Iranian opposition guerrillas submit to US control in Iraq

Iranian opposition guerrillas submit to US control in Iraq
Agence France Presse
May 11, 2003

NEAR MUQDADIYAH, Iraq, May 11 (AFP) - The Iraq-based armed Iranian opposition, was expected to begin submitting heavy weapons and thousands of fighters to US control in Iraq on Sunday, US officers said.

The disarmament deal was struck Saturday after two days of talks between leaders of the People's Mujahedeen and US 4th Infantry Division commander General Ray Odierno at a guerrilla base in northeastern Iraq.

Odierno said the group's cooperation with US forces and its commitment to democracy in Iran meant its status as a "terrorist organization" in Washington should be reviewed.

"I would say that any organization that has given up their equipment to the coalition clearly is cooperating with us, and I believe that should lead to a review of whether they are still a terrorist organization or not," he said.

Under the agreement, the Mujahedeen’s fighters -- many of whom were educated in the United States and Europe -- will gather at one of their base camps in northeastern Iraq.

Their equipment, enough for a mechanized division, will be collected at another camp and both camps will be guarded by coalition forces.

Odierno, speaking to AFP after negotiating the deal near the Iranian border on Saturday, said the weapons would not be available to the guerrillas "unless we agree to allow them to have access".

"It is not a surrender. It is an agreement to disarm and consolidate," Odierno said.

"It's clear to me that they are passionate about their beliefs and they believe in a democratic Iran. I probably didn't quite understand that when I began this process."

The Mujahedeen has been using Iraqi soil as a base to attack the Islamic regime in Iran for more than a decade. Iran has also labeled it a terrorist organization.

But Odierno admitted that it shared "some of the same goals" as the United States in "forming democracy and fighting oppression".

The group will also prove an invaluable source of information about an Iranian-backed Shiite militia group, the Badr Brigade, one of the Americans' main military concerns after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

Odierno has said he believes the Badr Brigade is still being used as a tool for the "enforcement" of Iranian influence among Iraq's Shiites, which account for an estimated 60 percent of the Iraqi population.

Badr is the military wing of Iraq's main Shiite opposition party, the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Its leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim made a triumphant return to Iraq on Saturday after 23 years of exile in Iran.

In contrast to the standoff between US and Badr forces in Iraq, US and Mujahedeen troops have mingled cordially during the discussions here in recent days. The group agreed peacefully to hand over its checkpoints in the area to US forces.