Obama administration is wrong to endorse suppression of democracy in Bahrain

[Better Believe It]

Washington wrong to endorse suppression of democracy in Bahrain
By Husain Abdulla
Husain Abdulla is director of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain.
March 18, 2011

It is shameful of the Obama administration to acquiesce in the brutalization of the people of Bahrain.

When peaceful protesters gathered in the country's capital for weeks and demanded democracy, Washington continued to back the monarchy. When security forces and gangs sent out by the monarchy engaged in bloody attacks on demonstrators, Washington barely said a peep. And the day before Saudi Arabia invaded Bahrain to help the Bahraini ruling family suppress the protests, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates actually visited Bahrain. The Saudis would not have made this incursion into their neighboring country if they had sensed that the Obama Administration, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, would disapprove.

Once the Saudis invaded, the State Department urged only that they show “restraint.” That’s not the usual way the United States responds to foreign invasions. The Obama administration won’t even call it an invasion, for some reason.

The people of Bahrain are duly noting U.S. endorsement of this brutality. In their time of trial, the United States has abandoned them — and its principles of democracy and freedom.

Read the full article at:

http://www.progressive.org/mpabdulla031811.html


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U.S. Wrong to Approve Saudi Invasion of Bahrain
By Amitabh Pal
Managing Editor of The Progressive
March 16, 2011

The Obama Administration is complicit in the Saudi invasion of a neighboring sovereign country.

The Saudi incursion into Bahrain was apparently requested by the ruling Bahraini monarchy—to protect itself against its own people. Imagine if East Germany’s Erich Honecker had successfully requested a Soviet invasion in 1989. Or, to take a more contemporary example, imagine if Muammar Qaddhafi got one of his very few friends to invade in order to defeat the armed rebellion. And then imagine the global outrage.

The Saudi venture happened after the day after Secretary of Defense Robert Gates supped with the Bahraini ruling family in a show of support, neglecting to meet with pro-democracy protesters who had been demonstrating since mid-February by the thousands.

The ruling family “probably bugged that they need to use force to suppress this,” Husain Abdulla, director of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, told Democracy Now! “And next day, immediately after he left, the Saudi troops came to Bahrain. This is no coincidence. This is all planned.”

Please read the full article at:

http://www.progressive.org/ap031611.html


U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates is escorted by Bahrain's Minister of State for Defence Mohammad bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa, centre right, on arrival in Manama on Friday.


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U.S. Wavers on 'Regime Change'
By ADAM ENTOUS And JULIAN E. BARNES
March 5, 2011

After weeks of internal debate on how to respond to uprisings in the Arab world, the Obama administration is settling on a Middle East strategy: help keep longtime allies who are willing to reform in power, even if that means the full democratic demands of their newly emboldened citizens might have to wait.

Instead of pushing for immediate regime change—as it did to varying degrees in Egypt and now Libya—the U.S. is urging protesters from Bahrain to Morocco to work with existing rulers toward what some officials and diplomats are now calling "regime alteration."

The approach has emerged amid furious lobbying of the administration by Arab governments, who were alarmed that President Barack Obama had abandoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and worried that, if the U.S. did the same to the beleaguered king of Bahrain, a chain of revolts could sweep them from power, too, and further upend the region's stability.

Arab diplomats believe the push worked. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged as leading voices inside the administration urging greater U.S. support for the Bahraini king coupled with a reform agenda that Washington insisted would be have to be credible to street protesters. Instead of backing cries for the king's removal, Mr. Obama asked protesters to negotiate with the ruling family, which is promising major changes.

Please read the full article at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580004576180522653787198.html


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Bahrain demolishes Pearl Monument, site of protests
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 18, 2011

Security forces in Bahrain on Friday demolished the Pearl Monument, a landmark that had been the site of massive recent anti-government protests.

The government explained the demolition by saying it was done "out of the government's keenness to optimize services and improve the infrastructure" and that it would "boost flow of traffic in this vital area of the capital," according to the state-run Bahrain News Agency.

Meanwhile, the the streets of Manama -- filled with protesters earlier in the week -- were clear Friday just hours after a deadly government crackdown.

Amnesty International accused Bahrain on Thursday of using shotguns, tear gas and rubber bullets to subdue protesters, joining a growing chorus of concerns over the crackdown. Security forces have used "excessive force," leading to the killing of eight people in recent violence, Amnesty said in a report.




Pearl Monument Before Government Destruction


Pearl Monument After Government Destruction

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/18/von.bahrain.pearl.monument.bahraintv?iref=allsearch