[cb editor: if the BICI report makes no recommendation that lends it’s-self to swift justice for regime crimes against the people of Bahrain and if it recommends nothing to lose the oppresive grip of the regime over the people, say freedom for the detained, dismissal of charges against the accused, demilitarization/removal of security forces from the villages and public places or any other such tangible and immdeiate result, then it seems the BICI Report does little to serve the interests of the Bahraini people. Indeed this too is simply hype and conjecture without a report. So we have it tit-for-tat hyperbolas arguments in lieu of the report. However it seems to be a fundamental expectation that if the Report does not serve the immediate liberation of the People of Bahrain from the al Khalifa regime it is DOA. ]

US urges Bahrain to implement recommendations of human rights probe
17 October 2011 – Trend

The United States expects the government of Bahrain to respond swiftly to the recommendations of a commission investigating alleged human rights abuses, a US official said Monday, dpa reported.

“We fully expect the government (of Bahrain) to respond appropriately and robustly,” the US assistant deputy secretary of State for Arabian Peninsula Affairs, Stephen Seche, said in a press conference at the US Embassy in Manama. “This a process they began … they responded with seriousness of intent throughout the investigation, and we fully expect that seriousness of intent to continue when the recommendations are materialized,” added Seche.

The report on the inquiry is expected to be delivered to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on October 30 and will be made public in its entirety. Seche, who is on a three day visit to Bahrain, acknowledged mistakes from security forces in dealing with protesters but added that the commission could be used as a “confidence building” measure between the government and the opposition.

He also defended a proposed 53-million-dollar arms deal with the small Gulf island, saying that the final decision depended on respect for human rights by the authorities. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry was tasked by the king to probe claims of systematic targeting of protesters during mass uprisings in February and March.

Protesters were demanding political reforms and greater freedoms in the Sunni-ruled, Shiite-majority kingdom. Bahrain, which is home to the US Navy 5th Fleet, has accused Shiite-led Iran of meddling in the country’s internal affairs and standing behind the protests.

The commission is currently examining the death of more then 30 people, the police detention and alleged torture of hundreds of protesters, and the sacking of more then 2,000 workers during the pro-democracy protests that erupted in Bahrain in February. …source

A Geek Role in the Arab Spring
European Group Helps Tackle Regime Censorship
14 October, 2011 – By Ole Reissmann and Marcel Rosenbach – Der Spiegel

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A skinny young man with blue-dyed hair and boxy, horn-rimmed glasses sits in front of a laptop at a tiny desk in a shared apartment in Berlin’s bohemian Friedrichshain district. This is what the auxiliary forces of the Arab Spring look like, of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere.

Stephan Urbach’s eyes are half closed. The 31-year-old complains about not getting enough sleep again as he takes a sip of Club Mate, a sweet and highly caffeinated soft drink that has become the beverage of choice for many activists working the night shift.

Until late last year, Urbach had a full-time position at AOL, the Internet service provider, where his job was to provide technical support to advertising customers around the globe.

In a way, he is still providing such support — though all of his “customers” now have names like Muhammad or Ahmad. And, unlike with his previous job, he gets a jolt of excitement every time their messages appear on his screen. He’s also relieved because every message he receives shows they can still go online and are not in prison or being tortured. Such has been the fate of many bloggers and digital dissidents — even in supposedly post-revolutionary countries, such as Egypt.

The Birth of an Online Movement

Urbach is wearing a black T-shirt with lightening bolts printed across it. This is the symbol of Telecomix, a loose network of international computer freaks that first emerged in Sweden. Their main goal is to make the Internet free and uncensored. Roughly three years back, the activists’ first project — and the one that determined their group’s name — was to influence Sweden’s implementation of European Union telecommunications legislation.

During the 2009 protest movement in Iran and the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, Telecomix still mainly functioned as a group that gathered and disseminated information. The net activists posted links to the pages of dissidents and critical bloggers who dared to challenge the authoritarian regime in their respective country as well as the conformist state media by acting as citizen journalists.

