Crooked Bough Interview with Colin S. Cavell, Ph.D., former Assistant Professor at the University of Bahrain
14 February, 2012

Crooked Bough: It’s now been about a year since your return from your teaching position in Bahrain. Can you recollect for the readers the circumstances and situation as you left Bahrain?

CSC: My wife and I left Bahrain on February 25, 2011, the day of one of the largest demonstrations in Bahraini history with over 300,000 people marching in the streets calling for the downfall of the 228-year-old Al-Khalifa monarchical dynasty. The political situation in the country had been deteriorating gradually for some time, though most folks in the government and in the professions were unaware of this erosion of confidence in the regime and the rising anger which accompanied it. However, this deterioration was evident in the stultifying inefficiency in the country’s bureaucracy where all are fearful to take any initiative or make any decision for fear of royal retaliation. It was also evident in the lack of any meaningful advancement based upon merit and hard work instead of patronage and favoritism. And, of course, there is the persistent low wages for the country’s majority Shia citizens as well as their systematic denial of promotions. And there is the very abusive usage of expatriate labor being imported from neighboring countries in the region for manual labor of all sorts. Sensing the gradual ossification of Bahrain’s reform movement, started since the ascendancy of King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa in 1999, we applied for an immigrant visa to the USA for my wife, who is a Moroccan national, in the summer of 2010 and received approval later that fall from the State Department. I finished my teaching duties at the end of the Fall 2010 semester in January 2011 and submitted my resignation, effective February 15, 2011. We left Bahrain ten days later. The Arab Spring revolts were rocking the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region by then, and Bahrain’s revolt began on February 14th of 2011. The immediate reaction of the monarchy was to shoot the protesters, and this only inflamed the uprising leading to an occupation by thousands of the Pearl Roundabout in downtown Manama. We were in a race to leave the country, as we sensed by that time that the political situation was rapidly boiling and about to explode. Faced with the necessity to obtain a slew of bureaucratic signatures and approvals before our departure, I was concerned that events would stall our departure. Thus, we let go a sigh of relief as our plane departed the airstrip that night heading for London and then on to the USA.

Crooked Bough: What kind of relationship do you now have with the UOB?

CSC: As regards my present relationship with the UOB, I have not been in touch with the University since my departure. There was violence at the University in mid-March 2011, and, from what I understand, the campus was initially closed down for a couple of months, and since reopening, returning students have been forced to sign loyalty oaths to the regime, and there is heightened surveillance everywhere on campus. A number of students, nearly 500, have been expelled, and a number of staff have also been dismissed for their pro-democracy beliefs.

Crooked Bough: What has become of your students and colleagues?

CSC: I have only had contact with a few colleagues, as most are too fearful to communicate about the political situation in Bahrain while still in country. I believe it was very fortuitous that we left when we did, as several of my colleagues have been dismissed from their positions at the University of Bahrain for allegedly supporting the pro-democracy activists. At least one Bahraini newspaper undertook an attack on the American Studies Center at the UOB, where I used to teach, for allegedly fostering hostility towards the regime, because some of our students and/or alumni were engaged in the uprising and had become leading spokespersons of the opposition. Teaching students about American democracy was what they learned theoretically in the classroom; now, in the real world, they are shocked to see the US government side with the autocratic monarchy. US interest in maintaining its naval base in Bahrain for the US Fifth Fleet apparently outweighs our country’s interest in supporting democracy. Was in touch with many students while still in Bahrain, but once the regime crackdown commenced in mid-March of 2011—the Ides of March—most have been very reluctant to communicate via normal channels, and I have not heard from most in country for quite some time now. Am in communication, however, with a few who are outside of the country. For example, Maryam Al-Khawaja, a former student, is a spokesperson for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, and she regularly tracks the political situation in the country alerting the international press of developments. Her sister, Zainab Al-Khawaja, another former student, is still in country, and is a leading activist. Both Maryam’s and Zainab’s father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, a founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and a prominent and leading human rights activist, was sentenced to life imprisonment last fall for his opposition to the regime, and he is now on a hunger strike and is gravely ill.

