U.S. imposes new sanctions on Iran, designates Quds Force "terrorist" org

[Liberal]

Didn’t Hillary vote for this? And doesn’t Democratic Darling General Wesley Clark agree that the Quds are terrorists? (Or so he said last night.)

[Gala_Matrix_Fire]

The Mujahidin-e-Khalq (MEK) is a designated terrorist organization dedicated to the overthrow of the Iranian government. The US government is so enamored of this terrorist group, which has killed lots of people using terror tactics, that it has our soldiers drive them around in jeeps in Iraq so that they aren’t late to their terrorist appointments, to which they take their weapons, which we’ve allowed them to hang on to.

So, designating the Quds force a terrorist organization…maybe it’s just a way of evening up the playing field? “Sure, we have pet terrorists, but your government’s legitimate military is terrorist, too.”

That works, right?

[Ravenman]

@bluethree

The US government is so enamored of this terrorist group, which has killed lots of people using terror tactics, that it has our soldiers drive them around in jeeps in Iraq so that they aren’t late to their terrorist appointments…

Cite?

[Gala_Matrix_Fire]

Here’s the cite.

@the Washington Post

BAGHDAD – For three years, thousands of members of a militant group dedicated to overthrowing Iran’s theocracy have lived in a sprawling compound north of Baghdad under the protection of the U.S. military.

American soldiers chauffeur top leaders of the group, known as the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, to and from their compound, where they have hosted dozens of visitors in an energetic campaign to persuade the State Department to stop designating the group as a terrorist organization.

and

@the Washington Post

In 1997, during a period of warmer relations between Washington and Tehran under the Clinton administration, the State Department added the MEK to its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

[Ravenman]

I mean the part about driving them to “terrorist appointments” with their weapons. My understanding is that the MEK handed over their weapons and are being treated under Geneva Convention protections under the supervision if the Red Cross.

As shown in this part of your first cite: “After Hussein was toppled, the MEK agreed to turn over its weapons to U.S. military officials. In 2004, the U.S. military granted its members the status of “protected persons” under the Geneva Conventions and has since provided security for the camp.”

[Gala_Matrix_Fire]

Ravenman, I assumed that the part you quoted was the part you were questioning.

It looks like you were right, and the MEK was disarmed when they surrendered to US forces in Iraq. Apparently 6,000 of them surrendered in Iraq, and 3,500 of them are still at Camp Ashraf. No word on where the other 2,500 went.

A Washington Post special correspondent toured Camp Ashraf in January. It is a largely self-sufficient compound, and the majority of members haven’t left in years. It has shops, a swimming pool, an ice cream store, a bakery and a soda factory that makes a cola- and orange-flavored drink locals call Ashraf Cola.

And they have the support of Sam Brownback and Tom Tancredo, among others.

[Ravenman]

@bluethree

Ravenman, I assumed that the part you quoted was the part you were questioning.

Yeah, missed the edit window. The MEK are real; bad guys, I agree. Their political front holds demonstrations in DC every now and then, and it really makes me wonder…

[BrainGlutton]

Meanwhile, Mohammed El-Baradei says the UN has no evidence the Iranians are trying to make nuclear weapons.