What were a Saudi prince, a former Republican House Speaker and a former Democratic vice-presidential candidate doing together in a suburb of Paris last weekend?
Would you be surprised to discover that Prince Turki Bin Faisal, Newt Gingrich and Joe Lieberman were speaking on behalf of a group of Iranian exiles that was officially designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the United States government between 1997 and 2012?
Iran hawks long ago fell head over heels for the Mojahedin-e Khalq, known as the MEK, and loudly and successfully lobbied for it to be removed from the State Department list of banned terror groups in 2012. Formed in Iran in the 1960s, the MEK, whose name translates to “Holy Warriors of the People,” was once an avowedly anti-American, semi-Marxist, semi-Islamist group, pledged to toppling the U.S.-backed Shah by force and willing to launch attacks on U.S. targets. The MEK even stands accused of helping with the seizure of hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran; the group condemned the hostages’ release as a “surrender” to the United States. But after the Iran’s clerical rulers turned on the group in the early 1980s, its leaders fled the country and unleashed a series of bombings across Iran.
These days, the organization — run by husband and wife Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, though the former’s whereabouts are unknown and he is rumored to be dead — claims to have renounced violence and sells itself to its new American friends as a 100 percent secular and democratic Iranian opposition group. The biggest problem with the MEK, however, is not that it is a former terrorist organization. Plenty of violent groups that were once seen as “terrorists” later abandoned their armed struggles and entered the corridors of power — think of the Irish Republican Army or Mandela’s African National Congress.
Nor is it that the MEK lacks support inside of the Islamic Republic, where it has been disowned by the opposition Green Movement and is loathed by ordinary Iranians for having fought on Saddam Hussein’s side during the Iran-Iraq war.
Rather, the biggest problem with U.S. politicians backing the MEK is that the group has all the trappings of a totalitarian cult. Don’t take my word for it: A 1994 State Department report documented how Massoud Rajavi “fostered a cult of personality around himself” which had “alienated most Iranian expatriates, who assert they do not want to replace one objectionable regime for another.”
You think only people inside of dictatorships are brainwashed? A 2009 report by the RAND Corporation noted how MEK rank-and-file had to swear “an oath of devotion to the Rajavis on the Koran” and highlighted the MEK’s “authoritarian, cultic practices” including ‘mandatory divorce and celibacy” for the group’s members (the Rajavis excepted, of course). “Love for the Rajavis was to replace love for spouses and family,” explained the RAND report.
You think gender segregation inside of Iran is bad? At Iraq’s Camp Ashraf, which housed MEK fighters up until 2013, lines were “painted down the middle of hallways separating them into men’s and women’s sides,” according to RAND, and even the gas station there had “separate hours for men and women.”
You might understand why a Saudi prince, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, or uber-hawk and former Bush administration official John Bolton — who all attended the Paris rally — might be willing to get behind such a weird collection of fanatics and ideologues. But what would make a liberal Democrat from Vermont such as Howard Dean — who has suggested Maryam Rajavi be recognized as the president of Iran in exile — want to get into bed with them? Or Georgia congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis, who spoke out in favor of the MEK in 2010?
Could it be because of the old, if amoral, adage that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”? Perhaps. Could it be the result of ignorance, of senior U.S. figures failing to do due diligence? Maybe.
Or could it be a consequence of cold, hard cash? “Many of these former high-ranking U.S. officials — who represent the full political spectrum — have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak in support of the MEK,” revealed a wide-ranging investigation by the Christian Science Monitor in 2011.
In Washington, D.C., money talks. Whether you’re a Democrat like Dean or a Republican like Bolton, a former head of the CIA like Porter Goss or an ex-head of the FBI like Louis Freeh, what seems to matter most is that the MEK can cut fat checks.
Take Gingrich, who once lambasted Barack Obama for “bowing to the Saudi king” but has himself been caught on camera bowing to Maryam Rajavi. The former House speaker bizarrely compared Rajavi to George Washington in his speech in Paris over the weekend.
Or Giuliani, “America’s Mayor” and self-styled anti-terror hawk, who nevertheless has had no qualms accepting thousands of dollars since 2010 to shill for a group that murdered six Americans in Iran in the mid-1970s; joined with Saddam Hussein to repress Iraq’s Kurds in the early 1990s; allegedly worked with Al Qaeda to make bombs in the mid-1990s; and fought against U.S. troops in Iraq in 2003.
Have these people no shame? To quote Suzanne Maloney, an Iran analyst at Brookings and a former adviser to the State Department: “How cheaply Gingrich/Guiliani/Bolton/Lieberman value their own integrity to sell out to MEK cult.”
Meanwhile, regime change in Tehran is very much back on the agenda in Donald Trump’s Washington. Candidate Trump, who blasted George W. Bush’s Middle East wars of aggression, has been replaced by President Trump, who appointed Iran hawks such as James Mattis and Mike Pompeo to run the Pentagon and the CIA, respectively; counts MEK shills such as Giuliani and Gingrich among his closest outside advisers; and appointed Elaine Chao, who took $50,000 from the Rajavis for a five-minute speech in 2015, to his cabinet.
Let’s be clear: The Trump administration, the Saudis and the Israelis — who have “financed, trained and armed” the MEK in the past, according an NBC News investigation — are all bent on toppling Iran’s clerical rule; they long for a bad sequel to the Iraq war. And Maryam Rajavi’s MEK is auditioning for the role of Ahmed Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress: The group’s 3,000-odd fighters, according to former Democratic senator-turned-MEK-lawyer Robert Torricelli last Saturday, are keen to be the “point of the spear.”
That way madness lies. Have U.S. political, intelligence, and military elites learned nothing from their Mesopotamian misadventure and the disastrous contribution of Iraqi exiles such as Chalabi? Well, the brainwashed fanatics of the MEK make the INC look like the ANC.
It is difficult, therefore, to disagree with the verdict of Elizabeth Rubin of the New York Times, who visited the MEK at Camp Ashraf back in 2003 and later “spoke to men and women who had escaped from the group’s clutches” and “had to be reprogrammed.” The MEK, warned Rubin in 2011, “is not only irrelevant to the cause of Iran’s democratic activists, but a totalitarian cult that will come back to haunt us.”
Top photo: Mariam Rajavi speaks at the annual meeting of the Mojahedin-e Khalq at the Villepinte exhibition center near Paris on July 1, 2017. International political leaders also made speeches to support her.
Sad that the US politicians are falling for this hated MEK group. They are supported by Israelis and Arabs with the goal of de-stabilizing the Middle East. In the meantime, Mullahs in Iran are celebrating the stupidity of the US government people.
Yes indeed, it was an equal-opportunity, bi-partisan bunch of vultures in on the feed for years.
Beside the rubber-faced son-of-a-bagman Giuliani, and that skunk Lieberman there were:
Howard Dean (ex-DNC chair), Tom Ridge (ex-homeland security chief), Ed Rendell (ex-governor Pennsylvania), James Woolsey (ex-CIA director), John Sano (ex-deputy director, CIA clandestine operations), James Jones (ex-Obama national security advisor), Hugh Shelton (ex-chair, US joint chiefs of staff) , Louis Freeh (ex-FBI director), Michael Mukasey (ex-US attorney general.) Not to mention Newt Gingrich getting himself in for a little taste at the last minute. Did I miss anybody?
MEK was a terrorist org. until someone in State decided in 2012 that it wasn’t — that it might be a useful stick to to have in the bag.
Reza Marashi (ex-official, State Department’s Iran desk during Obama admin.) reviewed evidence against the MEK during that period of heavy [bipartisan] lobbying and found the terrorism designation to be appropriate.
