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Showing posts with label Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa. Show all posts
Iran's Foreign Ministry Director General for the Persian Gulf and Middle East Affairs has criticized the invasion of Bahrain by Saudi Arabian forces, saying it only makes the situation more complicated.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday that the Islamic Republic has urged the Bahraini government to respect the demands of the people and to refrain from using violence, Fars News Agency reported.
Mora than 1,000 Saudi Arabian troops arrived in Bahrain on Monday to help intensify the crackdown on anti-government protesters.
“It is surprising to see that immediately after the recent trip of the US Defense Secretary [Robert Gates] we see the intensified use of violence against the people of Bahrain,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
Gates made an unannounced visit to the Bahraini capital, Manama, on Friday. Bahrainis have been camping in Pearl Square since February 14th, demanding King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's ouster and constitutional reforms.
Amir-Abdollahian said it is expected of Bahraini officials to take the demands of the Muslim people of Bahrain seriously and prevent the meddling of other countries.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called on the US to respect democracy instead of sending military officials to the region and repressing the people.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday warned the Bahraini government against the use of force and violence against anti-government protesters.
The United Arab Emirates has sent around 500 police forces to neighboring Bahrain following an invasion led by Saudi Arabia to crack down on Bahraini protesters.
“The Bahrain government asked us yesterday to look at ways to help them to defuse tension in Bahrain,” Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said on Monday.
“We have already sent roughly around 500 of our police force who are there,” he said at a gathering of Group of Eight foreign ministers in Paris.
The deployment came after UAE decided to join the Persian Gulf contingent sent to Bahrain to help the tiny kingdom in its deadly crackdown on protesters.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that the UAE decision to join the contingent reflects the determination of member states of the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council to “close ranks in face of any danger.”
In addition to Bahrain and the UAE, the council includes Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Saudi Arabia earlier said that it also answered Bahrain's request for support, shortly before Bahrain's state television aired footage of troops from the council's joint Peninsula Shield Force crossing King Fahd causeway from Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain's opposition, however, said it considered any foreign military intervention to be an “occupation” and called on the international community to act to ensure the “protection of the people of Bahrain from the danger of foreign military intervention.”
Opposition protesters are demanding far-reaching democratic reform in the country which has been ruled by al-Khalifa dynasty for more than 200 years.
The king has offered dialogue and a new, empowered parliament and other reforms but the opposition has refused to sit down to talks until the government resigns.
Saudi Arabia says it has responded to a "security threat" in neighboring Bahrain by staging a 1,000-troop invasion in an attempt to quell escalating anti-government protests.
“The council of ministers has confirmed that it has answered a request by Bahrain for support,” Riyadh said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.
It said that under an agreement of the six-country [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council, "any harm done to the security of a member state is considered a harm done to the security of all members."
A Saudi official said Monday that more than 1,000 troops, part of the Persian Gulf countries' Peninsula Shield Force, had entered Bahrain.
This came as Bahrain's opposition said it considered any foreign military intervention to be an occupation.
“We consider the arrival of any soldier, or military vehicle, into Bahraini territory.... an overt occupation of the kingdom of Bahrain and a conspiracy against the unarmed people of Bahrain,” said an opposition statement.
It called on the international community to act to ensure the “protection of the people of Bahrain from the danger of foreign military intervention.”
Meanwhile, Bahraini protesters are gathering in Pearl Square to protest against the occupation.
The Saudi intervention comes two days after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Manama and held talks with King Hamada bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Gates said he urged the king to undertake rapid and significant reform.
The six-state (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is reportedly preparing to send military forces to crisis-hit Bahrain in an attempt to curb anti-government protests.
Bahrain's Alyam newspaper, which is close to the Al-Khalifa royal family, said Monday that forces from Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf Arab states were expected to enter the tiny country to help boost Bahraini government's crackdown on the protesters.
Nabeel al-Hamer, an adviser to the royal court, also confirmed that the kingdom asked the Arab states to send troops to Bahrain.