Crooked Bough: Do you anticipate a return to Bahrain?

CSC: As to whether I shall ever return to Bahrain, that remains to be seen. I would love to return to a democratic Bahrain, a free Bahrain. But, for now, it would be suicidal for me to return as long as the Al-Khalifas are still in power.

Crooked Bough: Thank you for your time and thoughts Dr. Cavell and thank you for all your effort toward a free and democratic Bahrain – watch for part two of this interview in the near future.

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U.S. activist deported from Bahrain following protests
14 February, 2012 -LA Times

Radhika Sainath was clutching an iPad and trying to blend in with Indian shopkeepers on the outskirts of a scattering protest when the Bahraini police asked for her passport.

“They looked at my name and they looked at their Blackberrys and they said, ‘That’s her,’” Sainath said.

Sainath is one of two activists from the United States who were deported from Bahrain on Sunday, two days before the island nation marked the one-year anniversary of protests still racking the country.

Protesters say Shiite Muslims are disenfranchised by the Sunni Muslim monarchy. Government loyalists have accused them of inciting violence, arguing Bahrain has already made reforms.

As the country neared the fateful anniversary Tuesday, clashes between protesters and police grew increasingly tense. Police flooded protests with tear gas. Some protesters lobbed Molotov cocktails at officers.

Sainath came to the country with Witness Bahrain, a group of observers that supports the Bahraini opposition. Officials accused the two activists of violating tourist visa rules by joining the protests “in order to report on them” for websites and social media, the Associated Press reported.

The Newport Beach native shared her story with The Times on Monday. The Bahrain Information Affairs Authority did not respond immediately Tuesday morning to Twitter and email requests for comment on her deportation. A phone call to the authority in Bahrain was not answered.

Sainath said on Saturday she was tweeting updates from the sidelines of a peaceful march toward Pearl Roundabout, the hub of protests last year, when tear gas canisters started whizzing by. She tweeted from the @WitnessBahrain account, “Choking on teargas as police chase peaceful protesters.”

When the gas began to clear, Sainath found herself surrounded by police. They took her to the police station and questioned her on and off for several hours, asking who invited her to the protests.

Sainath said an attorney sent by activists wasn’t allowed to meet with her; instead she met a U.S. official who told her she was detained “because we were at an illegal protest for riot purposes,” Sainath said. She was especially upset that Bahraini authorities took her equipment.

“We had taken video of people who had said, ‘You’ll black out my images afterwards, right?” she said. The U.S. official told her, “You should have known that before you took the footage,” Sainath said.

Sainath alleges she was mistreated on the flight back to London while being accompanied by Bahraini officials. Her hands were cuffed behind her back for seven hours, she said, and someone punched her in the head three times from behind. “When I asked to use the restroom, I was told, ‘If you need to use the bathroom you can go on yourself,’” she said.

The Bahraini government has restricted access to the country ahead of the protest date, turning down visas for several journalists and human rights activists and saying the demand was unusually high.

While opposition groups have denounced the deportations and police crackdowns on protests, the government has argued that it is merely trying to stop violence. The Ministry of the Interior tweeted Tuesday that “thugs set fire to electric transmitter in Mughsha and attacked civil defense to prevent firefighters from putting out the fire.” …source

Although the armed clashes are not completely over in the beleaguered district of Homs and that the Syrian and Lebanese authorities have yet to inform public opinion of their recent actions, Thierry Meyssan appeared Monday night on the leading Russian television channel to make an initial assessment of the operations, giving first-hand information which he is sharing with the readers of Voltaire Network.

Endgame in the Middle East
by Thierry Meyssan – Voltaire Network – 14 February 2012

For eleven months, the Western powers and the Gulf States have lead a campaign to destabilize Syria. Several thousand mercenaries infiltrated the country. Recruited by agencies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar within the Sunni extremist community, they came to overthrow the “usurper Alawite” Bashar al-Assad and impose a Wahhabi-inspired dictatorship. They have at their disposal the most sophisticated military equipment, including night vision systems, communication centers, and robots for urban warfare. Supported secretly by the NATO powers, they also have access to vital military information, including satellite images of Syrian troop movements, and telephone interceptions.