“My former government colleagues are bewildered by the freedom of movement that a designated terrorist organization enjoys on Capitol Hill. They’re disgusted by former US government officials willing to make a quick buck by shilling for the MEK.”
I lived in DC in the ’90s, and frequently saw very expensive, full-color ‘protest’ flyers taped up to lampposts and telephone polls, exhorting everyone to be opposed to something about Iran. I didn’t understand the issues, but always wondered how a group that appeared to be presenting itself as a grass-roots/student protest group could afford flyers that, at that time, cost a lot of money to produce. Now I have proof of what I thought at the time – that it was a screen for rich people who simply wanted to exchange one dictator for another.
Always love this silly hit pieces trying to take down anyone who even shows the slightest hint of opposition to the mullahs in Tehran. The arguments are NEVER about the issues facing the Iranian people such as human rights abuses, women being marginalized, journalists being locked up. No, it’s ALWAYS about throwing shade at anyone dare raising their voices against Tehran. The code words are always the same: hawks, neo-cons, cultists, blah blah blah.
It’s so tiresome and predictable. It’s the same with any opposition group that starts up anywhere against a dictatorial regime. Heck, I remember when Solidarity in Poland was being attacked by the Soviets and nothing more than an extension of the CIA. It’s always the argument of the ones afraid of losing power to attack those fighting for freedom. It’s the same old story and it won’t work here since the opposition movement isn’t just the MEK, it’s Amnesty International and other human rights groups so let’s not keep acting like the MEK is the ONLY voice out there condemning the regime.
“will come back to haunt us.”
Who exactly is us, Mr. Hasan?
What neither you nor the source of that quote seem to realize is that our intelligence agencies would love nothing more than to have these groups come back and haunt us one day. That way they can keep their gravy train rolling without quaint things like global peace and stability getting in the way.
“What? Iran is trying to set up a Democratic, progressive system of Government with the intention of becoming a stable force in the middle east, which may lead to a new era of advancement and prosperity in the region? NOT ON OUR FUCKING WATCH! Kermit, get your ass in there and set things right!
What? The Saudis are willing to match us dollar for dollar in Afghanistan only if we undermine the real resistance to the Soviets in the Panjshir valley and under fund and under equip Ahmad Masoud Shah’s resistance fighters, even though they hold the best chance of a unified and peaceful Afghanistan after the invasion is over? OH, HELL YEAH! Here, hand these dump trucks full of cash over to those nice Arab fellows we met a couple of months ago, what was one of their names? Osama, or something?
What? A communique from Havana? This Fidel fellow is interested in discussing a new security and trade agreement? They’re willing to forgive our propping up Bautista, and let bygones be bygones for the sake of a new Cuba-America relationship dynamic? WHO THE FUCK DOES THIS MUTT THINK HE IS? Quick, someone cut of grain shipments to Havana? I mean, what the fuck is he going to do? Ask the Russians for help? PSHAW, I’d like to see him try!”
Mehdi, do you see where I’m going with this? The deep state thrives on chaos, so of course the Rajavis are who they will pick as their tip of the spear.
The large majority of MEK members formerly housed in Iraq have now been moved to Albania, where they have already been visited by former FBI Director Louis Freeh and US Senator John McCain.
http://www.exit.al/en/2017/03/27/minister-xhafaj-distorts-meeting-with-private-consultant-into-us-support/
http://www.exit.al/en/2017/04/17/senator-mccain-meets-mek-in-albania/
yet another sequel –
the Empire strikes again: Death Star on the Move
Stuff we are never told – the psychotic sociopathic extremists that serve the horders of wealth and slavery employing their evil ways and scripting their deeds to look good. By art of deception thou shalt rob all would be an appropriate moniker for the elitists and their whores for wars.
The script must go soemthing like this –
Horder: Sumon my sponsored elected whore. I have a demand to make.
Lobbyist: Yes sir.
Elected whore: You called sir?
Horder: Yes. That country over there has something i want…. more of…. and cheaper.
Whore: Your wish is my command sir. I will get the CIA to create an incident and get our whores in the media to paint the picture.
Horder: And dont forget that the public has to pay for this acqusition!
Whore: With their money and lives sir, money and lives.
Here is a brief on the supporting scenario elucidated in the marvelous article.
We have several Neolibs that comment here (and Necons too). They will cheer on another failed policy, and after this fails, they move on to the next failure.
Patrick Cockburn lays it nicely: http://www.salon.com/2016/06/29/iraq_taught_us_nothing_neoliberalism_interventionism_and_americas_crumbling_empire_partner/
When the world relies on more renewables and he Saudi oil reserves run out, the world population may be freed of the Muslim-6th century mentality used and abused by all as a tool for control and theft.
Again, muslimssellingouttheir brotherssotheycanfleewest!
Remember Iran is the worlds 2nd largest easy to access oil reserves, so the Saudis want to steal and continue. Since the US does not produce much, being the “Worlds #1 Energy Provider” has things not changing. Iran and the world are at risk.
Great research and reporting of facts.
As an Iranian who dislikes IRI regime I despise MEK more. They are a hated group in Iran by vast majority of Iranian people for aligning themselves with Saddam against Iran. Now they have become a tool in the hands of the terrorist breeding Saudi Arabia, the biggest enemy of Iran, Israel, and the US necons. Saudi/GCC money has propped MEK up. Anyone who speaks in the MEK events should be viewed either as prostitutes or idiots. IRI is very happy to see Saudis, Gingritch, Bolton, Juliani, and other right wing politicians supporting MEK. IRI easily can discredit any Iranian opposition by pointing to such supporters. It is such a height of idiocy and hypocrisy for these American, EU, and SA/GCC politicians to support such a despised, hated, and cult like group like MEK.
They may be in Paris but MEK might do better with a Washington lobby. Or is the USA supporting a peacock throne Revival? The Shah nShah left a number of princelings didn’t he?
MEK has has a history in Iraq too. possibly used to ‘prove’ assda was liknked to terror, if they didn’t have bases in Iraq before they got some from friendly Americans. While their opposition to the Ayetollehs may have taken the form of smuggled scotch more than ‘strikes for freedumb’ MEK was undeniably one of the few ‘pals’ America had in the region. The latter goes to explain why, after the US withdrawal, the Baghdadis didn’t wait long to ‘wind-up’ those MEK training camps.
Anther bad actor visiting Paris in the past was congressman and now-disgraced San Diego mayor Bob Filner.
Money, money, look at the money being thrown at these ex-politicians. Who really cares about Rajavi or MEK or their new name NCRI. This is prostitution now being financed by Saudi Arabia.
Alright, then where does all that MEK money for bribes come from..?
Most likely Saudi Arabia one might guess…
Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries as well as Isarel.
The author of this article has shown that a good guy is good for dictators. This person is anyone who is.
He does not have jurisdiction writer because it acts like a person inside the Iranian regime
This person must be prosecuted for legal proceedings, not as the author of the right to write in the newspaper.
Is not it surprising?
It’s been years for these dictators to bleed in Iran
But this fake writer has not told them, why? It’s the nonsense of the mullahs when he realized that his masters had been expired in Tehran to prevent the income cut this manuscript is published in the name of the article
It should be said is very shameful
I must say; very soon the Iranian people, Judge You
I thought the MEK educated the groups’ members better, now with all the love and support they are getting. KSA/IL/US and who ever else is supporting this sorry group, please follow up and see and your money is being spent. Apparently its not on their members!
Bahar,
You’re an embarrassment to any Iranian out there who is legitimately striving to make the country a freer and more democratic place.