"Forces from the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council have arrived in Bahrain to maintain order and security," the former information minister said on his Twitter feed late on Sunday.
The revelation came one day after Bahraini security forces stepped up their crackdown on the anti-government protesters who were trying to expand their rallies from the capital's main square to the country's main business hub.
Hundreds of the people have reportedly been wounded in the violence with live footage showing the forces shooting protesters at close range.
Demanding King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's ouster and constitutional reforms, the Bahraini demonstrators continue their protests, blocking the main roads to the Financial Harbour business complex in the capital Manama.
At least seven protesters have been killed since the start of anti-regime protests in mid-February.
On Monday, hundreds of protesters are also continuing to hold a sit-in at Pearl Square in Manama.
Meanwhile, pro-regime vigilantes brandishing knives and clubs attacked the students at the university on Sunday.
"The regime is using thugs," said Khalil Marzooq, a member of the main Shia opposition group.
The new wave of crackdown came after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates made an unannounced visit to troubled Bahrain to reassure the monarchy about the United States' full support.
The Persian Gulf state, mostly populated by Shia Muslims, has been ruled by Sunni kings for more than 200 years. The Shias have, however, long complained about being discriminated against by the government when it comes to employment opportunities and the right to public services.
Bahraini security forces have stepped up their crackdown on anti-government protesters who were trying to expand their rallies from the capital's main square to the country's main business hub.
The forces fired teargas canisters into the protesters, who were pushing to form a human chain blocking Bahrain Financial Harbor in Manama, AFP reported.
Hundreds of the people were reportedly wounded in the violence with live footage showing the forces shooting a protester at close range.
Demanding King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's ouster and constitutional reforms, the demonstrators have been peacefully camping in the Pearl Square since February 14th.
The square, which is the epicenter for the rallies, has become known to many as 'the Martyrs Roundabout,' in memory of those that died during Manama-ordered suppression of the popular uprising.
Meanwhile, pro-regime vigilantes brandishing knives and clubs attacked the students at the university. "The regime is using thugs," said Khalil Marzooq, a member of the main Shia opposition group.
The Persian Gulf state, mostly populated by Shia Muslims, has been ruled by Sunni kings for more than 200 years. The Shias have, however, long complained about being discriminated against by the government when it comes to employment opportunities and the right to public services.
Bahraini anti-government protesters demonstrate Friday, March 11, 2011, in Riffa where security forces brutally attacked protesters to prevent them from marching to the royal court. AP Photo
Tens of thousands of people in Bahrain have surrounded the Safriyah Palace to demand an end to the monarchy.
Nurses and doctors are standing by for any possible violence. This is the latest in a wave of anti-government protests against the rule of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, The Associated Press reported.
The protest on Saturday comes a day after police -- with the help of pro-government vigilantes -- used teargas against mostly Shia, anti-government protesters. Over 700 people were injured as they marched towards the Royal Court in the capital Manama.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the capital after attending a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels. Gates met with King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Saturday to reassure the monarchy of the United States' full support.
"I told both the king and the crown prince that across the region I did not believe there could be a return to the status quo," Gates said. "Obviously, leading reform and being responsive is the way we would like to see this unfold," he added.
The visit comes two weeks after the highest-ranking officer in the US military, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, stopped in Manama, which is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
Bahrainis have been staging protests since mid-February, demanding the resignation of King Hamad and constitutional reforms to the Sunni-led government. They also want free and fair elections as well as the release of political prisoners.
A Bahraini human rights activist says Manama has blocked Press TV's website in the country, adding Bahrain is on the “black list” as far as human rights are concerned.
“According to all human rights organizations, Bahrain stands on the black list when it comes to human rights,” Nabeel Rajab, a member of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told Press TV.
He underlined that Press TV's website in Bahrain has remained blocked for ten days now, describing the move as a blatant example of violating freedom of expression in the country.
The rights activist added that Press TV's site is one of “tens of thousands” of websites blocked in Bahrain over the past few months.
“The Bahrain situation has deteriorated,” he noted.
