Albania, MKO terrorists’ new hideout (1)

The last group of the MKO operatives left Liberty Base in Iraq for Albania, late September. The Iraqi premier’s office, in a statement, officially announced that the Iraqi administration has completely ended the presence of MKO terrorists in Iraq’s soil, closing this case.

Now, does the closure of MKO terrorist outfit’s case in Iraq mark an end to US support for this terrorist group?

As of 1979-1981, MKO operatives assassinated a number of revolutionary officials and forces, and people from all walks of life. When they were forced to flee Iran, they were initially supported by European states and the US, staying in France for a while, while later getting stationed in Iraq, under an agreement with Saddam Hussein’s repressive regime.

The US support for terrorist outfits reached its peak throughout George Bush’s presidential term, and this US policy continued into Barack Obama’s term in office. In 2008, the US president, Barack Obama, allocated a $400m budget for assistance to groups opposed to Islamic Republic of Iran.

Within a phase in time, MKO was enlisted among terrorist groups by the US, because of its measures against US interests. However, when this outfit started to serve US goals against Iran, it was excluded from the US blacklist, while MKO operatives continued to carry out terrorist operations.

The US, France, Britain, and a number of their regional allies have hosted MKO terrorist outfit for a number of years. These regimes, in a bid to maintain their geopolitical interests, have divided terrorist groups into good and bad outfits; endangering global security with such measures. The US has supported MKO terrorist operations in the past three decades in order to somehow destroy the Islamic Revolution and to topple the sacred Islamic system.

The US officials are currently using the same approach for toppling the Syrian ruling system. Previously, Iran experienced provocations similar to provocations which terrorist groups currently stir in Iraq and Syria. Terrorist operations against Iran in the initial years after the victory of Islamic Revolution were carried out by MKO terrorist outfit and some other terrorist groups across the eastern and southern frontiers, and Tehran.

The ringleader of a terrorist group in eastern Iran, Abdul-Malek Rigi, who was nabbed by Iranian security forces, tried and hanged, a few years ago, confessed Americans had told him that terrorist operations in Sistan-Baluchestan Province were useless and such terrorist operations should be transferred to Tehran, while the individuals targeted by MKO outfit should be assassinated.

Based on this conspiracy, as of 2010-2012, terrorism against Iran entered the phase of assassination of Iranian scientists and elites, especially in relation to Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities. The assassination of Iran’s nuclear scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, in early 2010, and the ensuing assassination of a number of other Iranian nuclear scientists, once again manifested the behind-the-scene aims of the US in support for terrorism against Iran.

Upon the ouster of Saddam Hussein’s repressive regime in Iraq, the US created a safe margin for MKO terrorists in Iraq’s soil, while later supporting these operatives in US soil. Despite the documented proof of MKO terrorist operations, the former US secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, granted support for MKO operatives on June 25, 2004.

The US also took advantage of Al-Qaeda, establishing and supporting this terrorist outfit, while later making use of this terrorist group as a pretext for US military interference in the region, and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan for more than ten years.

Undoubtedly, US support for terrorism is part of US strategy for interference in the region. The London-based daily, Independent, pointed out that MKO terrorists took part in the suppression of people in southern Iraq, in addition to repression of Iraqi Kurds.

On October 1994, Wall Street Journal cited Hillary Clinton as saying that the former Iraqi ruler, Saddam Hussein, trusted MKO Outfit more than the personnel of his own army.

MKO terrorists were recruited as Saddam’s private army, and played a direct role in the brutal suppression of people in southern Iraq in the year 1991.

Up until a few years ago, European Union and the US had included MKO outfit in their blacklist. However, the European Union and US State Department excluded this terrorist outfit from their blacklist after a while.

The US, in an intentional measure, placed support for this terrorist outfit on its agenda. This came while the US knew MKO terrorist operations, including its bombings and assassinations, have martyred thousands of innocent people of Islamic Republic of Iran.

Upon the US attack against Iran, the dependence of this terrorist outfit on the US was clarified more than ever. This is because despite the Iraqi government’s emphasis on closure of Ashraf Base, this camp remained under the protection of US forces as the site of MKO operatives.

Meanwhile, upon the departure of MKO terrorists from this base, these operatives were transferred to Liberty Base in the vicinity of Baghdad, which was the former site of US forces. Based on evidences, US forces even actively trained MKO operatives.

Upon the transference of MKO operatives to Iraq, this terrorist outfit went through a number of changes. Couples were ought to separate from each other and MKO transferred their children to Europe. Some of them never saw their children.

A while ago, the renowned American reporter, Seymour Hersh, revealed that a group of MKO operatives were trained in US soil throughout Bush’s presidential term. The US-based NBC Network revealed in the year 2012 that the Zionist regime of Israel has trained some of the MKO operatives for assassination of Iran’s nuclear scientists.

Meanwhile, a number of regional Arab states support this terrorist group.

In the past three decades, states such as the US, France, and Britain, in a series of double standards have maintained overt and covert relations with terrorist groups, including MKO terrorist outfit, and have even in some phases in time, hosted this terrorist group.

MKO operatives were long resented by Iraqi people due to these terrorists’ criminal records. These operatives took part in the suppression of Iraqi opponents by the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. Nonetheless, after the US attack on Iraq and ouster of Saddam Hussein, MKO terrorists were supported by the US and Europe.

The Iraqi people and officials had urged the US to oust these operatives from Iraqi soil, on several occasions. The US and European support for this terrorist outfit postponed the ouster of these terrorists from Iraq’s soil.

On September 2013, the Iraqi government deported the last group of MKO operatives from Iraq’s soil and transferred them to Liberty Base, to await their transference to a third country.

Now it is Albania’s turn; a country which grapples with poverty, criminal gangs, and insecurity. Albania has currently turned into a base for maintenance of the geopolitical interests of a terrorist group. Analysts believe that with this measure, the Albanian government has threatened its own security and the security of the region.

MR/SS