Opposition group says Iran is hiding nuclear research facility: report

[Cooley Hurd]

Opposition group says Iran is hiding nuclear research facility: report

17 November 2004

PARIS - Iran possesses a nuclear installation it uses for military purposes and which it has concealed from the international community, the French daily Liberation reported on Wednesday.


The newspaper based its report on information it received from an Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahedin, which claims that the hidden nuclear research facility was located within former army barracks at Lavizan, near Teheran.

The site reportedly took over activities formerly carried out at installations at Shiyan, which were torn down in 2003 before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was able to inspect them.

“This centre houses military research activities of which the IAEA is not aware,” the People’s Mujahedin claim.
</snip>

Expatriated opposition groups are at it again. It worked w/ Iraq, right? :eyes:

[Calvinist Basset]

1. Here we go again . . .

I suppose it's only a matter of time before the Smirk decides to invade Iran too.

[sendero]

6. Iran is not Iraq..

... and I think even the neocons understands that.

Make no mistake about it, Iran has a real military and they are not afraid to use it. Iran will make Iraq look like a picnic.

And BTW, of course they are working on nukes. Israel has them, India has them, Pakistan has them, we have them, in their minds, why shouldn't they have them?

[bluetrain]

2. Did France already know this when they started negotions?

Or is the People's Mujahedin working for the US?

[NNN0LHI]

4. Read about People's Mujahedin and the US connection here

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnews/20041115/ts_usnews/amostpeculiarkindofalliance&cid=926&ncid=1473

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Thanks, Don!

Sheds more light on this group...:thumbsup:

From the article you linked:
<snip>
An Iranian opposition group, the Mujaheddin-e-Khalq, has been a valuable source of information to the U.S. government, about not only Iran's activities in Iraq (news - web sites) but also its secret nuclear program. More than a year ago, the organization also tipped American military officers that Ahmad Chalabi, then a major Iraqi ally of the Pentagon (news - web sites), was allegedly providing sensitive information to Iran's clerical regime. Chalabi denies such assertions.

In October 1997, the State Department designated the MEK as a foreign terrorist organization, an allegation its leaders deny. The MEK supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran but later fell out with the radical mullahs there and established a base of operations in Iraq, with the support of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime. After invading Iraq in March 2003, U.S. military forces took control of the MEK, whose members number about 3,800. Today, the organization's members are based at a camp northeast of Baghdad, under U.S. guard.
</snip>

This is the group that blew in Chalabi in regards to his double-duty between the US and Iran...:eyes:

[meganmonkey]

3. the 'Chalabi' of Iran is probably a member of this group. n/t

[maddezmom]

9. curveball? nt

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. ahhhh more false satilite images from this admin...they are proven LIARS

who the fuck would believe anything that this admin presents??? who? who? who i ask?

[Lerkfish]

8. and so it begins...I'm telling you true: Bush intends to nuke Iran.

whether he actually does is another matter, but I fully believe that is his goal, here.

[Mika]

10. Here's an older article on Repug connections to the MEK

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen defends Iranian group labeled terrorist front for Saddam Hussein

http://www.hillnews.com/news/040803/roslehtinen.aspx

A senior lawmaker on the House International Relations committee has defended her ongoing support for a group the State Department says is a terrorist organization fighting against coalition troops in Iraq.

“This group loves the United States. They’re assisting us in the war on terrorism; they’re pro-U.S.,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) in an interview with The Hill.

“This group has not been fighting against the U.S. It’s simply not true,” she insisted.
Ros-Lehtinen is the chairwoman of the panel’s Central Asia and Middle East Subcommittee.

The group, known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), is an Iranian opposition group in Iraq. The U.S. intelligence and diplomatic community argues that the MEK is funded by Saddam Hussein and has engaged in efforts by the Iraqi leader to suppress Kurd and Shiite uprisings.

The group killed several Americans during the 1970s. It also participated in the 1979-1981 U.S. Embassy seizure in Tehran. In 1997, the MEK and its various appendages were designated a “foreign terrorist organization.”

Last week, State Department spokesman Greg Sullivan told The Hill the MEK is considered “a combatant” and U.S. officials believe its soldiers “are undertaking some of the action in the south where enemy combatants have disguised themselves as civilians.”

Ros-Lehtinen vehemently disputed State’s assertion to The Washington Times, calling the spokesman a “weasel” and a “gutless bureaucrat who won’t come out of his cave.” Sullivan did not respond to a request for further comment.

Ros-Lehtinen dismissed the group’s anti-American actions as “past history.” She said, “It has no bearing on what is going on right now in the field.”

“In no meeting or briefing I have ever attended has anyone called this group an anti-U.S., terrorist organization,” she continued, adding that the group has provided useful intelligence to the U.S. government on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Ros-Lehtinen further said that there is “wide support” in Congress for the MEK and that it will be “one of the leading groups in establishing secular government in Iran.”

In November, Ros-Lehtinen released a letter of support for the MEK that she said had the backing of 150 colleagues, whom she repeatedly refused to identify. “Because of the Khatami well-funded campaign on propaganda, lies and misinformation, I have decided not to release the names of these signers.”

In October, as Ros-Lehtinen’s letter circulated the House, Reps. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) and Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the chairman and ranking member of the House International Relations Committee, respectively, also wrote to their colleagues. The lawmakers’ letter sought to give colleagues “full” and “accurate” information on the MEK.

“We are strong opponents of the current government of Iran but do not believe that it is necessary to use terrorism or make common cause … Saddam Hussein to change Iran’s government,” Hyde and Lantos wrote.

“Particularly in view of the fact that the MEK is based in Iraq, has taken part in operations against the Kurds and Shia, has been responsible for killing Americans in Iran, and has supported the takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran, we wanted you to have the full background on this organization as most recently reported by the Department of State, so that you may best decide whether to lend your name to this letter” of support. It further advised: “Some colleagues have signed similar letters in the past and then been embarrassed when confronted with accurate information about the MEK.”

Much more at - http://www.hillnews.com/news/040803/roslehtinen.aspx

[TahitiNut]

14. Bourgeois nationalist agitprop group

It's obvious. :shrug:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. Just like Iraq was hiding WMDs?

[maddezmom]

12. kick

yeah, just like that....wonder if Chalabi will be getting kickback money from this group? :eyes:

[AlCzervik]

13. Who to believe?

Another exile group?