The West must recognize the constructive role of the PMOI in Iraq

Friday, 29 December 2006

NCRI – “In pursuit of this agenda, the Iranian regime has spread Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism - reeking havoc, destruction and misery upon the Iraqi people. In fact, Iran is behind most of the terrorist attacks that take place in Iraq on a daily basis,” said Dr Al-Jabouri at Westminster, London, on December 15. The chairman of the Board of Directors of Solidarity Congress and former Governor of Diyala province in Iraq was addressing a conference on the status of the main Iranian opposition movement, PMOI, in Ashraf City in Iraq. The following is the text of his speech:

It is always such a great pleasure to see so many people supporting the brave men and women of the Iranian Resistance based in Ashraf city, Iraq. By supporting the PMOI in Ashraf, you support the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and democracy. At the same time, you support the Iraqi people’s yearning for peace and stability and their struggle against the threats posed by the Iranian regime.

After the fall of the previous Iraqi regime, I spent two years as the Governor of the Iraqi province of Diyala, which is where Ashraf city is based. I therefore wish to concentrate my remarks on the persistent meddling of the Iranian regime in the internal affairs of Iraq. The Iranian regime has its own agenda for Iraq, which is in direct conflict with the hopes and dreams of the Iraqi people. Their aim is to create a theocratic and Islamic fundamentalist state over which they have full control. In pursuit of this agenda, the Iranian regime has spread Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism - reeking havoc, destruction and misery upon the Iraqi people. In fact, Iran is behind most of the terrorist attacks that take place in Iraq on a daily basis. They have dispatched thousands of armed operatives to Iraq and set up extensive intelligence and terrorist networks in the country. Not content on the devastation they have caused for Iran and Iranians, they are now doing the same to Iraqis.

The regime has also pursued a campaign of eliminating its opponents in Iraq, through the assassination of Iraqi dissidents. The regime’s agents have on at least three occasions attempted to assassinate me, resulting in injury to me and the deaths of some of my bodyguards. In the past couple of months alone, well known Iraqi dissidents who have been murdered include, Abdul-Rahim Nasrallah, leader of the National Justice and Progress Party and Ayatollah Mohammad Moussawi Qasemi, a prominent Shiite cleric and Secretary General of the Islamic Unity Party.

To counter Iran’s brand of Islamic fundamentalism, we have a force so powerful that it can change Iraq, Iran and the Middle East. This force is the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran and its members in Ashraf city, Iraq. They derive their power from their progressive and democratic interpretation of Islam, which is the antithesis of the Iranian regime’s fundamentalism. For the Iranian regime, the spread of the PMOI’s interpretation of Islam is like a stake through the heart of Dracula. This is why the mullahs in Tehran are so desperate to destroy the PMOI and conversely why we Iraqis will do everything in our power to protect and promote them. As 5.2 million Iraqis have said in a statement, Iraq has become the scene of a battle between democratic and patriotic forces with their various inclinations and thoughts on the one hand and affiliates of the Iranian regime on the other. We, the democratic and patriotic forces in Iraq, cannot succeed in this battle without the PMOI. This is because for the Iraqi people, the PMOI are the main barrier to the spread of Iran’s brand of Islamic fundamentalism.

Since the PMOI’s presence in Iraq, the Iranian regime and its agents have conducted hundreds of terrorist and military operations against the PMOI, resulting in hundreds of PMOI deaths. Since the beginning of the war, the Iranian regime has used its agents and those loyal to it in the Iraqi government to place pressure on the PMOI. Threats have been made to expel the PMOI from Iraq. Most recently, in July of this year, during a trip to Iran, the Iraqi Prime Minister stated as part of a deal done with the Iranian regime that he was looking for ways to end the presence in his country of the PMOI. Emboldened by this statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister, the Iranian regime instructed its agents to destroy, through the use of explosives, the water pipes delivering water to Ashraf City and its surrounding villages.

If the West wants to see peace in the Middle East, it must recognise the constructive role of the PMOI in Iraq and align itself with and support the nationalist and anti-fundamentalist forces in Iraq. The signatures of 5.2 million Iraqis, who supported a declaration seeking the expulsion of the Iranian regime from Iraq and support for the PMOI illustrates to you the level of support the PMOI enjoy in my country.