Former Senior U.S. officials: Maryam Rajavi is the right person to testify before US congress on threat of Islamic Fundamentalism

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- About two dozen senior former US officials and political dignitaries supported the initiative by the US Congress to invite Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi to testify on the growth of Islamic fundamentalism and ways to confront it.

Maryam Rajavi is the President of the broad-based opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MeK) is the main constituent of the coalition.

Maryam Rajavi is scheduled to testify  on Wednesday afternoon before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, chaired by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) in a hearing titled "ISIS: Defining the Enemy."

The Paris-based Rajavi will take part in the hearing via videoconference

The bipartisan dignitaries who welcomed congressional invitation to Maryam Rajavi included former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, former NYC Mayor and  presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, former Democratic National Committee Chairman and presidential candidate  Howard Dean, former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, the first US Homeland Secretary, Tom Ridge and Former PA Governor and DNC Chairman Edward Rendell.

The former senior US officials cited the fact that Rajavi provides a different perspective on the battle against Islamic fundamentalism and extremism. They said: "As a Muslim woman advocating a tolerant and democratic interpretation of Islam, individual freedom, separation of religion and state, gender equality, and rejecting the implementation of Sharia law, Mrs. Rajavi represents the opposite of the misogynous Iranian regime's rulers and all Islamic fundamentalists and extremists."

According to the bipartisan group, "Mrs. Rajavi's personal experience in leading a popular movement against the religious dictatorship makes her the right person to give testimony on this important issue."

The NCRI and the MEK are credited with exposing various aspects of the clandestine Iranian nuclear weapons project including the uranium enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordow and the heavy water reactor in Arak. The American dignitaries, many of whom held key government positions dealing with sensitive national security matters, praised Rajavi's movement for this intelligence work and suggested that it demonstrated the value that that movement could bring to American foreign policy.      

They stressed that the Iranian opposition led by Mrs. Rajavi has had a long track record on exposing Islamic fundamentalism and combating it. The American dignitaries stressed that Mrs. Rajavi's movement has worked to draw attention to the threat of Islamic fundamentalism since at least 1993 when it published a prescient book on the topic, "Islamic Fundamentalism: The New Global Threat."

The American dignitaries credited her with helping to advocate for a "united front against Islamic fundamentalism," in contrast to recent American policies that have taken on only individual groups.

Other dignitaries who joined and expressed their support: 

• Former Ambassador, Special Envoy to the Northern Ireland Peace Process, Mitchell Reiss
• Former US Attorney General, Michael B. Mukasey
• Former Homeland Security Advisor to the President; Frances Townsend
• Former UN Ambassador, John Bolton
• Former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Robert Joseph
• Former Assistant to the President for Public Liaison, Linda Chavez
• Former Deputy Director CIA National Clandestine Security, John Sano
• Former Commandant U.S. Marine Corps, Gen. (Ret.) James Conway
• Former Deputy Commander U.S. European Command, General (Ret.) Charles (Chuck) Wald,
• Former Deputy COS for Intel, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, U.S. Air Force, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) David Deptula
• Former New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli  
• Former Rhode Island Congressman, Patrick Kennedy
• Retired Federal Judge Eugene R. Sullivan
• Former US Military Commander for Camp Ashraf, Brig. Gen. (Ret.) David D. Phillips
• Former US Military Commander for Camp Ashraf, Senior Antiterrorism Officer – Iraq
• Colonel (Ret.), U.S. Army Wesley M. Martin

SOURCE Iran News Update