Word: mek
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...Iran's ayatullahs, who brand the group as terrorists, as does the U.S. Yet in the convoluted politics of the region, the U.S., despite having tagged the organization on its terrorist list, had been a sort of guarantor of the safety of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) because it was the enemy of its enemy Iran...
Jundullah isn't the only case cited by those who accuse the U.S. of backing Iranian extremist groups. After the U.S. occupied Iraq in 2003, the U.S. military ostensibly disarmed the Saddam-backed Iranian militant group the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) - then, as now, on the State Department's terror list - allowing it to remain in its base in Iraq, but deployed American soldiers to protect the base. The group claimed that it helped the U.S. government gather intelligence from inside Iran. Washington hawks such as House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Representative Bob Filner (D.-Calif.) continue to call...
...NCRI says the idea that it is a terrorist group is a politically motivated smear. Mohaddessin argues that Iran fears the NCRI as the only opposition force capable of toppling the revolution and so continues to paint the group as extremist. NCRI officials readily acknowledge that the MEK is a member of its coalition but say the organizations operate independently. In the past, they've also stressed that MEK strikes in Iran did not amount to terrorism because they avoided civilians and targeted members of Iran's political and security structures. "Our legal, just struggle aims to bring democracy...
...Many Iranians know victims of MEK violence or still feel the fear and fury its name provokes," says a French counterterrorism official who has followed the NCRI and MEK. "Because MEK remains widely hated in Iran, the mere threat by Iranian leaders that it and NCRI are waiting to take over in the event of crisis tends to chill musings of regime change in Iranian streets...
...Canada and European Union put the MEK on terrorism blacklists nearly a decade ago. Those governments also alleged that the NCRI was essentially the political arm of the MEK, a claim the NCRI says misrepresents the relationship between the two groups. Though the resulting blacklisting has withstood legal challenge in the U.S. and Canada, a European court this year struck down the MEK's terrorist listing in the E.U. The new ruling was based on an earlier British court decision that ordered the terrorist designation be lifted because of a lack of evidence that the MEK had been involved...