"We Are on the Offensive"

Some 20 miles northwest of Paris, in the bucolic town of Auvers-sur-Oise, where Vincent van Gogh painted and died, the afternoon calm was broken only by the sound of workers adding another wing to the residence-in-exile of Mujahedin Leader Massoud Rajavi. Both the setting and the air of expectancy that pervaded last week were reminiscent of another place and time--when an exiled Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini held forth in the little village of Neauphle-le-Chateau just before Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in 1979. As half a dozen visitors waited under the fruit trees outside the blue-and-white tent that serves as his office at Auvers-sur-Oise, Rajavi, speaking English, talked with TIME Correspondent Sandra Burton. Excerpts:

On the Bombing That Killed Raja'i and Bahonar. It was the very natural conclusion of actions for which Khomeini is responsible. I recognize this response to the executions and torture as legitimate. There is no other solution.

On Whether Khomeini Should Be Killed. We have not recommended this solution, because we have a better one: inviting Mr. Khomeini to appear on television inside a court, with a jury of 36 million people, where he would be accorded all the rights he has refused to give us. The problem is not to kill somebody so that the change will come one day sooner. There is more profit for us in making the people understand why Khomeini is guilty.

On the Situation in Iran. Khomeini is very weak. His people, who are responsible for the torture and executions, are falling down like the leaves of autumn. I don't think this story will continue too long: 90% of Khomeini's leadership is gone. The estimates of 1 million people at the [Raja'i and Bahonar] funeral are exaggerated; most journalists say there were not more than 100,000. I am not happy myself about the death of anyone, even my enemy, but we were informed by Iranian students that people were really happy and were congratulating us. We are on the offensive, and Khomeini is on the defensive.

On Accusations That the Mujahedin Are Marxists. Every high school student knows that believing in God, Jesus Christ and Muhammad is incompatible with the philosophy of Marxism. Everyone knows that, even Khomeini. But for dictators like Khomeini, "Marxist Islamic" is a very profitable phrase to use against any opposition. If Jesus Christ and Muhammad were alive and protesting against Khomeini, he would call them Marxists, too.

On a Mujahedin Run Government. We would not have political prisons and executions. All political parties could operate freely. The government we want is national, progressive, democratic and Islamic. The Shah was a symbol of physical power, but he was a dictator and he fell. Khomeini is the symbol of spiritual power, but he too is a dictator and he is falling. If I wanted to govern this country and ignored these recent examples, then, even with the physical power of the Shah and the spiritual power of Khomeini, I would be defeated.

On the Superpowers. For us, nothing is more valuable than independence. This means that we don't want to be independent only of the U.S., Britain, France or Iraq, but also of other foreigners--including the Soviets. It has been a general reality in Iran that we have been under the historical domination of America for 25 years. Will people forget this? No. But that does not mean the Mujahedin want to gain independence from the U.S. and sell it to the Soviet Union.

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