{"id":4702,"date":"2012-01-04T16:14:41","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T23:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=4702"},"modified":"2012-01-04T16:14:41","modified_gmt":"2012-01-04T23:14:41","slug":"usa-inc-greasing-public-relations-works-to-close-obama-clinton-weapons-deal-with-bahrain-obamas-jobs-program-arming-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=4702","title":{"rendered":"USA Inc. greasing public relations works to close Obama-Clinton weapons deal with Bahrain – Obama’s jobs program arming the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lockheed Martin goes to bat for oppressive regime<\/strong>
\nA top executive for the military contractor worked with lobbyists for Bahrain to publish Op-Ed defending the regime
\nBy Justin Elliott – 4 January, 2012 – Salon<\/p>\n

A top executive at Lockheed Martin recently worked with lobbyists for Bahrain to place an Op-Ed defending the nation\u2019s embattled regime in the Washington Times \u2014 but the newspaper did not reveal the role of the regime\u2019s lobbyists to its readers. Hence they did not know that the pro-Bahrain opinion column they were reading was published at the behest of \u2026 Bahrain, an oil-rich kingdom of 1.2 million people that has been rocked by popular protests since early 2011.<\/p>\n

The episode is a glimpse into the usually hidden world of how Washington\u2019s Op-Ed pages, which are prized real estate for those with interests before the U.S. government, are shaped. It also shows how Lockheed gave an assist to a major client \u2014 Bahrain has bought hundreds of millions of dollars of weapons from the company over the years \u2013 as it faces widespread criticism for human rights abuses against pro-democracy protesters.<\/p>\n

As Ken Silverstein reported in Salon last month, the kingdom is stepping up its Washington lobbying efforts. Here\u2019s the latest example, as far as I can piece together from lobbying disclosures filed by Bahrain\u2019s \u201cstrategic communications\u201d firm, D.C.-based Sanitas International.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 30, the Washington Times published an Op-Ed under the headline \u201cBahrain, a vital U.S. ally: Backing protesters would betray a friend and harm American security.\u201d It was written by Vice Adm. Charles Moore (retired). Moore was formerly commander of the Navy\u2019s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet. From 1998 to 2002, Moore notes in his Op-Ed, he \u201chad the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahrain\u2019s leader, as well as many senior officials in his government.\u201d Moore passed through the revolving door and is now regional president for Lockheed Martin for the Middle East and Africa.<\/p>\n

Moore argues in the Op-Ed that while protesters in Bahrain have \u201clegitimate grievances,\u201d the U.S. \u201cneeds Bahrain now more than ever to preserve regional peace and stability in what remains a dangerous and uncertain world.\u201d He particularly focuses on using the large U.S. Navy presence in Bahrain as a counter to Iran, which Washington sees as a foe and which Bahrain claims is fomenting unrest among the country\u2019s Shia majority. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Lockheed Martin goes to bat for oppressive regime A top executive for the military contractor worked with lobbyists for Bahrain to publish Op-Ed defending the regime By Justin Elliott – 4 January, 2012 – Salon A top executive at Lockheed Martin recently worked with lobbyists for Bahrain to place an Op-Ed defending the nation\u2019s embattled more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[1498],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4703,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4702\/revisions\/4703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}