Ex-US officials call for lifting of terror label

AP: Former top-ranking U.S. officials are urging the Obama administration to take an Iranian dissident group off its list of terrorist organizations, saying the move would raise pressure on Tehran at a time when authoritarian regimes are tottering across the Middle East.

The Associated Press

By DOUGLAS BIRCH

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former top-ranking U.S. officials are urging the Obama administration to take an Iranian dissident group off its list of terrorist organizations, saying the move would raise pressure on Tehran at a time when authoritarian regimes are tottering across the Middle East.

Several ex-officials on Saturday called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to rescind the 14-year-old designation of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization, or MEK, as a terrorist group.

Ex-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, U.N. ambassador during the Clinton administration, said the “thirst for freedom and democracy” in the Mideast and the failure to win concessions on Iran’s nuclear program had built support for the MEK in Washington. Ex-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former Rep. Lee Hamilton and others also called for lifting the designation.