Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Celia Canon-Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) addressed the human rights implications of the Iranian government’s treatment of demonstrators, stating that although military engagement was not an option, the U.S. should no longer treat the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), currently recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S., as an extremist group. As a result, the MEK would be able to work against the Iranian government with greater ease.

“[The U.S.] has put the MEK on the terrorist list here, which means that we can not support them and we hold up any kind of financial transactions that they might want to do,” Filner said during a press conference with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) Friday. Filner went on to describe the MEK as “a democratic, non-nuclear, secular group fighting for freedom and people in Iran.”

In January of this year the European Union ceased to consider the MEK a terrorist organization.

“Sometimes we have invaded countries, but that is not an option today,” added Filner. “We should not stand in their way of trying to get rid of the Iranian regime, so let’s educate the American people about the United States can...do.”

Rohrabacher suggested another avenue through which the U.S. can act, noting that “If the mullahs [Islamic clerics] keep killing their own people to maintain power, the least we can do in the West is track down where they put their loot and freeze those bank accounts.”

Rohrabacher criticized President Barack Obama’s soft diplomacy towards Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, deploring that “one stand that should be made is to be very clear in aggressive words rather than the apologetic tone that we have heard from this administration.”