By Sheda Vasseghi

It is curious when non-Iranian politicians such as a British Member of Parliament, who are naturally working for the interests of their own country, suggest that those of Iranian descent and experts in Iranian history are wrong about Iran’s affairs.

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It is unclear whether Mr. Brian Binley is actually ignorant of the facts, in denial, or simply trapped in the British colonial mentality in rejecting that times have changed!

Recently, Mr. Binley wrote an article entitled “Binley: Obama must support Iranian democracy movement,” published in the Washington Times in support of the Islamo-Marxist cult the People’s Mojahedin (PMOI) as a viable alternative for the Iranian people.

The PMOI is a cult that is still listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department. It has been enjoying the millions of dollars that Saddam Hussein poured into their bank accounts during the 1980’s as he planned his bloody invasion of Iran. My recent article entitled “The People’s Mojahedin of Iran is not who the Iranian people have been waiting for” included documentation for the assessment PMOI is a terrorist organization and reasons why the majority of Iranians reject PMOI’s attempts to portray itself as a legitimate opposition to the Islamic Republic.

In response to my subsequent objections to Mr. Binley’s Washington Times article sent by email to his office, Mr. Binley stated that the PMOI has “vowed to work for a democratic and free Iran.” Mr. Binley rejects the “claim that the group is anti-democratic,” and further does not think that my exposing the PMOI as terrorists is “helping the situation in Iran by perpetuating lies.”

Here, I will offer an official response to Mr. Binley and thereby attempt to further awaken my fellow Iranians and Americans as to the very dangerous situation to which some of the Western politicians are subjecting the global community:

The 21st century Iran is no longer the backwards country of the early 1900’s under the incompetent and ignorant Qajar dynasty readily influenced by the British and Russian powers.

Neither, Mr. Binley, is it the naïve 1970’s nation highly influenced by Islamism and Marxism fueled by confused domestic “intellectuals” and greedy foreign forces. The latter gave birth to an Islamic regime that thrust the Iranian people and their once prosperous nation into its current devastating demise.

Further, in the Age of Information and Internet, regular folks from around the world have access to facts, information, and documents, and are very well-versed in technology and literacy. They are perfectly capable of identifying a rotten egg as a rotten egg!

In your email response in defense of the terrorist PMOI group, you wrote: “First of all, I recognise that the PMOI does have a history of terrorist activity, but I equally recognise that the British High Court has stated that they ceased to be a terrorist organisation in 2002 when they vowed to work for a democratic and free Iran.”

As fully discussed in my earlier article regarding PMOI mentioned above, the U.S. still lists PMOI as a terrorist group based on its militant culture, past terrorist activities and political mission statement. Further, a cult based on theocracy (Islamic, in this case) is the complete opposite of a “democracy” as they categorically and by name exclude those who do not believe in their core values. A cult that has already elected from among its members a future ”president” for the Iranian people has clearly excluded the concept of democracy and freedom. Further, with the coming of an Islamic regime in 1979, Iranian women were brutally subjected to hejab.

The Iranian women, making up half of the country’s population and the #1 enemy of the Islamic Republic, will not follow PMOI whose leader Maryam Rajavi voluntarily wears hejab and requires female cult members to do the same!

In your second point in defense of promoting a terrorist group, you wrote: “I would point out that we in this country have a record of terrorism in Northern Ireland but we actually talk to those people and came to a more peaceful conclusion than what would otherwise have been the case had we not done so.”

Mr. Binley, please, you are comparing apples and oranges. The lifestyle of the Irish people are incomparable to Iranians living under Sharia laws supported by an Islamic Constitution. Your comment only proves that some British politicians are willing to work with terrorists at the expense of the general public to further short-term political agenda and interests.

Your third reason for supporting another Islamic terrorist group with hopes to take over Iran is based on your pointing out that “many tens of countries whose government has a history of terrorist activity [are] in the process of marching towards freedom in their nation state.”

This statement is absurd.

Iranians are not going to replace one terrorist, apocalyptic regime (the Islamic Republic) with another (PMOI). After having tasted 32 years of Islamic tyranny and its systematic genocidal killings, the Iranian people are going to get rid of it and replace it with a secular, nationalist regime. Such a nationalist regime based on democracy and secularism would destroy the Islamic Sharia Constitution, the current source of evil in that nation.

Iranians are not concerned with terrorist activities of other governments in other countries. It is irrelevant to their current struggle and national interest. Overall, in response to my objection to your Washington Times article which included documentation on my part, you provided no evidence for calling me a liar and a danger to Iran’s struggle for freedom and democracy.

Mr. Binley, your baseless and ridiculous comments for standing by the PMOI as a democratic-loving group only proves that either you do not know the definition of a democracy and the conditions needed for providing it, or assume that the general public is ignorant of such matters. Islam itself is not based on democracy, let alone a cult based on Islamic teachings. No country can have a democracy or a society based on tolerance and freedom as long as its constitution and laws are based on religious teachings. Therefore, an Islamic cult such as PMOI will not be able to address Iran’s modern political and social issues.

In your concluding remarks, Mr. Binley, you state, “I personally don’t think you are helping the situation in Iran by perpetuating lies, many of which have been promoted by the [Islamic Republic] regime themselves.”

Given that your response contains no evidence countering my objections to PMOI’s terrorist status, it only highlights the terrifying situation the people of the Free World are facing. Either politicians such as you are ignorant of the facts, or they are willing to gamble the lives of millions of people for short-term gains and personal ideologies.

Your attempts to legitimize PMOI and your personal reasons for doing so are irrelevant to Iranians at this time. This is a time of war for the Iranian people; a struggle between a secular Iran and an Islamic Iran. Regardless of some non-Iranian politicians’ unwillingness to accept reality or believing they could continue their misguided and manipulative ways, times have changed!

Iranians will no longer buy into another religious leadership and government; Islamic or other. It is against their national interest and well-being. It is anti-civilization and dangerous not only to them but the people of the Free World. An Islamic regime in Iran spreading religious fanaticism across the region was one of the reasons my fellow Americans died on 9/11.

The spread of Islamic terrorism since 1979 has changed the lives of Europeans and Americans as much as Iranians. This, Mr. Binley, is a fact! Iran will soon be democratic and free, but not by another Islamic group such as PMOI promoted by some British politicians. Since the 2009 bogus elections, Iranian nationalism has risen and witnessed through the people’s continued uprisings and unrest.

Iranian nationalism is 100 percent against any theocracy, let alone Islamic. Therefore, Mr. Binley, it is your political views that have expired!

Sheda Vasseghi is on the Board of Azadegan Foundation, and is a regular contributor to Freepressers.com and WorldTribune.com on Iran’s affairs.

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