Notes to Consider…

The last Iraq story shared by the Army CID special agent I recently sat down with concerned his connection with a group of people about whom I’m willing to bet you’ve never heard. I further bet you will be hearing a lot more about them in the coming months/years if we go to war with Iran.

This story began when an Army National Guard lieutenant colonel stomped up to the table at which agents were enjoying their dinner. (Could CID agents not finish a meal in Iraq without having been confronted with some sort of caper or the other?) The breathless commander demanded agents accompany him back to his post at which he was the protector of Iranian exiles in the walled city of Ashraf. “Say, what?”

The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMK) was one of the factions responsible for the 1979 overthrow of American ally, the Shah of Iran. Soon after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the PMK came under attack from the Ayatollah Khomeini and defected to Iraq. During the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, the PMK conducted covert operations against the Iranian Regime. Saddam Hussein also used the organization to keep in-check his internal adversaries. Needless to say, with the 2003 fall of Hussein the PMK found itself in danger from all sides.

When the US toppled Saddam Hussein, Ashraf and its Iranian inhabitants became protectees of American troops. As I discussed in the second of these articles concerning a retired CID agent’s exploits in the Second Iraq War, the Abu Ghraib Prison photographs hysteria made for very nervous commanders in the field who might find themselves in legal jeopardy if foreigners under their care were harmed. An Iranian at Ashraf had been reported to the Americans as having died from “natural” causes while on a soccer pitch. Following the Middle Eastern tradition, the deceased Iranian protectee had been buried before sundown on the day of his death. The American commander was demanding CID agents investigate the death (which would have entailed digging up said dead Iranian) to make sure the protectee hadn’t died of “unnatural” causes.

The Iranians were not thrilled by the appearance of CID agents in tow with the American commander at Ashraf. As a matter of fact, things got rather intense until the cool headed National Guard sergeant major at Ashraf got on the horn to Baghdad and explained the situation. It was at that point the theater commander’s staff reasoned if the Iranian protectee had really been “knocked off,” they’d have simply shot him in the head; buried him out in the desert; and never said a word to their American overseers. However, the retired agent certainly didn’t blame the National Guard commander for covering his bases.

Where I predict you will be hearing again of the MEK concerns our once again heating up, fifty-year cold war with Iran. Today, the MEK are exiled in Albania. It is a very poorly kept secret that MEK operatives have been used by American and Israeli intelligence services to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists in the last several years. If the current row with Iran ultimately results in regime change, I predict MEK operatives born in Ashraf, Iraq will play a key role in effecting that change.

Next Week: Arts & Leisure

Happy Thanksgiving!