cb editor: The parallels between US policy and conduct in 1980s Central America and the MENA are worth a review. One of the darkest chapters from the 80’s was a Central America dominated by the Regan-Bush phenomena. Iran Contra was the culmination of corrupt and violent dealings by the US in Central America as it backed dictators and supplied covert funding and other support for massive Human Rights abuses. The Democrats took the Republicans to task for such dealings, indictments and convictions of those in the highest part of US government followed. Today in Bahrain and throughout MENA that which was forbidden in Central America is key in open US war profiteering that boasts jobs, domestic economic rescue and improved security as part of a “war on terror”. Perhaps the most interesting aspect to all of this is, the Democrats now Preside and facilitate remarkably similar dealings openly and unashamedly.

Noam Chomsky on Central America

Bahrain Orders Retrials for Medical Workers
By RICK GLADSTONE – Published: October 5, 2011 – NYT

Bahraini Judicial authorities on Wednesday nullified the convictions and harsh prison terms given to 20 medical workers last week by a special security court prosecuting cases arising from civil unrest in the country. The medical workers were ordered released from custody, with new trials scheduled in a civilian court.
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The decision appeared to be at least a tactical retreat by Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy in the face of strong international protests over the punishments, including criticism from the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. The special court had condemned some doctors and nurses among the defendants to terms as long as 15 years because they had treated demonstrators who were wounded by security forces. Most of the protesters are members of the Shiite majority in the tiny Persian Gulf country.

Bahrain’s attorney general, Ali Alboainain, said in a statement carried by the country’s official Bahrain News Agency that he had studied the judgment that the security court rendered Thursday and had “determined that the cases should be retried before the ordinary courts.”

Citing his department’s authority to ensure “rightful application of the law,” the attorney general also said: “No doctors or other medical personnel may be punished by reason of the fulfillment of their humanitarian duties or their political views. Pending the outcome of the retrials, the accused shall not be detained.”

The security court found that during the height of the protests, the medical workers took over the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain’s largest public hospital, and used it as a base for antigovernment plots, including the storage of fuel bombs and weapons. The defendants were also accused of stealing medical equipment and “fabricating stories and lies.”

Supporters of the defendants denied those charges and said the medical workers were put on trial simply because they had treated wounded protesters, out of a duty to treat anyone who came to the hospital.

In what seemed a tacit acknowledgment that the special court had denied the defendants their rights, the attorney general said, “By virtue of the retrials, the accused will have the benefit of full re-evaluation of evidence and full opportunity to present their defense.”

The prosecution of the medical workers has become a signature theme in the course of the Bahrain conflict, and a delicate issue for the monarchy, an important American ally and the host to the United States Fifth Fleet’s naval base. Rights groups have accused the monarchy’s security forces of trying to systematically deny medical services to wounded protesters by mistreating and intimidating doctors and nurses.

Physicians for Human Rights, an advocacy group that has strongly criticized the Bahrain government’s behavior in the protests, reacted cautiously to the attorney general’s announcement on Wednesday. “ We are glad for any kind of review of the grossly unjust convictions,” said Hans Hogrefe, the group’s Washington director. At the same time, Mr. Hogrefe said, “ the proof will be in the pudding.”

Mr. Hogrefe said he believed that the attorney general’s announcement reflected a “response to the international outcry.”

He and others also noted that the announcement came as Congress began to evaluate the planned American sale of $53 million worth of weapons to Bahrain, including bunker-busting missiles, night-vision technology and dozens of Humvee vehicles. Human rights groups have written to Congress urging that the deal be blocked because of rights abuses in Bahrain.

Rights groups estimate that since the unrest there began, at least 34 people have been killed, more than 1,400 arrested and as many as 3,600 dismissed from their jobs.

