{"id":7171,"date":"2012-03-15T09:33:55","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T16:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=7171"},"modified":"2012-03-15T09:33:55","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T16:33:55","slug":"bahrain-pulls-a-qaddafi-and-who-was-qaddafi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=7171","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain Pulls a Qaddafi and Who was Qaddafi?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is heartbreaking to see a renegade country like Libya shoot pro-democracy protesters. But it\u2019s even more wrenching to watch America\u2019s ally, Bahrain, pull a Qaddafi and use American tanks, guns and tear gas as well as foreign mercenaries to crush a pro-democracy movement \u2014 as we stay mostly silent.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bahrain Pulls a Qaddafi<\/strong>
\n16 March, 2011<\/strong> – By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF – NYT<\/p>\n

In Bahrain in recent weeks, I\u2019ve seen corpses of protesters who were shot at close range, seen a teenage girl writhing in pain after being clubbed, seen ambulance workers beaten for trying to rescue protesters \u2014 and in the last few days it has gotten much worse. Saudi Arabia, in a slap at American efforts to defuse the crisis, dispatched troops to Bahrain to help crush the protesters. The result is five more deaths, by the count of The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

One video from Bahrain appears to show security forces shooting an unarmed middle-aged man in the chest with a tear gas canister at a range of a few feet. The man collapses and struggles to get up. And then they shoot him with a canister in the head. Amazingly, he survived.<\/p>\n

Today the United States is in a vise \u2014 caught between our allies and our values. And the problem with our pal Bahrain is not just that it is shooting protesters but also that it is something like an apartheid state. Sunni Muslims rule the country, and now they are systematically trying to crush an overwhelmingly Shiite protest movement.<\/p>\n

My New York Times colleague Michael Slackman was caught by Bahrain security forces a few weeks ago. He said that they pointed shotguns at him and that he was afraid they were about to shoot when he pulled out his passport and shouted that he was an American journalist. Then, he says, the mood changed abruptly and the leader of the group came over and took Mr. Slackman\u2019s hand, saying warmly: \u201cDon\u2019t worry! We love Americans!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not after you. We\u2019re after Shia,\u201d the policeman added. Mr. Slackman recalls: \u201cIt sounded like they were hunting rats.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this is tragic because the ruling al-Khalifa family can be justly proud of what it has built in Bahrain, including a prosperous and dynamic society, a highly educated work force and a society in which women are far better off than next door in Saudi Arabia. On a good day, Bahrain feels like an oasis of moderation in a tough region.<\/p>\n

Yet you can parachute blindfolded into almost any neighborhood in Bahrain and tell immediately whether it is Sunni or Shiite. The former enjoy better roads and public services. And it\u2019s almost impossible for Shiites to be hired by the army or police. Doesn\u2019t that sound like an echo of apartheid?<\/p>\n

It is true that Bahrain\u2019s protesters have behaved in ways that have undermined their cause. They frequently chant \u201cDeath to al-Khalifa\u201d \u2014 a toxic slogan that should offend everyone. And some protesters have targeted Pakistanis and other South Asians who often work for security services. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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It is heartbreaking to see a renegade country like Libya shoot pro-democracy protesters. But it\u2019s even more wrenching to watch America\u2019s ally, Bahrain, pull a Qaddafi and use American tanks, guns and tear gas as well as foreign mercenaries to crush a pro-democracy movement \u2014 as we stay mostly silent. Bahrain Pulls a Qaddafi 16 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":[2686],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171"}],"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=7171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7172,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions\/7172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}