Congress is studying the prospect of granting
U.S. support to an Iranian opposition group on the State Department's
terrorist list.
Congressional sources said several key House and Senate members have
been discussing the removal of the Mujahadeen Khalq, or MEK, from the State
Department's list of terrorist groups. They said the United States has not
obtained evidence of MEK's involvement in terrorism for nearly 30 years.
Currently, about 3,500 MEK operatives have been in Camp Ashraf in Iraq,
near the Iranian border, Middle East Newsline reported. The United States has rejected an Iranian request
to repatriate them forcibly.
''Work with the group that the regime dislikes the most,'' Raymond
Tanter, co-founder of the Iran Policy Committee and former National
Security Council member, said.
Tanter, a former Reagan administration official, has been lobbying
Congress to support MEK. He said the Mujahadeen, a Marxist group who was
harbored by the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, has demonstrated its
effectiveness in providing accurate information of Iran's nuclear program.
Rep. Tom Tancredo agrees. Tancredo, a Colorado Republican and member of
the House Intelligence Committee, said MEK has been an asset to U.S.
intelligence. In 2002, the MEK's political branch, the National Council of
Resistance of Iran, reported Iran's secret nuclear facilities at Arak and
Natanz.
"They are the most reliable source of information for the region,"
Tancredo said.
On April 6, Tancredo and Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat, chaired
a briefing by the Iran Policy Committee regarding U.S. options for Iran.
Tancredo urged the Bush administration to remove the MEK from the U.S.
Foreign Terrorist Organizations List. He said the State Department deemed
MEK a terrorist group during an attempt by the Clinton administration to
curry favor with the Iranian regime.