MEK is nothing more than a pseudo-theocratic group. They are literally the Pepsi to the Islamic Republic’s Coke. Not as effective, but the same shit nonetheless.
Are you forgetting that the MEK was one of the main groups in Iran during the early 1980s who helped with the implementation of the laws which govern the country now? It was only after they got involved with political power struggles in the country, and tried to bite off more than they could chew, that the regime turned on them full force, and they had to flee to Iraq.
Mehdi is correct when he states that the MEK is nothing more than a resistance group for hire run by fanatics who’s modus operandi is a cult of personality.
Just wanted to add a summary from a US report in response to delisting request of MEK from terrorist groups: “…while Maryam and Masoud are married, the rank and file in MEK live a cult-like life and are not allowed to marry…there are multiple reports of forced hysterectomies in Camp Ashraf ….” oh my god, that’s the shittiest it can get for a government to support these kind of groups.
This is from a commenter who claims he is a “patriot” and a “nationalist”:
“So what? The “embassy” was mostly staffed by CIA agents like I actually care given the CIA’s history all over the world. Because I’m an American I should care?”
The commenter rrheard was responding to US courts decision that Iran is to be blamed for the US embassy in Beirut.
So according to this “patriotic” and “nationalist” American it is fine for Iran to go to another sovereign state and attack US embassies on that state and kill US citizens as long as those US citizens are mostly CIA agents.
It took him a long time, but he finally exposes his true colour. He also speaks for many commenters here who are too shy to admit that they enjoy when an anti US state such as Iran goes to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Argentina to commit terrorist attacks as long as the targets are Americans or Jews.
You ” conveniently ” forgot to mention that before the attack, the US launched an invasion of Lebanon.
War is war. Do you expect the other side to stand still and let you shoot them ? God forbid if they shoot back, then you run around screaming ” terrorist, terrorist ” at the top of your lungs.
“You ” conveniently ” forgot to mention that before the attack, the US launched an invasion of Lebanon.”
And it is hilarious how you “conveniently” re write history. First, when local forces agreed to a cease fire and request multinational forces to supervise the agreement, then it is not an invasion. Second, you really think the US could invade Lebanon with 1000 troops?
I do not understand why commenters like you refuse to be honest like “thecurunir”. Just say it: you do not care if the victims are Americans or Jews. That would save us time and non essential discussions.
Bravo. Bro
Exactly!!!
Exactly what Grace? Are you really agreeing with Iranian that the US invaded Lebanon? Swisscheese explained pretty well under what circumstances US troops were there did he leave something out? Please educate me.
Someone who joins the CIA deserves to die just as much as someone who joins ISIS. Except ISIS is a failure in it’s objective of overthrowing democracies while the CIA isn’t.
The US courts decision that Iran is to blamed for the for what happened to the US embassy in Beirut, is Neocon war propaganda. As is the US court decision blaming Iran for bombings in Argentina, the New York court decision blaming Iran for 9/11, ect. America and Iran don’t have diplomatic relations, so Iran can not represent or defend itself in US courts. Thus any legal action against Iran in American courts is an automatic loss for Iran. Zionists are well aware of this, so they abuse our court system by bringing wild suits against Iran, knowing that it will be an automatic loss against the country. Then Israeli loyalists use those undefended decisions as propaganda to try to push America into a war with Iran. A just arbitrator of grievance would be the UN, the international courts at The Hague, or even better the Zionist dreaded establishment diplomatic relations between US and Iran.
The hasbara you disseminate is dangerous and all Americans should remain vigilant and wary of the ultimate intentions these schemes.
“America and Iran don’t have diplomatic relations, so Iran can not represent or defend itself in US courts.”
FALSE. Do you homework on the cases, and then review the above statement. (Hint: Case against Iran went way to the US Supreme Court with Iran having it own legal representative. Another Hint: In the US, the court will not stop procedures because the accused refuses to defend itself)
“A just arbitrator of grievance would be the UN, the international courts at The Hague,”
A UN tribunal already blamed Hezbollah members of targeting and killing dozens of civilians on their soil. (Those civilians were Lebanese not Israelis). Hezbollah chief Nasrallah has admitted many times that he gets his financial and material support from Iran. Am I factually incorrect?
My advice for you:
1) Do you homework before challenging anybody or
2) Be like the commenter “thecurunir” above. In his/her view no analysis or arguments are necessary. His/her simple argument is if you are CIA agents you deserve to be killed. Your argument could be that if you are Jews you deserve to be killed whether you are in Tel Aviv or Argentina. Basically, you can just share your despicable view to the world without all the ignorant and false statements you wrote in your comment.
“Your argument could be that if you are Jews you deserve to be killed whether you are in Tel Aviv or Argentina.”
Humans do not “deserve” to die, whether Jewish, American, Arab, Persian, Russian, Chinese or any other combination based their religion, ethnicity, nationality or fictitious ideologies of race. Yet stating this as a potential message in my argument distorts and distracts from the larger point. Israel under the leadership of Netanyahu has been agitating for a war with Iran, which him and his political adherents have been pushing America to fight. Many of these lawsuits are also used to promote that result. Shedding light on Israel’s extreme Likud party ends is designed to save American lives on potential battlefields and also prevent a potential backlash of anti-Semitism against American Jews, especially those who are apolitical or disagree with Israeli aims. War itself is the largest cause of killing, militarism, extremism, and racism. It should be avoided when possible and Americans should never have to pay or bleed for another countries ambitious war schemes, especially when diplomacy has already proven fruitful.
“Yet stating this as a potential message in my argument distorts and distracts from the larger point. ”
No it does not. Firstly, your argument is full of ignorant messages that you must have presented willingly. Secondly, your argument is based on the premise that Iran cannot be wrong. Basically whatever entities blame Iran is wrong, but not Iran. If politicians blame Iran, then there is something wrong with them, if US courts blame Iran, then there is something wrong with US courts. The US (and obviously Israel) are the only entities that can be wrong. All that gymnastic is not necessary. You should follow “thecurunir’s” argument, which is if you are CIA agents you deserve to die even on American soil. Since Iran cannot be wrong then, you should go further by stating that if Jews or Americans get killed by Iran then they deserve it. That would save you time and energy.
Huh? You just created a bunch extreme straw man arguments. Said that I should take those positions and then tore down the same ridiculous positions you concocted to win an argument against yourself. Bravo!
There are plenty of American politicians including former Nation Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, that warned Americans about Israeli plans to draw us into a war with Iran.
https://youtu.be/ifEGiJ2ZxDM
You appear to be the one taking positions and backing corrupt politicians that risks the lives of American. I could care less about Irans theocratic government, which is just as rotten as Israels theocratic/racist government, both of which are frequently wrong. Yet it doesn’t change the fact that it’s Israel and their acolytes that are jeopardizing American lives by scheming to push us into a war with Iran.
Many of you keep using the terms straw man over and over. You should review its definition in the English language.
Again, your argument is based on the premise that Iran cannot be wrong. Politicians who blame Iran are automatically “corrupt”. US courts that blame Iran are just propaganda. Commenters here who blame Iran are just backing corrupt politicians. The US and Israel are the ones that can be wrong not Iran. This is you:
Politicians blame Iran = those politicians are corrupt
US Courts blame Iran = US courts are just part of a propaganda
Commenters blame Iran = those commenters are just backing corrupt politicians
Another part of your argument to lie:
Iran does not have representations in US courts = FALSE!!
Cases against Iran should go to a UN court = They have!
