not methyl ethyl ketone, but terrorist group some in west love

European Parliament Hosts MEK Conference  

A conference took place on Feb. 7 at the European parliament in Strasburg, hosted by the Friends of Free Iran intergroup of the European parliament. 


The event, which drew in a number of American political figures, including Democratic Party members of Congress, was clearly aimed at boosting the ongoing, heavily-funded drive to have the Mujahideen e-Khalq (MEK) delisted from the U.S. State Department's list of international terrorist organizations. 


Among the propaganda campaigns being waged by the MEK, through front groups like the National Council for Resistance in Iran (NCRI), is the "humanitarian" crisis, facing the 3,500 members of the MEK who are being forced to leave Camp Ashraf in Iraq. 


This was one of the major themes at the Strasburg meeting, which featured fawning presentations by former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Howard Dean, and Sen. Robert Toricelli (D-NJ). 


According to well-informed sources, VIP speakers are paid an average of $30,000 plus expenses to deliver 5-10 minute speeches, in praise of MEK leader Maryam Rajavi and in support of the group's latest campaigns.


Despite the cash handouts, there is still very strong opposition to MEK being delisted, including from within the State Department, and via such organizations as the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), headed by Dr. Trita Parsi. 


The NIAC website has an exhaustive dossier on the crimes of the MEK, based largely on U.S. government and think tank studies, that show that the group has not abandoned its terrorist roots. 


And another NGO, Nejat.org, has an extensive dossier under the headline, "Campaign to Save Victims of Rajavi's Destructive Cult." [MJS]



Bonus news item - Behind the Mossad-MEK Terror Campaign in Iran



The Brian Williams NBC News expose of Mossad funding and training of Mujahideen e-Khalq assassins, deployed inside Iran, has put the spotlight on a very vicious organization, with worldwide tentacles, including payoffs to leading American politicians to promote their cause and get them removed from the U.S. State Department's list of International Terrorist Organizations. 


MEK was, in fact, placed on that State Department list from its inception in 1997, and prior to the State Department creating the official ITO listing, MEK was cited frequently in the Department's annual global terrorism survey reports.


Based on a review of the U.S. neocon apparatus that has been boosting the MEK for the past decade, the Mossad links become almost transparent -- as does the deeper British sponsorship. 


The case of the so-called Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) is exemplary. 


FDD was launched in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks as a propaganda lobby for war and regime change in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and other countries.



Among the organization's leading directors and advisors are: James Woolsey, Bill Kristol, Richard Perle, Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.), Gary Bauer, Louis Freeh, Steve Forbes, Paula Dobriansky, Charles Krauthammer, Clifford May, and Oliver "Buck" Revell. 


Practically every one of these notables have been paid by the MEK, through U.S.-based front groups, to speak at international conferences and to lobby for MEK's removal from the ITO list. 


Reportedly, MEK front groups pay "speakers fees" of $30,000 per appearance to these neocons. With Obama in the White House, MEK funds are now also going to some leading Democratic Party luminaries.  


- MEGA Roots -


While FDD was officially launched right after 911, in fact the organization was started at the beginning of 2001, but under a different name: 


EMET, the Hebrew word for "truth." 


EMET was founded by Clifford May, who remains to this day as the President of the FDD. 


From 1997-2001, May was the Republican National Committee's director of communications. 


EMET's co-founder was Nir T. Boms, an Israeli Defense Force Reserve Captain, who served as a communications officer in the IDF and then was sent to Washington, D.C. as Academic Liason at the Israeli Embassy. 


In early 2001, Boms left the Embassy to work for EMET, and later for FDD. He returned to Israel in 2004, but continues to write for National Review and the Weekly Standard, and for David Horowitz and Daniel Pipes. 


He is presently at the International Institute for the Study of Counter-Terrorism at Herzliya, and he is completing a PhD dissertation on "The Influence of Information Technology on the Creation of Civic Society in Syria and Iran."


A November 17, 2003 article in The American Conservative gave further background on EMET/FDD's funding. 


"Its nearly $3 million annual budget comes from 27 major donors, most of whom are members of `the Study Group' -- also sometimes called `the Mega Group' because of their sizeable contributions -- a semi-formal organization of major Jewish philanthropists who meet twice a year to discuss joint projects." 


The Mega Group includes Michael Steinhardt, Edgar and Charles Bronfman, Leonard Abramson, and Lynn Schusterman. 


During its brief existence, before the name change, EMET sponsored recruitment junkets to Israel for university students and professors, to combat support for the Palestinian intifada among American youth. 


At its founding, EMET listed Leonard Abramson, Michael Steinhardt, and Edgar Bronfman as the board of directors. On March 9, 2001, just as EMET was incorporating in New York City, The [Jewish Daily] Forward reported that EMET was actually a project of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that there was a dispute between the Mega Group and the Foreign Ministry over who would call the shots on the new group.


After 911, when the cosmetic surgery was carried out (including the abandoning of plans to have the group co-located in Tel Aviv) and EMET re-emerged as FDD, the Mega Group, led by Edgar Bronfman, Michael Steinhardt, Charles Bronfman, Lynn Schusterman, Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, and Dalck Feith (father of Doug Feith), put up the seed money.  

- MEK's Own Finances -


While the MEGA Group has been bankrolling MEK's support apparatus in the United States, MEK itself is also awash in money, according to a senior U.S. intelligence source who has monitored the group for years. MEK has an estimated 10-15,000 members worldwide, many of whom work for next to nothing, generating income for the group. 


It is estimated that they generate between $35-75 million per year, through sophisticated fundraising operations, promoting them as the only militant opposition to the Iranian regime. 


For 20 years, MEK was in the pay of Saddam Hussein, and they were paid well as a paramilitary asset, targeting Kurds and other anti-Saddam forces, as well as fighting against Iran during the eight-year Persian Gulf war in the 1980s. 


The source estimated that MEK has several hundred million dollars in assets globally. 


They have operations in more than 80 countries. Because MEK has a number of members inside Iran, some of whom have infiltrated Iranian government agencies, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Army, many foreign intelligence agencies pay them to carry out sabotage operations, gather intelligence, and perform other special activities. 


Mossad, MI6, and French intelligence have all used MEK services, as have the Saudis and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.