Mark C. Toner
\nDeputy Department Spokesman
\nDaily Press Briefing
\nWashington, DC
\nNovember 28, 2011
\n[Bahrain Excerpt]<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Yeah. Bahrain?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Bahrain.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: As you well recall, the Independent Commission of Inquiries report was released on Wednesday morning, our time. You have —<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: That was a long time ago, but yeah.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Yeah. You had an initial reaction, and, of course, the Secretary had her comment and the White House also issued a statement. So it\u2019s been five days. I realize it\u2019s a long report, but even though it\u2019s a holiday weekend, I imagine your Bahrain experts will have read the report. Two questions: One, does the report, now on reflection, seem to you to have been a fair and genuinely independent-minded and no holds barred sort of report? And then secondly, is what you have seen so far from the Bahraini Government suggestive of their taking genuine steps to try to hold everyone accountable for their actions in the \u2013 putting down the protests this year? And is it suggestive to you that \u2013 of a sort of rule of law or some other kind of process that may eventually lead to reconciliation with the Shia population?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Yes, on the fact that we believe it was a credible and transparent report that did come out. Of course, it is, as you said, a very long report, and we have read through it and remain \u2013 and \u2013 I\u2019m sorry \u2013 continue to study various aspects of it, but we certainly believe it was a transparent, credible process carried out with due diligence. We did \u2013 we do commend the commission\u2019s work, and we commend the king for allowing it to work in an unfettered environment.<\/p>\n
In answer to your second question, I think it\u2019s \u2013 we\u2019re still waiting and monitoring. We did, obviously, see that Bahrain has formed a report implementation committee that\u2019s going to implement some of the report\u2019s recommendations. We welcome the formation of that national implementation committee. We think it\u2019s a good first step, and we would just urge the government to meet the high standards of transparency and accountability that were recommended by the report.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: And how about reconciliation? I mean, do you think that the government is taking steps towards trying to achieve reconciliation?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Well, we think that, again, the work of this commission and now the follow-up committee, if it indeed does take the kind of steps that seek to implement the commission\u2019s recommendations, would help move that process of national reconciliation forward.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: And should Bahrain have \u2013 we just talked a lot about the Egyptian elections. Should Bahrain have a fully fledged democracy?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Again, what I think is important now for Bahrain is to address the report\u2019s recommendations. It was a very tumultuous period there in the spring. The government there has made an effort, the king has made an effort to address some of the problems that resulted from that period. We need to see a national reconciliation process emerge from this, and then ultimately a political process will emerge from that that leads to \u2013 or that addresses, I think, the aspirations of the Bahraini people.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Well, let\u2019s \u2013 I mean, there\u2019s been tumult in a lot of countries this spring. In three of the ones we\u2019ve talked about today \u2013 well, let\u2019s just stick to two, Tunisia, where it began, and Egypt. You have very warmly praised the movement to elections; you have made clear that you believe that democratically elected governments are in the U.S. national interest. You don\u2019t seem to have any trouble with the notion of dealing with a religiously based government, should one emerge in either of those countries, or as it has in Tunisia.<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: So long as their committed to democratic ideals.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Right. So why not answer my question \u2013 does Bahrain deserve a fully fledged democracy \u2013 with yes? Is that not the U.S. interest in the world?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Look, we very much want to see the democratic aspirations of the Bahraini people met by the government. Ultimately, that\u2019s the goal here. But I also want to praise \u2013 we also want to praise the steps that they\u2019ve taken to address some of the incidents that took place last spring and try to move the country on a better path towards reconciliation.
\n
\nQUESTION: Have you \u2013<\/p>\n
QUESTION: But one other thing on —<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Yeah. Go ahead.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: I mean, one thing that hasn\u2019t changed in Bahrain is that it is \u2013 it remains a monarchy and it is ultimately the king who retains power. So for all the \u2013 what you say is the transparency and independence of the report, and you say you\u2019re waiting and watching to see how it\u2019s implemented, but one thing hasn\u2019t changed, the country is still ruled by the person on whose watch all of the things described in the report, including the death by torture of civilians by security forces, one of whom was tortured to death in a hospital. So why not take \u2013 even if it is commendable to have done such a report and a rare thing in an Arab country, why doesn\u2019t the Administration believe that democratic change, where the democracy \u2013 where you can kick out a government that you don\u2019t like or that you believe has mistreated or not served \u2013 mistreated the people or not served their interest should be as applicable in Bahrain as it is in Egypt or as it is in Tunisia or anywhere else in the region?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Let\u2019s be clear. I mean, we\u2019ve \u2013 we support the democratic aspirations of people in every country, as long as they\u2019re expressed peacefully. I think \u2013 I\u2019m not trying to necessarily dispute your logic or your questioning \u2013 line of questioning. I\u2019m just simply saying that where we\u2019re at now in the process, we\u2019ve been encouraged by the steps that the Bahraini Government has taken. They need to do more to address, I think, the legitimate concerns of their people and to enact democratic reforms. Again, we\u2019re \u2013 they\u2019re at a stage now where they\u2019re trying to initiate a process that addresses some of the \u2013 their grievances and also some of the incidents that took place last spring. We think that\u2019s a good thing. We\u2019re going to continue to look at it going forward.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: New topic? Can you just (inaudible) about the proposed arms sale, which wasn\u2019t mentioned in any of the statements on Wednesday, though it was, ahead of the report, off in \u2013 the report was referred to in answering questions about this sale.<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Right.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: So have officials had enough time to determine how this will affect that deal?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: I think I said the other day that we\u2019re going to wait and see how the commission\u2019s recommendations are implemented before we move forward.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Are you —<\/p>\n
QUESTION: So the —<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Before we move forward. But again, it\u2019s important \u2013 I\u2019ve also always said that this is not something that\u2019s going to happen next week or two weeks. There\u2019s a significant period of time before this military sale would actually be realized.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: So the actual allegations that are contained in the report are not pertinent to the proposed arms sale; it\u2019s how Bahrain would respond to these allegations?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Well, again —<\/p>\n
QUESTION: I mean, if you have killings and torturings, doesn\u2019t that speak for itself, or is it okay as long as the government then responds by saying it won\u2019t do it in the future?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Well, we\u2019ve said \u2013 we\u2019ve also said that human rights concerns do factor into our decision making. And again, the Bahraini Government has made an effort, we believe a genuine effort, to address these allegations head on and to implement reform so that they don\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Just follow-up on Bahrain. After the release of the report, there were protests over the weekend in Bahrain, including today. Would it be fair to say that its \u2013 how the Bahraini Government treatment with these resuming protests would be a good indication?<\/p>\n
MR. TONER: Oh, of course we\u2019re going to look at those \u2013 I mean, we\u2019re not going to give them a pass on future behavior as well. It\u2019s important that they allow peaceful demonstrators to peacefully demonstrate. …source<\/a><\/p>\n