Most of the emails are completely redacted. The emails that are not redacted, discuss the U.S. government's grant of protection to anti-Tehran groups in Iraq.
UNCLASSIFIED RELEASED IN PART B5
Thessin, James H
From:
Sent:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Borek, Ted A (UNESA) Wednesday, July 28, 2004 2:27 PM 'Stone, Corin R. (CIV)'; Dorosin, Joshua L; Pelofsky, Eric J; 'Tucker, Charles E. (0-6)' Thessin, James H; Newman, David S; Dennis, Michael J RE: US grants protection for anti-Tehran group in Iraq
^iL 39 ^,
B5
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE
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REVIEW AUTHORITY: HARRY R MELONE DATE/CASE ID: 02 DEC 2004 200303827 UNCLASSIFIED
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DOS-001802
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DO S-001803
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.
Original Message.
From: Jost, Aaron W (NEA/NGA) (mailto:JostAW2@state.sgov.gov]
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 4:47 PM
To: 'Pilz, Amanda C. (FS-04) 1 ; 'Busby Milton S LTC JIACG'; 'Archin,
Ladan, CIV, OSD-POLICY'; 'Woodside Craig M. CDR MNF-I MCCE';
'Waltemeyer, Robert M, LTC, JCS J5'
Subject: FW: US grants protection for anti-Tehran group in Iraq
Importance: Low
FYI that this has been published. I'm expecting State will receive
questions about it from the press; we are preparing guidance for our
Press people.
-Aaron
x7-5211
.
Original Message.
From:.
Songer, Breeann M (NEA/FO)
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 8:21 AM
To:.
NEA-ARP-DL; Berry, John F (NEA/PPD); Carpenter, Jonathan J(P);
Casper, Anne S; Chapman, Barbara J; Eklund, Karna A; Fox, Barbara T;
Goldrich, Ethan A; Holland, Lavenia Y; Kincannon, John S (NEA/RA);
Maclnnes, Duncan H; Mann, Hillary P(S/P); Mooney, William F;
NEA-I-ASSIST-DL; NEA-I-ECON-DL; NEA-I-IZT-DL; NEA-I-PD-DL; NEA-I-PIL-DL;
NEA-I-PM-DL; NEA-I-POL-DL; NEA-RA-DL; NEA-Staff-Assistants-DL;
Patterson, Charles N; Quinn, Martin R; Shore, Rhonda H (NEA/PPD);
Staples, David A; Sullivan, Gregory W; Walkup, Ruth B
Subject:.
FW: US grants protection for anti-Tehran group in Iraq
Importance: Low
.
Original Message.
From: Neubert, Brian T
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 8:20 AM
To:.
LW-Iraq; LW-Mahogany; LW-NEA; SES-OShift-II
Subject:.
US grants protection for anti-Tehran group in Iraq
BC-FRANCE-IRAN-MUJAHIDEEN
US grants protection for anti-Tehran group in Iraq
PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has granted "protected
status" under the Geneva Convention to members of an exiled Iranian
opposition group interned in Iraq, France-based opponents of Tehran said
in a statement. The U.S. head of detainee operations in Iraq,
Major-General Geoffrey Miller, told the People's Mujahideen Organisation
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DOS-001804
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(MKO) its members held at a base in eastern Iraq had been recognised as
"protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention," the statement
said. The decision-announced in a letter to the group last week-will
allow detainees from the group access to the International Committee of
the Red Cross and the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR. "(This is a)
triumph for the Iranian Resistance and the Iranian people," Maryam
Rajavi, head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said
in a statement. The MKO, which has previously been branded a terrorist
group by the United States and Europe, is the military affiliate of the
NCRI, whose headquarters are near Paris. Iran regards the roughly 3,800
MKO fighters in Iraq as one of its biggest external threats and wants
the group's members to be handed over. Diplomats say Tehran has offered
to exchange some al Qaeda prisoners it is holding for MKO leaders.
Washington has refused the swap, the diplomats say. Iranian government
spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh said the U.S. move to grant the MKO
protected status undermined Washington's claims to be fighting terrorist
groups. "I hope those who claim they are combating terrorism prove the
truth and confront the ones who have committed extensive crimes against
the Iranian nation," he told a weekly news conference. In August last
year, the United States closed the Washington offices of the NCRI and
MKO after determining that they were aliases of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq
(MEK), an Iranian group branded by the United States as a foreign
terrorist organisation. France too has been suspicious of the
organisation. Following the takeover of the Iraq-based Mujahideen's
military camps by U.S. forces there, French intelligence suspected the
group of planning to make its Paris base a centre from which to launch
attacks on Iranian embassies in Europe. The group denies any such
ambition. Rajavi spent several weeks in a French prison last summer
after being detained under a French terrorism probe. She proclaimed her
innocence and was later released on bail pending further investigation.
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