Op-Ed Columnist Bahrain Pulls a QaddafiBy NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: March 16, 2011 It is heartbreaking to see a renegade country like Libya shoot pro-democracy protesters. But it’s even more wrenching to watch America’s ally, Bahrain, pull a Qaddafi and use American tanks, guns and tear gas as well as foreign mercenaries to crush a pro-democracy movement — as we stay mostly silent. In Bahrain in recent weeks, I’ve 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 — 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. 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. Today the United States is in a vise — 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. 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’s hand, saying warmly: “Don’t worry! We love Americans!” “We’re not after you. We’re after Shia,” the policeman added. Mr. Slackman recalls: “It sounded like they were hunting rats.” 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. 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’s almost impossible for Shiites to be hired by the army or police. Doesn’t that sound like an echo of apartheid? It is true that Bahrain’s protesters have behaved in ways that have undermined their cause. They frequently chant “Death to al-Khalifa” — a toxic slogan that should offend everyone. And some protesters have targeted Pakistanis and other South Asians who often work for security services. This slide toward radicalization and violence was unnecessary. The king could have met some of the protesters’ demands — such as fire the prime minister and move to a Jordanian- or Moroccan-style constitutional monarchy. Most protesters would have accepted such a compromise. Instead, the royal family talked about dialogue but didn’t make meaningful concessions, and the security forces remain almost as brutal as any in the region. I wrote a few weeks ago about a distinguished plastic surgeon, Sadiq al-Ekri, who had been bludgeoned by security forces. At the time, I couldn’t interview Dr. Ekri because he was unconscious. But I later returned and was able to talk to him, and his story offers a glimpse into Bahrain’s tragedy. Dr. Ekri is a moderate Shiite who said his best friend is a Sunni. Indeed, Dr. Ekri recently took several weeks off work to escort this friend to Houston for medical treatment. When Bahrain’s security forces attacked protesters, Dr. Ekri tried to help the injured. He said he was trying to rescue a baby abandoned in the melee when police handcuffed him. Even after they knew his identity, he said they clubbed him so hard that they broke his nose. Then, he said, they pulled down his pants and threatened to rape him — all while cursing Shiites. The Arab democracy spring that begun with such exhilaration in Tunisia and Egypt is now enduring a brutal winter in Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The United States bases the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and we have close relations with the Bahraini government. We’re not going to pull out our naval base. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rightly deplored the violence in Bahrain, and the administration as a whole should speak out forcefully. If the brave women and men demanding democracy in Bahrain have the courage to speak out, we should do so as well. Gail Collins is off today. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/opinion/17kristof.html#
lol that is not true. I'm not sure where you got that stat from, but I assure you that in Bahrain, even the elite were struggling for employment.
Today is just such a depressing day. I feel like by tomorrow, both Libya and Bahrain protestors are going to be silenced, the countries will be unstable for a long time, and thousands will have died for nothing, with death tolls being under reported, and leaders strengething prejudices by creating divisions between their people to justify what happened. As if that's not bad enough, Emiratis seem to be highly in support of silencing Bahraini protestors because of the sectarian propaganda machine the GCC has put into action via email, blackberry messenger, twitter, facebook, newspapers, media, etc.
Honestly Basso I get the impression you care less about the plight of the Libyan and Bahraini protesters rather than getting digs at Obama.
I fear you may be right. This is what I was worried about earlier that the UN et al dithers and we end up having a repeat of Southern Iraq 1991 and Srebinica all over again.
lol, I really dont know.... Last April, it was reported that the unemployment rate was 3.5% More recently, this story was published two days ago stating that the unemployment rate had 'slid' to 3.7% You might be right though....I dont know how they calculate their unemployment rates, and it may be that unemployment is significantly higher than whats being reported....All I have to bank on is reports like the ones above.
I swear there is no better apologist for Obama's policies than you. Every time I read one of your half-baked criticisms, it reminds me of all the reasons why Obama can't just go and play the White Knight. If the US marches in (or flies over), it's unlikely that rebel Libyans will parade into Tripoli with thankful residents waving flags from the balconies. Gaddafi has 2 tribes of a million people each that benefit from his being in power. I get the feeling that this would be a nation-rending civil war more or less sustained by the intervention of foreign interests (us). And the US acting unilaterally in a fight like that will give those 2 loyal tribes the accurate impression that we wanted to disenfranchise them for our own political reasons that didn't have anything to do with an international consensus that Gaddafi is a terrible person. Maybe we could liberalize Libya and maybe we can save a lot of idealist Libyans from being tortured in secret prisons, but I seriously doubt that the body count will be lower. International consensus could at least send the message to Libyans that deposing Gaddafi is the morally right thing to do independent of strategic political interests. They'd be more likely to accept a successor government where formerly favored groups are no longer shown favoritism. With a go-it-alone intervention, it'd be 2 million loyal Libyans fighting to stave off the biggest imperialist power in the world operating through the proxies of the drugged youths of the east. I'd rather not write their propaganda playbook for them.
no fool, he's off today, its st patty's day and he's half white and he's watching basketball because he's half black
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/D9W_-0uGN1E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> WTF...