This has been falsely portrayed to the Western public as a political revolution crushed in blood by a ruthless dictatorship. Of course, this lie has not been universally accepted. Russia, China and the Latin American and Caribbean member states of ALBA repudiate it. They each have a historical background that allows them to readily grasp what is at stake. The Russians are thinking of Chechnya, the Chinese of Xinkiang, and the Latin Americans of Cuba and Nicaragua. In all these cases, beyond ideological or religious appearances, the methods of destabilization by the CIA were the same.

The strangest thing about this situation is to observe the Western media deluding themselves that the Salafists, Wahhabis and Al-Qaeda fighters are motivated by democratic principles, while they continue to demand on Saudi and Qatari satellite channels the head of the Alawi heretics and the Arab League observers. It matters little if Abdel Hakim Belhaj (number 2 of Al Qaeda and current military governor of Tripoli, Libya) came personally to install his men in northern Syria, and Ayman Al-Zawahiri (current leader of al Qaeda since the official death of Osama bin Laden) has called for a jihad against Syria: the Western press pursues its romantic dream of a liberal revolution.

Even more ridiculous is to hear the Western media slavishly disseminating the daily dispatches put out by the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood ranting about the crimes of the regime and its victims, under the signature of the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Besides, since when has this Brotherhood of putchists been interested in human rights?

All it took to turn “terrorists” into “democrats” was for Western secret services to arrange for the puppet “Syrian National Council” to enter the scene, with a Sorbonne professor as President and as spokesperson the mistress of the former head of the DGSE. In a sleight of hand, the lie has become a media reality. Those abducted, mutilated and murdered by the Wahhabi Legion are transformed by the press into victims of the tyrant. Conscripts of all faiths who are defending their country against aggression are painted as sectarian Alawite soldiers oppressing their people. The destabilization of Syria by foreigners is treated as one more episode of the “Arab Spring.” The emir of Qatar and the Saudi king, two absolute monarchs who have never held national elections in their countries and incarcerate protesters have become the champions of revolution and democracy. France, the United Kingdom and the United States, who just killed 160,000 Libyans in breach of the mandate they received from the Security Council, have turned into philanthropists responsible for the protection of civilian populations. Etc..

However, the low intensity war that the Western press and the Gulf have hidden behind this masquerade came to an end with the double veto by Russia and China on 4 February 2012. NATO and its allies were ordered to cease fire and withdraw, at the risk of sparking a war on a regional, or even global, scale. …more

Bahrain receives military equipment from UK despite violent crackdown
14 February, 2012 – Shia Post

Britain has continued to sell arms to Bahrain despite continuing political unrest in the Gulf state, new official figures disclose.

According to the figures the government approved the sale of military equipment valued at more than £1m in the months following the violent crackdown on demonstrators a year ago. They included licences for gun silencers, weapons sights, rifles, artillery and components for military training aircraft.

Also cleared for export to Bahrain between July and September last year were naval guns and components for detecting and jamming improvised explosive devices. No export licences were refused.

Security forces in Bahrain fired teargas and stun grenades at protesters in pre-dawn skirmishes before Tuesday’s first anniversary of the uprising in the Gulf kingdom. Armoured vehicles patrolled the capital, Manama, in a security clampdown after protesters flung volleys of petrol bombs at police cars. There was also a massive police presence in Shia Muslim villages ringing Manama, with helicopters buzzing overhead, underlining the concerns of the Sunni-Muslim-led monarchy about a new explosion of civil unrest by Bahrain’s disgruntled Shia majority.

After the exposure a year ago of Britain’s approval of arms sales, including crowd control equipment, guns, and ammunition to Bahrain, Libya and Egypt, the government revoked 158 export licences, including 44 covering military exports to Bahrain.

The latest figures, published on the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills website, also show that during the third quarter of last year Britain exported arms valued at more than £1m to Saudi Arabia, including components for military combat vehicles and turrets. During last year’s uprising, Saudi Arabia sent forces to Bahrain in British military trucks.