J. David Goodman contributed reporting. …source

Arab Spring Makes An Autumn Return: Saudi Police Open Fire On Protesting Civilians
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/05/2011 – ZeroHedge

Today’s news that Greek protesters were back and getting occasionally violent caught nobody by surprise. However what may be unexpected is that not only is the Arab Spring back (almost in time for Christmas) but it is in the bastion of “stability”, not to mention crude oil, Saudi Arabia. As The Independent reports, “Pro-democracy protests which swept the Arab world earlier in the year have erupted in eastern Saudi Arabia over the past three days, with police opening fire with live rounds and many people injured, opposition activists say.” What? Never heard of this before? Yes, amazing how efficient the media veil is when it has an agenda.

Saudi Arabia last night confirmed there had been fighting in the region and that 11 security personnel and three civilians had been injured in al-Qatif, a large Shia city on the coast of Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province. The opposition say that 24 men and three women were wounded on Monday night and taken to al-Qatif hospital.

The Independent has been given exclusive details of how the protests developed by local activists. They say unrest began on Sunday in al-Awamiyah, a Shia town of about 25,000 people, when Saudi security forces arrested a 60-year-old man to force his son – an activist – to give himself up.

Mr Rayah added that “there have been protests for democracy and civil rights since February, but in the past the police fired into the air. This is the first time they have fired live rounds directly into a crowd.” He could not confirm if anybody had been killed.

The biggest loser when this spreads? Why the US of course.

The US, as the main ally of Saudi Arabia, is likely to be alarmed by the spread of pro-democracy protests to the Kingdom and particularly to that part of it which contains the largest oil reserves in the world. The Saudi Shia have been angered at the crushing of the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain since March, with many protesters jailed, tortured or killed, according Western human rights organisations.

Hamza al-Hassan, an opponent of the Saudi government from Eastern Province living in Britain, predicted that protests would spread to more cities. “I am frightened when I see video film of events because most people in this region have guns brought in over the years from Iraq and Yemen and will use them [against government security men],” he said. He gave a slightly different account of the start of the riots in al-Awamiyah, saying that two elderly men had been arrested by the security forces, one of whom had a heart attack.

“Since September there has been a huge presence of Saudi security forces in al-Qatif and all other Shia centres,” he said. Al-Qatif was the scene of similar protests in March, which were swiftly quashed by security forces.

We ask any of our readers who may be in the region (where unfortunately ZH is blocked), to send us video clips of any riots and any and all police intervention whether with or without use of deadly force. …source

Bahrain in danger of being ‘Berlin of the Middle East’ – Liam Fox
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 October 2011 13.42 EDT – by Paul Owen

Tory defence secretary warns that Shia protests and Sunni government crackdown will turn nation into dangerous flashpoint

Defence secretary Liam Fox warned at the Conservative party’s conference that Bahrain is in danger of becoming a dangerous flashpoint, a ‘Berlin of the Middle East’. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Bahrain’s religious divide means it is in danger of becoming “the Berlin of the Middle East”, Liam Fox said on Tuesday.

The defence secretary told a fringe meeting at the Tory conference in Manchester that the Shia protests and Sunni government crackdown in the Gulf nation meant it was becoming a potential flashpoint in the ongoing Arab spring.

“My worry is that if we don’t get a resolution in Bahrain you can see, on a Sunni-Shia front, that it almost becomes the Berlin of the Middle East,” Fox said.

Noting that “we have a lot of our naval assets there”, the defence secretary went on: “We have tried to impress upon the king and the crown prince to embrace reform. If you break, it’s because you won’t bend. There has to be a recognition of respect for human rights, there needs to be economic reform,” and the rights of the Shia majority must be respected by the minority Sunni ruling class.

Fox said he had spent a lot of time trying to get “others in the region” to help encourage the country to reform. “If we can do that it’s a way to unlock some of the other tension in the region.”

Bahraini security forces have made hundreds of arrests recently as part of a crackdown on mostly Shia protesters seeking greater human rights. A court in the small Gulf nation on Tuesday sentenced 26 activists to prison for their part in anti-government protests, bringing to 60 the total number convicted over the past two days.

Fox also emphasised that “the military conflict is not over in Libya”. The National Transitional Council says the war will be won when Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte is conquered. Fighting continues there.