This is a good article on the injustice in Bahrain. Absolutely shocking! Slain protester embodied woes of Bahrain's Shi'ites (Reuters) - Penniless, unmarried and unemployed, 30-year-old Ali Farhan embodied many of the grievances that propelled Bahraini Shi'ites to protest in the street -- only to be buried in a sandy grave. Thousands shouting "Down with the regime" watched as his wooden coffin was lowered into a rocky plot on Friday among nameless graves overrun with brittle weeds and faded flags. Farhan is one of eleven demonstrators to die in clashes with security forces since protests first rocked Manama last month. He was one of the thousands of mostly Shi'ite protesters from ramshackle suburbs that ring the capital, who complain they are neglected by their Sunni rulers on the island, a regional financial hub where the U.S. Navy houses Fifth Fleet. "I feel what I think everyone's feeling -- there's a pain like my heart is burning up ... but we'll continue our protests until this regime falls," said Youssef Ali, a friend of Farhan who shared a prison cell with him when the two were around 15. In the late 1990s, a youthful Farhan joined protests for reform. He was rounded up, and released after three years in jail. He never finished school and could never make ends meet as a fisherman. Bahrain's majority Shi'ites, who make up more than 60 percent of the population, have long complained of discrimination in jobs and services. Most are calling for a constitutional monarchy and democratic reforms. A smaller number have also demanded the overthrow of the monarchy, alarming the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa family and prompting their clampdown. Farhan's dream of a wife and family was impossible. With no good job or money, he never moved out of the three rooms of concrete slabs and sheet metal that housed 10 other family members. On March 15, he told his sister it was too much to bear. He drove out to join protesters gathered in the heart of the city. "We heard gunshots. He said he couldn't take it anymore. He said, 'Why should we be silent?'" his sister Fatima recalled. "He told me there will need to be some bloodshed. Without it we wont be able to win," she shouted, standing in one of their tiny rooms amid sobbing female relatives crouched on the floor. An hour after he left Fatima, Farhan was shot several times in the back of the head with buckshot. His skull was split open, his brain spilled out into the street. "I'm glad that he died as a martyr. But I feel his absence. He helped me raise my four children, he helped me wash our clothes ... We did everything together," she said. Outside, rising anti-Khalifa chants at the funeral drowned out the drone of a police helicopter flying overhead. "The Khalifa family is on its way out," Farhan's brother- in-law, Mahmoud, said. "In the end, our problem with them isn't political, it's about our humanity ... Next time, we'll all go out into the streets, men and women. No one will stay home." (Editing by Peter Graff) http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/19/us-bahrain-protests-funeral-idUSTRE72I2KP20110319 Here's some pictures i collected via google of the slain protester.... Extremely Graphic! http://awam37.homeip.net/media/lib/pics/1300199465.jpg http://c.shia4up.net/uploads/13002174051.jpg http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...50157886381183_530611182_8883386_407177_n.jpg http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/199143_1326868749120_1752982655_549717_4225571_n.jpg
France, the UK and the US are launching attacks in Libya. France seems to be actually taking out Gadaffi forces while the UK is focusing on taking out air defenses with cruise missiles.
Cold-blooded murder of unarmed demonstrators. Is Bahrain in that "Arab League" that wants Gaddafi out for the same thing? Isn't Saudi-Arabia behind this as well? Man, what a mess. Poor guy.
ITs funny how it works isn't it. Nobody wants to care about the protesters in Bahrain as they are shi'ites (70%) and likely to fall under the influence of Iran if the ruling Sunni's fall. The West doesn't want to see that happen so they are willing to look the other way and act like nothing really happened. Guddafi should have learned how to carry out brutal force from these security forces in Bahrain.
Where is the international community when it comes to stopping the gross human rights violations and massacre of unarmed civilians peacefully protesting in Bahrain? Oh I forgot, there's no oil in Bahrain and it's the headquarters of a US naval fleet.