Britain also supplied equipment, including components for military combat vehicles, weapons night sights, communications and rangefinding, valued at more than £1m, to Egypt’s armed forces.

Vince Cable, the business secretary, admitted to a committee of MPs last week: “We do trade with governments that are not democratic and have bad human rights records … We do business with repressive governments and there’s no denying that.”

He was giving evidence to the Commons committee on arms export controls whose chairman, the former Conservative defence minister Sir John Stanley, accused the government of adopting a “rosy-tinted” and “over-optimistic” approach to authoritarian regimes. …more

Iraqi Jihadists and weapons flow to Syria
12 February, 2012 – JafriaNews

JNN 12 Feb 2012 Baghdad : Jihadists are flocking to Syria from neighboring Iraq and weaponry is being sent across the border to support anti-Assad movement in the country, Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi has announced.

In his interview to AFP news agency, Adnan al-Assadi said that Iraqi authorities have intelligence information that a“number of Iraqi Jihadists” had gone to Syria to take part in the protest movement.

He added that his country also sees the major outflow of weapons towards its neighbor. A strong indicator of weapons smuggling is, according to the deputy minister, the sudden and steep hike in prices on the Iraqi side of the border.

“The weapons are transported from Baghdad to Nineveh province, and the prices of weapons in Mosul [city] are higher now because they are being sent to the opposition in Syria,” said Adnan al-Assadi. The official added that in the province bordering Syria, the price of a Kalashnikov assault rifle has recently risen from between $100 and $200 up to $1,500.

“The weapons are being smuggled from Mosul through the Rabia crossing to Syria, as members of the same families live on both sides of the border,” Adnan al-Assadi added. There is also some smuggling ongoing through a crossing near the Syrian city of Abu Kamal, he claims.

The Syrian government has long claimed that the opposition was being largely helped by foreigners.

In a recent development, Al-Qaeda has voiced its support to the Syrian opposition, urging Muslims across the Middle East to aid the Syrian uprising.

According to The Guardian, Turkey comes as probably “the most significant outside player” against the current regime in Syria. The country hosts the opposition Syrian National Council and allows a “safe haven” for the Free Syrian Army. Syrian opposition sources say they receive weapons coming from the territory of Turkey and Jordan, The Washington Times newspaper reports.

The Syrian officials recently handed to another neighbor, Lebanon, a list of individuals allegedly involved in border smuggling of people and weapons “for destructive acts on the territory of Syria”. Syria asked its neighbor to tighten border controls between the two countries.

According to Israeli website depka.com, known for his links with intelligence, UK and Qatari troops are largely involved with the battle for Homs on the side of the opposition. …more

Six US citizens arrested in Bahrain, to be deported
14 February, 2012 – Witness Bahrain

Manama, Bahrain – Six US Citizens were arrested by Bahraini security forces in Manama on Tuesday during a peaceful protest on the way to the Pearl Roundabout. Protesters had marched into the city center to reestablish a presence of nonviolent, peaceful protest on the one year anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising in Bahrain.

The international observers were in Bahrain as part of Witness Bahrain, an effort aimed at providing civilian presence to report and monitor the situation on the ground (witnessbahrain.org). Leading up to February 14, the one year anniversary of pro-democracy protests, Bahraini authorities had prevented journalists, human rights observers and other internationals from entering the country, leading many to fear a brutal crackdown.

Just yesterday, Secretary of State spokesperson Victoria Nuland stated that the US wanted to see the “security forces exercise restraint and operate within the rule of law and international judicial standards.” But she failed to condemn the violent arrests of US international observers, the detainment of numerous Bahraini pro-democracy activists (including President of the Bahraini Center for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab) and the ongoing use of overwhelming amounts of tear gas.

The six US citizens were part of a peaceful protest marching towards the Pearl Roundabout – site of last year’s peaceful round-the-clock protest in Bahrain, modeled after Egypt’s Tahrir Square – when they were attacked. Bahraini authorities appear to have targeted the Witness Bahrain observers, as one volunteer was told that she was detained for reporting on the February 11th Manama protest.

