Why is the U.S. military protecting a jihadist organization designated as a terrorist group by the State Department? [1] John VI Cantacuzenes Alert from [2] UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

BAGHDAD, March 14 (UPI) -- Iraq and the United States are at odds over thousands of Iranian rebels living near Baghdad who help U.S. intelligence but who are considered terrorists.

About 3,800 expatriate Iranians who belong to the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, receive U.S. military protection in their compound north of Baghdad, even though the State Department has designated the group a terrorist organization, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The MEK's goal is to unseat the Islamist theocracy in Iran, the Post said.

...and build a different kind of Islamist theocracy.