But on Jan. 27 — the day the regime of then-President Hosni Mubarak took Egypt offline – Telecomix decided it should do more than simply act as a vehicle for enhancing the reach of critical voices.

Geeks to the Rescue

Egypt’s Internet blackout lasted several days. This helpless and desperate act showed that Egypt’s authoritarian rulers realized the threat posed by rebellious netizens and their medium. Likewise, it demonstrated that the regime was afraid of the way that social media could aid in broadcasting calls for mobilization as well as of the critical comments of many bloggers.

Mubarak’s technical counterattack shocked online activists and hackers around the world. For many, it was like a wake-up call for them to offer concrete assistance to those denied online freedoms. Since then, a very active movement has sprung up, and Telecomix is only one of a number of such collectives.

Activists at the anonymizing service Tor, for example, are holding workshops for Arab bloggers and, for years, they have been advising people on how to surf securely and send photos and videos abroad undetected. The hacker collective Anonymous also aims to focus more of its attacks on authoritarian countries in which protest movements are forming. …more

MP criticizes S. Arabia for leveling allegations against Iran
Tehran Times – 15 October, 2011

TEHRAN – MP Mohammad Karim Abedi has criticized Saudi Arabia for making unfounded accusations against Tehran over the alleged Iranian government’s involvement in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

He made the remarks in an interview with the Fars News Agency published on Saturday in response to Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi Arabian intelligence chief, who said on October 12, “Somebody in Iran will have to pay the price?…no matter how high the level of that person is.”

According to Reuters, on October 11, U.S. authorities claimed that they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran’s security agencies to kill the Saudi envoy, Adel al-Jubeir.

Abedi said that the White House needed to give the United States a “shock” to divert attention from the protests on Wall Street, and therefore accused Iran of creating insecurity in the United States.

“Saudi Arabia has begun to make political deals with the U.S. to prevent the collapse of the Al Saud regime,” he stated.

“The United States and Saudi Arabia were defeated by the Islamic Revolution of Iran during the popular uprisings, and hatched such an unwise plot to take revenge on Iran and should definitely pay the price,” the lawmaker added.

Abedi also said, “If the U.S. believes that two persons can blow up an embassy in the United States, they have to appeal to international forces to protect the security of their citizens” and ask another country to host the United Nations.

“Saudi Arabia should pay the price for spreading lies and leveling allegations against Iran,” he said, adding, “There is no evidence against Iran.”

In addition, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast said on Monday that U.S. officials’ claims indicate that a scenario against Iran is at work.

Alleged Iran Terror Plot tied to Mr. Bean, Saudia Arabia, Iraq and Bahrain
October 15th, 2011 – Jasmin Ramsey – lobelog

The details of the alleged Iranian terror plot are getting more interesting and complicated by the day. In addition to experts analyzing its sketchy details, a significant amount has been written about Mansour Arbabsiar’s lifestyle and personality, with a former business partner and friend telling Reuters that “If they’re looking for 007, they got Mr. Bean.” But what’s more important is the way the plot is being further tied to Iran, even while the credibility of the two main witnesses is being seriously questioned (read this for more on the DEA and the DEA informant’s role in the plot).

Just consider the elaborateness of these allegations: not only did the conspiracy allegedly involve an Iranian assassination plot against a diplomat from Saudi Arabia on U.S. soil, it’s also being tied to the unrest in Bahrain and U.S. losses in Iraq. Thus, the unnamed “cousin,” who Arbabsiar described as a “big general in [the] army,” according to the complaint, is identified in a press release about new OFAC sanctions as Abdul Reza Shahlai — the same man who, as reported by Laura Rozen, was previously designated as the Qods Force deputy commander behind the 2007 raid in southern Iraq by a Shiite militant group that killed five U.S. soldiers. Robert Mackey of the New York Time’s blog The Lede also informs us that Saudi scholar and former royal family adviser Nawaf Obeid told McClatchy that Gholam Shakuri, the other Qods officer behind the alleged plot, was suspected by Saudi intelligence of “fomenting unrest in Bahrain on behalf of Iran’s government.”