If you do not have the reason to contemplate the possibility that Iran could be wrong, then all your gymnastic is unnecessary. Go straight to the point and admit in your opinion there is not a problem if Iran kills American citizens or Jews anywhere on earth.
Mark,
Swisscheese is a neolibral serial obfuscator, but he is correct in pointing out that Iran has been represented in these court proceedings.
What he is leaving out is that these proceedings violate the doctrine of State immunity. In a parallel situation, had Iran had access to US assets, and ignoring State immunity, Iranian victim would have sued in Iranian courts to collect billions for … here is partial list … deposing Mosadegh, US helping Savak torture Iranians, US assistance to Saddam including gassing of Iranian soldiers during the Iran-Iraq war, shooting down an Iranian airliner, …
If all other states behaved this way, we would have international chaos.
Iran is currently suing the U.S. at the ICJ, the same court that ultimately decided the U.S. v Iran case. Nice try though Z. I think you should take the same advice SC gave Mark and do your homework.
1) Define neoliberal and explain how it applies to me
2)
a) State immunity is not a principle that disputes the substance of the facts. Do you understand? Anyway, it means even if a court, domestic or international, concludes that a nation has state immunity, it does not mean that the state did not do the crimes nor does it mean that the state is not responsible for reparations.
b) Do your homework and find out the exceptions to foreign state immunity under US laws and tell us whether those exceptions apply to Iran
3) Good Luck! You showed your sad knowledge of international law a few weeks ago, so you will definitely need some luck
It is unclear if you have either the intellectual capacity or the intellectual honesty to understand this. Before I write you off as a gowk or a knave, I will give you the opportunity to read and understand before you speak. Homework: read legal opinions and basis for the decision of ICJ (2012) in Germany vs. Italy (Greece intervening).
From the distinguished law professor Ben Wittes:
On Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed a victory to traditional conceptions of international law and a setback to an effort to privilege international human rights over other aspects of the international legal system. Its decision in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State rejected Italy’s attempt to create an exception to sovereign immunity in civil cases based on claims of grave human rights abuses. The decision not only rebukes Italian and Greek courts, which earlier in this decade had opened themselves to claims based on Germany’s World War II atrocities, but also may cast a shadow over some aspects of human rights litigation in the United States. One can find in the decision, and particularly in the concurring opinion of Judge Keith (New Zealand), support for the argument that the exercise of universal civil jurisdiction, which most U.S. human rights litigation does, violates international law.
Read my comment again:
“State immunity is not a principle that disputes the substance of the facts. Do you understand? Anyway, it means even if a court, domestic or international, concludes that a nation has state immunity, it does not mean that the state did not do the crimes nor does it mean that the state is not responsible for reparations.”
Now let’s look at the case you presented: This is from the ICJ:
“Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening) Judgment
“Summary of the Judgment of 3 February 2012″ (Page 7)
The rules of State immunity are PROCEDURAL IN CHARACTER AND ARE CONFINED TO DETERMINING WHETHER OR NOT THE COURTS OF ONE STATE MAY EXERCISE JURISDICTION IN RESPECT OF ANOTHER STATE. THEY DO NOT BEAR UPON THE QUESTION WHETHER OR NOT THE CONDUCT IN RESPECT OF WHICH THE PROCEEDINGS ARE BROUGHT WAS LAWFUL OR UNLAWFUL. That is why the application of the contemporary law of State immunity to proceedings concerning events which occurred in 1943-1945 does not infringe the principle that law should not be applied retrospectively to determine matters of legality and responsibility.”
Layman terms: The court is not saying that Italian courts are wrong when they say Germany did it. The court is saying that yes, Germany did it but Italian courts do not have jurisdictions. So, the ICJ will not challenge US courts’ verdict that Iran did it based on evidence presented. The ICJ decides whether a court has jurisdiction according to State immunity, that’s set.
http://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/143/16899.pdf
Your understanding of legal terms, and judgments is very poor. Insults do not improve your intellect. Education does.
1) You still need to define neoliberal and tell us how it applies to Swissheese
2) Your homework? The exceptions of foreign state immunity under US laws and tell us how they apply to the Iranian case. (hint: not all cases between States violate the principle of State immunity)
You will definitely need more luck!!
You have joined the knave list!
Thanks for showing that you are smart enough to understand. What is left is your dishonesty!
Attachment of property and awarding of monetary damages is not procedural!
“Attachment of property and awarding of monetary damages is not procedural!”
Again, the principle of State immunity is not about how much money this country or that country should get. Read the ICJ judgement that you cited. This is from the court, not from me: “The rules of STATE IMMUNITY are PROCEDURAL in character and are confined to determining whether or not the courts of state may exercise jurisdiction in respect of another state”. Go the link and read it!
2) Since you are incapable of doing your homework, so I will do it for you:
a) The United States of America is not under compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ. The principle of State immunity in the US is based on specific US laws. US laws made it clear that State immunity does not apply to countries that are designated sponsor of terrorism
b) Iran’s case against the US in the ICJ is based on the 1955 Treaty between the two countries. That means the ICJ can only decide about jurisdiction based on that specific treaty.
c) Your next homework: what is the difference between jurisdiction and merit? (hint: even if the ICJ says yes, it has jurisdiction, it can still concludes the case has no merit)
3) About that neoliberal thing? Again, define neoliberal and tell us how does it apply to Swisscheese.
Dude, in a free world you can believe whatever you wish. It is even fine to believe Earth is flat. So, if you do not like the US, we are basically wasting our time because you will never accept anything that favors the United States regardless whether it is true or not. But I guarantee you in the courtroom they will either laugh or cry at your poor level of understanding of legal matters.
you are just repeating MOIS and mullahs regime of Iran words to demonize PMOI shame on you and your lies
Jasem, I think KSA would be more successful if it continues and focus its support for ISIS rather than MEK. Please inform your masters. I’m truly saying this for the benefit of KSA, not to waste too much money, since they are already in a war with Yemen.
This is what’s next folks, and this story is one of the most frightening examples of shameless greed over American professed “values” I have ever seen. Howard Dean, Joe Lieberman, Rudy Giulliani, and Newt Gingrich even bowed to Maryam Rajavi! HA. Great work by The Intercept. Citizen’s United has started a feeding frenzy on both sides of the isle, and apparently terrorists that fought American soldiers in Iraq are feeding the sharks.
It is to manufacture enmity for profit. Gross ignorance has never stopped an American politician from profiting.
Thank you Mr. Hasan for an insightful article. As an Iranian, I concur 100%. MEK followers do indeed seem like brain washed cult followers. I’ve met several…
Excellent article Mehdi, actually one of the best articles I have read in my life. All were true facts and no lies were hidden anywhere inside it.
You see the Iranian regime is so brutual and islamist that when it came to power in 1979, its foundations were based on teror and killing dictatorship. Now people in Iran are anti-islamist and althought they have literally zero power, and I mean zero power to ovethrow the regime, (because all the power and guns belong to the Islamic Republic Revoultionaly Guards and tey act indepenedently of an army), they prefer USA to intervene with the regime and make this regime suffer as they are extremly tired and exhuasted but have nothing to fight with it. They despise obama and treat him as enemy for turning his back on them and signing a deal with the regime, and prefer Trump for his support and breakage with this regime because in 2009 iran movement during Obamas presdiency, he turned a blind eye on the people and did not support any of them obviously because of his own advantage.
Hope you will post again such nice articles, from a fan.
Amir, in all your praise for Mr. Hassan’s article, it appears your true purpose is to say the Iranian people wanted an armed invasion during the Obama years and still do.
Do you know how this is almost the same script the Chalabi supporters used when pleading for liberation in Iraq.
