Few Americans even know of the exotic Middle Eastern island of Bahrain. This small, oil-rich sheikdom, was once an idyllic and peaceful island in the Persian Gulf. It had little-known but active tourist trade along with its abundant oil reserves. But today, things have changed in Bahrain, and not for the better. Today, Bahrain is a police state with one of the world's worst human rights records.
Not surprisingly, Bahrain's problems began when Postmodernist America brought its exceptionalism to the island. Bush Junior established Bahrain as the headquarters of the US 5th Fleet; and the Bahraini government moved into the Wahhabi ideology promoted by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States. The majority of Bahraini citizens are Shia Islamists and have been denied participation in their country's government. And, as in Okinawa, the US base provoked a number of outrages among the local populace.
During the so-called Arab Spring, Bahraini Shiites began protests against the Wahhabi Regime. But the Bahrainis learned what the world now in hindsight: some 'Arab Springs' are more equal than others. Obama and Clinton turned a blind eye, as the Wahhabi government imported Saudi and UAE troops to crush the demonstrations. The Shiites have been subject to the most brutal repressions ever since; with a wink-and-a-nod from Washington.
In June, the Wahhabis revoked the citizenship of Bahrain's top Shiite cleric and have closed the Shiite Mosque in Diraz. This week, the Wahhabis banned Shiite Friday Prayer Services (Friday is the Islamic Sabbath day). These crackdowns have been intensifying during the last several months, with an unknown number of Bahraini Shiites killed by Wahhabi police death-squads, and others thrown into prisons. Bahrain's prisons are known for their inhuman conditions, and torture is practiced there.
The Bush and Obama Administrations support the Bahraini Regime on the pretext that the Shia population is pro-Iranian. Iran was dubbed by Bush Junior as part of an Axis of Evil and a State-sponsor of Terrorism by Obama---in spite of the fact that not a single terrorist act against Americans has ever been linked to Iran. Also in spite of the fact that the Wahhabis---whom the Iranians consider apostate Moslems---have been linked to nearly all of them. Wahhabi coalition partners of the US in the Middle East are also known supporters of Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra, Boko Harum, ISIS, Al-Shebaab, and the Taliban, among others.
The US Navy in Bahrain has also engaged in several confrontations with the Iranian Navy, the most graphic of which ended in the shameful capture of ten of our brave men and women in uniform last January. The Ayatollahs have long denounced the interference of the US Navy in this region with Iranian efforts to suppress the weapons, narcotics, and slave-trafficking known to be originating from the Wahhabi Gulf States. Although suppressed by the Corporate Media, Singapore's unraveling of the so-called Fat Leonard Scandal gives considerable support to Iran's charges. That scandal---which has led to the arrest of a prominent US defense contractor and a sitting American Admiral so far---hasn't caused a ripple of controversy here in the Prozac Nation, although it fairly clearly points to Pentagon complicity in international smuggling operations.
The suffering of the Bahraini people is another reminder that the activities of these gangs of provocateurs and international crooks have real-world consequences on innocent people. These gangs, too, supported with US tax dollars and cash from Wall Street freebooters. Unfortunately, the average Ameroboob, is too worried about some NFL player's controversial statements on race relations or a sex scandal in Minnesota---both of which are at the top of today's headlines---to care very much.
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