MeK Activites On Iran/US Talk Agenda?

By Cernig

The Russian news service Novosti is repeating a claim by the Iraqi government backed newspaper Al-Sabah to know the main points on the agenda of talks between Iranian and U.S. officials in Iraq on May 28.

Al-Sabah newspaper, a publication financed by the Shiite-led Iraqi government said the agenda of the talks would include four key issues - "the supplies of Iranian weapons to Iraqi militant groups, the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq organization, the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf region and the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq."

Both the Iraqi government and the Iranians want the MeK evicted from Iraq or turned over to Iran for trial, but there have been persistent stories about the MeK being used by the Bush administration as a proxy for attacks on Iran. Certainly, the members of the group, recognised as a terrorist organistation by the U.S. State Dept., get treated rather well by the U.S. military. The MeK have also often been the single and highly dubious source for the most lurid accustations about Iranian meddling in Iraq and about the Iranian nuclear program. At every step, neocon pundits with close ties to the Cheney camp have been standing ready to give any MeK accusations credence and to echo them widely.

If it is true that their activities are one of the main points for discussion then the administration may actually be serious about cutting a deal with Iran to scale back both sides' proxy war. That would point to a further weakening of the neocon camp following Cheney's disasterous recent trip to the Middle East.