I’m rather certain you do know this and think it will work again.
I’m not buying and I doubt others’ will, either.
in Iran ,left or right,supporters or opposite of regime they have all one thing in common and that is they hate “mko” . the org. have fought Iranian soldiers beside Iraqi soldiers. they have killed Iranian soldiers. even the late shahs son have more supporters compared to this disgusting org.
Mr. Hasan
Actually, they prefer a sequel to the Syrian civil war which considerably weakened the Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah axis (of evil). Israel, of course, delights in the Syrian disaster. The MEK serve as a destabilizing force in Iran albeit a very small one at the moment. It should be noted that it was the MEK that outed the Iranian nuclear weapons program in 2002, According to Seymour Hersh, they actually received the intelligence from Israel. If correct, that is notable for a couple of reasons:
1. The Israelis attempted to give some credibility to the opposition to the Iranian government – and therefore recognition and funding from the west.
2. Israel did not attempt to take out the nuclear program like they did the Iraqi program under Saddam Hussein. Possibly they were hoping that the US after 911 would take matters into their own hands squashing the program using the considerable US resources of cruise missiles and bombers. If that is true, the strategy failed big time. Indeed, Iran is still a large thorn in the sides of the Arabs and Israel – a destabilizing factor in the Middle East.
Being a ‘thorn in the side’ of Dictatorships and Apartheid sounds so bad when you say it. And ‘destabilizing’ the axis of such violent, oppressive regimes is a good thing, even when those regimes are America’s ‘eternal friends and allies’.
Not just the region would be improved if those regimes get toppled, but America itself would be better off.
Fars News reported that MEK (also referred to in this article as MKO) was collaborating with the FSA in Syria.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13921030001259
And, just a tip. Any group can call itself “Marxist” to gain credibility among radicals or to scare the shit out of anti-communists. Doesn’t mean it actually is, and it doesn’t mean it’s not just a trap to encourage violence to get people arrested or to act as a front for reactionaries or an attempt to drown out the concerns of everyday people.
I mean, Christ, the UK’s “Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary” was referred to as “Marxist” by the Telegraph, and it was actually founded by an undercover cop.
https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/2014/July-2014/Statement-on-behalf-of-Peter-Francis-following-pub
Mr. Hasan, great educational article, and on the mark, but …
We very much like “totalitarian cults”, and if you give us a few more years, we will turn the US into a totalitarian cult! My neighbor once told me that he’d rather send some terrorists to fight our wars as long his kid does not have to go. Certainly not ethical or moral, but, backing a new totalitarian cult is just par for the course. Totalitarian cults, or terrorists, have been a weapon of choice for some time.
We love various flavors of totalitarian cults, you see. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Singapore, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, UAE, Uganda, … and if I can go back in history … I can make an impressive list.
So, how about an article about whether or not we westerners tolerate and accepts terrorists and totalitarian cults so long as they do our bidding elsewhere?
As an Iranian I can only say thank you to the rite if this article for being so accurate about absolutely everything including the feelings of 85 million Iranians about MKE
The American hawks love them (MKO) because they are the main supporters of terrorists around the world.
Blaming Iran for Israel’s war against Lebanon will likely be part of the larger goal of drawing America into a war with Iran. Yet there is action that all patriotic Americans can take to avert such a disaster. Recently Congresswoman Barbara Lee introduced legislation that strip Trump of war powers which were granted to presidents in the wake of 9/11. Supporting Congresswoman Lee and contacting your congressmen to do the same will help advert Trump & company from conning us into a disastrous war. http://theweek.com/articles/709278/congress-finally-going-take-back-power-declare-war
The talking point of Israel’s prospective war against Lebanon is already being sold as a preemptive strike against Hezbollah. Israeli acolytes and Neocons will then place the blame squarely on Iran. Neocon propaganda is already selling this snake oil to the American public.
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/4/hezbollah-will-start-a-conflict-backed-by-iran/
Israel has been training their soldiers to fight in replica cities of Lebanon. The IDF has also been planning the evacuation of northern part of Israel that boarders Lebanon since at least March 2017. http://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Govt-prepared-to-evacuate-hundreds-of-thousands-from-northern-border-in-a-war-484926
Good posts and not surprised by Barbara Lee’s bill. She was one of a few small group voting against the Iraq war, as I’m sure you know.
I suppose the IDF just can’t let Hezbollah’s defeat of them stand. You can’t go back in time and despite the terror Israel rained down on Lebanon through taking out a milk factory, right off, to the phenomenal amount of cluster bombs left there…Lebanon won.
So, let the IDF take on Iran without our blood and see how well that goes.
“Lebanon won”
More than a thousand Lebanese died, more than a million Lebanese became refugees, Israel destroyed several Lebanese industries, it caused more than $2 bn worth of damage to Lebanese infrastructures, caused a reduction of Lebanon GDP by 22%. The Lebanese Army and UN peacekeepers replaced Hezbollah in the Southern Border.
Compare those damages to those of Israel and tell us how the hell Lebanon won!
In what universe do you live?
It was a brokered settlement that got the UN Peacekeepers in, with great courage after Israel murdered many of the same at the time of the attack on The USS Liberty.
Did Israel get their soldiers back? Did the get Nasrallah or any of his deputies?
I don’t think so and the world watched the overwhelming praise the Lebanese gave Hezbollah.
So, all the killing of civilians and destruction of infrastructure means a “win”?
You morons made him look like a hero!
Was that the goal???
What planet do you live on??
“What planet do you live on??”
I live on planet Earth. On planet Earth when another country killed a thousand of your population, destroyed your industries, reduced your economy by 22%, and caused foreign peacekeepers to control your border, then you didn’t win against that country.
But in your universe the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, and its leader Nasrallah whose actions caused Lebanese misery are heroes. Basically the more destruction Hezbollah generates on Lebanon, the more heroic his leader is. Of course, you hold that position in your comfort zone in a safe Western country.
What planet do you live on??”
I live on planet Earth. On planet Earth when another country killed a thousand of your population, destroyed your industries, reduced your economy by 22%, and caused foreign peacekeepers to control your border, then you didn’t win against that country.
But in your universe the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, and its leader Nasrallah whose actions caused Lebanese misery are heroes. Basically the more destruction Hezbollah generates on Lebanon, the more heroic his leader is. Of course, you hold that position in your comfort zone in a safe Western country.
Yes, and why Palestinian Leader Arafat family now lives in Paris– mzlimsellout!
Who “wins” a war depends on what each side’s goals are, not in how much damage they cause. This is an utterly basic notion. If a belligerent’s goals are thwarted while their enemy’s goals are met, then the belligerent has lost the war.
Did England win the Revolutionary War because the colonies suffered a lot more property destruction and loss of civilian lives than England proper did, for example? Of course not. Only a fool would think so.
“Who “wins” a war depends on what each side’s goals are, not in how much damage they cause.”
Yes. Now tell us what was Hezbollah’s goals since they started the war. In 34 days, they lost control of the southern border to peacekeepers, they caused thousands of Lebanese casualties, and destruction of Lebanese industries. So? What were those goals? Did they meet them?
Yes, they met the goal of scaring people with violence, they destroyed leducation, lives and infrastructure so people have no choice but to join their gang to live. That is a goal. To make people dependent on them.
It took Israel 34 days to fight Lebanon!
You are attempting to rewrite history by think that was a “win” for Israel.
The world watched that war and saw who the victor was.
Hezbollah became a true political party and gained many seats. I don’t think under any other situation could they have gained the respect and support of so many Lebanese of all stripes.
