islamic government.
Nobody can stop MEK. They are Iranian people and they are going to win the war with this mullah’s regime in Iran. Doorod bar MEK
No Naheed, MEK is like a cult. They never get involved with other groups, I don’t think so. But preparing a fact sheet about them is a great idea.
Mehdi, Azadeh, and Naheed – thank you all for your comments and suggestions – we have indeed discussed how to handle MEK here in the office. Although it is important to stand up to the falsehoods that MEK continues to spread on Capital Hill (see “reza”s comment above), we also dont want to become an organization that simply opposes the MEK at every turn.
As the comment by ‘reza’ illustrates, the MEK is full of cultish followers who can not be reasoned with.
The MOST effective way to challenge them is for Iranian Americans to meet with their members’ staff in their districts and stand up for what a majority of Iranian Americans want.
It really is amazing though isn’t it. someone like “reza” can be out there supporting a terrorist group. could you imagine someone supporting Hamas or Al-Qaida on a blog somewhere? it really is amazing what these guys get away with.
Reza, would you mind telling us why you or the MEK is opposed to the idea of improvement and re-establishment of the US-Iran relations? How would that be a bad thing?