As confirmed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, he said, Bahrain uses “systematic torture” against political prisoners in the country.
“Until two weeks ago we had over 500 political prisoners,” he said, adding quite a few of them are children.
The rights activist underscored that the political prisoners in Bahrain are “sexually harassed.”
He went on to say that roughly one out of every 1,000 Bahraini citizens are held as a political prisoner, making Bahrain the country with the highest number of political prisoners per capita.
He added that all human rights organizations have blacklisted Bahrain as a violator of human rights.
“[The] Internet is being slowed down, so that we don't upload videos and we don't upload pictures … to show what is happening in Bahrain,” he concluded
Tens of thousands of Bahraini protesters have gathered outside government headquarters in the capital, escalating pressure on the ruling family to accept political reforms.
An estimated 100,000 demonstrators poured into the capital's financial district after the Friday Prayers, staging the largest demonstration since anti-government protests erupted in the kingdom almost three weeks ago.
Columns of protesters that stretched for one kilometer blocked Manama's main highway. Protesters then marched towards Pearl Square, the epicenter of the movement demanding the government to step down.
The protest rally came one day after six Bahraini opposition groups, including the Shia al-Wefaq, laid out their conditions for entering talks with the Crown Prince.
The government "should announce that it has accepted four principles in the opening of the dialogue before going into the details," the groups' spokesman told reporters.
According to the spokesman, the conditions include the "abolition of the 2002 constitution" and the "election of a constitutional assembly for drafting a new basic law."
Bahrainis should also have the right to "elect a parliament with full legislative powers" and "to elect their government." The last condition is to "guarantee the outcomes of the dialogue are applied and respected."
Meanwhile, some opposition groups have refused dialogue, saying the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty which has ruled the country for almost two centuries must fall.
In a move to contain the mass protest, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has offered a series of concessions over the past week including releasing political prisoners, reshuffling the cabinet and reducing the monthly housing costs of citizens by 25 percent.
But the measures do not seem to have been enough for Bahrainis as thousands of anti-government protesters are still out demanding the government to step down
The British government has recently revoked more than 50-weapon export licenses to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf and Libya in North Africa.
Following weeks of pro-democracy protests in the Middle East and North Africa, the people of the countries in those regions have become more frustrated over revelation of the facts that the British government has been directly involved in training and arming the repressive regimes of their countries including their militaries and their police forces.
In Bahrain, where the king recently reshuffled his cabinet to appease protesters who have been calling for his ouster, a British agent had been in charge of the country's security apparatus, and, all the Manama police had been taught by Colonel Ian Henderson, the British agent who spent 30 years as head of Bahrain's secret police until was forced to retire in February 1998.
“Henderson is known as the butcher of Bahrain. He is the head of the security services and director of intelligence and has gathered around him the kind of British dogs of war, mercenaries, whose guns and electric shock equipment are for hire to anyone who will pay the price,” former MP George Galloway told the House of Commons on June 3, 1997.
Ian Henderson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, but lived most of his life as a Colonial Police Officer oversea.
Henderson was employed as the head of state of security in Bahrain for some 30 years, and was retired from his position in February 1998.
Britain and Bahrain, as part of a secret British intelligence plot, clinched a friendship deal to consult each other whenever necessary soon after the tiny Persian Gulf Island was separated from Iran on August 14, 1971.
Henderson has been accused by Bahraini political dissidents and international human rights organizations (including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch) of torturing Bahrainis.
“His men allegedly detained and tortured thousands of anti-government activists,” wrote Tony Thompson in the June 30, 2002, London Observer.
“Their activities are said to have included the ransacking of villages, sadistic sexual abuse and using power drills to maim prisoners. On many occasions they are said to have detained children without informing their parents, only to return them months later in body bags,” said Thompson.
Prior to working in Bahrain, Henderson served as a Colonial Police Officer in Kenya during the 1950s. He got his start in the British Empire's war against Kenya's Land and Freedom Army, also known as the “Mau Mau.”
