MEK, friend or foe?
Reader comment on item: [Mujahedeen-e Khalq:] A Terrorist U.S. Ally?

Submitted by David Wigotski (Denmark), May 20, 2003 at 18:44

It is with interest I have read your article on MEK. You rightly call MEK anti-western, but fail to say why, I believe that MEK is a communist opposition group in Iran. Supporting opposition against the Mullahs in Teheran is certainly the right way to combat the terrorist-supporting regime there, but doing so through a communist group hardly seems to be a reasonable choice. Furthermore MEK may have support in some western nations, but lacks support amongst internal opposition groups in Iran itself. There is no reason to back an organization that lacks popular support in Iran and who, even if the utopic situation arises, never could be considered an ally if it had the power in Iran. If the west is to topple the theocracy in Iran, it should exploit the fact that there is actual political opposition in the country (unlike in Iraq), and use the growing unrest and disillusion with the current regime by backing reformist forces in the political establishment, not by backing groups that will turn on us the moment the oppportunity arises.

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