Election time, Obama apologists make excuses, lack imagination, attempt to create false narrative on US inaction in bharain – US could freeze al Khalifa assets, pull US investmetn and credit lines, forbid 5th fleet commerce, implement sanctions for use of US weapons against civilians, bring charges in international courts against the al Kahlifa’s for crimes against humanity – that’s just a warm-up

U.S. Has Few Options to Curb Crackdown in Bahrain
By Emile Hokayem – Oct 19 2011 – The Atlantic
Though the Persian Gulf island nation is a close U.S. ally and the host of its Fifth Fleet, there’s not much that American pressure or diplomacy could do that it isn’t already

A teenager joins anti-government protesters as they try to get back to Manama’s Farook Junction, also known as Pearl Square / Reuters
MANAMA, Bahrain — On Tuesday, the U.S. reached a tentative deal to sell Bahrain, the site of a short-lived uprising and a brutal and sweeping crackdown with sectarian overtones, $53 million in arms. Though the arms deal is not final, it has already drawn criticism from human rights groups and inside Bahrain.

Very soon, the Arab uprising that the U.S. has said the least about is likely to make America’s life in the Persian Gulf a lot harder. Bahrain dropped off of the radar this summer. This won’t last.

With the international attention elsewhere and unserious attempts at a national dialogue going nowhere, protesters are taking back to the streets and clashing with police in villages around the capital Manama. By-elections to fill the seats of opposition parliamentarians who resigned during the uprising attracted a meager 17 percent of voters. Later this month, an independent investigation commission will submit a report and recommendations about the bloody events of February and March. Whether it will name those who directed the repression, call for a reversal of the often severe and unfair punishments inflicted on protesters, or serve as a national healing mechanism is still unknown, as is the willingness of the Bahraini government to implement its suggestions.

It is doubtful that the report, however needed, will be a game-changer. Two entrenched, increasingly sectarian narratives have crushed any goodwill and middle ground. The battered opposition is struggling to devise a political strategy and contain its frustrated youth, some of whom risk being radicalized. The opposition last week released a new platform, the Manama Document, which restates its demands but is unlikely to inspire its base. The Sunni ruling elite, confident that it won this round decisively and restored a measure of normalcy, is displaying as much complacency as intransigence. …more