The British agent hunted down and captured the last of the Mau Mau leaders - Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi - on Oct. 21, 1956.
The freedom fighter was hanged on Feb. 18, 1957, in Kamiti Maximum Security Prison outside Nairobi. To this day, the British government refuses to reveal where Field Marshal Kimathi is buried.
During the war a million Kenyans were thrown into concentration camps. The US “foreign aid” helped pay for Embakasi Airport, which was built by prisoners with their bare hands. No wonder Henderson was “known as the torturer-in-chief.”
However, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Henderson-the-torturer and made him a “Commander of the British Empire” in 1986.
Saudi Arabia is sending some 30 tanks to Bahrain which were sighted late Monday along the King Fahd causeway linking the two countries, witnesses say.
Pro-democracy protests in Bahrain have shown no sign of decline after almost two weeks. The protesters are demanding the resignation of the government, constitutional reforms and the king's abdication.
Witnesses said that the causeway was blocked as "15 tank carriers carrying two tanks each were heading towards Bahrain," Egypt's al-Masry al-Youm daily reported in its latest edition.
Given the popular protests in the Persian Gulf kingdom, the transfer of the military hardware from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain seems highly unusual, commuters traveling along the 25-km causeway said.
The development follows a decision by the Bahraini military on Saturday to withdraw their vehicles out of the capital's Pearl Square after a deadly police attack on protesters, a condition the opposition had set to begin talks.
The arrival of tanks from Saudi Arabia also occurs on the eve of yet another scheduled pro-democracy rally on Tuesday organized by the Bahraini opposition and protesters in Manama's flashpoint Pearl Square.
Massive protests in Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in the region, have shown no sign of a decline after almost two weeks.
The protesters are demanding the resignation of the government, constitutional reforms and the king's abdication.
Fears of Saudi intervention in the ongoing Bahraini uprising first came to the fore last week when unconfirmed reports emerged on Wednesday.
Saudi officials had reportedly told US authorities that they were "prepared to intervene" should such a move prove necessary to protect Bahrain's embattled government
Lawmakers from the largest parliamentary bloc in Bahrain have protested at the government-ordered bloodshed of pro-democracy protesters by staging a mass departure.
On Sunday, 18 members of the Shia opposition faction of al-Wefaq officially resigned from the parliament, saying, "We are no longer affiliated with this council (Parliament), which did not lift a finger in front of these massacres," AFP reported.
At least seven demonstrators have been killed during clashes with security forces since the beginning of the popular protests on February 14
Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters have taken to the streets of the Bahraini capital, demanding an end to the rule of the country's Sunni regime.
Waving Bahrain's flag and chanting anti-government slogans, protesters from all over the Persian Gulf littoral state are heading toward Pearl Square in Manama, the epicenter of the movement, on Friday, the 12th consecutive day of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.
The mass rally is held to honor the victims killed in the recent police crackdown. At least seven protesters have been killed during clashes with security forces since the beginning of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain on February 14.
Protesters demand major reform including the election of the prime minister and the creation of a "real" constitutional monarchy.
Many protesters, mainly Shias, have also called for an end to the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty which has ruled the country for almost two centuries.
While Shias represent nearly 75 percent of the Bahraini population, the country has been ruled by a Sunni royal family since the 18th Century.
Protesters have vowed to remain camped out in Pearl Square and have refused to enter talks with the Crown Prince until their demands are met.
In an attempt to contain massive pro-democracy demonstrations, Bahraini authorities on Wednesday released 23 political prisoners after a pardon by King Hamad. Authorities have also announced a minor cabinet reshuffle.
The Friday's mass rally came after Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, paid a short visit to Bahrain, reaffirming Washington's commitment to embattled King Hamad.
Bahrain is a key US ally in the Middle East and home to Washington's Fifth Fleet.
Bahrainis will go on a nationwide strike and hold more massive demonstrations if the government does not resign on Thursday, an opposition figure says.
“We have set Thursday as deadline for the government to resign and if it fails to resign on that day, we would expand the protest. If they ignore the call of the people, we will have to take further actions, including a nationwide strike to begin next week,” RIA Novosti quoted a Bahraini opposition activist as saying on Thursday.
