Up to date No. 60 - Oktober 2013

8/13/2019 Up to date No. 60 - Oktober 2013

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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on

Member States to offer safe relocation for

residents of Camp Hurriya, located near the Iraqi

capital, Baghdad, and to contribute to a trust fund

launched today to cover costs related to the

relocation process.

The Secretary-General is committed to resolving

the situation faced by the former residents of

Camp New Iraq (Ashraf) now residents of Camp

Hurriya (Liberty) in accordance with

international human rights and humanitarian

standards, Mr. Bans spokesperson said in a

statement.

He added that the UN chief has taken note of the letters and other expressions of concern over the residents well -being

and safety from parliamentarians, political figures, civil society groups, and private individuals.

Camp Hurriya has served as a transit facility for 3,174 people, most of them members of a group known as the Peoples

Mojahedeen of Iran, where a process to determine their refugee status is being carried out by the UN refugee agency

(UNHCR), and resettle them outside of the country, in line with an agreement signed in December 2011 between the UNand the Iraqi Government.

About 10 per cent of the camps residents now have offers to relocate to third countries.

Mr. Ban in todays statement that relocation of the remaining residents to safe and secure locations outside of Iraq is

the only durable and sustainable solution and encouraged Member States to pick up the pace of the relocation.

The UN is launching a Trust Fund initiative to cover costs relating to the relocation process, it was announced in the

statement.

Mr. Ban also reiterates the continued responsibility of the Government of Iraq to ensure the safety and security of the

residents during their stay in Camp Hurriya.

The previous Camp Ashraf had been attacked several times, including last month. Following that attack, the remaining

residents were transferred to Camp Hurriya, but the circumstances of the attack remain obscure.

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P U B L I C A T I O N O F A A W A - A S S O C I A T I O N

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/html/realfile/story.asp?

NewsID=46317&Cr=iraq&Cr1=#.UrQjcdLuJB4

Iraq: launching new trust fund, UN chief urges

relocation of Champ Hurriya residents

un.org, October 23, 2013
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/html/realfile/story.asp?NewsID=46317&Cr=iraq&Cr1=#.UrQjcdLuJB4http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/html/realfile/story.asp?NewsID=46317&Cr=iraq&Cr1=#.UrQjcdLuJB4http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/html/realfile/story.asp?NewsID=46317&Cr=iraq&Cr1=#.UrQjcdLuJB4http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/html/realfile/story.asp?NewsID=46317&Cr=iraq&Cr1=#.UrQjcdLuJB4http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/html/realfile/story.asp?NewsID=46317&Cr=iraq&Cr1=#.UrQjcdLuJB4


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Page 3U P T O D A T E N 0 . 6 0 / O K T O B E R 2 0 1 3

erations Command in Nevada. During the confrontation

between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear pro-

gramme, the MEK was attractive to US intelligence agen-

cies because it already had committed adherents on the

ground in Iran.

The US and Iran have been conducting a covert war against

each other since the fall of the Shah, though its intensity

goes up and down. During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988),

the CIA had a station in Baghdad that fed satellite surveil-

lance photographs of Iranian frontline positions to Saddam.

The conflict escalated again during the US occupation of

Iraq (although Iran had quietly welcomed the toppling of its

arch enemy in Baghdad). At the same time, Iran made

every effort to ensure that it, and not America, became the

predominant foreign power in post-Saddam Iraq. Pin-prick

attacks by the two sides were highly visible from 2003 toabout 2008, but less evident during this time was a degree

of co-operation, since both sides wanted to stabilise a Shia-

Kurdish government. Likewise today, neither country has

an interest in seeing a reinvigorated al-Qa'ida establish

itself in the Sunni heartlands of western Iraq and eastern

Syria.

The problem with the US-Iranian proxy war is that neither

side quite controls their own proxies to the degree the

other side imagines. It is all very well working through sur-

rogates to retain deniability, but these have their own inter-

ests and may, in addition, be incompetent, corrupt or sim-

ply crazed.

The MEK is not the only player in this murky and violent

world. There are others such as PJAK the Iranian Kurdish

franchise of the Turkish Kurd PKK group which is based

in the southern Qandil mountains and has its militants in-

side Iran. Meanwhile, in Pakistani Baluchistan, there are

militant Sunni groups eager for money and support from

foreign intelligence services.

Some of these groups, whatever their origin, end up as

guns for hire and have so many tactical alliances they must

have difficulty remembering what they are fighting for.

How feasible is a US-Iranian dtente? Prospects are a lot

better than they have been for a long time given that US

and Iranian interests in Syria are not so diametrically op-

posed as they were six months ago. The Sunni offensive

that seemed to carry all before it in 2011 and 2012 has

stalled, at least for now. But Iran does not want to give the

impression that it is caving in under sanctions and Israel

will want to retain its veto over any future US-Iran deal.

