HuffPo: “Former U.S. Officials Advocate for Terrorist Organization”

The Huffington Post’s Christina Wilkie authored an expose on the numerous former U.S. officials who have been receiving speaking fees to advocate for the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), an officially designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. The former officials, some of whom admit to knowing little to nothing about the MEK before speaking, have received tens-of-thousands of dollars per speaking engagement.

Those speaking for the MEK include 33 former high-ranking officials like, Evan Bayh, former U.S.Senator (D-IN), John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N, Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont (D), Rudolph Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, Porter Goss, former CIA Director, and General Michael Hayden (Ret.), among other political, military, and diplomatic officials.

The MEK, a cult like organization led by Maryam and Masoud Rajavi, has killed Americans and Iranians in terrorist attacks since the 1970′s, but has not undertaken a terrorist attack in recent years, ostensibly because a majority of its members are currently in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, under the watch of the Iraqi military. A RAND corporation study determined that 70% of the people at Camp Ashraf are there against their will. Supporters of MEK argue that the MEK is a viable opponent to the Iranian regime.  However opponents of de-listing the MEK note that the MEK does not have any support within Iran because they aligned with Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iran/Iraq War; the MEK is also “reviled” by the pro-democracy Green Movement.