This is while, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has agreed to withdraw troops from the streets of Manama and pardon political prisoners.
However, the king has refused to dismiss the government and amend the constitution, which are the opposition's main demands. The demands are also the preconditions for any future talks between the opposition and the rulers.
On Wednesday, more than 100 political prisoners were released; a move that is viewed as Bahraini monarch's latest bid to start talks to end a standoff with the opposition.
Meanwhile, the Bahraini king went to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss the situation in his country with King Abdullah, who has just come back from the US after undergoing medical treatment.
On the other hand, exiled leader of the opposition Haq Movement Hassan Mashaima, who had been scheduled to arrive from the United Kingdom to join Tuesday's demonstrations, has not returned home.
Mashaima had flown from London to Doha, Qatar, but then flew on to Beirut, Lebanon. It was not immediately clear what caused Mashaima to delay his return to the Persian Gulf country.
At least seven people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries in the days of violent government crackdown on Bahrain's pro-democracy protesters
Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Bahrain in the possibly biggest demonstration since unrest began last week.
Demonstrators circled the Bahrain Mall and the financial district of Manama, the capital, on Tuesday, in a march to the heart of the protest at Pearl roundabout.
"We want the fall of the government" was the most common chant among the mainly Shia Muslim protesters who accuse the Sunni rulers of discriminating against the island's Shia majority.
Led by opposition groups such as Wefaq and Waad, it was the first organised demonstration and followed spontaneous protests by a rising youth movement relying on social media.
Helicopters hovered overhead but security forces offered no resistance after opening fire on protesters last week.
"Some want the [ruling] family out but most [want] only the prime minister [to quit]," Abbas al-Fardan, a protester, said.
"We want a new government, the people need to rule the country."
Opposition demands
The widow of one of the seven people killed in a crackdown on protesters read a statement outlining the opposition's demands, which centre on the current government's resignation and the replacement of the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty with a constitutional monarchy.
The statement also demanded an immediate, "impartial" probe to identify and try those behind the killings and reiterated opposition calls for the formation of a "national salvation" government.
"We don't have a problem if elections bring a Sunni or a Shia ruler," Saeed, a protester, said.
"The most important thing is to have egalitarian distribution of wealth among both communities."
Shias account for about 70 per cent of the population but are a minority in Bahrain's 40-seat parliament.
The al-Khalifa dynasty has ruled Bahrain for 200 years, and the family dominates a cabinet led by the king's uncle, who has been prime minister since independence in 1971.
Meanwhile, Hassan Mushaimaa, leader of the opposition Haq movement, had vowed to return to Bahrain on Tuesday from London where he is based.
He is one of 25 people on trial since last year over an alleged coup plot but a statement by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa on Monday hinted that the trial would be shelved, allowing Mushaimaa an unhindered return.
But a friend of Mushaimaa said the opposition leader had been unable to board his flight to Bahrain from Beirut where he had landed earlier for a planned stopover.
Political prisoners released
State media said the king had ordered the release of convicted prisoners whose names would be released on Wednesday and a stop to ongoing court cases.
At least 50 prisoners were released including 25 Shiite activists on trial since last year for plotting against the state, Abdul Jalil Khalil, a leading member of Bahrain's Shiite opposition, told Associated Press news agency.
The US praised Bahrain's leadership on Tuesday for having announced steps towards opening a national dialogue, releasing political prisoners and permitting peaceful demonstrations.
"We commend the steps taken by King Hamad as well as Crown Prince Salman and others to restore calm to Bahrain, to allow peaceful demonstrations to take place," PJ Crowley, the state department spokesman, said.
"We view recent announcements to launch a national dialogue and the release of political prisoners as positive steps towards addressing the concerns of Bahraini citizens."
Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, said the United States welcomed the king's decision to release the prisoners and "initiate a meaningful dialogue with the full spectrum of Bahraini society."