So, whatever the truth about the death of Mojtaba Ahmadi,

the covert war between Iran and its enemies is a long way

from ending.

Press StatementMarie Harf- Deputy Department Spokesperson,Office of the Spokesperson, Washington DCOctober 24 2013The United States welcomes the establishment of the

United Nations Trust Fund to support the resettlement of

individuals currently residing at Camp Hurriya in Iraq. We

are pleased to announce that the United States plans to

provide $1 million to the UN Trust Fund. The Administration

will continue to work with the U.S. Congress regarding thesefunds. The United States hopes other countries will also

support this important humanitarian effort.

We share the conviction that relocation is the only lasting

means of guaranteeing the safety and well-being of those

residing at Camp Hurriya. Achieving this goal has become

an ever more urgent humanitarian imperative in the after-

math of deadly attacks on Camp Hurriya in February and

June of this year, and the horrific attack on individuals at

Camp Ashraf in September. We also continue to support the

United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and the UnitedNations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in their

efforts to resettle the residents of Camp Hurriya outside of

Iraq.

The United States is actively engaged in working with the

international community to move the UNHCR-led relocation

process forward. To that end, the Department of State re-

cently appointed Jonathan Winer as Senior Advisor for Mu-

jahedin-e Khalq (MEK) Resettlement, to oversee our efforts

towards resettling the residents of Camp Hurriya to safe,

permanent and secure locations outside of Iraq as soon aspossible.

U.S. Pledges Support

to UN Trust Fund for

Resettlement of

Camp Hurriya

Residents

State.gov, October 24, 2013

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/10/215817.htm
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/10/215817.htmhttp://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/10/215817.htmhttp://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/10/215817.htm


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By Sam Muhho

Other means proposed included playing upon sectarian and

ethnic divisions inside Iran to destabilize the country and

even funding radical Sunni militant groups, specifically the

MEK, which has killed Americans in the past and is labeledby the U.S. state department as a foreign terrorist organi-

zation. Its ideology is described by analysts as radical left -

wing Islamic-Marxism which makes it interesting to con-

sider the US plans to fully employ this group as political as-

sets. MEK has also collaborated with Saddam Husseins

forces in guerilla warfare against Iran in the Iran-Iraq War of

the 1980s (113, 117-118)1. The group is against the domi-

nant Iranian establishment and it is noted that the US has

worked covertly with them in the past and that in order to

work overtly with them, the group had to be removed from

the terrorist list (118). Regarding the MEK on pages 117-

118, Brookings states:

Perhaps the most prominent (and certainly the most con-

troversial) opposition group that has attracted attention as

a potential U.S. proxy is the NCRI (National Council of Resis-

tance of Iran), the political movement established by the

MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq). Critics believe the group to be

undemocratic and unpopular, and indeed anti-American.

In contrast, the groups champions contend that the move-

ments long-standing opposition to the Iranian regime andrecord of successful attacks on and intelligence-gathering

operations against the regime make it worthy of U.S. sup-

port. They also argue that the group is no longer anti-

American and question the merit of earlier accusations.

Raymond Tanter, one of the groups supporters in the

United States, contends that the MEK and the NCRI are

allies for regime change in Tehran and also act as a useful

proxy for gathering intelligence. The MEKs greatest intelli-

gence coup was the provision of intelligence in 2002 that

led to the discovery of a secret site in Iran for enriching ura-

nium.

Despite its defenders claims, the MEK remains on the U.S.

government list of foreign terrorist organizations. In the

1970s, the group killed three U.S. officers and three civilian

contractors in Iran. During the 1979-1980 hostage crisis,

the group praised the decision to take America hostages

and Elaine Sciolino reported that while group leaders pub-

licly condemned the 9/11 attacks, within the group cele-

brations were widespread.

Undeniably, the group has conducted terrorist attacks

often excused by the MEKs advocates because they are

directed against the Iranian government. For example, in

1981, the group bombed the headquarters of the Islamic

Republic Party, which was then the clerical leaderships

main political organization, killing an estimated 70 senior

officials. More recently, the group has claimed credit for

over a dozen mortar attacks, assassinations, and other

assaults on Iranian civilian and military targets between

1998 and 2001. At the very least, to work more closely with

the group (at least in an overt manner), Washington wouldneed to remove it from the list of foreign terrorist organiza-

tions.

The compounded criminality of western and Israeli collabo-

ration with MEK is emphasized here2. It should be noted

that the MEK has recently been removed from the US list of

terrorist organizations as part of the next phase of using

them as a proxy. MEK claims to have killed 40,000 Iranians

in the past and has been trained on U.S. soil in a secret

base in Nevada, published on the Huffington Post and cited

here by Kurt Nimmo3 in an excellent and well-sourced arti-cle emphasizing the coordinated western agenda against

Iran.

