Rebel army termination tests U.S.

Rebel army termination tests U.S.
Iraq panel votes to oust fighters opposing Iran

San Francisco Chronicle
December 11, 2003
Robert Collier

Khalis, Iraq -- The U.S. secret weapon against Iran is kept behind high gates here, where several thousand fighters of the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People's Warriors, live in a sprawling military base guarded by U.S. troops.

Although Khalis is just 60 miles north of Baghdad, two large statues of Iranian lions decorate the base's interior gateway, and an Iranian flag snaps in the wind.

The rebel army has become a symbol of the Bush administration's internal divisions about policy toward Iran -- and a possible point of friction with Iraq's emerging civilian leadership.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi Governing Council voted unanimously to shut down the Mujahedeen Khalq (known as MEK) camp at Khalis by the end of December. It also called for seizure of the rebels' money and weapons and a funneling of the proceeds to a fund that will compensate victims of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The move poses a sharp challenge by the council to the U.S. military, which has long sympathized with the Mujahedeen -- and to President Bush and his circle of advisers, since a dissolution of the group has long been sought by Iran's Islamic government.

On Wednesday, Pentagon officials responded cautiously, indicating that they would resist any immediate action to carry out the Iraqi decision.

"We share the Governing Council's decision about the MEK," said a Pentagon official in a telephone interview. However, he added, "We are considering how to deal with them and will of course consult with the Governing Council ..."

The guerrilla army, which has been opposed to Iran's religious rulers since it broke with them shortly after the 1979 revolution, is classified by the State Department as a terrorist organization because of its role in attacks on Americans in the 1970s and its support for Hussein in crushing the Shiite uprising in southern Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991.

It was given lavish support by Hussein, who provided conventional weaponry like tanks and helicopters, plus a half-dozen luxurious military bases replete with swimming pools and executive-quality offices.

On the other hand, conservatives in the Pentagon and Vice President Dick Cheney's office view the rebels as freedom fighters and potential U.S. allies against Iran's religious leaders, in much the same way as the Northern Alliance helped overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The group has long occupied a top spot in the Iranian government's pantheon of archenemies, and most official public rallies in Iran are punctuated by orchestrated chants of "Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to the Mujahedeen Khalq!"

After the U.S. conquest of Iraq, during which the Mujahedeen bases were briefly bombed by coalition forces, many in Tehran and Washington expected that the Americans would disband the group.

Although the U.S. military has taken away its heavy weapons and confined its fighters to their main base at Khalis, it has taken no steps toward dissolution.

The relation between the two forces clearly is friendly. At the base, an outer gate is manned by American troops, with a large antiaircraft radar nearby. About 100 meters inside is a grand inner gateway fit for a palace, with large imperial lion statues and flags of prerevolutionary Iran and the MEK overhead, with dozens of uniformed Mujahedeen fighters -- men and women alike -- carrying Kalashnikov rifles.

In a Chronicle reporter's visit to Khalis last week, it seemed apparent that the group was being kept intact as a potential fighting force.

Maj. Chris Wilson, executive officer of the U.S. garrison, said his instructions were to allow no media on the base, and said the rebels had been disarmed.

Mohammed Hussein, a Mujahedeen spokesman, said he could not give an interview or allow a visit inside. "I'm sorry, but we have received instructions from the U.S. Army not to talk to the press. We do not have freedom of movement, as you can see. We are waiting for decisions to be made."

U.S. officials and Arab diplomats say that in backchannel negotiations through Jordan's King Abdullah II, Iran has offered to extradite several top- level al Qaeda officials it is holding if the United States shut down the Mujahedeen and delivered its members to Iran.

In Iraq, however, it is widely assumed that the Americans are preparing the Mujahedeen as an intelligence and covert-action force. A U.S. military official hinted Wednesday that this might be true, saying that the rebels were "being screened to get intelligence they have about Iran that might be useful to us."

Last year, the group proved its credibility in the emerging debate over whether Iran is covertly developing nuclear weapons. The group released information about a secret plant for enriching uranium in the cities of Natanz and Arak. U.N. nuclear weapons inspectors investigated the claims and found them mostly correct.

However, the group is not believed to have much support inside Iran. The Mujahedeen "appear to have some support among professional and scientific classes, but it wouldn't be correct to assume they have a large base here, or that people would rise up to follow them if the U.S. did some kind of military or covert action," said a Western diplomat in Tehran.

"The Mujahedeen have been painted as the demons, and they are hated because they sided with Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war," said one Tehran resident who supports the Mujahedeen. "Its future as a military organization is over."

One U.S. official who asked to remain unidentified said, "I don't think anybody knows right now what's going to come of" the Governing Council's decision to expel the MEK. But he stressed that the council's Dec. 31 deadline was essentially impossible to meet.

If any rebels are deemed by U.S. investigators to be terrorists, the official added, "Will the legal action against them come in Iraq? The United States? Iran?

"And if they're not prosecuted, they're essentially refugees. Where will they be relocated? We haven't started asking that."