MEK to be removed from terror list?
I was watching the Mosaic: World News from the Middle East program from Link TV this morning (podcast available from iTunes). I nearly spit my Irish Coffee all over my heart-clogging breakfast when I saw this report: EU to Remove Iranian Opposition Group from Terror List (translated by Mosaic from Al Arabiya TV, UAE). More at al-Arabiya (English) here.
PMOI (People's Mujahideen of Iran) / MEK (Mujahideen-e-Khalq) Wiki
I don't know if it would be prudent to operationally leverage MEK against Iran anytime soon, but it sure would be nice to have that leverage available as a bargaining chip. If the EU takes them off the FTO list, then maybe we will as well? And then we would have the option of openly working with them?
From an earlier piece from Jamestown: "Iran's military will engage Kurdish separatists whenever encountered, in exchange for Turkey's cooperation against the Iranian Mujahideen-e-Khalq movement"
And this from a more recent report: "Iraq plans to close a camp for Iranian dissidents who used to cross into Iran to mount assassinations and sabotage - a decision that has sharpened political differences between Baghdad and Washington."
More recently:
Quote:
Iraq plans to extradite members of an Iranian armed opposition group who have "Iranian blood on their hands," Iraq's national security adviser said Friday during a visit to Tehran.
"Among the members of this group, some have the blood of Iraqi innocents on their hands (and) we will hand them over to Iraqi justice, and some who have Iranian blood on their hands we can hand over to Iran," said Muwafaq al-Rubaie.
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al-Arabiya
I wonder what the near-term fate of the MEK will be?
The latest news:
Quote:
"Iran said the European Union would be committing a "political" act and may worsen relations if it struck the exiled People's Mujahedeen of Iran from a blacklist of terrorist groups... The EU will decide whether to take the group off the terror list this week."
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Bloomberg
It seems that there was (and possibly still is) a view within our camp that MEK, while Iran's terrorist, could have been (and maybe still is) our freedom fighter. Given the possible cooperation between Turkey and Iran to crack down on "their" mutual terrorists, and the pressure now being exerted upon MEK by Iraq, it seems that this long, drawn-out issue is now approaching an endgame of some sort. Is this an ally whom we want? I guess, more relevant - is this a group whom the new administration is willing to associate with?
I'm sure the actual decider will be higher
but the guy I named is the likely public face -- and will definitely (or nominally) be in charge of the very long term owners of US interests in MEK.
True on the decisions versus speeches and the first few decisions do not impress me as much more than fluff to keep the base happy. My sensing is that we're going to see some not too smart Defense decisions. I generally chuckle a bit when I see really smart folks outsmart themselves but the potential for some bad damage in the military arena is worryingly present....
Not so sure about this one
The EU thing doesn't seem like too bad a move. That said following too quickly in step with that might be equivalent to too much at once.
Nothing wrong with thinking about it though:D