Anthony Shadid on Bahrain suffering
16 September, 2011

“In the revolts that have roiled the Middle East this year, toppling or endangering a half-dozen leaders, Bahrain, an island kingdom once best known for its pearls and banks, has emerged as the cornerstone of a counterrevolution to stanch demands for democracy. While the turmoil elsewhere has proved unpredictable — the ascent of Islamists in Egypt, the threat of civil war in Syria and the prospect of anarchy in Yemen — Bahrain suggests that the alternative, a failed uprising cauterized by searing repression, may prove no less dangerous.

“The situation is a tinderbox, and anything could ignite it at any moment,” said Ali Salman, the general secretary of Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest legal opposition group. “If we can’t succeed in bringing democracy to this country, then our country is headed toward violence. Is it in a year or two years? I don’t know. But that’s the reality.”The toll of the ensuing repression was grim: in a country of about 525,000 citizens, human rights groups say 34 people were killed, more than 1,400 people were arrested, as many as 3,600 people were fired from their jobs and four people died in custody after torture in what Human Rights Watch called “a systematic and comprehensive crackdown to punish and intimidate government critics and to end dissent root and branch.”For decades, Bahrain’s relative openness and entrenched inequality have made it one of the Arab world’s most restive countries, as a Shiite majority numbering as much as 70 percent of the population seeks more rights from a Sunni monarchy that conquered the island in the 18th century.

But February was a new chapter in the struggle, when the reverberations of Egypt and Tunisia reached Bahrain and, after bloody clashes, protesters seized a landmark known as Pearl Square, where they stayed for weeks. Activists trade stories of colleagues forced to eat feces in prison and high-ranking Shiite bureaucrats compelled to crawl in their offices like infants. Human rights groups say 43 Shiite mosques and religious structures were destroyed or damaged by a government that contended that it faced an Iranian-inspired plot, without offering any evidence that Tehran played a role.

Backed by the armed intervention of Saudi Arabia, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared martial law in March, and though it was repealed June 1, the reverberations of the repression still echo across the island.“They told me, ‘There are two ways we can deal with you — as a human or as an animal,’ ” Matar Matar, 45, recalled being told after he was arrested by men in civilian clothes in May and jailed for three months.”

The crackdown here has won a tactical and perhaps ephemeral victory through torture, arrests, job dismissals and the blunt tool of already institutionalized discrimination against the island’s Shiite Muslim majority. In its wake, sectarian tension has exploded, economic woes have deepened, American willingness to look the other way has cast Washington as hypocritical and a society that prides itself on its cosmopolitanism is colliding with its most primordial instincts. Taken together, the repression and warnings of radicalization may underline an emerging dictum of the Arab uprisings: violence begets violence.” ...source

Bahrain Feature: Repression Tears Apart a Country (Shadid)
Friday, September 16, 2011 – Scott Lucas – EA WorldView

Demolition of a Shia Mosque in BahrainAn interesting parallel to James Miller’s coverage on EA of the situation in Bahrain — Anthony Shadid, who in my opinion is one of the best reporters for first-hand observation, reports for The New York Times:

The battle began soon after sundown. And for the next six hours, in air heavy with heat and tear gas, phalanxes of police officers in helmets battled scores of youths in ski masks, as customers at a Costa Coffee not far away sat like spectators.

No one won in the clashes, which erupt almost every night in this Persian Gulf state. Five months after the start of a ferocious crackdown against a popular uprising — so sweeping it smacks of apartheid-like repression of Bahrain’s religious majority — many fear that no one can win.

“This is all cutting so deep,” said Abdulnabi Alekry, an activist whose car was stopped at one of the checkpoints of trash bins, wood and bricks the youth had fashioned during the clash in August. “The fabric here was never that strong, and now it is torn.”