So the first conspirator named by Arbabsiar is said to have harmed the U.S. in Iraq, and the second is allegedly behind the protest movement in Bahrain which is ongoing despite the crackdown by Bahrain’s ruling family with the help of some 1,500 Saudi and Emirati troops. Could this really be possible? Always. Is it likely or even plausible? Not really.

Some questions in addition to the ones I asked on the day the accusations were made public:

1) The first mention of Arbabsiar’s “cousin” in the FBI complaint is made by the DEA informant, CS-1: “During their July 14 meeting, CS-l asked ARBABSIAR about ARBABSIAR’s cousin…” This means that the initial conversation about Arbabsiar’s cousin was not documented. Why is that and what did it involve?

2) Since the DEA informant is a “paid confidential source”, how are we to assess his role in the plot, considering his incentives (not necessarily restricted to financial ones) to bring Arbabsiar in? (Also read Stephen Walt’s comments about the FBI’s track record with these kinds of conspiracies.)

3) Would a high-level Qods force member not be able to assess Arbabsiar’s shady and shaky character before asking him to carry out an extremely risky assassination attempt with his own reputation on the line? Was the Iranian Mr. Bean his only option?

4) Even if Arbabsiar’s cousin is indeed Shahlai, and Shahlai is who the U.S. claims he is, does he represent the Iranian government? What if Shahlai, for various possible reasons, acted on his own accord? In other words, was this an Iranian plot or an Iranian cousin’s plot?

Again, the question is not whether Iran is capable of terrorism (because it is) or about Arbabsiar’s guilt, but whether the Iranian government was behind an act of international terrorism on U.S. soil. When the media headlines pieces on this case using phrases like “Iran plot” it is going to be remembered by readers as such regardless of the facts presented. The long-term effects of this on the U.S. psyche remain to be seen, but is there enough evidence to even make that claim at this point? This question is particularly important when prominent pundits such as those that pushed for the invasion of Iraq are pushing for a military response to Iran. Consider the recent words of well-known neoconservative Reuel Marc Gerecht in the Wall Street Journal:

The White House needs to respond militarily to this outrage. If we don’t, we are asking for it.

Until hard evidence is offered by the Obama administration to back up its far-reaching allegations, more questions need to be asked. It’s disconcerting that while the U.S. is gearing up to respond with further punitive measures against Iran, the most important question hasn’t even been adequately answered yet.
…source

America’s Triclomacy: Provoke war between Saudi Arabia and Iran
Date: 15 October 2011Posted By : by Dr. Abdul Ruff – The Canadian

Tricky diplomacy or triclomacy, is a hall mark of American policy for decades now. Recent diplomatic massacres of a extremely tricky unipolar USA in Islamic world demonstrate the crude fact that America can never be a a true democracy, let alone being a sincere peace mediator.

Terrorism, both state and non-state- is the creation of USA and its allies for advancing their joint economic and energy agendas, besides defaming Islam and reducing Muslim populations by killing Muslims. The Sept-11 hoax was a purely American brain child meant to help pursue energy agenda in Mideast. The ongoing terror wars and uprisings are the offshoots of neocon secret agenda against humanity. Paid FBI informants posing as terrorists entrapped the so-called Liberty City Seven in Miami in a fabricated plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. There was the case of the Newburgh Four, in which a veteran FBI agent-provocateur, offering large amounts of cash, entrapped four young African-American men in a plot to put explosives in New York area synagogues. Like dozens of such incidents, these plots never involved any real threat and would never have existed without government agents creating them as part of the phony “war on terrorism.”

