Further, the official organ of the PMOI declares in its October 1980 issue: “Ever since its foundation in 1965, the thrust of the battle against the U.S. advisors fell to the Mojahedin, who targeted and claimed the lives of a number for the first time, while it was the PMOI bombs planted in imperialist and Zionist institutions and destroying them which first caused the imperialists and their domestic mercenaries to be alarmed.” In a May 1981 Open Letter to Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the PMOI wrote: “In the dark era of the Shah, the Mojahedin had taken up arms and never missed an opportunity to gun down the imperialist American advisors” (Focus on Iran, Vol. II, No. 7, July 1995).
The PMOI is a cult rather than a political party based on Islamo-Marxist doctrines. Group members must give full obedience to the leaders of the party, who contrary to their alleged desire and respect for democracy, are not elected by any democratic means. The PMOI political philosophy plans to nationalize all industries, transportation and communication. It makes clear without any ambiguity that it will do away with “vestiges’ of capitalism” including collectivizing agriculture (Focus on Iran, Vol. II, No. 7, July 1995).
As a matter of fact, in adherence to its form of “democracy,” the PMOI has already chosen the next president of Iran from its leadership should it come to power. Since its inception in 1965, the PMOI has committed horrific terrorist acts against the Iranian people including fighting on the Iraqi side during the bloody eight-year war between Iraq and Iran. Hence, the PMOI has no real legitimacy or following in Iran. The Iranian people, who have now lived with 32 years of an Islamic Constitution and its consequences, will never accept another invasion by an Islamic Army with a revised Islamic Constitution!
In 1979, the PMOI was an ally and co-conspirator of Khomeini and his followers during the domestic and foreign agitations that brought about the downfall of a secular, modern regime in Iran and replacing it with the inhumane and anti-cultural Islamic Republic. But shortly thereafter, the PMOI was taken by surprise with a brutal crackdown by the Khomeinist group, who wanted to insure that the new regime in Teheran was to be based on pure Sharia laws in accordance with political Islam rather than elements of Marxism. The PMOI members, who fled Iran, were given a safe haven in Saddam’s Iraq. The leaders of the PMOI cult and its members have since become sworn enemies of the regime in Teheran.
The PMOI’s philosophy is based on the classic tactic of “my enemy is your enemy, therefore, we are friends, you must support us against our common enemy” (Focus on Iran, Vol. II, No. 7, July 1995).
Given the PMOI’s ability to raise massive funds from enemies of the Islamic Republic in exchange for mercenary manpower and acts of terrorism, its organization is able to fund major lobbying campaigns in the West as well as media infiltration. Even though the PMOI was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Canada in 1997 (maintained during the Bush Administration) and European Union (EU) in 2002, after years of expensive court proceedings and lobbying the EU removed the group from its list of terrorist organization back in January 2009.
The American politicians, who are now following the wrong political and moral path in acknowledging the PMOI, should recall their own country’s history. Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and James Madison correctly opined that freedom and democracy cannot prevail without a wall between church and state. Similarly, the Iranian nation was founded over 2500 years ago by Cyrus the Great, who declared that no religion reigns supreme in the Persian Empire to insure freedom and peace.
So how is it that former Mayor Giuliani with firsthand knowledge and experience of the effects of terrorism, two former CIA directors, and two former generals of Central Command would now support a cult with a 45-year-old terrorist record as an alternative regime for a country that serves as a key to balance of power in a volatile region?
The Age of Islamic Republics is over; not only for Iran, but other countries across the Middle East. The Iranian national revolt which started in June 2009 has paved the way for the 2011 ongoing Arab revolts against their oppressive regimes. All these nations have one thing in common: A political faction (Islam) is supreme to others and plays a significant role in the laws of their nations. Since Islamic laws are divine, they take no consideration of women and minorities. Further, they are not open for discussion or debate. That is, under these regimes divine laws trump natural laws and human civil rights.
“There is no doubt that the people of Iran will topple the archaic/despotic regime of the clerics” said Azadegan Foundation President, Dr. Assad Homayoun. "The alternative to the Islamic Republic will be decided only by the Iranian people, not the U.S. or those in the West, who support PMOI and the like. Justice will prevail.”
It is hoped that the U.S. policymakers and politicians, who are toying with a deadly idea come to their senses soon, and follow the path and vision of their own Founding Fathers, the authors of one of the best Constitutions the world has yet to see. Only a national, secular government in a key country such as Iran can forge a new era of global peace and prosperity.
Sheda Vasseghi is on the Board of The Azadegan Foundation, and is a regular contributor to Freepressers.com and WorldTribune.com on Iran’s Affairs.
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