--

References:

1) RAND Report: Iran after the Bomb, http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR310.html.2) http://landdestroyer.blogspot.de/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.html.

3) http://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/.

The Iranian Smoke and Mirrors Threat

and Washingtons Human Rights Card- excerpt -

globalresearch.ca, October 27, 2013

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-iranian-smoke-and-mirrors-threat-and-washingtons-human-rights-card/5355699
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.htmlhttp://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.htmlhttp://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/http://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/http://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR310.htmlhttp://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR310.htmlhttp://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR310.htmlhttp://landdestroyer.blogspot.de/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.htmlhttp://landdestroyer.blogspot.de/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.htmlhttp://landdestroyer.blogspot.de/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.htmlhttp://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/http://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-iranian-smoke-and-mirrors-threat-and-washingtons-human-rights-card/5355699http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-iranian-smoke-and-mirrors-threat-and-washingtons-human-rights-card/5355699http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-iranian-smoke-and-mirrors-threat-and-washingtons-human-rights-card/5355699http://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/http://landdestroyer.blogspot.de/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.htmlhttp://landdestroyer.blogspot.de/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.htmlhttp://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR310.htmlhttp://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR310.htmlhttp://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/http://www.infowars.com/war-with-iran-started-five-years-ago/http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/04/confirmed-terrorist-organization.html


5/8


By Andrew Kaczynski

The M.E.K, short for the Mujahedeen-e Khalq or Peoples

Mujahideen of Iran, is an exiled Iranian opposition group

that was previously designated a foreign terrorist organiza-

tion by the State Department until its removal in Sept.

2012.

The M.E.K has a number of high profile backers in the U.S.

Heres former House Speaker Newt Gingrich bowing to

M.E.K. leader Maryam Rajavi in 2012. At the time the M.E.K

was still labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S.

[http://youtube.com/watch?v=YB7yVp_tBxQ]The National Association of Iranian Academics in Britain

took out a Washington Post ad in 2011, writing an open

letter to President Obama asking him to take the M.E.K. off

the list of terrorist organizations.

[http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/MEKad09022011.pdf]

The letter was signed by a number of prominent Democrats

and Republicans, including former members of the Bush

And Obama Administrations.

[http://thinkprogress.org/wp content/uploads/2011/10/MEKad09022011.pdf]

Controversial Iranian Group Attempts

To Take Out Washington Post Ad,

Accidentally Sends Invoice To Opponent

Buzzfeed.com, October 10, 2013

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/controversial-iranian-group-attempts-to-take-out-washington
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/controversial-iranian-group-attempts-to-take-out-washingtonhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/controversial-iranian-group-attempts-to-take-out-washingtonhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/controversial-iranian-group-attempts-to-take-out-washington


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The State Department labeled the M.E.K. a terrorist

organization for a number of reasons, among other things,

they staged terrorist attacks killing U.S. military personnel

and civilians. They were also funded by Saddam Hussein.

From the State Departments websiteThe groups worldwide campaign against the Iranian

government uses propaganda and terrorism to achieve its

objectives. During the 1970s, the MEK staged terrorist

attacks inside Iran and killed several U.S. military personnel

and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran. In

1972, the MEK set off bombs in Tehran at the U.S.

Information Service office (part of the U.S. Embassy), the

Iran-American Society, and the offices of several U.S.

companies to protest the visit of President Nixon to Iran. In

1973, the MEK assassinated the deputy chief of the U.S.

Military Mission in Tehran and bombed several businesses,

including Shell Oil. In 1974, the MEK set off bombs in

Tehran at the offices of U.S. companies to protest the visit of

then U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger. In 1975, the MEK

assassinated two U.S. military officers who were members

of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group in Tehran. In

1976, the MEK assassinated two U.S. citizens who were

employees of Rockwell International in Tehran. In 1979, the

group claimed responsibility for the murder of an American

Texaco executive. Though denied by the MEK, analysisbased on eyewitness accounts and MEK documents

demonstrates that MEK members participated in and

supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran

and that the MEK later argued against the early release the

American hostages.

Before Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003, the MEK

received all of its military assistance and most of its

financial support from Saddam Hussein. The fall of Saddam

Husseins regime has led the MEK increasingly to rely on

front organizations to solicit contributions from expatriateIranian communities.

Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the group was disarmed

and has said they have renounced terrorism. They started

lobbying to get their name removed from the list of foreign

terrorist organizations. The group managed to achieve this in

Europe in 2009, and eventually, the U.S. in September

2012.

