Iran's Opposition Army Wants To Remain Force In Iraq

Iran's Opposition Army Wants To Remain Force In Iraq
Associated Press
April 20, 2003

NEAR CAMP ASHRAF, Iraq (AP)--Iran's opposition militia said Saturday it hopes to carry on its fight against Tehran, while remaining a force in post-Saddam Iraq.

Classified as a terrorist group by the U.S. and the European Union, the Mujahedeen Khalq - the People's Mujahedeen - an Iraq-based militia fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, said it would not retaliate against the U.S. and would even be open to "military cooperation" with the U.S. against Tehran, the Hussein Madani, a Mujahedeen spokesman said.

"If there is a wise policy that would consider the realities of this part of the world, they would recognize the Mujahedeen as a democratic force that belongs in the region," Madani said.

"We were not born in Iraq. And we are not going to end in Iraq. Our roots lie deep in Iranian society and history."

"We had nothing to do with the American war against Saddam Hussein," says Ramezan Payegar, a 42-year-old fighter for the Iranian opposition group. "Our whole purpose for staying here is for war against the clerical regime" of Iran.

The group's military activities have calmed in recent years. Madani said his militia has not conducted any recent offensive operations against the Islamic Republic.

Iran has officially announced an amnesty for the rank-and-file members of the group, which numbers up to 15,000.

"We announce explicitly that the Iranian government is ready to accept these individuals into the country and rid them from all the afflictions they are having now," government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told reporters in Tehran last week.

After participating in the 1979 ouster of the former shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the group had a falling out with the clerical government and launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings.

Kurdish officials in northern Iraq have accused the Mujahedeen of being an arm of the Baath Party's military and intelligence apparatus, which took part in the 1991 suppression of the Kurdish uprising that followed the U.S.-led Gulf War.

Hussein Madani, a Mujahedeen spokesman, denied the allegations, calling them propaganda produced by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.

Throughout the Mujahedeen's 17-year stay in Iraq, Madani said, the group has had contacts only with Iraq's Foreign Ministry.

He said its bases were considered "foreign soil" where Iraqi officials were not permitted to enter, and the group had never endorsed any of the Iraqi government's policies.