WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE MEK AT CAMP ASHRAF IN IRAQ? by Mahmood Hakamian  In 1986, around 1,000 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) travelled to Iraq in order to build a new operations base for their resistance group with the hopes of bringing democracy to Iran. They were given a barren patch of land in the desert, near the Iranian border, which had a few deserted and partially-constructed buildings, but no running water or electricity. This was Camp Ashraf. It expanded quickly as MEK supporters from the US and the EU travelled to the camp in order to help free the Iranian people from the grasp of the mullahs.  IRAN-IRAQ WAR At the time, the Iran-Iraq war was in its fifth year, and the MEK, Iraq, and the Iranian people all wanted the conflict to end quickly. Iraq had offered peace in 1982, but the mullahs refused because they wanted to destroy Iraq and take it over for themselves. The MEK, in an effort to speed up the resolutio...