In the revolts that have roiled the Middle East this year, toppling or endangering a half-dozen leaders, Bahrain, an island kingdom once best known for its pearls and banks, has emerged as the cornerstone of a counterrevolution to stanch demands for democracy. While the turmoil elsewhere has proved unpredictable — the ascent of Islamists in Egypt, the threat of civil war in Syria and the prospect of anarchy in Yemen — Bahrain suggests that the alternative, a failed uprising cauterized by searing repression, may prove no less dangerous.

See also Bahrain Special: New Martyrs, New Protests, New Crackdown

The crackdown here has won a tactical and perhaps ephemeral victory through torture, arrests, job dismissals and the blunt tool of already institutionalized discrimination against the island’s Shiite Muslim majority. In its wake, sectarian tension has exploded, economic woes have deepened, American willingness to look the other way has cast Washington as hypocritical and a society that prides itself on its cosmopolitanism is colliding with its most primordial instincts. Taken together, the repression and warnings of radicalization may underline an emerging dictum of the Arab uprisings: violence begets violence.

“The situation is a tinderbox, and anything could ignite it at any moment,” said Ali Salman, the general secretary of Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest legal opposition group. “If we can’t succeed in bringing democracy to this country, then our country is headed toward violence. Is it in a year or two years? I don’t know. But that’s the reality.”

For decades, Bahrain’s relative openness and entrenched inequality have made it one of the Arab world’s most restive countries, as a Shiite majority numbering as much as 70 percent of the population seeks more rights from a Sunni monarchy that conquered the island in the 18th century. But February was a new chapter in the struggle, when the reverberations of Egypt and Tunisia reached Bahrain and, after bloody clashes, protesters seized a landmark known as Pearl Square, where they stayed for weeks. …more

Is There A U.S. Human Rights Policy?
Posted on Sunday, September 18, 2011 – by Elliott Abrams

Now in its third year in office, the Obama Administration has never championed the cause of human rights. Its slow reaction in June 2009 to the stealing of the election in Iran and the birth of the “Green Movement” there, and its delay in backing the rebellions in Egypt, Libya, and Syria, are evidence of this problem. But two recent news items show just how bad the situation has become.

In Bahrain, American silence and inaction in the face of human rights abuses has produced resentment toward the United States. Here is what The New York Times reported last week:

As the status quo endures — some believe that the king may introduce reforms this month, while others remain skeptical — anger among many Shiites toward American policy has deepened. Though some appreciated President Obama’s criticism of the crackdown in May, many lament what they see as a double standard. In contrast to the treatment of Syria and Libya, they point out, no administration official is calling for sanctions against Bahrain, a country where the United States has its largest regional naval base, for the Fifth Fleet. “Democracy isn’t only for those countries the United States has a problem with,” said Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Last week as well, the Obama Administration made an astonishing kow-tow to China and intervened in free elections in Taiwan. The Financial Times of London reported this:

The Obama administration has warned that a victory by Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese opposition leader, in the island’s January presidential election could raise tensions with China. A senior US official said Ms Tsai, the Democratic Progressive party leader who is visiting Washington, had sparked concerns about stability in the Taiwan Strait, which is “critically important” to the US. “She left us with distinct doubts about whether she is both willing and able to continue the stability in cross-Strait relations the region has enjoyed in recent years,” the official told the Financial Times after Ms Tsai met with administration officials.

What a picture! We intervene in Taiwan where there are free elections, and remain far too quiet on Bahrain where there are manifold abuses. When Bahraini human rights activists see a double standard, they are close to the truth: the Obama Administration appears to have no coherent human rights policy at all. If human rights NGOs were not mostly on the Left they would be protesting far more vociferously against this abandonment of principle.

The resentment felt in Bahrain can be dangerous to U.S. interests; indeed in the future it can endanger the presence of the Fifth Fleet there. I recall well the Nixon Administration’s support for the Greek coup in 1967, an act for which the people of Greece have still not forgiven us. One lesson of the Arab Spring must surely be that our relations with rulers cannot be allowed to displace our concern for the fate of the peoples they rule—who will remember whether we were with them or against them as they sought to end oppression and direct their own destinies.
…source

What a hypocritical world we live in
by Pamela Hansen – Article published on 18 September 2011

How can countries that market arms to tyrannical regimes pretend that they do not support human rights violations? What is even more two-faced is that they then get on their high horse and interfere militarily, or subtly, in other countries because of atrocities caused by weapons supplied by themselves?

