To Combat Mullahs, U.S. Rep. Advocates Leniency Toward Iranian Group Deemed Terrorist Org.

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.”

Get Over Obama’s Semantics, Focus On Engagement With Iran, Says Expert

By Mariko Lamb- Talk Radio News Service

Suzanne Maloney, Senior Fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy Studies,
said diplomatic engagement with Iran should be “Plan A” for the United States, despite challenges posed by unknown turns in Iranian protests and recent remarks by the Obama administration.

Maloney, during a panel discussion at the U.S. Institute For Peace Thursday, noted that one of the most prevalent roadblock to diplomacy is that the Iran’s political atmosphere is constantly in flux.

“We’ll have sporadic outbursts of violence, protests that capture the world’s attention and then some prolonged period of quiet,” said Maloney.  “We just don’t know what’s happening.”

“It’s time to get over this question of semantics,” said Maloney regarding the administration’s response to the conflict in Iran.  “Words from the podium have some salience, but, ultimately, that’s not the sum total of U.S. policy, and that’s not where our energies should be focused.”