“People talk as if it is all over,” the defence secretary said. “We’ve got some way to go to ensure the population are not threatened by the remnants of the Gaddafi regime. There is a lot of work ongoing … Nato will continue the mission as long as necessary.”

The new government may want security assistance and advice on governing during the months to come, “but they may not,” Fox said. “It’s up to the government of Libya to decide how much advice they want … We have been there protecting the population from the Gaddafi regime and its violence so they could determine their own future, not so we can determine it for them.”

Fox was notably hawkish about the threat posed from Iran, which he said was developing a nuclear weapons programme: “We know that.”

He said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government was “a particularly nasty, brutal regime. It has an appalling human rights record that is getting worse … It is willing to export terror … It is developing a nuclear programme no reasonable person can believe is purely for civil use.

“If it was only the first two you could say: ‘Let’s try and manage and adapt.’ This programme will lead us into a very different world. If Iran becomes a nuclear weapons state it would not be very long before Saudi Arabia, Turkey, probably Egypt, would become nuclear weapons states. As I used to say to my patients: you can’t be a bit pregnant. It either is or it isn’t.”

Asked what actions Britain was prepared to stop this, Fox said: “We don’t want to rule anything out.

“We have said all along we do want to get a diplomatic solution … We continue with the process of diplomacy and sanctions, but … our negotiating position has to be that we do not rule anything out, because as soon as we started to do so it would strengthen the hand of the Iranian regime and weaken the chances of any settlement that would stop Iran becoming a nuclear weapons state.”

He called Iran “a major problem for the international community”.

But he was much less bullish about Saudi Arabia. “We have been long-time partners with Saudi Arabia. We have been encouraging them towards reform,” Fox said. “The steps towards reform have been small but welcome … The best way to proceed is not megaphone diplomacy, it’s to talk to our friends … rather than lecturing them from the pulpit, which unfortunately is all too common.”

Without Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, on counter-terrorism especially, “our citizens would be a lot less safe”.

Fox stopped interviewer Peter Oborne when it was suggested the Saudis had “invaded Bahrain” earlier this year. “They didn’t invade Bahrain,” the defence secretary said. “There was a joint GCC [Gulf Co-operation Council] mission that went in at the invitation of the government of Bahrain.”

Fox was also asked whether Tony Blair was “fit for purpose” as the quartet’s Palestinian peace envoy. As many in the audience cried “No!” the defence secretary said: “I’m sure he means well, and I wouldn’t wish that anyone who might assist the process won’t succeed, but given his record as prime minister of the United Kingdom I’m not exactly sure what were the great qualities of Tony Blair that make him an exceptional international statesman.” …source

Protecting the US-Bahraini relationship
by Cole Bockenfeld – 04 October 2011 – Common Ground

Washington, DC – The United States has maintained a key security relationship with Bahrain since 1947, demonstrated most visibly by the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet located in Manama. As the political situation in Bahrain continues to deteriorate, however, the United States needs to re-energise its diplomatic efforts toward Bahrain, and prioritise real reform and accountability. Failure to do so risks an escalation of violence that could endanger the relationship both parties hold dear.

In February, an estimated 300,000 people – more than half of the nation’s citizens – marched for greater political freedom and respect for human rights. In response, the Bahraini government resorted to brute force that has torn the fabric of Bahraini society at its seams.

In the ensuing crackdown, at least six per cent of the Bahraini workforce has been suspended or fired, and at least four out of every 1,000 citizens have been jailed as political prisoners.

Months after the masses have been forced from the streets, the dialogue has largely been declared a farce. Members of the opposition remain in jail (some facing life sentences), and nightly skirmishes between protesters and riot police persist. On Saturday, Bahrain held a second round of by-elections to fill 18 seats in the parliament vacated by the opposition in protest of the government’s crackdown, amid dismally low turnout rates that indicate widespread disillusionment with the political process.

