Quod licet Jovi, non licet bovi
The "founding fathers" and "domestic dissidents" of the MEK have been removed from the State Department's list of terrorist organizations. Quelle surprise.
They've been working at this for at least the last five years, the effort mainly driven by typical greenbaiting suspects like Max Boot, Daniel Pipes, and Rudy Giuliani, plus one Alireza Jafarzadeh (who I pointed out back in 2007 as a possible successor to Achmed "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" Chalabi. Evidently I wasn't alone in making this link.).
Which I guess means under the impeccable logic of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", a group of Stalinist Marxist Islamists who were supported and funded by Saddam Hussein are now perfectly okay with valiant defenders of Western values and freedom. As well, I imagine it strengthens the hand of Jafarzadeh, who's apparently been one of the prime people flogging the "IRAN WILL HAVE NUKES ANY DAY NOW" line since at least 2005, and continuing today as a "commentator" for FAUX News.
Glenn Greenwald has a few words about the MEK:
What makes this effort all the more extraordinary are the reports that MEK has actually intensified its terrorist and other military activities over the last couple of years. In February, NBC News reported, citing US officials, that "deadly attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by [MEK]" as it is "financed, trained and armed by Israel's secret service". While the MEK denies involvement, the Iranian government has echoed these US officials in insisting that the group was responsible for those assassinations. NBC also cited "unconfirmed reports in the Israeli press and elsewhere that Israel and the MEK were involved in a Nov. 12 explosion that destroyed the Iranian missile research and development site at Bin Kaneh, 30 miles outside Tehran".Thus we see that oodles and oodles of money, judiciously directed, will fund even the most hypocritical Realpolitik while those without proper lobbying are prosecuted.
In April, the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh reported that the US itself has for years provided extensive training to MEK operatives, on US soil (in other words, the US government provided exactly the "material support" for a designated terror group which the law criminalizes). Hersh cited numerous officials for the claim that "some American-supported covert operations continue in Iran today." The MEK's prime goal is the removal of Iran's government.
Despite these reports that the MEK has been engaged in terrorism and other military aggression against Iran - or, more accurately: likely because of them - it was announced on Friday the US State Department will remove MEK from its list of terrorist organizations.
And thus we creep all the closer to yet another war.


