Backfire in Bahrain
\nBy Editorial Board – 7 august, 2012 – Washington Post<\/p>\n
WHEN THE Obama administration resumed military sales to the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain in 2012, it explained the decision as an effort to bolster moderate elements in the monarchy, whose Sunni ruling family has resisted demands for greater democracy from the mostly Shiite population. In particular, the aim was to strengthen Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who was visiting Washington at the time and who had led an abortive effort to negotiate a settlement with opposition leaders.<\/p>\n
Three months later, it\u2019s worth asking whether the concession to a regime that has been a close U.S. ally paid off. Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding \u201cno.\u201d Bahrain remains locked in a standoff between a largely intransigent government and a slowly radicalizing opposition \u2014 and the regime has failed to fulfill its repeated pledges to end repression of peaceful dissent and undertake meaningful reforms.<\/p>\n
As Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner reported in testimony to Congress\u2019s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission last week, the Bahraini government has continued to prosecute 20 leading political activists; \u201cdespite assurances to the contrary,\u201d it obtained the conviction of nine medical professionals who treated opposition activists during demonstrations last year. The country\u2019s best-known human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, is serving prison time for a tweet that called for the resignation of the hard-line prime minister.<\/p>\n
Security forces continue to employ harsh tactics to put down demonstrations in Shiite villages, including what a new report by Physicians for Human Rights calls the \u201cindiscriminate use of tear gas as a weapon.\u201d It said police regularly fire tear gas canisters \u201cdirectly at civilians or into their cars, houses or other closed spaces\u201d in an effort \u201cnot just to disperse crowds but to harm, harass, and intimidate the largely Shia neighborhoods that are home to many protesters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bahrain\u2019s repression doesn\u2019t approach the murderous violence used by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad against its opponents. But many in the Middle East understandably wonder why the United States demands the removal of Mr. Assad, an ally of Iran whose Alawite sect is close to Shiism, while continuing to back a Sunni regime that represses its Shiite opposition. The administration\u2019s answer is that it is not, like Bahrain\u2019s neighbor Saudi Arabia, pursuing a sectarian agenda, but attempting to steer its ally toward peaceful reform. …more<\/a><\/p>\n