lennart
30-04-03, 15:57
Iran slams US ceasefire deal with terrorist group
30-04-2003, 12:57
Iran's former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that the cooperation of the US army commander in Iraq with Iraq-based Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) indicates Washington's hypocrisy in the international campaign against terrorism.
Rafsanjani said that with the signing of an agreement with the MKO terrorist organization in Iraq, the Americans showed their insincerity in the international campaign against terrorism.
It should be noted that the United States lists MKO as a terrorist organization. The decision to cease hostilities with the MKO, an armed group of secular Iranian dissidents that has been fighting Tehran’s regime from inside Iraq for more than 20 years, is the first accord between the US and a listed terrorist organization.
He described the ceasefire agreement between the US Army and MKO as a great scandal and said that in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States, Washington was portraying itself as anti-terrorist, but, it entered into a deal with the terrorist group which they have nurtured and gave it a safe haven in Washington.
The US has signed cooperation agreement with the terrorist group that planted bombs at the Friday Prayers congregation, the Iranian leader said.
The MKO was formed in the 1960s and was expelled from Iran after the Islamic revolution in 1979. It formed an alliance with Saddam Hussein, who backed the group.
Only two weeks ago, US forces in northern Iraq bombed the MKO’s main base along the Iranian border, killing scores of fighters and destroying tanks and artillery.
MKO had a history of violence against Americans. It supported the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and killed several US military and civilian officials in the 1970s. (Albawaba.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=248311&lang=e&dir=news
The United States is committed to holding terrorists and those who harbor them accountable for past attacks, regardless of when the acts occurred. The United States has a long memory and will not simply expunge a terrorist's record because time has passed. The states that choose to harbor terrorists are similar to accomplices who provide shelter for criminals--and the United States will hold them accountable for their "guests'" actions. International terrorists should know before they contemplate a crime that they cannot hunker down afterward in a safehaven and be absolved of their crimes.The United States is committed firmly to removing countries from the state sponsor list once they have taken necessary steps to end their link to terrorism. In fact, the Department of State is engaged in ongoing discussions with state sponsors interested in being removed from the list.
Iraq provided bases, weapons, and protection to the MEK, an Iranian terrorist group that opposes the current Iranian regime. In 1999, MEK cadre based in Iraq assassinated or attempted to assassinate several high-ranking Iranian Government officials, including Brigadier General Ali Sayyad Shirazi, Deputy Chief of Iran's Joint Staff, who was killed in Tehran on 10 April.
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/terror_99/sponsor.html
30-04-2003, 12:57
Iran's former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that the cooperation of the US army commander in Iraq with Iraq-based Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) indicates Washington's hypocrisy in the international campaign against terrorism.
Rafsanjani said that with the signing of an agreement with the MKO terrorist organization in Iraq, the Americans showed their insincerity in the international campaign against terrorism.
It should be noted that the United States lists MKO as a terrorist organization. The decision to cease hostilities with the MKO, an armed group of secular Iranian dissidents that has been fighting Tehran’s regime from inside Iraq for more than 20 years, is the first accord between the US and a listed terrorist organization.
He described the ceasefire agreement between the US Army and MKO as a great scandal and said that in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States, Washington was portraying itself as anti-terrorist, but, it entered into a deal with the terrorist group which they have nurtured and gave it a safe haven in Washington.
The US has signed cooperation agreement with the terrorist group that planted bombs at the Friday Prayers congregation, the Iranian leader said.
The MKO was formed in the 1960s and was expelled from Iran after the Islamic revolution in 1979. It formed an alliance with Saddam Hussein, who backed the group.
Only two weeks ago, US forces in northern Iraq bombed the MKO’s main base along the Iranian border, killing scores of fighters and destroying tanks and artillery.
MKO had a history of violence against Americans. It supported the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and killed several US military and civilian officials in the 1970s. (Albawaba.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=248311&lang=e&dir=news
The United States is committed to holding terrorists and those who harbor them accountable for past attacks, regardless of when the acts occurred. The United States has a long memory and will not simply expunge a terrorist's record because time has passed. The states that choose to harbor terrorists are similar to accomplices who provide shelter for criminals--and the United States will hold them accountable for their "guests'" actions. International terrorists should know before they contemplate a crime that they cannot hunker down afterward in a safehaven and be absolved of their crimes.The United States is committed firmly to removing countries from the state sponsor list once they have taken necessary steps to end their link to terrorism. In fact, the Department of State is engaged in ongoing discussions with state sponsors interested in being removed from the list.
Iraq provided bases, weapons, and protection to the MEK, an Iranian terrorist group that opposes the current Iranian regime. In 1999, MEK cadre based in Iraq assassinated or attempted to assassinate several high-ranking Iranian Government officials, including Brigadier General Ali Sayyad Shirazi, Deputy Chief of Iran's Joint Staff, who was killed in Tehran on 10 April.
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/terror_99/sponsor.html