[cb editor: Here is US Senator, Tom Udall’s response to a request to help stop Arms Sales to Bahrain. He is under the same delusional narrative about Bahrain that the White House seems to be under. It is imperative that people who support Bahrain’s effort toward democracy, do everything possible to get “face time” with their Senators and Representatives to help them understand what is really happening in the streets of Bahrain. All Senator Udall seems to know about Bahrain is, the Al Khalifa’s have been good security partners for 60 years. Of course it is obvious he has read nothing of the Department of State’s own damming reports over the last 60 years or anything that came out of Tom Lantos recent hearings. ]

Senator Udall Start learning about Bahrain in the report HERE that can be corroborated by many major Human Rights Organizations.

From Senator Udall – New Mexico:

Dear Mr. Martin,

Thank you for contacting me regarding a proposed U.S. arms sale to the Kingdom of Bahrain. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

In February of 2011, ongoing tensions between Bahrain’s majority Shiite Muslim population and the ruling Sunni Muslim monarchy erupted when Shiite protestors, emboldened by political change in Egypt and Tunisia, seized a landmark known as Pearl Square. Protestors stayed for weeks before Bahraini and Saudi troops forcibly removed them. In mid-March Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared a state of emergency, allowing police to search homes at will and dissolve any organization considered a danger to the state. Although the king ended the state of emergency on June 1, 2011, Bahraini human rights activists have reported instances of torture, mass arrests, and firings of government workers, mostly in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Square protests.

These reports have contributed to the concerns of human rights groups over the September 14, 2011, Pentagon notification to Congress of a proposed sale of $53 million in armored vehicles and missiles to Bahrain. Human rights groups, and others, have expressed their view that the sale would represent tacit acceptance of the Bahraini government’s violent crackdown on protestors. Reflecting these concerns, Senator Ron Wyden (OR) introduced Senate Joint Resolution (S.J.Res.) 28 on October 6, 2011. This resolution would prohibit the sale unless the Administration certifies that Bahrain is rectifying the reported abuses connected to its suppression of the 2011 uprising. Upon introduction, S. J. Res. 28 was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where no further action has occurred. The Obama Administration has said that it will temporarily postpone the weapons sale pending the release of a report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI). The commission has been tasked with examining the recent allegations of human rights abuses, including torture.

The U.S. and Bahrain have a long-standing security relationship. For more than 60 years Bahrain has hosted U.S. Naval headquarters in the Persian Gulf and, more recently, contributed some facilities and personnel during U.S. and NATO efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. To support Bahrain’s cooperation with the U.S. on regional security issues, the U.S. historically has provided military assistance to Bahrain, including arms sales. Some of the most recent arms sales to Bahrain are reportedly in accordance with a “Gulf Security Dialogue” initiated by the State Department in 2006 to counter Iran.

It is the right of all citizens to be treated humanely and respectfully, and I always have been an advocate for protecting human rights. A peaceful Bahrain that respects the rights of its citizens is in the best interests of the U.S. and the region. As a new member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, please be assured that I will continue to monitor the situation in Bahrain and the pending arms sale, and will keep your thoughts in mind should the Committee take action on S.J.Res. 28 or related legislation.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me. Please feel free to contact me with your concerns regarding any federal issue by visiting my website at www.tomudall.senate.gov. For more information, you may also visit my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Senator-Tom-Udall/106433512869 and receive up to the minute updates through my Twitter page at http://twitter.com/senatortomudall.

Very truly yours,
Signature
Tom Udall
United States Senator

Bahrain bond: the price of protest
November 17, 2011 – by Simeon Kerr

Despite deep political tensions and a vulnerable economy, Bahrain has managed to issue a $750m sovereign bond, becoming the first strife-hit country of the ‘Arab spring’ to tap capital markets since unrest began in January.

The seven-year sukuk is paying out 6.3 per cent, twice as expensive as, say, oil-rich Abu Dhabi, one of the city-states to have escaped street protests this year. But, in the circumstances, the Bahrain government will be grateful for the terms it has secured.

In the wake of revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, Bahrain was rocked by protests in February and March as the majority Shia called for more rights and an end to discrimination from the minority Sunni-led government.

Bankers were upbeat about the sukuk’s implications for Bahrain: yes, it is on the expensive side; but the government has managed raise foreign capital only months after the country become made international headlines for protest and repression.

“It’s great that Bahrain has got this done,” says Andrew Dell, head of debt capital markets at HSBC in Dubai. “It is very good value for investors at that level.”

Interest in the Shariah-compliant issue, which has received a fillip from Islamic investors, has been underpinned by a belief that despite short-term problems, Bahrain will be able to repay its rising debt pile in the future.

But traders’ reasoning is telling: everyone expects Saudi Arabia to backstop their Sunni brethren in Manama. Around 60 per cent of the sukuk investors came from the Middle East.

And as Manama becomes increasingly yoked to its big brother in Riyadh, its room for manoeuvre – and reform – diminishes further. …source

ITF/TUC: Bahrain crackdown decried at Embassy visit
17 November 2011 – BCHR

Representatives of the TUC, the ITF, NASUWT and Unison are meeting with Bahrain’s Ambassador to the UK in London today to register a joint protest over the treatment of workers and demonstrators in the Gulf state.

They are raising the matter of the thousands of people sacked and the hundreds facing trial or sentenced for supporting the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain.

Over 2,600 workers have been dismissed, and hundreds more have been suspended. Some have been offered their jobs back, but on inferior terms and under conditions such as agreeing not to join a trade union – many of whose leaders are facing criminal charges, often on spurious ‘security’ grounds.

The delegation to the embassy is made up of: Ben Moxham, TUC (Trades Union Congress) international policy officer; Stuart Howard, ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) assistant general secretary; Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT (National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers) deputy general secretary; and Nick Sigler, Unison head of international relations.

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, said: “Trade unionists and workers in Bahrain are being punished for peacefully calling for democracy and reform in the country earlier this year.

“On behalf of our sister organisation, the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), and indeed every Bahraini, we are asking the government to decisively lift the threat of prosecution from all those threatened with it, and allow Bahrain’s workers to return to their workplaces free from fear.”

Stuart Howard, ITF assistant general secretary, added: “The cases of the health workers imprisoned for doing their jobs shocked the world. Alongside them can be set the similarly endangered teachers, journalists, port workers and transport workers of Gulf Air and DHL.