April 2003: In Supporting MEK, Conservative Lawmaker Misrepresents Organization

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) defends her support for the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) (see October 2002), a militant Iranian opposition group that has been included in the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997 (see 1997). “This group loves the United States” and they are “assisting us in the war on terrorism; they’re pro-US,” she says. “This group has not been fighting against the US. It’s simply not true.” Regarding the group’s past history, which has included lethal attacks against US citizens, collusion with Saddam Hussein, and terrorist attacks against Iran, she says that they are “past history,” asserting that they have “no bearing on what is going on right now in the field.” Ros-Lehtinen further says that there is “wide support” in Congress for the group and that the MEK will be “one of the leading groups in establishing a secular government in Iran.” Ros-Lehtinen currently chairs the House International Relations Committee’s Central Asia and Middle East Subcommittee. [Hill, 4/8/2003]