THE FOOLISHNESS OF DISARMAMENT

"The CIA continued to submit intelligence from the Iranian group about alleged Iranian nuclear weapons-related work to the IAEA over the next five years, without identifying the source."
~ Gareth Porter, Asia Times.

Another interesting item from last week, which you can listen to at PRI's The World is that the EU removed the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK or PMOI) from its "terror" List. This follows news from December 2008 that Baghdad wants to expel the MEK from its territory:

Iraqi officials say they intend to expel members of an Iranian exile group living in a camp north of Baghdad that is protected by the U.S. military. The expulsion, which the Shiite-led government has long sought, is expected to become feasible once the U.N. mandate that regulates the presence of U.S. troops -- and which gave the Iranian opposition group protected status -- expires at the end of the year.

Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie on Saturday traveled to the camp with several other government officials to deliver the message to members of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group that was closely aligned with deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein but has been under U.S. military protection since shortly after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The government informed the group that it would soon assume responsibility for security at Camp Ashraf and that residents would be repatriated unless they find a third country willing to take them. The U.S. military currently protects Camp Ashraf, which is 40 miles north of Baghdad.

"Staying in Iraq is not an option for them," the government said in a statement issued Sunday. The Iranian government has long called for the group's expulsion.

[ . . . ]

The statement also said the group is barred from participating in political activities and ordered it to cease media campaigns.

Al-Maliki reiterated the message on New Year's Day:

During his speech on New Year's Day to celebrate the official transfer of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone to Iraqi control, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared Jan. 1 the "day of sovereignty" and congratulated his compatriots for having waited so long. He also warned that an Iranian resistance group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), would no longer be able to have a base on Iraqi territory.

[ . . . ]

. . . when the U.S. military formally transferred control of Camp Ashraf back to the Iraqi government on Jan. 1, the MEK's fate suddenly became an issue. The group is a source of contention for Iran and the U.S., Iraq's two biggest allies, who are increasingly vying for influence as Baghdad's post–Saddam Hussein Shi'ite government asserts its independence. All three countries label the MEK a terrorist organization. Iran wants the group handed over for prosecution. But the U.S. has pledged to ensure the group's rights under international law.

The MEK was sporadically active until 2003, including helping Saddam crush the 1991 Kurdish serhildan, when the US disarmed the group in Iraq and took over their protection. According to the radio broadcast report at The World, the MEK has renounced violence and it sounds as though MEK is willing to disband as long as its members are not sent back to Iran. Of course, if no one will give the MEK some kind of sanctuary, it may return to its arms.

That begs the question: What's the point of disarming and renouncing violence if you aren't taken off The List? The MEK have enjoyed the favor of the American neoconservatives for some time, including Daniel Pipes, former Colorado congresscritter Tom Tancredo, the Prince of Darkness himself, Richard Perle, and Larry Franklin, who was convicted by a US court for passing classified information to the Israelis. The MEK has also been a source of intel about Iran's nuclear capabilities, but there are suspicions that the intel the MEK was pushing came from MOSSAD, from Asia Times:

The George W Bush administration has long pushed the "laptop documents" - 1,000 pages of technical documents supposedly from a stolen Iranian laptop - as hard evidence of Iranian intentions to build a nuclear weapon. Now charges based on those documents pose the only remaining obstacles to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declaring that Iran has resolved all unanswered questions about its nuclear program.

But those documents have also been regarded with great suspicion by US and foreign analysts. German officials identified the source of the laptop documents in November 2004 as the Mujahideen e-Khalq (MEK), which along with its political arm, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organization.

There are some indications, moreover, that the MEK obtained the documents not from an Iranian source but from Israel's Mossad.

So, you disarm, you renounce violence, you start doing the dirty work of the real terrorists, and you're still on The List? Maybe you even pull some bombing operations inside Iran for the real terrorists, and you're still on The List?

We know that the CIA was making regular visits to Qendîl in 2003 through early 2004. We know that shortly after indications of CIA visits ceased, PWD appeared and we know what happened to them. Other groups from East Kurdistan are also in the South but have not been active for a while and certainly won't be active while they are controlled.

It's obvious that PKK refused whatever it was that the CIA tried repeatedly to offer back in 2003 because the US and Israel have been active in intel-gathering against PKK for both Turkey and Iran--and Seymour Hersh can put that in his pipe and smoke it.

There is absolutely no good reason for disarming, no matter who says it. As the case of the MEK proves, collaborators never win.

Also last week, Katil Erdoğan called on Obama to redefine terrorism in the Middle East. Be careful what you wish for.

Finally, I'm not the only one who thinks Katil Erdoğan is a hypocrite:

For Erdogan had told Peres that, “When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill,” which is true, but how many of those supporters outside the airport are aware that the Turkish premier also knows very well how to kill. On 17th January this year Hurriyet, the popular daily newspaper in Turkey, reported that in 2008 the Turkish military had killed 696 “outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK militants” in 2008. That’s just over half the number of people Israel killed in its ostensible war on Hamas, but only a moral retard will hold up such figures as a testament to Turkish humanity.

[ . . . ]

The parallels between the national narratives of Israel and Turkey are striking, the former founded in 1948, the latter in 1923. In Turkey’s case, the Palestinians are the Kurds, Hamas are the PKK, and south-east Turkey is the West Bank. Maybe this is why Turkey and Israel have had such a strong bond through the second half of the twentieth century, traditionally their governments have sympathized with each other as they carry out massive atrocities as centurions of the US empire in the Middle East. So while Erdogan was right to take on criminals like Shimon Peres maybe he should take a quick look in the mirror and stop his own illegal incursions into sovereign countries to kill “militants” and civilians alike.

Touché.