The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq
A Policy Conundrum
NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
RAND_August-20-2009
During Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), coalition forces faced an unusual detainee issue centering on the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), an exiled Iranian cult dissident group that Saddam Hussein had invited into Iraq to fight on his behalf during the Iran-Iraq War.
The United States designated the MeK a foreign terrorist organization in 1997 and a belligerent enemy force in OIF in 2003.
Shortly after the invasion, coalition forces accepted a cease-fire from the MeK, disarmed the group, and consolidated its members at one of the MeK’s camps.
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