I am so nauseated by politicians supporting and selling arms to dictators then turning all shocked and appalled when those weapons are used to ensure the tyrants retain their power.

UK anti arms campaigners have expressed dismay that Bahrain, which has killed scores of mainly Shias (who are treated as second-class citizens) since protests broke out in February, has been invited to one of the world’s largest arms fairs being hosted in London’s docklands.

When, in the early hours of 17 February, Bahrain security police stormed the roundabout where a protest was being held, doctors, nurses and paramedics went to the aid of people who had been shot, beaten and tear-gassed.

The security forces were not well pleased and, according to reports, at least one doctor was attacked by baton-wielding officers while tending to an injured demonstrator.

Doctors staged a protest after word spread that security forces were preventing the wounded from being taken to hospital. They blocked the entrance to the hospital, demanding the resignation of the health minister.

Other hospital workers, including nurses, joined in the protests. This led to 47 medics held under arrest in March. In early June, those doctors and nurses who had treated injured protesters in Bahrain appeared in a special military court in Manama charged with attempting to topple the monarchy.

The list of invitees to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition, which also included Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, the UAE and Kazakhstan, had been held back from the campaigners until the press started asking for it last week.

More than 1,300 companies, around half of which are British, are participating in the exhibition. Sixty-five countries have been invited.

In February, we saw the embarrassment of the US government in the early days of the revolution in Egypt, when the media was ever so careful not to call it that. Tear gas used against the regime protestors, obviously supplied by the US, flashed on our TV screens and we discovered that countries, notably the US, had subsidised Mubarak’s military to the tune of $1.3 billion a year.

Although President Barak Obama applied pressure on the Egyptian military for it not to attack the protestors, had the Egyptian people not been so resolute to overthrow Mubarak, the so-called democratic countries would still be propping him up.

He would no doubt have been invited to the current UK arms fair as well as Gaddafi.

And all is not over in Egypt. Last week, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), (whose representatives have no doubt visited the arms fair) widened the scope of the emergency law – restricted in 2010 by Mr Mubarak to narcotics and terrorism – to include strikes, traffic disruption and the spreading of rumours.

Hundreds are again gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to protest against the recent expansion of the emergency law. The Egyptians are now protesting at the military’s handling of transition from autocratic rule.
[Read more →]

[cb editor note: The work that goes on over at Global Research is excellent and no less praise from here for Mr. Cunningham. However, in the article that follows I respectfully disagree with Mr. Cunningham’s premise; Washington Preparing For ‘Regime Change’ in PR Disaster Kingdom. I expect the reality lies else where, in a broken down, over stretched and arrogant State Department and US Intelligence gathering Agencies. Their best briefings on Bahrain are little more that uninformed, uncritical from lazy analysts who reach no further than the BNA and feed Clinton and Obama the feel good, Pollyanna crap that they have cowed their staffs down to provide, as Obama tries to improve his election prospects, so we can all enjoy four more years of greedy democrats instead of greedy republicans. Tyrannical party leaders seem to enjoy the company and flattery of tyrannical kings.

The “partners” that occupy the White House aren’t interested in Bahrain aside from their personal and political profit motives. If democrats and “friends can make a few bucks” pimping the DNC leadership out as PR people to repackage al Khalifa’s sales image to the West and maybe increase national sales of a few extra tons of CS gas, they will, because that’s what interests them about the situation in Bahrain. They aren’t worried about loosing their base for the 5th fleet, they can just park the tanks and anti-riot gear there that the West has been selling the GCC and the Saudi’s. In Bahrain they sell CS gas and PR people but this Method of Operation was originally championed by former Secretary Albright in Kosov by snatching the Cell Phone concession as “spoils of war” after President Clinton and Cheney crushed Kosov and installed KBR and Haliburton as economic victors there. Same shit different theater.