"As we have said, these steps need to be followed by concrete actions and reform," she said. "There is no place for violence against peaceful protesters."
Pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain have vowed to stage more massive demonstrations against the rule of al-Khalifa in the days to come.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Manama's Pearl Square on Monday, vowing not to leave until their demands are met by the regime.
The protesters called a massive demonstration for Tuesday and expect tens of thousands of people to converge at the Square.
They appeared unimpressed by the heir to Bahrain's throne, Crown Prince Salman's call for dialogue, instead calling on him to leave.
The crown prince has been tasked by his father, King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa, with launching a wide-reaching dialogue with the opposition.
The opposition, however, has raised the stakes, demanding a "real constitutional monarchy" and the government's resignation.
Laborers and students along with lawmakers and teachers have joined the protests to demand a better quality of life in the kingdom.
Bahrainis, inspired by revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, have been expressing disappointment with the political reforms of the past decade, which have failed to bring prosperity and real change.
The protests, however, took a new turn on Thursday after the brutal crackdown on protesters left at least five people dead and more than 230 injured.
Reports say that the troops who open live fire on protesters are foreign nationals granted Bahraini citizenship by the government.
At least eight people have so far been killed and hundreds injured in the clashes since the uprising in the Arab world reached Bahrain last week.
A landmark junction in the heart of Bahrain's capital, Manama, continues to be occupied by opposition protesters, hundreds of whom spent the night there after another day of anti-government demonstrations in the tiny Gulf state.
Some woke early on Sunday morning in the Pearl Roundabout area and staged a noisy protest, chanting "Get out Hamad" as they pressed their demand that the king, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, should step down.
A small tent village has sprung up complete with stalls selling hot milk, scrambled eggs and tomatoes - catering to the hundreds who decided to stay overnight in the public square.
The protesters reclaimed on Saturday the junction that they had previously used as a focal point for pro-reform protests, but which was then violently taken back by security forces.
The calls against Sheikh Hamad and his inner circle are a recent escalation in Bahrain's political uprising, which began with calls to weaken the Sunni monarchy's power and address claims of discrimination against the country's Shia Muslim majority.
Dialogue offer
Abdul-Jalil Khalil, a leader of the main Shia political bloc, said on Sunday the opposition was considering the monarchy's offer for dialogue, but he noted that no direct talks were yet under way. Seven opposition groups said they would meet later in the day to co-ordinate a response.
They were responding after Bahrain's crown prince, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is also the deputy supreme commander of the country's armed forces, appealed for calm and political dialogue in a brief address on state TV on Friday.
On his orders, troops and armoured vehicles withdrew from Pearl Roundabout on Saturday, which they had taken over on Thursday after riot police staged a night-time attack on a sit-in by protesters, killing four people and wounding 231.
On Friday, army units shot at marchers streaming towards the square, injuring more than 50 people and preventing protesters from gathering there.
But after security forces withdrew, the protesters swarmed back to the square and confidently set up camp for a protracted stay.
As night fell on Saturday, the protesters erected barriers, wired a sound system, set up a makeshift medical tent and deployed lookouts to warn of approaching security forces.
Amid preparations for fresh rallies on Sunday, parts of the country were paralysed by a general strike called by opposition groups and workers' unions.
Teachers across Bahrain took part in the strike action, and many joined the protesters marching in the centre of Manama.
Conciliatory tone
In an interview to CNN, Sheikh Salman said protesters would "absolutely" be allowed to stay in the Pearl Roundabout area.
"All political parties in the country deserve a voice at the table," he said of the proposed dialogue, adding the king had appointed him to lead it and to build trust with all sides.
"I think there is a lot of anger, a lot of sadness, and on that note I would like to extend my condolences to all of the families who lost loved ones and all of those who have been injured.
"We are terribly sorry and this is a terrible tragedy for our nation."
Barack Obama, the US president, has discussed the situation with Sheikh Hamad, asking him to hold those responsible for the violence accountable.
He said in a statement that Bahrain must respect the "universal rights" of its people and embrace "meaningful reform".