The global dictator and unilateral USA invading Muslim nations on illegal pretexts, like wild animals, and having killed millions of innocent Muslims for fun and consumed their corpses, says Iran is acting outside “accepted norms of international behaviour.” Say, what?

Obama has even created a secret sub-committee of the National Security Council to draw up “kill lists” of those to be murdered by Predator drones, in gross violation of international law and basic ethics. In 2008, it was revealed that the Bush administration had issued a presidential finding authorizing a covert CIA destabilization campaign against Iran, which Congress then funded to the tune of $400 million. This operation continues under Obama.Iran has been on the receiving end of these kinds of operations, with a string of assassinations of leading scientists involved in its nuclear program. CIA can go to any extend to get what it wants from the world.

USA quickly blamed Iran for the assassination attempt. The purported Iranian “terrorist plot” to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the USA, appears to be a crude concoction by elements of the American state apparatus to blackguard Iran and create the pretext for an escalation of US aggression. US dummy President B.Obama said his regime would make Iran “pay a price” for an. He described it as “part of a pattern of dangerous and reckless behavior by the Iranian government.” In the same remarks, Obama stressed that his administration will not “take any options off the table in terms of how we operate with Iran”, a phrase that is universally understood as a threat of US military aggression. The remarks signaled Washington’s decision to utilize this bizarre incident, about which there are far more questions than answers, as a pretext for escalating tension with Iran to the point of saber-rattling threats of war. However, Madam Hillary Clinton referred to the improbable connections in the case, with Iran’s secret service supposedly asking Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel, to carry out the assassination as a paid hit. Even the media, outside of the inevitable hyper-ventilating by CNN, Financial Times and Fox News, has taken a skeptical view of the allegations of the White House and the US Justice Department. They question the value of the US statement. It is far from clear, however, that the plot enjoyed the backing of the Iranian regime. Indeed, there are reasons to be skeptical that it did. It is due to the improbable character of this new “Hollywood script” that US officials, from President Obama on down, have joined in branding the Iranian regime as “reckless”. Even if Tehran thought of such attack, Iran’s Quds Force, like CIA and Mossad, considered to be one of the world’s more professional covert agencies, would not have entrusted this sort of “explosive” campaign to a third party is impossible. To put it bluntly, nothing about it makes any sense to humanity.

Global fascist media (GFM) run by corporate world from the West and East offers updates about deaths in Syria which is being destabilized by CIA agents but keep silent about the details on NATO massacres in occupied Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Libya. …source

Bahrain PM Says Supports Human Rights, As US Arms Deal In Offing
Written by: Eurasia Review – October 17, 2011

Bahrain’s Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa stressed Sunday his country’s aims to promote human rights and bolster global security and stability, reports Bahrain state media.

The statement made to a US Congress delegation comes amid reports a US arms deal with Bahrain could be linked to claims of human rights violations. A US State Department spokesperson confirmed Friday that Bahrain is negotiating a $53 million contract with Bahrain for “armored high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, better known as humvees and TOW missiles to go on them” aimed at protecting the country from a potential attack “or nefarious activity by countries like Iran.”

According to BNA, Al-Khalifa, “stressed the importance of dialogue-as a strategic choice – and the protection of human rights and liberties as the cornerstone of Bahrain’s reform policies.”

BNA reported “that the US Congress delegation led by House of Representatives member Donald Payne acknowledged Bahrain’s efforts to embark on democracy and promote reforms steadily. They also lauded the Government’s efforts in this regard, ensuring Bahrain’s pioneering democratic and reform strides.”

On Friday, US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland acknowledged that the State Department had received a letter from a number of members of US Congress regarding the sale, to which she responded, “As you know, human rights is an issue that we take into account when we look at missile sales. In this case, this is a notification about future intent. This sale doesn’t – there’s a timetable, and quite an extended one, for when these things might be delivered, and we will continue to take human rights into consideration as we make future decisions about this.”

