Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona visited last week with hundreds, if not thousands, of Mojahedin-e Khalq troops in their new home of exile in Albania. McCain, seen here at center beside Mojahedin leader Maryam Rajavi, lauded the group for its “successful transfer” from Iraq to Albania and praised the members for their “sacrifice.” He said, “There is no doubt that the people in this room have suffered not only themselves, but in the loss of their loved ones. You have stood up, fought and sacrificed for freedom, for the right to live free, for the right to determine your future.” McCain is one of dozens of American politicians of both parties who have long supported the Mojahedin. After 13 years of work by the UN and the US, about 2,200 Mojahedin members were transferred to exile in Albania in a move completed last September. As this photo shows, the group has managed to keep the bulk of its membership together as a unit, although the United States had wanted to disperse them all around the world to neuter the organization. The Islamic Republic blames the group for killing 12,000 of the 17,000 Iranians it says have been killed by terrorists since the 1979 revolution.