For his part, William Hague, the British foreign secretary, in a telephone call to Sheikh Salman, said he welcomed the government's military withdrawal and strongly supported efforts to initiate a dialogue.
The Bahraini demonstrators have emulated protesters in Tunisia and Egypt by attempting to bring political change to the government in Bahrain, home to the US navy's Fifth Fleet - the centrepiece of US efforts to confront Iranian military influence in the region.
A call by the Bahraini king for national dialog has faced rejection by the main opposition bloc, al-Wefaq, which says the government must resign and troops must withdraw from the streets first.
The deal to talk with people is reneged as Bahrain's military continues to clash with demonstrators, killing several and wounding hundreds.
Saeed al-Shahabi, a Bahraini opposition leader from London, tells Press TV about the US military support of Bahrain and other issues.
Press TV: Al-Shahabi, a Bahraini opposition leader, is joining us from London. Many thanks for joining us here on Press TV, sir. The crown prince of Bahrain has just said, “Today is the time to sit down and hold a dialog, not to fight.” What do you say to that?
Al-Shahabi: I think this is misleading and part of the deception of this brutal regime. We have been calling for reforms for the past 10 years. For the past few months, at least, we have been calling for a “day of rage” in order to get some reforms. But he and his regime, his father, his uncle, refuse to heed the call for any reform. Yet, they have arrested the best of our people in Bahrain including scholars, academics, professionals, and tortured them beyond any belief.
Now, at the eleventh hour, when the regime is about to collapse, he is coming on the street, after killing our youth, after stabbing us for the tenth time in the back, and talking about dialog. I have personally sat with his father, twice, in 2001 and 2008, and have urged him to enter into dialogs. He has always refused any sort of dialog.
The only dialog he knows has been to use force against protesters and innocent people, and to use the mind of our state to crack down against the opposition, against unarmed civilians. These people do not believe in dialog. They never know except the language of force and power.
And, of course, our Bahraini people have always been peaceful, civilized in their actions and their demands; but, unfortunately we are faced by a regime that is both antiquated, old, and tyrannical, a [hysterical] dictatorship, and is [awful] in dealing with its people. I don't think [the crown prince] was serious to say that. It was just another ploy in order to follow the life of a different regime.
Press TV: How do you assess the international responses coming out regarding this uprising in Bahrain, especially from Bahrain's close ally the United States?
Al-Shahabi: There are two sides to this reaction, a positive and a negative side. The positive side is the international condemnation, even in the western media, of the barbarianism that is being waged against our people. We have seen in the press in the west, generally very favorably, today and yesterday, page after page, talking about the “furiosity” and the barbarianism of this regime. This is the positive side, which represents mostly the aspirations and the dealings of the ordinary people.
However, on the official side, it is disconcerting to see that both London and Washington have almost kept quiet apart from some statements that mean nothing, for example, when [British foreign secretary] Mr. Hague said yesterday morning that he wants and he urges the government of Bahrain to observe the law and [US Secretary of State] Hilary Clinton and [US] President Obama say that there should be reforms -- these are just words.
In reality it seems to me that they are supplying this regime with lethal weapons. The tanks that we saw rolling in the streets over the past two days; the teargas canisters, the rubber bullets (and live rounds) and other means and tools of death have been supplied by both the US and Britain.
We know that today and tomorrow in the newspapers there will be many articles about the names and professions of those who have been supplying these lethal weapons to be used not against outside enemies, but against the people themselves.
These arms, these tanks, these armored vehicles are meant to be used against outside threats, not to be rolled in the streets of Manama to face unarmed civilians, who are sitting on the ground very peaceful and civilized just asking for certain moderate demands, and having military and tanks attacking them in the middle of the night when everybody is asleep.
This is the most vicious regime; worse than Mubarak, worse than Tunisia. And what we saw today: people going to a procession to bury their dead being suddenly attacked by vicious forces, who are mostly foreigners with no mercy.
