LE BOURGET, France, July 1 (Reuters) - Thousands rallied in support of an Iranian exile group near Paris on Saturday, calling on Western powers to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and urging democratic change in Tehran. Posted on 07/01/2006 5:13:18 PM PDT by remuk
LE BOURGET, France, July 1 (Reuters) - Thousands rallied in support of an Iranian exile group near Paris on Saturday, calling on Western powers to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and urging democratic change in Tehran.
Maryam Rajavi, leader of the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, said the NCRI hoped to oust Iran's clerical rulers and set up a democratic interim government.
"The solution to the nuclear crisis and to avert a war is democratic change in Iran," she told a crowd in a hangar used as an exhibition hall north of Paris. Organisers said 30,000 people demonstrated. Police did not have immediate numbers.
Western powers suspect Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran says it only wants to enrich uranium to a level suitable for use in generating electricity.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
ping
A. We welcome someone doing that, as it sure beats having the U.S. infantrymen & taxpayers doing it. But how are you going to oust them? Got guns?
B. What is the nature of this NCRI group? The fact that they met in France makes me suspicious. I'd hate to dump Islamofacists just to get Middle Eastern Communists....
MEK....
Maryam Rajavi is the leader of Mojaheddin-e-kalq(MEK,) a radical anti-Mullah terrorist organization. They have thousands of soldiers stationed in Iraq during Saddam's time and even now, even though they are reined in by U.S. forces.
MEK is known for massive terror campaign against Iran's theocratic regime not long after '79 Islamic Revolution. Mullahs and leftwing groups like MEK joined forces to oust Shah, but after the revolution, they turned against each other.
MEK bombed the headquarter building of Iran's ruling party, killed No.2(or No. 3) man at the time, Ayatollah Beheshti, and many others. They are probably the group most feared by Islamic regime. The trouble is MEK is not a good alternative. If they oust the current regime, they could turn Iran into a N. Korea in Mid-East.
Maryam Rajavi is a Kim Il-sung-like figure among MEK.
Thanks for the info, TLR. I was afraid of this.
Im sure Al-Jazerea is playing this on their newscasts today
/sarcasm
Damn. Apologize in advance for the topical lurch. But we were SUPPOSED to be doing that through the late 90's with Iraq. Congress passed the Iraq liberation act which should have had a viable Iraqi goverment in exhile, and some appreciable number of trained Iraqi expat fighters, available by the time we went to war, if not years before.
Just imagine, with the hindsight we have now, what a difference it could have made with Iraq if we'd been able to transfer soverienty almost immediately to a goverment in exile, and if our assault on Saddam had included 5 or 10, or even 2 or 3 thousand proud and fierce Iraqi expatriot soldiers?
This legislation was systematically resisted, undermined and sabotaged, however, by American officials, by America's State Department and America's CIA. Remember for instance the relentless smear campaign against Ahmad Chalabi? (Now proven, btw, to be a courageous, smart, effective and popular politician in Iraq.) Even many FReepers bought into it. It was never about Chalabi, however. It was simply because he was head of the Iraqi National Congress. And, although I don't know a fraction of the details personally, I warrant this operation against the INC was but the tip of a very large iceberg.
God knows how many American (and Iraqi) lives and how much treasure State and the CIA cost us. It enrages me to think of it, and all the more that this story has never been told or adequately investigated.
Um, I can't think of handles just now, but I know there are freepers who can vet the worthwhile and solid expat orgs. Doubtless they'll show up in this thread. Just stay tuned.
I believe the Iranians exiles in France are a bit like the Cuban exiles here. They know what they want , but there isnt much they can do about it.
Aliases: No known aliases Group: Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK) Role: Leader Current Location: Auvers-sur-Oise (near Paris), France Biography: Maryam Rajavi is the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and runs the MeK with her husband, Massoud Rajavi. Maryam Rajavi became active in Iranian politics as a teenager in the early 1970s. She joined the MeK while a student at Tehran University. She was involved in the movement against the Shah, taking part in the 1979 Iranian revolution. She then ran for parliament in 1980. Having lost a disputed election, she grew disillusioned with the revolution and began agitating against the theocratic regime. She quickly became a leading figure in the MeK. Rajavi moved to Paris in the mid 1980s to take a senior leadership position in the MeK (the group’s senior leaders lived in exile in France or Iraq). She was named the Deputy Commander of the MeK’s military wing, the National Liberation Army (NLA), in 1987. In 1993, Rajavi was elected President of the NCRI. Upon her selection to head this umbrella group, she reportedly resigned her official leadership positions in the MeK and NLA. However, given to her close connection to its leader and frequent public statements related to the MeK, Maryam Rajavi still clearly plays an active role in leading the group. She remains the NCRI President and one of the most vocal Iranian public dissidents. The NCRI is sometimes described as a political front for the MeK. Rajavi has publicly denied links to terrorism. Though she was arrested on terrorist charges in France in 2003, she was released after two weeks and not tried. However, she held a senior position in the NLA, an active terrorist group later designated by the U.S. State Department and other official bodies, from 1987 to 1993. She was also a member of MeK during the 1970s, when it assassinated several American personnel in Iran. MeK’s terrorist designation has hampered its ability to draw western support for its aims. Rajavi has been lobbying European politicians for MeK’s removal from official terrorism lists. She is seeking to exploit western government’s current antagonism towards Iran to raise her groups’ status and profile.
Good point! Thanks for making it. No apologies needed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.