Opportunists will make use of MEK opportunists.

Submitted by M.D'Souza (United States), Jul 17, 2008 at 17:54

At present, MEK are anti-regime Iranians. They seem to be opportunistic in their actions.

During the 70s, the MEK killed US military personnel & US civilians working on defense projects in Tehran, in Shah's Iran. They even supported the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran.

The MEK leaders were forced to flee to France in 1980 by Iranian security forces.

During the Iraq-Iran War between 1980-88, the MEK resettled in Iraq in 1987. Saddam, an opportunist himself, armed MEK with military equipment & sent them into action against Iranian forces. During 1991, they even assisted Saddam in suppressing the Shia uprising in S.Iraq, & the Kurdish uprising in N.Iraq. Now they may not be all that welcome by the same groups.

The US should not fall prey to such opportunists. The Coalition forces made the MEK surrender in May 2003, & confined them to Camp Ashraf in Baghdad. They may have relinquished their tanks, armored vehicles & heavy artillery, but they can always procure them with the funds they receive from Iranian expatriates.

There are many Iranian expatriate businessmen in nearby Dubai. So, the question of Washington betraying the MEK does not arise. These MEK opportunists will move on to other Gulf States.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".