The folks in DC have transformed themselves from the morally bankrupt to the morally dead. Their is no grand strategy, no ideal of a higher good other than amassing wealth, there is no real plan, just a world power dominated by egos and profit motives and a nation that has the guns and bombs to support their desires – here unto now anyway. This point of view would do the left some good, it might wake up and realize there is no grand plan or conspiracy other than profit motive and that the Western political system is neither sophisticated nor is it intelligent, it’s just fucking greedy. Sorry Mr. Cunningham maybe I’ll cheer up a little this week when (if) Greece defaults and Capitalism takes a shot to the nuts – one can only hope.

Peace,
Philipn ]

Bahrain: Is Washington Preparing For ‘Regime Change’ in PR Disaster Kingdom?
by Finian Cunningham – Global Research, September 18, 2011

The persistence of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in the face of brutal repression may be giving Washington second thoughts about its unwavering support for the royal rulers of the strategically important Persian Gulf kingdom. Are we about to witness a cosmetic ‘regime change’ – not so much for the genuine sake of democratic rights in Bahrain, but more to save Washington’s vital interests across the region?

The tiny island situated between Saudi Arabia and Qatar serves as the base for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. The Fifth Fleet, comprising 16,000 personnel and 30 vessels, is a staging ground for US military projection across the Middle East and Central Asia. It also monitors the sealanes of the Persian Gulf through which some 30 per cent of the world’s total supply of traded oil passes every day.

Since the mainly Shia population of Bahrain took to the streets on 14 February in protest against the unelected Sunni monarchy of the Al Khalifa dynasty, Washington has given unrelenting support to the regime – invariably describing Bahrain as “an important ally”.

Apart from the US Fifth Fleet, the US has a free trade agreement with Bahrain, it sells some $20 million in weapons every year to the kingdom, and Bahrain is a financial hub for American and global capital.

Bahrain returned all these favours by lending Washington and its NATO allies diplomatic cover for the military intervention in Libya to oust Muammar Gaddafi. Bahrain, along with the other Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, lined up dutifully behind the US/NATO intervention to give it a veneer of Arab approval, and thus head off charges that the aerial bombardment of Libya is a Western imperialist war of aggression. The Gulf Arab monarchies have also performed the same political function of providing diplomatic cover for the US/NATO sanctions and threats of intervention against Syria.

Bahrain and the other Gulf dictatorships (despite the irony of that) have thus played an important propaganda function. They have helped underpin the premise that the US and NATO involvement in Libya and Syria is guided by defence of human rights and democratic freedoms.

But now here’s the rub. Bahrain stands out as a glaring contradiction to stated US government claims regarding its interventions in Libya and Syria.

The fact that some 40 people have been killed in Bahrain for peacefully demanding democratic freedoms and basic human rights is an unmitigated damning indictment of the US-backed regime. Thousands have been injured – many horribly mutilated – from regime forces firing at unarmed peaceful demonstrators.

The apparent glaring contradiction between US foreign policy towards Bahrain and its espoused concerns for the people of Libya and Syria makes Bahrain under the Al Khalifa regime a serious liability to Washington’s “humanitarian” credibility.

Given the ongoing persecution against Shia workers (over 3,500 sacked); the preposterous use of military show trials to prosecute dozens of doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers and athletes; the widespread condemnation by human rights groups of illegal mass detention and torture; the targeting of independent journalists and bloggers; the expulsion of hundreds of students and academics – the liability of the Al Khalifa regime to Washington’s foreign policy credibility grows ever more unwieldy by the day. …more

Bahrain forces fire tear gas at funeral
Security forces use tear gas and rubber bullets on procession of a man who died after he himself was tear-gassed.
Last Modified: 17 Sep 2011 00:10

Governement says Jawad Marhun was killed by sickle cell disease, but his advocates say otherwise [Reuters]

Bahraini security forces have fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse thousands of mourners at the funeral of a man who died after he himself was tear-gassed, a Shia politician said.