You can give it another go, and this time you probably will rain even more ruthlessness against that small country, but you’ll get the same global response and watch the opinions of Israel fall lower than they currently are.
Have a wonderful day.
I did not say Israel won. You said Hezbollah won, so you need to tell us how considering the massive damages, excessive casualties, and their lost of the southern border. So tell us how did they win? Tell us what did Hezbollah gain after the war since you claim it won? That means you need to tell us what Hezbollah did not have before the war, but gained after it. You are supporting your illogical position by presenting situations that were already in place before the war.
“Hezbollah became a true political party and gained many seats”
Hezbollah already had a political arm and already had many seats in the Lebanese parliament! They even had cabinet members in the Lebanese governments before the war. Am I factually incorrect?
“I don’t think under any other situation could they have gained the respect and support of so many Lebanese of all stripes.”
Hezbollah already had the support of a majority of Lebanese years before the war. Some surveys put their support at 70-80% of the population years before the war! Am I factually incorrect?
Again, you have a perfect history of writing ignorant comments around here. The last one is no exception.
He is looking forward to living under sharia law. As Collisium spectators, where human death spectacles are enjoyed, and the fact that Jerusalem was destroyed x2, times, besieged x23 times, attacked x52 times, captured and recaptured x44 times just grabs them– nothing like that happens in their hometown!
Israel is planning ahead for a potential war against Hezbollah. That makes good sense. In fact, an evacuation plan for Israelis living near the Lebanon border indicates that Israel cares about her citizens – and keeping them out of harm’s way. This is in stark contrast to Hamas which offers the people of Gaza as sacrificial lambs to Israeli air assaults. While Hamas builds underground cemented tunnels spending millions of dollars to attack Israel and provide an air raid shelter for Hamas fighters, Gazans have no where to go and no where to hide. There are no air raid shelters for the population to escape. So they are sitting Ducks – but by plan. In fact, the more that are killed the better. Dead children are a premium for the international propaganda war against Israel. International condemnation is worth a few thousand Gazans.
This is all a part of the Hamas plan. Hamas provides cheap protection and government for the people of Gaza – but nothing is for free. In return, Gazans must be willing to die for the cause. So they do.
Ahh, the hasbara troll alarm must’ve went off again..how was your vacation?
Visiting your settler friends were you?
Mapping out new developments?
Israel has never stopped planning ahead for another war against their arch rivals Hamas..
Israel lives from cease fire to cease fire..
They need one another to justify the madness..Who benefits?
Born out of Terrorism, fed on colonialism and becoming imperialist
Craig, this is beneath you. I’m afraid you’ll soon start calling Gazans rodents and make the case for extermination.
Just leave it.
Here we go again, any time Iranian opposition have a success, thugs on Iranian Government’s payrolls write baseless articles! Iranian opposition has the support from Democrats and Republican. Many Senators and Congress members have send video message for the Grand Gathering of Iranian Opposition.
When a group has support from both sham parties, that is EXACTLY the time to be especially skeptical about the organization’s means, motives, and plotting.
What utter nonsense. Do you and Amir share an office?
Give us a link to those videos, please, love to see our tax dollars at work!
*cuts fat checks (not fats checks)
Excellent article and links!
I am shocked, not that the Gingrich, Lieberman, Dean’s and others going for the cash, but to choose this woman, head of the MEK, to be their Achmed Chalabi, says they care nothing for the U.S.
Nothing good can come of this and expecting American youth to give their lives or limbs, their sanity for this type of hubris is beyond absurd.
Let the Saudi’s and Israeli’s give their lives and limbs for this and pay for it.
Maryam Rajavi’s head needs to be on a platter, not a throne.
This is so poorly written, it’s almost impressive. The content is amazing and Mehdi does a fantastic job of succinctly organizing the story.
Editors need to step up here. TI makes a lot of asinine errors when it comes to copy editing.
THE MEK is MUCH worse than the Clerical Regime as they are a complete unknown, at least with the Mullahs what you see is what you get but with these bozos, its what you dont see that will put you and 80 million Iranians in BIG trouble. This is why NO ONE likes this cult of fanatics. I will take the Mullahs over these people any day! ….
I have this dread feeling that if – or more likely when – the USA and its allies attack Iran it will have terrible repercussions for everyone.
The Iranian world was the ancient bridge between East and West but went into near-terminal decline in economic importance with the explosion of sea travel in the 16th century. Its truly great medieval cities like Samarkand, Balkh and Merv faded away as goods moved by sea rather than overland by caravans, but it has always been strategically of military and political importance in the Great Game and has felt the marching feet of many of the world’s greatest armies. Scythians, Greeks, Romans, Huns, Byzantines, Turks, Mongols, Timurids, Chinese, British, and Russians at the peak of their powers have all waged war on its arid and broad lands, sometimes massacring entire populations. But the Iranian peoples somehow survive, probably because they are suited to live in this harsh land and the conquerors rarely stayed to colonise even after commiting genocide. The people returned to their simple lives of livestock rearing and specialised farming and long-distance trading.
What the Americans intend to do though will destroy their infrastructures, ruin their livelihoods and rob their resources. It will be disgusting rape and robbery wrapped up in some propaganda love-bomb bullshit and no one in the West will care because Iran is seen as a rogue monster state, a whole people tarred with the same brush as their Ayatollahs, just like the lies about Syrians, Iraqis, Afghanis, Burmese, North Koreans, Chinese, Mexicans, Palestinians, Yemenis, Serbians, Russi…
I don’t know how many times this can be repeated.
Iran has never done anything to physically or militarily threaten Americans or America’s shores. In fact, it can’t and wouldn’t.
Iran is 3 times bigger geographically than Afghanistan, and almost 5 times bigger than Iraq.
Iran is 6 times bigger than Vietnam (but with about 15 million less people than Vietnam).
Iran has more people than Afghanistan and Iraq combined (and is bigger than either England or France by approx. 20 million people).
Iran has between active military, reserves and trained paramilitary, approximately 1 million standing soldiers (America has about 2.2 million but has to get them there, feed them and supply them for decades).
Iran also has a population that knows how to survive a decade of war with Iraq (backed by US) and the hardships that entails, knows its own land intimately, knows how to fight and has the ability to do so indefinitely. Iran has the capacity, if attacked, to project its force outside its borders at all sorts of Western infrastructure and military forces in the region. The only reason they couldn’t stomp on the 8 million people of Israel is because Israel has nuclear weapons and would use them, and the US.
Iraq and Afghanistan basically had no standing militaries to speak of the last time the West invaded, and how did that turn out for the US and its Western allies?
Short of employing nuclear weapons, America (on its own, or even with the help of the British and full commitment of Turkish forces), could never defeat Iran on its own soil conventionally. It is almost assured that Russia and/or China would not sit idly by while the US attempted to destroy Iran with nuclear weapons or otherwise invade Iran. There is no path to a lasting victory for the US and its allies if it attacks Iran.
America couldn’t even defeat and control two little dinky non-countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, and it thinks it has the gas to go against a nation that could actually fight back? That’s the definition of self-destructive if not delusional insanity.
In fact war with Iran on Iranian soil would make the US casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq and Vietnam look like walks in the park. It would unify the people of Iran, and Iran has a very young military age population. And that’s all assuming Russia (or China) didn’t actively side with Iran which is the end of the world as we know it.
Anybody advocating for war with Iran, or actually engaging in it, is advocating for and/or engaging in the destruction and defeat of the US military on foreign soil, and basically the end of America as we know it. Now that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing in some narrow circumstances, but the death and destruction that would precede that fall would be immoral and unthinkable.