In a troubling development, the US Administration recently proposed a new $53 million arms sale to Bahrain. In response, the Project on Middle East Democracy has drafted a letter to Congress, warning that if the United States “resumes arms sales as though circumstances had returned to normal, Bahrain’s rulers will have no reason” to take “meaningful steps toward accountability or political reform.”

Some American diplomats fear too much pressure on the government could antagonise the monarchy to the point they would call for the Fifth Fleet to leave. At the same time, the chasm between the Bahraini opposition and the government continues to widen as the crackdown continues and trust-building measures appear elusive.

Chances for both sides to return to the negotiating table are slim, but not non-existent.

Given the vital Bahraini-US relationship, the Obama Administration has the opportunity to play a role in moving national reconciliation forward. One change they could use this influence to affect is the withdrawal of Gulf Cooperation Council forces from Bahrain, a presence that emboldens hardliners within the Bahraini government. In addition, the United States could expedite confirmation and deployment of Ambassador-designate Thomas Krajeski, tasked with the top priority of rebuilding trust and returning all parties to the negotiating table in a meaningful and substantive dialogue.

Bahrain also has incentive to take constructive steps because it highly values its image in the international community as a Gulf country that is stable, modern and business-friendly. The government’s reaction to peaceful protests risks its rulers joining a club of regional autocrats bent on preserving power through repression. To preserve its reputation as a country of tolerance and prosperity, the Bahraini government could release its political prisoners, dropping politically motivated charges against them, under the rights afforded them by rule of law.

Along a similar vein, Bahraini security forces could allow peaceful political protests, and the government could call for a process for meaningful accountability of Bahraini security forces involved in the arrest, torture, unlawful detention and deaths of prisoners of conscience. Accountability is a critical building block to restore protesters’ trust in the sincerity of the government’s devotion to reform, and allowing non-violent protests creates a peaceful channel for Bahrainis to express their demands – a much preferred option to the armed conflict that has occurred in Libya, and is quickly developing in Syria.

The government could reinstate all public and government-invested enterprises’ employees dismissed from their workplace for their perceived support of or participation in political protests, as another demonstration that they are willing to negotiate.

Failure by the United States to use its considerable leverage in Bahrain, and failure by Bahrain to reform and live up its desired reputation as stable, modern and business-friendly, would be short-sighted, and jeopardise their valued security relationship. The US Administration and the Bahraini government have a responsibility to act and deliver meaningful reform and accountability, or risk the very scenario both wish to avoid. …source

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates September 29, 2011, 09:31 am ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain’s special security court on Thursday sentenced a protester to death for killing a policeman, and gave doctors and nurses who treated injured protesters during the country’s uprising earlier this year lengthy prison sentences, a lawyer said.

Attorney Mohsen al-Alawi said the tribunal, set up during Bahrain’s emergency rule, convicted and sentenced 13 medical professionals each to 15 years in prison. In addition, two doctors were sentenced to 10 years each while five other medics got 5-year prison terms.

The harsh sentences in the two separate court cases suggest the Sunni authorities in the Gulf kingdom will not relent in pursing and punishing those they accuse of supporting the Shiite-led opposition and participating in dissent that has roiled the tiny island nation.

Earlier this year, the same special court sentenced two other protesters to death for killing a police officer in a separate incident.

Al-Alawi, who was the defense lawyer for several medics, said the 20 medical professionals, who were charged with various anti-state crimes, and the protester who got the death sentence on Thursday can all appeal their verdicts.

A Bahraini rights group identified the protester as Ali Yousef Abdulwahab al-Taweel. The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said that another suspect, Ali Attia Mahdi, was convicted on Thursday as al-Taweel’s accomplice and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The tribunal’s military prosecutor, Yousef Rashid Flaifel, said the two men were convicted of premeditated murder in the killing of an officer in the oil hub of Sitra. In comments to the state-run Bahrain News Agency, Flaifel said the men committed a “terror act” by running over the policeman with two cars. He didn’t say when the incident occurred.
[Read more →]

…source