Outside View:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- More than a year after the terrorist attacks, too many Americans fail to recognize the seriousness of the conflict that we are fighting. A recent example of this laxness came on Nov. 21. That is the night when Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., was able to host a reception in the Capitol of the United States with a front group called the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an "alias" for the terrorist group called Mujahedin-e Kalq that is linked to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

This should do more than raise eyebrows. After all, President George W. Bush has said the War on Terrorism is not just confined to al Qaeda. "There are other terrorists ... We will not be secure as a nation until all of these threats are defeated," he said.

The congressional resolution passed just three days after the Sept. 11 attacks stated that the President was authorized to use force not just against those who committed the Sept. 11 attacks, but also "against nations, organizations, or persons...in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States."

This fall, the president signed a resolution that authorizes the use of armed force against the Iraqi regime in order to enforce United Nations resolutions to force the outlaw country to abandon development of weapons of mass destruction. So, we are at war with terrorism and may very well be with Iraq.

But no band of protestors showed up to carry signs with slogans protesting Towns. No Administration representative issued an official statement at least denouncing the action of Rep. Towns for giving aid and comfort to a group with a name used to obscure the true mission and intention of the group: committing terrorism.

The State Department, since 1994, has listed the Mujahedin-e Kalq as one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world. The State Department says this Marxist-Muslim group had killed many Americans and had blown up a number of U.S. facilities in Iran. The group also participated in the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran over two decades ago.

After the group had a falling out with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, it fled to Iraq and now has a powerful, menacing patron in Saddam, having helped the dictator fight the Kurds in northern Iraq when chemical weapons were used.

When James P. Rubin of the State Department was briefing the press on March 24, 2000, here is how he responded to a reporter's question about how the Mujahedin-e Kalq received its money: "The NCR, the National Council for the Resistance, has been designated as an alias for the MEK, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 makes it illegal to knowingly donate money or provide material support or resources to a designated organization..."

The State Department information on terrorist groups are available to all Members of Congress.

The State Department is always reluctant to pin the label of "terrorist" on groups that have been responsible for terrorism, just as it is always reluctant to list those states that sponsor terrorism. So the fact that this group continues to be high on the State Department list should provide you with a clue that they are first class bad guys.

Would we have sat by if a Congressman, in 1942, had sponsored a reception for the National Socialist Party of Germany, whose leader was Adolf Hitler? I dare say that fellow would have been tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

Of course, back then there was a near-unanimous consensus among Americans that the Axis powers were evil. Even Hollywood and the news media portrayed them as such.

Now, many in the media and our governing establishment do not take seriously the idea of the war on terrorism, as if Sept. 11 did not happen.

Why not moral clarity now? If we are at war against terrorism, then those who give aid and comfort to the enemy should be charged with Treason. Oh, we will be told, people who have a different view are entitled to their opinion. Yes, if they are arguing strategy, Or even if there should be a war.

If we really are conducting a war on terrorism, as President Bush has said, then that would include the Majahedin-e Kalq. Therefore, anyone who gives aid and comfort to the groups or their "fronts" listed by the State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organizations should be considered to be committing a treasonous act. Rep. Towns may qualify.

If the Justice Department would go after him or some of the "Media Quislings" who support the enemy, they might not win their cases but the charges themselves would bring moral clarity to the situation.

-- Paul M. Weyrich is CEO and Chairman of the Free Congress Foundation.

-- Outside View columns are written for UPI by writers who specialize in issues of public interest