I’m not a God believing person, but I hope those that are pray that our leaders never do something as stupid, self-destructive, unnecessary and immoral as making war on the people of Iran if they don’t physically attack America’s shores first (or a NATO ally, which Iran never will).
I’m going to continue to bank on my long-held belief that the people that actually run the world wouldn’t be as stupid as to let the US invade and attack Iran, unproved.
“unprovoked” not “unproved”
Good post. And I don’t think that a war with Iran is likely, whatever CNN or anybody else says. I remember reading some report, about a decade ago, about Iran’s ability to project itself militarily outside it’s borders, as you noted. That they have the ability to severely affect oil supplies and mess with Arab countries. I remember reading that the US military is acutely aware of this Iranian capacity, and that they do NOT want a confrontation with Iran. I think cooler heads will prevail, once the uninitiated realize, that Iran is not Iraq.
Also, if you haven’t watched it yet, watch the Documentary “Zero Days” on the Stuxnet virus and Iran’s reaction.
Now they’re in the cyberwarfare game. Why? Because they got hacked. And they want to learn how to do it back. The world is more dangerous every day.
Unproved is correct. The US will try and allege lots of things, which will than turn out to be unproved.
Very good post.
I recall hearing it was the DoD that stopped an attack on Iran in the past.
How many times do you hear from politicians and pundits, “Iran, the number 1 sponsor of terrorism”…
Agreed on all. Also, it’s possible that an Iranian sub or missile barrage could take out a US carrier in the initial stages (they’ve been sunk regularly by small subs in wargames). Upside if that happens is losing several thousand sailors at once could lead to rare US anti-war protests, thus aborting the war before troops are in.
It is likely that, just as the Israeli regime’s top gunmen have effectively told the regime that if Netanyahu or whoever wants to go to war with Iran, they’ll point him in the right direction and tell him to write when he gets there, America’s top generals (the ones who actually run the military) will do the same. There are idiots who think that a war with Iran will involve the US shooting barrages of missiles and drones until the Iranian defence runs out of ammo, completely overlooking that Iran has the industrial, technical, and resource base to churn out more air defence ammo than would be needed every day, as well as the scientific base that would make those defenses more robust, efficient, and effective ever couple of days, while simultaneously launching barrages of missiles and drones of its own at America’s myriad of bases, ships, hard points, ammo dumps, fuel depots in the region (barrages that would also become more robust, efficient, and effective even discounting the dwindling number of targets left to hit).
And while it is likely that Iran would bow to international pressure not to push the battlefield all the way back to American soil, they would want certain concessions for that.
Good points!
I hope you’re right about our generals but, to me, Mattis seems obsessed with Iran.
“Iran has never done anything to physically or militarily threaten Americans or America’s shores. In fact, it can’t and wouldn’t.”
Your statement is patently false.
1) Iranians took Americans hostage in the US Embassy in Tehran 1979-1980
2) US Courts blame Iran for killing Americans in the US Embassy in Beirut 1983
3) US Courts blame Iran for killing Americans in Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia 1996
The rest of your anti American rant exposes your epic ignorance of conventional military conflicts.
What’s really epic is your ignorance of the context of any world event. Particularly where America is involved. And you know what, as an American, which you presumably are not, I’m not obligated to cheer on the horrible shit my nation does all over the world and has for its entire existence. I can actually learn about it, and condemn it if I like on the merits, rather than cheerlead it like a immoral moron like you.
And maybe I wasn’t being precise enough for you to make my point clear. Iran wouldn’t physically or militarily harm Americans on American shores, but might on embassy grounds in foreign lands where America shouldn’t be inserting itself to prop up various dictators and enemies of Iran and work to undermine the duly elected government of Iran for decades.
After the US and England deposed in a coup the duly elected leader of Iran, and imposed the Shah and ultimately SAVAK on the Iranian people, and after the US refused to release the Shah back to Iran to stand trial for his and SAVAK’s crimes against the Iranian people. Why not study up on that. Or maybe bone up on all the documents – including telegrams, correspondence, and reports from the U.S. State Department and CIA that were published in a series of books called Documents from the U.S. Espionage Den.
Or maybe note that the 52 hostages were ultimately released.
So what? The “embassy” was mostly staffed by CIA agents like I actually care given the CIA’s history all over the world. Because I’m an American I should care? Not likely given I don’t believe in the current mission of the CIA, or its past practices all over the world.
And of course the bombing happened once again after the US inserted itself into another nation’s civil war, and a Western colonial nation to be exact. And maybe you should bone up on the minority Maronite Christian government and Kataeb (or Falangists and their roots). Or maybe the role of the creation of Israel, or Israel and the West’s fomenting and funding of the LCW.
And as an American lawyer I am less than impressed with American court’s and their hypocrisy when it comes to holding America accountable for its own war crimes, or crimes against humanity, much less trying other nation’s in absentia for their purported ones. But I’m intellectually honest in that respect unlike you.
When an American court holds American officials accountable for this, and pays reparations, I’ll take its decisions in the arena seriously, or possibly all of the innocent men and children it illegally kidnapped, tortured and imprisoned without charges or trial after 9-11:
They can blame away. See above. Like I care what an American court says about a trial in absentia.
Moreover, if the US cared so much about the lives of those it places in harms way on foreign lands it has no place being in, maybe they could consider not doing putting them there in the first instance, or paying the victims out of the US Treasury instead of engaging in political show trials in absentia.
And short of that how’s about you fuck off your pathetic propagandist?
“What’s really epic is your ignorance of the context of any world event.”
Mona called you an idiot. Not me.
It is hilarious when you are ranting and cursing while exposing your nonsensical arguments. For instance:
“I am an American lawyer…. much less trying other nation’s in absentia for their purported ones”
You might need to go back to law school. US courts do not really accept trial in absentia and the Iranian case went to the Supreme Court with Iran having its own lawyers.
Your continuous anti American rants only expose your usual illogical arguments. You claimed you are a “patriot” a “nationalist” but you are defending a foreign nation that goes into other sovereign states to kill US citizens. Basically in your distorted logic Iran has the right to go into Lebanon, a sovereign nation not at war with Iran, and attacked foreign embassies on Lebanese soil. Do foreign nations need Iran’s approval to have agreements with the US?
Again Mona who claims she is a lawyer like you called you an idiot. Not me.
That’s the best post I may have ever read on TI.
Thank you.
This is one of Hasan’s better articles. He develops a good writing flow and seems better grounded than usual. I especially like the phrase, ” Mesopotamian misadventure.” Sounds like a Bob Hope On The Road movie. Starring Bandar Bush and Zany Dick Cheney.
As for this bit:
Maybe we should start a website dedicated to enumerating this sort of grift. But what should we call it?
GriftOrGraft.com?
BiggestSellouts.com?
ShowMeDaMoney.com?
Congress is already introducing legislation to lay the ground work for a war with Iran:
http://lobelog.com/congress-targets-iran/
Thanks to article like this one, we know the proxy force that they intend to use to pursue their objective of regime change
You are fucking awesome and loved the podcast. Keep up the kick ass work.
another authentic truthful article, thank you.
MrHasan draws the picture of the Muslim-sellout-his-brother-so-he-can-get-out well.
Such it sadly is.
Even more disruption caused by allowing mostly single Iranian wow not to emigrate to US so they can marry in the culture and bring their families over– all at taxpayer expen$e with an eye on the worlds 2nd easily accessible oil reserves– Canada is actually the 2nd largest but hard to access, Iran #3.
Out of curiosity how old are you , are you trying to write in English?
