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U.S. signs cease-fire with terrorist group
Officials say foes offer data, keep Iranian fighters at bay
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New York Times

WASHINGTON _ U.S. forces in Iraq have signed a cease-fire agreement with an Iranian opposition group the United States has designated a terrorist organization and expects it to surrender with most of its arms soon, American military officials said Monday.

Under the deal, signed on April 15 but confirmed by the military's Central Command only Monday, U.S. forces agreed not to destroy or damage any of the group's vehicles or equipment, not to destroy or damage any of the group's property in their armed camps in Iraq, and not to commit any hostile act toward the Iranian opposition forces covered by the agreement.

In return, the group, the People's Mujahedeen, which will be allowed to keep its weapons for now, agreed not to fire on or commit other hostile acts against U.S. forces, not to destroy private or government property, and to place its artillery and anti-aircraft guns in non-threatening positions.

The accord is apparently the first between the U.S. military -- which in early April was bombing the group's Iraqi camps -- and a terrorist organization, and it raises questions about how consistently the Bush administration intends to apply a policy that had vowed to crack down on terrorist groups worldwide.

The Iranian group, which is led by a woman and has an estimated 10,000 members in Iraq, has no known ties to al Qaeda but its members killed several American military personnel and civilian contractors in the 1970s and supported the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. It has carried out dozens of bombings that targeted Iranian military and government personnel but also killed civilians. It was added to the State Department's list of terrorist organizations in 1997.

An American military official said that the group could provide intelligence regarding Iranian government activities both in Iraq, and in Iran itself.

A spokesman for the military's Central Command, in Doha, Qatar, who was responding to a reporter's inquiry, issued a three-sentence statement Monday that provided the basic outlines of the cease-fire.

A senior military officer said he expected the cease-fire accord to be followed in the next few days by a formal capitulation agreement, and he indicated the group would eventually have to give up some of its arms.

The accord with the Mujahadeen reflects a pragmatic approach to a security problem for a U.S. military that already has its hands full trying to stabilize Baghdad and other areas of Iraq. But it raises the issue of how to square the accord with the administration's antiterrorism policy.

A State Department official, insisting on anonymity, said Monday night that the deal was not inconsistent with the broader effort against terrorism. The official said the accord with the group, which operated with support and protection from Saddam Hussein's government, would help the United States to learn more about Iraq's ties to terrorism and the nature of its regime.

"You can't get information out of a dead man," the State Department spokesman said. He said the decision to call a halt to U.S. bombing and other attacks against the group did not reflect any change in its terrorist status. "It's a cease-fire," he said, "that's all it means."

As recently as last week, senior Pentagon officials described the group as a vicious entity that had served as a de facto security organization for the Iraqi government. At the same time, however, supporters of the Mujahadeen, who include dozens of members of Congress, have portrayed the decision to label the group as terrorists as one that was taken by the Clinton administration largely as a positive gesture to the Iranian government, which regards the Mujahadeen as a serious foe.

A senior American officer said that several approaches, or "courses of action" are being considered by the U.S. government for what to do about the group and its arms over the long run.

Asked why American commanders would sign a cease-fire with a terrorist organization, the Central Command spokesman, Lt. Cdr. Charles Owens, said he had no further information. He noted that the State Department was responsible for decisions about the status of terrorist groups.

At a time when U.S. forces have their hands full in Iraq, the Mujahadeen organization is one of the few groups of armed fighters that has been affiliated with the Saddam Hussein government that is not a threat to U.S. forces, they said. American military officers in Iraq said they expected some of the group's weapons might be confiscated once the capitulation agreement is signed.

One motivation for allowing the Mujahadeen to keep some weapons, they said, was to leave in place a balance of power between the group and the Iranian-backed fighters known as the Badr Brigade, some of whom are based in Iraq and who have continued to target the organization even since the fall of Saddam's government.

If the Mujahadeen were disarmed, U.S. forces would have to assume the responsibility of separating the two antagonists, a task the heavily burdened U.S. forces do not want.

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