Iran Focus
London, 28 Nov – The Iranian Resistance has written an open letter in response to the op-ed in Politico by Daniel Benjamin which attempted to smear the Iranian Resistance as terrorists who had “killed Americans”.
The letter, written by Soona Samsami, a U.S. Representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), was sent to Politico on November 23. As Politico did not publish it, the NCRI-US released it instead, and other news outlets- like Yahoo– have picked it up.
Samsami refers to Benjamin’s op-ed as a “3,326-word tirade” containing “a litany of threadbare, oft-repeated, and long-debunked allegations, originally concocted by the murderous mullahs of Iran”.
Benjamin wanted to associate Rudy Guiliani and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) with terrorism, in order to score partisan points against the incoming administration. Indeed, the real terrorist group that threatens American lives is any of those sponsored by the Iranian Regime, including Hezbollah and Hamas.
Samsami wrote: “In the best-case scenario, Mr. Benjamin’s hyperbolic regurgitation of a defamatory MEK narrative from his time in office suggests that, unlike policy experts in Washington, he is unaware that these allegations and characterizations have since been refuted in detail by independent research, and formally discredited by successive high judicial investigations.”
However, even if Benjamin had been kept in the dark regarding the findings of these investigations, one might wonder why he didn’t question his beliefs after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton removed the MEK from their terror list in 2012.
This brought the State Department in line with the governments of the EU, the UK, France and a large bi-partisan group of U.S. Congress members.
Benjamin, no doubt, intended to smear Rudy Guiliani by associating him with a terrorist group. In effect, Benjamin just made himself look foolish and ill-informed on the world stage.
Samsami wrote: “[Benjamin] would profit from studying issues before attempting to write about them.”
The only reason that the MEK appeared on the terror list in the first place was in order to placate the Iranian Regime, a strategy that clearly failed.
The MEK has actually been a great American ally, exposing the Iranian Regime’s terrorism and nuclear programme.
Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) said: “We all owe a debt of gratitude to the MEK for bringing this information to the world, and causing the United States and the world to focus on the problem.”
Samsami wrote: “This policy must change and the Iranian regime must be held to account for the many crimes it has committed against the Iranian people and the international community. This is what Mr. Benjamin and the pro-Tehran lobby are finding very difficult to digest.”
