Romney Advisor Mitchell Reiss Backs MEK
tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com
Until they change their leadership and goals, they are still a terror group. They committed acts of terror under their current leaders so can’t be trusted not to commit future acts of terror. They need to disband, or find new leaders and philosophy. Some think they can make this group into “Pet” terrorists and use them to destabilize Iran, and that’s just plain stupid and wrong.
Mitchell Reiss, a foreign policy adviser to Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on Friday once again spoke out on behalf of an Iranian opposition group the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.
Reiss, a former State Department official, appeared alongside other former U.S. officials like former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Attorney General Michael Mukasey at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. to support removing the People’s Muhajedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, from the U.S. list of designated terrorist organizations. Reiss, who served as moderator of the panel, opened his remarks with a joke about the ongoing Treasury Department investigation into the speaking fees paid to officials like him who have appeared at previous events.
“Up here on the dais this morning, we have some of America’s most distinguished public servants, most decorated military officers, and most respected diplomats — a true collection of outstanding American leaders,” Reiss said. “Or, as the Treasury Department would prefer to call us for our supporting the delisting of the MEK, potential criminals.”
Reiss said that members of the media were trying “to slander our efforts to safeguard the brave men, women and children of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty. We come here today at a time when anonymous State Department officials are trying to question our motives and our morals. We come here at a time when some people in the U.S. government are trying to intimidate us from speaking out on behalf of what we know is right and just.”