Nevertheless, Nuland said that the sale is designed to support the Bahraini military in its external defense function, “specifically in hardening the country against potential attack or nefarious activity by countries like Iran, et cetera, and we do have an interest in Bahrain and our other Gulf partners being able to be strong militarily vis-à-vis the regional challenges that they face.”

“So again, this is a notification. No transfer decisions have been made. Human rights will be taken into account. We are discussing this with the Congress. We are also discussing this with the Bahrainis as well as the full docket of human rights issues, and we are continuing to look at things,” Nuland said.

At the Friday press conference, in response to a journalist’s questions if the State Department was expecting an invasion from Iran Nulan declined to comment.

When asked if it’s safe to assume that the intent will be used as a bargaining chip or a leverage with the Bahraini Government, conditional on the human rights situation, that the US is not going to deliver the arms unless there is a change in the human rights situation, Nuland responded, “I don’t think that’s an accurate way to portray this. This is a foreign military sale for use against an external threat. However, whenever we sell military equipment, we have to – we hold countries to high human rights standards. So we are watching intently the work of this independent Bahraini commission. It will make its report. The Bahraini Government will need to take steps to address what is found. And as I said, we don’t make foreign military sales without taking human rights considerations into account. But I wouldn’t characterize this the way you have.”
http://www.eurasiareview.com/17102011-bahrain-pm-says-supports-human-rights-as-us-arms-deal-in-offing/

Bahrain Arms Sale Scrutinized in Whitehouse Press Briefing

During yesterday’s State Department daily press briefing, the Bahraini arms sale came under heavy scrutiny and criticism. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland noted “that this sale is designed to support the Bahraini military in its external defense function, specifically in hardening the country against potential attack or nefarious activity by countries like Iran, et cetera, and we do have an interest in Bahrain and our other Gulf partners being able to be strong militarily vis-à-vis the regional challenges that they face.”

Yet, when further pressed about the issue of making sure once the arms are delivered, how the U.S. will confirm they are not used internally, Nuland noted “We do have in all of these sales, and including in this one, end-use monitoring agreements where we are allowed to go in and monitor how this equipment is being used; is it being used for the purpose that we agreed to when we agreed to the sale.” A follow up question was asked about the arms sale being used as a bargaining chip for the Bahraini to change their human rights record, the press secretary responded “I don’t think that’s an accurate way to portray this. This is a foreign military sale for use against an external threat. However, whenever we sell military equipment, we have to – we hold countries to high human rights standards.” Nuland further pressed the issue of the sale will only be used for external use and a monitoring system will be in place, but gave no further detail about the issue of human rights or actual accountability.
…source

Democracy ‘can’t be achieved by violence’
October 17, 2011 – Gulf Daily News

MANAMA: Democracy can’t be achieved in Bahrain by resorting to violence and blocking roads, which may put the country on the brink of a “civil war”, three members of the US Congress said last night.

They also defended the right of Bahrain to choose the type of democracy that best serves the interests of its people, at a dinner banquet hosted by the Bahrain American Council in their honour.

Only peaceful means can make a difference when it comes to voicing demands, they pointed out.

US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, who is visiting Bahrain along with Donald Payne and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, stressed the importance of promoting democracy by co-opting all people and institutions, instead of seeking to impose individual visions or resorting to non-peaceful means.

Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey said real democracy cannot be achieved through riots and road blocks. She also stressed that only peaceful means can mark any tangible difference.

Congressman Payne stressed vital US interests in the region.

The US legislators said that the US doesn’t “want to impose our democracy on the region, for it needs a great deal of time to mature and take root”.

Responding to a question on whether the US democracy suits the Arab world, he dismissed any intention on their part to impose their country’s democracy on the states in the region.

“Central Asian countries haven’t matured for democracy as they broke away from the now-defunct Soviet Union 20 years ago.”

Even in the US, Afro-Americans started casting ballots after 150 years of bitter struggle, although the US constitution stipulates the right to vote for all citizens,” he said. …source