“Security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the demonstrators while the majority of them were trying to leave at the end of the funeral,” said Matar Matar, a senior member of Al-Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest Shia opposition formation, on Friday.

Tens of thousands of Bahrainis, he said, were at the funeral of Jawad Marhun, a 36-year-old who died late on Wednesday from what Al-Wefaq said was “excessive exposure to tear gas from a canister tossed into his parents home on September 10”.

The government of Bahrain, which crushed a month of protests in mid-March, said Marhun had died from “acute respiratory” problems as a result of sickle cell disease. His family denies that he had the disease, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).

In April, the government said two other activists died from the blood disorder while in custody.

“Sooner or later, the people will achieve victory,” the mourners chanted in the village of Sitra, according to Matar.

“He is the second victim within about two weeks in Sitra,” said the former member of parliament.

“In general, the tension in Bahrain is increasing and the government is still using excessive force against the demonstrators and ignoring the demand for real dialogue that would lead to major political reforms.”

The BCHR says that the government has intensified its use of tear gas in a campaign to stop unrest.

“We are receiving many complaints that the teargas being used now produces a black smoke rather than white, and is a lot stronger than the one security forces used to use,” the BCHR said in a statement.

“The burning feeling in the chest is sharper, and the skin feels like it is burning (as described by protesters).”

On August 31, Ali Jawad Ahmed al-Sheikh, 14, died in the village of Sitra during a protest after prayers commemorating the beginning of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

The opposition said al-Sheikh was fatally wounded when he was struck in the face by a tear gas canister fired by security forces.

“According to those who took him to the hospital, those working at the hospital refused to treat the boy,” said the BCHR.

The government said the teenager died of trauma after suffering a blow from a blunt object to the back of the neck that could not have been caused by a rubber bullet or tear gas.

The deaths come ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for September 24.

The opposition has already boycotted the polls and wants democratic reforms in the Gulf kingdom where a Sunni monarchy has ruled over a majority Shia population for decades.

“I believe that the shortest path for stability can be reached if the king takes a brave decision to drive the kingdom (towards) tolerance and real political reform,” Matar said.

Security forces were aided in the March crackdown on protesters after being backed by troops with tanks from neighbouring monarchies.

Authorities said 24 people were killed in the unrest, including four police officers. The opposition put the toll at 30. …source

Tad Stahnk Response to Bahrain’s Ambassador to Washington, letter to Washington Post editor – original letter follows

The Post’s Sept. 9 editorial on Bahrain wisely warned that “the administration should use its influence now — before the crisis resumes.” In fact, the crisis hasn’t ever gone away for Bahrainis, even though the U.S. government has conveniently forgotten it.

The writer is director of policy and programs at Human Rights First.

Letter to the Editor
Bahrain’s progress — or not
Published: September 16 – Washington Post

Regarding the Sept. 9 editorial “Bahrain’s brewing crisis”:

We agree that thoughtful dialogue on events in Bahrain is crucial. But this editorial wrongly criticized our peaceful reconciliation process and failed to provide a comprehensive picture of what we have accomplished for all Bahrainis.

Moreover, the editorial asserted that the United States has played a passive role as we work to unify our nation. Bahrain’s government has appreciated support from our ally the United States as we strive to peaceably overcome challenges. We are proud to be home to the Navy’s 5th Fleet, and we stand with the United States in its fight against terrorism.

The decision of opposition groups to remove themselves from our peaceful dialogue reinforces an active trend of trying to hinder Bahrain’s democratic process. Bahrain’s 300 National Dialogue participants represented all political parties, including opposition groups. We cannot force a rational, measured process on those who would rather settle disputes in the streets.

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry will detail the actions of the government and protest movement. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the creation of the group, which has already demonstrated an impartial approach to investigating events in Bahrain. We are prepared to live with whatever hard truths are revealed.

Houda Nonoo, Washington

The writer is Bahrain’s ambassador to the United States.

…source