The six observers remain in Bahraini custory in the Naem Police Station in Manama. This group of internationals is the second to be deported by the Bahraini government. Attorneys Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath were deported on Saturday, February 11th. The two were handcuffed for the duration of their flight from Bahrain to London.

Several international observers remain on the ground. …more

Urgent Appeal: The Bahraini Authorities Arrested Two Prominent Human Rights Activists
14 February, 2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

The Bahraini authorities today ( February 14, 2012) arrested two prominent human rights activists after their participation in a peaceful march to the Pearl Roundabout.

Mr. Naji Fateel – Board Member of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) – and Mr.Nabeel Rajab – President of Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) – were arrested after participating in protests in support of democracy and human rights.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) demands the immediate release of Mr. Fateel and Mr. Rajab, and provide protection to human rights activists in Bahrain.
…source

HackVDay: Anonymous Hackers Punish US Weapons Maker
By Alastair Stevenson – 14 February, 2012 – International Business Time

On the anniversary of the Bahrain uprising, Anonymous hackers have targeted Combined Systems, defacing the US weapons maker’s site.

Credited as a being part of both the HackVDay Valentines Day rampage and a wider protest commemorating the Bahrain uprising’s anniversary, news of the attack broke on Tuesday.

As well as defacing Combined Systems’ website, the hackers also posted a statement under the Anonymous moniker on Pastebin.

In it the Anon – the word Anonymous members use to refer to themselves – cited law enforcement and military forces’ use of the company’s weapons as its primary motivation for the attack.

“So you war profiteering all crazy, selling mad chemical weapons to militaries [sic] and cop shops around the world, thinking you will get away unscathed by the rising tides of insurrection? Think again, assholes.

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“Combined Systems, lay down your arms: you just lost the game. In the past we have marched on your offices in Jamestown, Pennsylvania: now it is time to march on your websites.” Read the statement.

Within the Pastebin statement the hackers also posted data allegedly taken in the raid. This included names addresses, phone numbers and password information of a number of CSI employees and clients.

Combined Systems is a weapons maker that produces tear gas canisters, it has contracts with several law enforcement and military agencies and forces across the world.

“You shot and gassed protesters, running them off public parks in the US. Several dozen died because of your tear gas used in Egypt. You wave the Israeli flag outside of your offices, while just two months ago your tear gas cannisters [sic] fired by the IDF killed a man in the West Bank. Did you think we forgot? Why did you not expect us?”

The Bahrain uprising began in February 2011 when thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets. Since the protest began there have been numerous clashes between protesters and Bahrain authorities, many ending with tear gas and stun grenades being used against demonstrators.

To date, official numbers remain vague; reports suggest at least 60 people have been killed since the uprising began. Further violence is expected around Pearl Roundabout since protest leaders pledged to re-take the area.
…source

Anonymous Takes Down Web Sites of Bahrain Government, U.S. Maker of Teargas Used on Protesters
By Kukil Bora – 14 February, 2012 – International Business Times

“We promised you a Valentine’s Day to remember and told you that lulz were on their way. Stay tuned for more,” hacker collective Anonymous tweeted on Tuesday after it apparently hacked a number of Web sites, including that of the Bahrain government and the U.S. maker of teargas used on protesters in Bahrain last month.

As per the multiple tweets by Anonymous on early Tuesday, the Web sites that the infamous hacker group claimed it broke into included combinedsystems.com (the U.S. maker of teargas used on protesters in Bahrain), pennarms.com, zone-h.org and Bahrain’s government Web site bahrain.bh.

“TANGO DOWN: Bahrain govt’s official website: http://www.bahrain.bh/ #Bahrain #Anonymous #Feb14 #HackVDay,” read a tweet by Anonymous.

The list of hacked sites does not end here. Other Web sites Anonymous targeted are less-lethal.com, sur-tec.com and handcuffsusa.com. …source

Armed with only a Qur’an brave young Bahrainis prepare for protest, where they will almost certainly be met with brutality from Security Forces