[http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2010/170264.htm]One of the M.E.K.s supporters, The National Association ofIranian Academics in Britain, recently attempted to take out

an ad in The Washington Post.

Heres the invoice:

Even though the National Association of Iranian Academics

in Britain was supposedly an independent group of M.E.K.

supporters, the recent ad invoice is signed by Shahin

Gobadi, a Paris-based spokesman for the M.E.K.s parentorganization.


7/8


8/8

By Jim White

With the world anticipating real progress1at the next round of P5+1 talks set to start next week in Geneva, the MEK is get-

ting desperate. Because they appear to only want a violent regime change in Iran, talk of actual diplomacy is their worst

nightmare. Today, Reuters reports2on the latest wild accusation tossed out by the MEK using the umbrella organization

of the National Council of Resistance of Iran3:

An exiled Iranian opposition group said on Thursday it had information about what it said was a center fornuclear weaponisation research in Tehran that the government was moving to avoid detection ahead of ne-

gotiations with world powers.

Reuters clearly was unmoved by the accusation, as they immediately pointed out that NCRI is biased and politically moti-

vated. However, even in pointing out the bias of NCRI, Reuters perpetuates a myth that has been disproven:

The dissident National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) exposed Irans uranium enrichment facility at

Natanz and a heavy water facility at Arak in 2002. But analysts say it has a chequered track record and a

clear political agenda.

Uhm, yes. Having your major group spend decades on the list of terrorist organizations4(before eventually buying their way

off the list and registering as a lobbying group5) would indeed qualify as a chequered track record. But Reuters insists on

repeating the falsehood that the NCRI and MEK were responsible for exposing the underground enrichment site at Natanz.

That myth has been thoroughly debunked by Jeffrey Lewis6:

The debate about whether Iran has constructed a clandestine centrifuge program drives me nuts.

You mean other than the one we already found?

And by we, I mean the United Statesor at least its intelligence community. As I understand the sequence of

events, the United Statesknowing full well that Iran had a clandestine centrifuge programwatched Iran

dig two MASSIVE HOLES near Natanz (see the big picture), then ratted the Iranians out to the IAEA. About the


U P T O D A T E

N O . 6 0

O K T O B E R 2 0 1 3

www.aawa-association.de

Publication of Association AAWA e.V.

Responsable:

Dipl.-Ing. Ali-A. Rastgou

Postfach 90 31 73

D-51124 Kln

E-mail: [email protected]

.

http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/10/10/mek-makes-desperate-new-iran-nuclear-accusation-reuters-yawns/

MEK Makes Desperate New Iran

Nuclear Accusation, Reuters YawnsEmptywheel.net, September 13, 2013

continues on page 7...

same time, someone leaked that information

to an Iranian dissident group, the National

Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which

then released the second-hand dope in a

press conference where they got the details

wrong.

Lewis goes on to cite multiple independent sources to con-

firm that the intelligence community, not the NCRI, was

responsible for discovering the Natanz facility. [It is also

instructive to note the role ISIS played in the charade of

promoting NCRI responsibility.]

Aside from that major error on attribution of the discovery

of Natanz, Reuters was so unmoved by the newest ploy
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/iran-nuclear-deal--concessions-hint.htmlhttp://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/iran-nuclear-deal--concessions-hint.htmlhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/10/us-iran-nuclear-dissidents-idUSBRE9990CP20131010http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/10/us-iran-nuclear-dissidents-idUSBRE9990CP20131010http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/abouthttp://www.ncr-iran.org/en/abouthttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/world/middleeast/iranian-opposition-group-mek-wins-removal-from-us-terrorist-list.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/world/middleeast/iranian-opposition-group-mek-wins-removal-from-us-terrorist-list.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/301841-delisted-iranian-terror-group-mek-registers-to-lobbyhttp://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/301841-delisted-iranian-terror-group-mek-registers-to-lobbyhttp://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1274/ncri-did-not-discover-natanzhttp://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1274/ncri-did-not-discover-natanzhttp://www.emptywheel.net/2013/10/10/mek-makes-desperate-new-iran-nuclear-accusation-reuters-yawns/http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/10/10/mek-makes-desperate-new-iran-nuclear-accusation-reuters-yawns/http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/10/10/mek-makes-desperate-new-iran-nuclear-accusation-reuters-yawns/http://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1274/ncri-did-not-discover-natanzhttp://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/301841-delisted-iranian-terror-group-mek-registers-to-lobbyhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/world/middleeast/iranian-opposition-group-mek-wins-removal-from-us-terrorist-list.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/abouthttp://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/10/us-iran-nuclear-dissidents-idUSBRE9990CP20131010http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/iran-nuclear-deal--concessions-hint.html

Up to date No. 60 - Oktober 2013

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