FWD: U.S. Bombed Bases of Iranian Rebels in Iraq

[KXX4493553 at aol.com]

U.S. Bombed Bases of Iranian Rebels in Iraq 

Douglas Jehl
International Herald Tribune | New York Times
Thursday 17 April 2003

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WASHINGTON - Without public announcement, American forces have bombed the 
principal bases of the main armed Iranian opposition group in Iraq, which has 
maintained several thousand fighters with tanks and artillery along Iraq's 
border with Iran for more than a decade.

The group, Mujahidin Khalq, has been labeled a terrorist organization by the 
United States since 1997. But the biggest beneficiary of the strikes will be 
the Iranian government, which has lost scores of soldiers in recent years to 
cross-border attacks by the guerrillas, who have sought to overthrow Iran's 
clerical regime.

At the same time, the attacks appear bound to anger the scores of more than 
150 members of the U.S. Congress who have described the Iranian opposition 
group as an organized and effective pressure point on Iran's government, and 
had urged the Bush administration to strike the organization from its 
terrorist list.

In the months leading up to the war, "We made it very clear that these folks 
are pro-democracy, anti-fundamentalism, anti-terrorism, helpful to the U.S. 
in providing information about the activities of the Iranian regime, and 
advocates of a secular government in Iran," said Yleem Poblete, staff 
director for the House International Relations Committee's subcommittee on 
the Middle East and Asia.

continues at: 
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/bombed.htm

kwp
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