Good article, this. But would have further emphasized Israel’s role, in particular, the use of MEK by Israel to assassinate Iranian scientists.
MEK was not de-listed as a terrorist organization because MEK was actually believed when it *disavowed terrorism*, but rather, because it had *intensified it’s terrorism* against Iran.
Writing in Sept 2012, Glenn Greenwald wrote:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/23/iran-usa
“What makes this effort [de-listing MEK] all the more extraordinary are the reports that MEK has actually intensified its terrorist and other military
activities over the last couple of years. In February, NBC News
reported, citing US officials, that “deadly attacks on Iranian
nuclear scientists are being carried out by [MEK]” as it is
“financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service”.
While the MEK denies involvement, the Iranian government has echoed
these US officials in insisting that the group was responsible for
those assassinations. NBC also cited “unconfirmed reports in the
Israeli press and elsewhere that Israel and the MEK were involved
in a Nov. 12 explosion that destroyed the Iranian missile research
and development site at Bin Kaneh, 30 miles outside Tehran”.”
In the same article Glenn adds at the end:
“Several commenters have raised questions about the motives of Dershowitz and Wiesel in supporting MEK.
While motives can never be known with certainty – one can attempt only to make inferences based on conduct and circumstances – it was the JTA, the self-described “global news service of the Jewish people”,
which reported their involvement, and they suggested the motive was not any receipt of money but rather MEK’s alignment with Israel:
JTA:
“The names on the growing list of influential American advocates to de-list the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK — known in English as the National Council of Resistance of Iran — suggest an effort to give the bid a pro-Israel imprimatur. . .
“On the record, the people involved insist there is no Israel element to what they say is a humanitarian endeavor to remove the movement’s followers from danger.
“‘I don’t see any Israel issue at all,’ Dershowitz told JTA in an interview, instead casting it in terms of Hillel’s dictum, ‘If I am only for myself, who am I?’
“Off the record, however, figures close to the campaign use another ancient Middle Eastern dictum to describe the involvement of supporters of Israel: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'”
“A source close to the effort to bring pro-Israel voices into the initiative cited reports that Israel has allied with the MEK, which reportedly maintains agents in Iran and in the past has published details of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.”
A separate JTA article reporting on the de-listing noted that “Iranian Americans sympathetic to the plight of MEK enlisted the support of a number of pro-Israel figures, including Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust memoirist Elie Wiesel; Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz; and Irwin Cotler, the former Canadian justice minister.”
:end of JTA quote
Good memory and thank you for the link.
I’m still grieving the loss of Comment is Free.
What’s the moral of this? All politicians go to Washington to make contacts and get rich. The politicians like money and power. The “journalists” like money and power. That’s how the “real world” works.
Good one. The line between journalists and politicians is murky at best, nowadays.
2nd, “real”– , emeth, haqq, veritable, (abc order).
The moral of this is that even after the cash exchanges hands there is still a price to be paid, and when it comes to the US, that payment is always in blood.
No, no sir I wouldn’t.
Would you be surprised to learn that the Baker Institute (Rice Uni) hosted Syrian officials for the purpose of getting sanctions removed back in early 2000s after the state dept had listed Syria as one of hundreds of terrorist regimes?
No, no sir, I suspect you wouldn’t…
So many terror regimes to choose from so little time.
2nd!-)
I am reminded of the adage, “If you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger.” The MEK should have never been listed as a terrorist group in the first place. It was a goodwill gesture to the Iranian mullahs by the Clinton administration in 1997, per Stated Dept. official in charge, Martin Indyk. He told the LA Times, Newsweek Magazine and the WSJ that Clinton wanted to open dialogue with Tehran, and one way to do it was to crack down on the regime’s main menace, the MEK. The mullahs took the concession and ran all the way to the bank to cash it in. And here we are 20 years later, and the mullahs still chant “Death to America.” If the MEK was terrorist, so were George Washington, the French patriots, Nelson Mandela and a whole host of others who fought for freedom. P.S. those who support the MEK include Gen. Hugh Shelton, Govs. Howard Dean, Bill Richardson and Ed Rendell plus a bi-partisan majority in the House and one-third of the Senate. Hillary had to delist the MEK because America’s second highest court ordered her to do so. Indeed in delisting the goup, the State Department said the decision was based on the fact that there had been no confirmed act of terrorism by the MEK for more than a decade. That means the group has been a political movement for 16 years at least.
If MEK and the ANC are equivalent in your eyes, you must have a white cane and a guide dog.
Test
Here are some recent comments from Secretary of State Tillerson about what lies ahead for Iran and what Iran had to say about the Trump Administration’s most recent moves towards all-out war:
http://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2017/06/the-next-step-to-war-with-iran-floating.html
The newly minted Trump Administration is reluctant to learn from America’s long involvement in Iran and the geopolitical instability that the United States actions have created in the region.
Good article. Right to the point. Thank you.
Well, president Obama has come out of retirement to preach against the evils of excessive ‘nationalism’ … if that helps, Mehdi.
*and, you must know, a lot of liberal-quasi-progressives (and all Democrats) types say Obama stands in good with Lord … right at the foot of the Cross.
Howard Dean turned out to be a total scumbag, on every front. Whether it’s healthcare or anything else, whatever Dean’s current position, it’s a sellout position.
You might want to mention that Elaine Chao is also the spouse of Mitch McConnell.
No, shame hasn’t been an emotion seen in politicians for decades.
Mr Dean, Mr Lieberman, Mr Gingrich, and others, especially since leaving public service, have long been corporate shills.
It’s a living and an ideology; a means to an end, that has nothing to do with the public good.
What to make of people like this?
Nothing substantive or worthy of advancing equity, fairness, justice, equality, or democratic ideals.
I’m not a big fan of rhetorical questions. If somebody wants to pay Newt Gingrich to say nice things about them, I say go for it. One of the perks of empire is that the colonials must pay tribute to remain in favor. If MEK wasn’t purchasing Gingrich’s services, he’d be off on some tangent, trying to promote a moon colony. It makes much more sense to colonise Iran, at least until somebody discovers oil on the moon.
Sorry, but ‘Iran’s clerical leaders turned on the group’ because it wasn’t willing to accept a democratic Iran, and the ‘hawks’ have turned to it for EXACTLY the same reason.
Well, well, well, talking about democracy, its the West whose bloody hands in Iran that started the problem, they overthrow the democratic govt, murdered hundreds of Iranians and is now lecturing Iran about democracy.
China needs a mid east ally, as it morphed into a world power, Iran just needs to hold the course for another decade, the new world order should quickly disarmed France and the U.K of their nuclear weapons, after all nuclear weapons in their hands are dangerous, since they once had colonies and was involved in slavery. The West always believe in might is right, lets see how they react to a rising China and India.
Exactly, the US overthrew the shah of Iran in 1979 who hd a democratic parliment and replaced him with bunch of islamists, but now those islamists have become a neddle in the shoe of the US and US is stuggling with their attitude as no one knows what they are up to.
Yes..following the thread of discussion, ( may be a bit tin Hattie for some, but oh well)..
I recall reading something in one of the Engdahl books about the puppet Shah getting a lil uppity about oil prices, plus his SAVAK dogs , were revealing the hypocracy of the whole sham..
During that same timeframe, The Bilderberg Group had this meeting during which Ziggy B. laid out the idea of appropriating radical Islam to cause instability in the gulf oil region, raising prices, cutting supply from that area , which in turn, would benefit the burgeoning North Sea BP Oil fields..cutting out the competition..
I know, sounds crazy..but ya gotta luv it man..Peace Out, Bob