[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 115 (Monday, July 14, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1445]]


    

         HONORING THE PEOPLE'S MUJAHIDEEN ORGANIZATION OF IRAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. THOMAS G. TANCREDO

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 14, 2008

  Mr. TANCREDO. Madam Speaker, in the 1980's the United States 
supported and helped arm the Afghan resistance to Soviet occupation of 
their country, a policy later portrayed in the award-winning Tom Hanks 
movie, ``Charlie Wilson's War.'' Today we need to show support for 
dissidents fighting to overthrow the terrorist regime in Tehran. It 
will come as a surprise to most Americans that we are not doing so.
   In that struggle to push the Soviets out of Afghanistan, not all of 
those Afghan freedom-fighters were fighting for democracy. It was a 
coalition of forces who had one thing in common: they wanted the 
Soviets out of their country. We supported them, and they won. Not only 
did the Soviets leave Afghanistan, within four years the Soviet Union 
imploded.
   One of the main groups fighting to overthrow the Ahmadinejad regime 
is the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI)--also called the 
MEK--and its political arm, the National Council of Resistance in Iran 
(NCRI). Strangely, instead of assisting these dissidents, our 
Department of State decided to label them terrorists in 1997.
   In the decade since, a debate has raged about whether the 
designation of the MEK as a terrorist group was driven less by the 
facts than it was a desire on the part of State Department bureaucrats 
to curry favor with ``moderates'' in the government of then-Iranian 
President Mohammad Khatami. Either way, it is has become clear that 
this ``good will gesture'' on the part of the State Department failed 
to yield any progress with Tehran.
   The MEK advocates a secular democratic government for Iran, one that 
that respects human rights and basic freedoms (including freedom of the 
press and freedom of religion) and has provided intelligence and 
assistance about the activities of the Iranian regime in Iraq, and 
Tehran's covert nuclear program. Moreover, a number of the group's 
members are under the protection of Coalition troops in Iraq.
   Unfortunately, the group was recently the victim of a missile attack 
at Camp Ashraf in Iraq. This is a testament to how much Tehran fears 
the group.
   I hope the Iranian regime will refrain from future attacks of this 
nature, as Ashraf's residents are protected under the Fourth Geneva 
Convention. Their well being is and continues to be the obligation of 
the Coalition troops in Iraq, and the Iraqi government.
   This raises another interesting point. Not only does the MEK not 
behave like a terrorist group, in many respects the U.S. government 
does not treat them like one.
   The MEK is a group that the United States and the west should 
cultivate as we seek an organic, democratic change agent in Iran.
   Fortunately, the United Kingdom has already come to this conclusion 
in removing the MEK from the British terrorist list earlier this year.
   Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were willing to enter into 
an alliance with Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union in 1941 in order to 
defeat Hitler. We used every ally and every resource to defeat the Axis 
Powers. Yet today, in dealing with the terrorist regime of Iran, a 
regime that daily threatens to destroy Israel and the U.S. (the ``Great 
Satan'') and is actively seeking the means of fulfilling that threat, 
we cannot find it in our interest to render aid to the People's 
Mujahideen of Iran because of its checkered past.
   It is time for the western world to re-examine our treatment of the 
MEK in the wake of the UK court decision.
   For starters, the political goals behind designating the MEK as a 
terrorist organization here in the U.S. have failed to materialize. If 
anything, the Iranian government has become more aggressive and 
repressive in the years since the MEK designation. Iran is supporting 
violence and terrorism from Baghdad to Beirut, has defied U.N. demands 
to end its nuclear enrichment program, and shows no signs of moderating 
its behavior--test firing missiles yesterday in violation of UN 
Security Council resolutions.
   What better way to send a message to Tehran than to free the MEK 
from the international stigma that comes with the `terrorist' label.
   This year's U.S. State Department Country Reports on Terrorism 
rightly brands the Iranian government as the number one state sponsor 
of global terrorism. Iran has also been the principal supplier of IEDs 
to terrorists in Iraq who are killing American soldiers and Iraqi 
civilians.
   Despite continued efforts at diplomacy, financial sanctions, and--in 
the case of placing the MEK on various terrorist lists--outright 
appeasement by many western countries, Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad has declared that his country will never yield its 
``dignity'' by suspending its uranium enrichment program.
   U.S., EU and UN negotiators have been talking with Tehran about its 
nuclear program for many years, but Tehran has shown no sign of 
changing course. And why should they when we keep handcuffs on Iranian 
dissidents who might cause the Iranian regime real problems?
   If western efforts at ``dialogue'' and ``diplomacy'' are to be 
successful, they must be more than opportunities for Iran to stall for 
time while moving forward with their nuclear program. A willingness to 
negotiate with carrots doesn't work unless one is willing to use a few 
sticks as well.
   Today, there no longer remain any legal or political justifications 
for maintaining the MEK on the terror list. I therefore urge our 
government to seriously reconsider its stance on the democratic 
opposition of Iran and remove the group from our list of terrorist 
organizations.
  It's time to take the handcuffs off of the MEK.

                          ____________________