Kucinich asks Bush about alleged US support for armed insurgency in Iran

Friday, April 21, 2006

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) claimed in a letter to President George W. Bush on April 18, 2006 that the US seems to be supporting both the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), an armed group associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and based in Iraq, and the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) in insurgent activity in Iran during 2005 and in particular in killing twenty four Iranian soldiers in March 2006.

Both the PKK and the MEK are listed by the U.S. State Department and by the Council of the European Union as terrorist organizations. The FBI alleges that the National Council of Resistance of Iran is "an integral part of the MEK", i.e. essentially the same organisation as the MEK, while the NCRI itself claims that the MEK is just one of five components of the NCRI.

Kucinich compared the alleged US support for insurgents against the government of Iran with Bush's previous criticisms against insurgent groups, writing to Bush, "U.S. support for insurgent activity in Iran is not tolerable. You have claimed numerous times that the object of the so-called 'War on Terror' is to target lawless insurgent groups."

Kucinich asked Bush to report to Congress both on US military operations in Iranian territory and on US use of proxy organisations in military actions against the Iranian government, stating, "Previously I asked you to immediately report to Congress on the extent of U.S. military operations currently in Iran. Now, in light of the evidence described above, I urge you to report to Congress on U.S. support for military operations in Iran by anti-Iranian insurgent groups."

Bush's response is not yet known.

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