Is organization committed to ‘regime change’ in tehran a friend or foe? Group is technically on US list of terror groups making it awkward to harness its abilities. As the Bush administration’s denunciations of Iran grow more strident, with accusations of aiding Al-Qaeda and pursuing weapons of mass destruction, it is interesting to speculate on what all this demonization, so familiar from the run-up to the March invasion of Iraq, will mean for the main Iranian rebel force that remains in western Iraq, the Mujahideen Khalq. It’s a dilemma for the Americans. Here’s this highly disciplined armed force, totally committed to bringing down the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Tehran which now seems to be the administration’s new target. Although the Mujahideen has never had much chance of achieving that objective, largely because its alliance with Saddam Hussein in 1986 during the Iran-Iraq war cost it whatever popular support it may have had, it would seem to be ideally suited for clandestine operations against the Tehran regime. There’s just one problem: In 1997, the Mujahideen, also known as the People’s Holy Warriors, was listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department, apparently in hopes of encouraging a dialogue with Iran’s new reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. Full Story
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