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On strange bedfellows...

If this has an ounce of truth to it, we are in deep, deep doodoo in Iran. The quick precis is as follows:
  • The Pentagon is trying to raise rebellion within Iran by supporting the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), a right-wing terrorist (or inusurgent - your pick) organization
  • According to the Council of Foreign Relations, these guys have killed many civilians, but the US view them as a friend because the enemy of your enemy is always your friend. Right?
  • In order to make sure they would stay nice and loyal to the US, not like those Afghan mujahedeen turncoats that jumped into bed with the Taleban and al Qaeda, the US has made them swear an oath to democracy. I shit you not - read that sentance again; it's one of those word tangles that a monkey might randomly generate with a typewriter and enough bananas, but not one that a sentient human should ever have to type.

This can't possibly go bad, can it?

Wow.
On which planet in the solar system would that actually work?
The intelligence community of the U.S. regime is either startlingly naive or so blinded by patriotism that it fails to conceive if the fact that people can lie?
Wow.

This could definitely come back to bite the US in the ass. The implications of it from a political perspective are bad enough. The appearance of the US covertly acting to destabilize a sovereign nation hearkens back the dirty wars of the cold war period when anyone who was opposed to communism was a valued ally, however despicable they may have been. The Shah of Iran comes to mind.

Absolutely. The only thing the MEK have going for them over the current regime is that they don't appear to be strongly religious. However, that might not be that much of a blessing in the long run.

There are so many ways that this can turn out badly for the Americans. From my reading of the last decade or so in Iran, there appears to be a growing reformist movement that is opposed to the current religious state. They would probably, if approached the right way, be the natural allies of the west. However, sponsoring groups that kill civilians, even if they are opposed to the government, are unlikely to win this group over.

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