Secretary Hagel assures all, US will “kiss ass” of any Goverment willing to host Bases

Visiting service members in Bahrain, Hagel vows continued U.S. presence in Persian Gulf
By Ernesto Londoño – 6 December, 2013 – Washington Post

MANAMA, Bahrain — Speaking to American sailors standing at attention on the deck of the USS Ponce, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel vowed on Friday that the United States would keep a robust military presence in the Persian Gulf and build stronger ties with the region’s Arab states, even as it pursues negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

The service members, part of the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet, were likely to be the secretary’s easiest audience during a three-day trip to this tiny gulf kingdom.

As the first U.S. Cabinet member to visit Bahrain since the spring of 2011, when popular revolts roiled the Arab world, Hagel waded into a region where the U.S. faces a tide of criticism. Bahrain’s pro-democracy activists charge that Washington has not done enough to curb the kingdom’s crackdown on dissidents from the country’s Shiite majority because it wants to safeguard a strategic alliance.

Gulf Sunni monarchs, meanwhile, are angered by Washington’s talks with Iran, a country they view as an existential threat. A six-month temporary accord with Tehran over its nuclear program, and the prospect of a permanent deal, have further strained relationships frayed by the robust support some Sunni states have given to Syrian rebels with ties to al-Qaeda.

Hagel appeared more interested in mollifying the monarchs than the protesters.

“I will assure our partners that we’re not going anywhere,” Hagel told troops aboard the Navy ship, one of several docked in Bahrain. He said U.S. officials were “clear-eyed” about the complexity of negotiating with Iran and remained committed to keeping a robust military deterrence architecture in a region he described as “dangerous, combustible and unstable.”

U.S. defense officials said Hagel intended to use his visit to Bahrain — where he is attending a yearly meeting of defense chiefs known as the Manama Dialogue — to counter the notion that America’s budget crisis and a renewed focus on Asia have made it an unreliable ally in the Middle East. …more