From: saied@cwis.unomaha.edu (Saied*)
Subject: Re: Truth and MKO
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 17:57:56 GMT

hossein@nu.Berkeley.EDU (Karbalie Hossein) writes:
>Doostane Aziz,
>	I would like to know how many of the MKO's supporters 
>feel that they are Muslims first and Iranian's second.

You are mixing nationality with ideaology. Although there are
an exteremly small number of non-iranians in (or affiliated)
with the Mojahedin, the rest are Iranians. That is also true
for the their supporters.

Now the idealogy. The Mojahedin believe firmly in Islam.
However, they do not impose their ideaology on others. They
also cooperate closely with groups or personalities who are
non-Muslims (and who are in fact non-believers). The majority
of the Mojahedin supporters are Muslims (or at least believe
in the legitimacy of Islam.) I am one of them. But believing
in Islam is not a prerequisite. There are MANY Mojahedin
supporters who do not believe in Islam.

Thus "firstness" or "secondness" becomes meaningless. However,
let me address the question another way. To measure one's
love of his/her country is to see how much that person is
willing to fight for the *people* of that country. As an
organization, the Mojahedin have been involved in THE most
intensive fight and have given THE highest price for the
people of Iran. They did it during the Shah era and they
are doing it now under the brutal clerical dictatorship of
the illegitimate Khomeini regime. In my opinion, Mojahedins'
progressive ideaology has played a major role in their
commitment to fight for human rights, democratic values,
people's rights, minorities rights, etc.


> Also I
>wanted to know MKO's position on the Iran-Iraq war. I am sure
>there has been a discussion of this sort in SCI, however, I 
>would like to see an answer. 

I personally have answered this many times. Here is one more
time. Iraq's invasion of Iran was unacceptable. The 
Mojahedin fought it and they gave many martyrs. The _Mojahed_
publications of early 1360's are still there and one can
see what the Mojahedin said and did when Iraqis invaded Iran.
(Mr. Massoud Rajavi did not even conceal Mojahedin's fights
against Iraqis when he first met with Iraqi president in 1986.)

But once Iraqis were driven out of Iran, the Mojahedin no
longer considered the continuation of war patriotic and in
fact started a relentness campaign for peace. There is a huge
volume of documents including numerous articles in  _Mojahed_
publications, _Showra_, _Iran Liberation_, and even early
issues of the _NLA Journal_ that are proofs of the Mojahedin's
non-stop campaign for peace. The Mojahedin called for peace when
they were in France, they did it when they moved to Iran-Iraq
borders in 1986, they did while forming the NLA, and they STILL
call for peace. That is fighting for what is good for the people.
(I recommend you reading an excellent article posted to s.c.i.
by Mr. Rafsanjani recently for more discussion on the issue of
regional wars.  I subscribe to Hossein's viewpoints which are
mostly those of the Mojahedin.)

>	My second thought deals with the MKO's leadership. Do
>you (MKO's Supporters) feel that the leadership of MKO has remained
>true to the ideals of the organization?

Of course.

> Would you like to see a
>change in the leadership?

The Leadership has been changing as the Mojahedin have a very
dynamic organization. The current Leadership which includes
Mrs. Mariam Rajavi as the Secretary General represents the most
evolutionary (and of course revolutionary) stage of the
Mojahedin's leadership since the organization's birth in mid 60's.

> Where should we (Iranians looking for truth)
>go to express our opinion about Iran's political climate? Does MKO
>accept harsh criticism of itself and its past actions? Does it have
>enough breathing room for others to co-exist within the organization?

Look at the structure of the National Council of the Resistance.
The fact that the NCR is THE most diverse, THE largest, and THE
lenghtiest political coalition in Iran's history is indicative of
the Mojahedin's (and specially its Leadership) readiness to talorate
and respect others' opinion and to co-exist and work with others. 
Furthermore, the NLA, thought largely populated by the Mojahedin
and their supporters, includes communists, Iranian Christians,
non-believers and even some Baha'is. That very much reflects
where the Mojahedin stand.

P.S. All of the above represents my own opinion.

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