Jeffrey Bachman and Matar Ebrahim Matar write: While the US media focuses on events in Egypt, Syria and elsewhere, the people of Bahrain continue to risk their freedom, their mental and physical well-being, and their lives, to carry on with their demands for democracy and human rights. Members of the political opposition, human rights activists, doctors and ordinary Bahraini citizens have been arbitrarily detained, charged with crimes such as “inciting hatred of the regime” and “attempting to overthrow the government”, tortured as a form of punishment and as a means to acquiring forced confessions, and killed by excessive use of force.
The popular protest movement in Bahrain began on 14 February 2011. At one point, early in the uprising, an estimated quarter of Bahrain’s population participated in nonviolent protests. That is equivalent to 75 million Americans protesting simultaneously. The Bahraini regime and its Gulf Co-operation Council partners, led by Saudi Arabia, crushed the protests with overwhelming force.
Yet, Bahraini people still do not have the overt support of the US government – despite President Obama’s (and other administration officials’) claims that the United States stands with all who have democratic aspirations. [Continue reading…]
I’m surprised the Bahreini Shi’ia haven’t upped the ante. They are really such nice people mostly voicing low-level civil disobedience.
A couple of pounds of explosive strategically placed at BABCO and ARAMCO’s Ras Tanura refineries would get the attention of the otherwise indifferent kleptocracy.
Why Ras Tanura? It’s in Saudi, only a short boat ride away, and home to their oppressed brothers in alHasa.
The US will only react when its interests are directly threatened. The Bahreinis need to start thinking out of the box.