What Next in Bahrain? US, UN, compliance program, absent opposition participation, to green light weapons sales and punk Wyden

What Next in Bahrain? More U.S. Silence
December 7, 2011 – The Trench

After successfully delaying a proposed arms shipment until the release of Bahrain’s “Independent Commission of Inquiry” (BICI), Senator Ron Wyden has made sure to keep his low-wattage spotlight on the island nation. Speaking at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington D.C., the Senator articulated a red-line that few U.S. officials are willing to go near.

“Imagine if everyone in Congress had kept quiet and this arms sale had been completed,” Wyden asked his audience in Kenney Auditorium. “What kind of message would this have sent the world or to the people aspiring for freedom and democracy? America should NOT be rewarding brutal regimes with arms. It’s that simple.”

The Obama administration has yet to process Bahrain’s latest shipment of arms (joint-training with Oakland police is another story), but a reward-based media blockade remains in effect after the BICI’s release. Treated as an afterthought throughout the Arab revolutions, U.S. officials again turned their backs on Bahrain as they concentrated on Egypt, Syria and Pakistan’s latest blowup. The White House praised King Hamad’s inquiry and urged him to follow through on proposed reforms, a message designed to reduce U.S. culpability in Bahrain.

Little – if anything – has changed in the two weeks since King Hamad received his BICI in Manama’s Royal Occasions Hall. Confidence quickly dropped after the inquiry’s release, protesters continue to battle government forces in a running low-intensity conflict, and Shia opposition groups such as Al Wefaq and Waad remain marginalized in the political process.

Nabeel Rajab recently arrived in Washington to spread awareness of Bahrain’s environment. The head of Bahrain’s Human Rights Organization wasn’t invited to any State Department meeting and only spoke briefly to Gayle Smith, senior director for democracy in Obama’s National Security Council. Thus Rajab settled for media organs to disseminate his message, and Foreign Policy’s attempt to maintain neutrality – “Is US on Wrong Side of Bahrain?” – rapidly descends into redundancy.

“What I have realized is that there’s a difference between the way the American government and the American people look at the Arab uprisings or the Arab revolution. I have received great support from American civil society, human rights groups, etc., in support of the Bahraini revolution. But that is totally different than the position of the United States government, which has disappointed many people in the Gulf region. And they have seen how the U.S. has acted differently and has different responses for different countries.”

Rajab’s interview offers a clear, sensible warning to U.S. policymakers attempting to navigate Bahrain’s uprising: support genuine democratic reform or risk total regime change. While many Sunni Bahrainis and external observers fear an Iranian takeover if the Shia opposition receives greater political representation, Rajab’s message is free of Tehran’s interference. He is genuinely trying to assist the Obama administration in diffusing Bahrain’s crisis and creating a stable democracy. ….more