F o r b i d d e n   C i t y   o f   t h e   M o j a h e d i n     

Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
Ecclesiastes 2:13

Birds of a feather flock together.  That trite expression may explain why Saddam Hussein and the Mojahedin were so closely partnered:  they both had the goal of knocking out the equally fanatical cohort currently ruling in neighboring Iran:  the religiosly orthodox Mullahs.  Indeed Saddam was very generous with the Mojahedin, giving the exiled Iranian group safe harbor just outside their target, cozily inside Iraq.  The flat plains of northeastern Iraq, in the shadow of the mountainous Iranian border, saw the erection of an army post-- a city of singleminded military purpose, built from scratch in a barren salt plain-- calling itself Ashraf. 

And Saddam enjoyed using this loyalty at his pleasure-- to fulfill whatever dirty work needed doing domestically.  This group's hands are very dirty in recent history…under the heading…Genocide.  And as for international agendas-- each military strike into Iran the group could achieve, each assassination in that neighboring land of Mullahs, gave Saddam delight in the weakening of his bitter enemy to the east. 

How to categorize this place…

Army?  They are one.  Or were one until disarmed by the US Army in the Iraq war.  Today, awaiting remediation of their limbo status (what to do with them), they go about their militant lives on their sprawling desert army post...
…in little trucks playing the smart little patrol, checking their border fence, that it is non-porous against those hoping to defect…
…in busses of clapping-as-they-sing women devotedly floating to perpetual victory or pep-rallies, though they have more pep than victory…

In short, a population of brainwashed, cheery-yet-serious ants, never fatiguing in dressing the smart little soldier and in worshipping their cultish leaders, the enigmatic married couple Maryam and Massoud Rajavi.