{"id":5427,"date":"2012-01-30T14:13:10","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T21:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=5427"},"modified":"2012-01-30T16:28:37","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T23:28:37","slug":"wyden-and-mcgovern-demonstrate-courage-and-call-obama-to-account-for-backdoor-weapons-dealing-to-abusive-regime-obama-should-disclose-contents-of-planned-weapons-transfer-especially-riot-control-ag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=5427","title":{"rendered":"Wyden and McGovern demonstrate courage and call Obama to account for backdoor weapons dealing to abusive regime – Obama should disclose contents of planned weapons transfer, especially riot control agents(including gas), small arms and other LTL weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

US sale of some military items to Bahrain draws congressional opposition<\/strong>
\nBy Associated Press, 30 January 30, 2012 – Washington Post<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The United States is selling some military equipment to Bahrain as it walks a fine line between pushing the Sunni monarchy to open talks with the opposition while proceeding cautiously with a strategic ally to counter Iran.<\/p>\n

The sale of an undisclosed amount of spare parts and equipment has drawn opposition from some in Congress who argue that it sends the wrong signal about the U.S. commitment to human rights. The State Department said late Friday that the equipment is for Bahrain\u2019s external defense and support for the U.S. Navy\u2019s 5th Fleet, which is based in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a new sale nor are we using a legal loophole,\u201d the department said. \u201cThe items that we briefed to Congress were notified and cleared by the Hill previously or are not large enough to require congressional notification.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration said it is maintaining its \u201cpause on most security assistance for Bahrain pending further progress on reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was almost a year ago that Bahrain\u2019s Shiite majority demanded greater rights from the 200-year-old ruling Sunni dynasty. More than 35 people have died in the unrest that Bahrain leaders claim Iran has encouraged.<\/p>\n

The United States sees its allies in the Persian Gulf region as particularly crucial after Iran warned it might use military force to close the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the gulf in response to international economic sanctions.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., collected signatures from lawmakers on a letter they plan to send to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton later this week expressing their opposition to the administration\u2019s moves. They argue that Bahrain is still violating human rights and using excessive force to crack down on protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall steps deserve small rewards,\u201d the two wrote. \u201cIn the case of Bahrain, any military equipment is a big reward and will be viewed as such by other governments and the people of Bahrain. The incentives are simply wrong.\u201d …source<\/a><\/p>\n

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US sale of some military items to Bahrain draws congressional opposition By Associated Press, 30 January 30, 2012 – Washington Post WASHINGTON \u2014 The United States is selling some military equipment to Bahrain as it walks a fine line between pushing the Sunni monarchy to open talks with the opposition while proceeding cautiously with a more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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\/5427"}],"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=5427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5430,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5427\/revisions\/5430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}