Remember the Bahraini crime family? I'll keep the trip down memory lane short.
* In February during mass demonstrations against his misrule, "King" Hamad gunned unarmed protestors in the capital, killing tens and wounding hundreds.
* In March, as the protests continued, capo di tutti capi Hamad hired 1,500 thugs from the "armies" of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to enter Bahrain and put down the uprising which they promptly did.
* Since then, tin dictator Hamad has imprisoned medical personnel for treating protestors, beaten, tortured and killed prisoners, demolished Shia mosques (the religion of the majority of the country, but not that of godfather Hamad), arrested and tried pro-democracy leaders before secret courts, sentencing them to life imprison, and in general proved to be a Force for Stability in the Region®.
Now, you might be thinking -- this is where the cavalry in the form of NATO comes riding to the rescue in the form of cruise missiles and some sterling speeches in the UN? Oh, no, that was the script for ... some other country.
Instead, according to this article in Mother Jones, the Bahraini regime got mild criticism from the US in the UN followed by a pleasant interview at the White House with President Obama:
According to the White House, the two men had a "productive discussion." Obama "reaffirmed the strong commitment of the United States to Bahrain," and called on Bahrain to respect the opposition's human rights. Whether publicly admonishing the Bahraini government will lead to any change or consequences for those who committed human rights offenses remains to be seen.
Remains to be seen indeed. But no longer. Because as of two weeks ago the arms sales have been turned back on.
Mr. Regional Stability® with the old boss.
From a
more recent Mother Jones article (9/23/11):
Less than three months after including Bahrain on a list of human rights offenders requiring the United Nations' attention, the Obama administration seems to have changed its mind. The US now believes Bahrain is "an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," according to a statement from the Defense Department, which intends to sell $53 million worth of military equipment and support to the Gulf state, including bunker buster missiles and armored vehicles.
Mother Jones asked, with some reason, why in the world Bahrain would need
more arms (in addition to the $200 million worth we'd schlepped them in 2010), and eventually MoJo got this email from the State Department:
A State Department official did eventually respond via email to point out that the sale of such weapons improves Bahrain's capability to counter armored threats and that the State Department continues to closely monitor the human rights situation inside Bahrain.
Hmmm ... widespread and open massacres will mean ... "closely monitor the human rights situation". Double secret probation!
And then we see "Armored threats" -- from who? Against the base of the Fifth Fleet? Does it occur to anyone that the armored personal carriers, which are the subject of the latest proposal, would be of great use in putting down another uprising?
Actually, it did. Here's the official blurb:
Bahrain will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense.
Let me translate that for you: "Regional threat" means: "We're selling this shit to Bahrain to convince the Iranians that they'd better not mess around.". "Homeland defense" means "shoot anybody who gets out of line."
Oh, and did I mention that if you write something in the UK about the Bahraini dictatorship that the thugs don't like, they may decide to sue you for libel.
That is all. Go about your business citizens. Nothing to see here.