Western-trained killers, who are not national Bahrainis, use western-made weapons to fight men, women and children who march on peacefully to struggle for their democratic freedoms.
The US, that's naval fifth fleet stands by watching in an effort to protect oil price fluctuations, has gained conspicuous silence on peaceful protesters being mowed down in hails of gunfire rings loudly.
The tiny population is being massacred, even western reporters are not spared, and we may well ask - Where are the UN soldiers?
Press TV talks with Afshin Rattansi novelist and journalist from London about the unfolding events in Bahrain and on the Britain's role in this tragedy over the decades.
Press TV: Regarding reports of UK weapons such as tear gas canisters etc being used in Bahrain by the security forces against the protesters and in a violent way - Has there been anything in the UK media highlighting this aspect?
Rattansi: I think already the companies are starting to be named; we don't know of course how many people have been killed or in critical condition in Bahrain, but the London Guardian here is reporting that not only is it a case of materials used, but it is the case of the (UK) Ministry of Defense helping to train more than 100 Bahraini officer over the past five years in the UK, which includes training with the British Army, the Royal Navy.
Britain's role in training security forces in Bahrain is a major one and it's not only about the training of those who are killing protesters, it is also about media spin.
Press TV: How do you see the UK and the west's reaction to this uprising? All these Persian Gulf nations and even North African nations are turning into liabilities aren't they for the US?
Rattansi: Well, they say it's a liability. The Pentagon in the past few minutes said they don't have any immediate plans to evacuate some 4,500 navy personnel that they have on the base where the fifth fleet is parked. I think the fact that Britain is so closely tied with Bahrain - we had a minister here, William Hague visiting it recently and the National Policing Improvement agency of the UK wrote on its website that it helps to train people in the Bahraini royal family and judges and lieutenant colonels in how to spin a crisis to the world media so that people don't get the wrong impression as far as the Bahraini Monarchy are concerned.
The British government has been deeply involved for so many years in propping up this regime.
Press TV: A few days ago a Bahraini journalist was basically the first journalist in the Persian Gulf region to essentially call out her own leaders to their faces and that's when the foreign minister walked away during the press conference for an emergency meeting that was held by all the foreign ministers of the region - How significant a shift is that within the media sphere do you think? Do think things are not changing within the media and journalist within the region?
Rattansi: What a brave women she was to speak up to the monarchy like that and that press conference was very soon after abandoned in front of all the cameras; Perhaps their training isn't as good as it should be when it comes to those in the Bahraini government trying to make out somehow that both sides are involved in the violence; and as the Obama administration is trying to make out.
I think the media in Bahrain; well we have yet to see, like we did in Egypt, people resigning from the state broadcasters that after all are advised by US personnel and western broadcasting on how to broadcast. We'll have to wait and see whether the state media of Bahrain will dare to cover what's happening on the streets.
At the moment I'd have to say one is very surprised by American-Backed corporate media where even if corporate interests in the US and defense interests are against any big changes in Bahrain - for those on the ground, it's very difficult when Bahraini security forces are beating people up - beating for example the ABC journalist earlier in the week Miguel Marquez; he was beaten up in Bahrain - very difficult for those sorts of people to then say to their corporate headquarters in New York that everything is going well here with the Bahraini royal family and it is the protesters that are the violent ones.
Press TV: We've heard reports about how Bahrain has brought in recruits from outside of Bahrain to be working in their army and their police forces. Now considering that, is Bahrain then a very unique situation in the case of the military and even some members of the police are not necessarily as patriotic to their country as the Egyptian military or policemen were?
Rattansi: It is true to say that many analysts are calling this a process of ethnic cleansing in Bahrain when it comes to filling the ranks of the security forces with people from overseas giving them citizenship; however, the British are also training people in Yemen; they're also training people in Algeria - Algeria sent 139 officers to ministry of defense in the UK for officer training courses over the past five years or so; from various sources, the British newspaper The Guardian is going strong on that; Yemen 56 personnel, the Egyptian military sending people to Britain for training.
So all the puppet or client states of western oil companies or western governments are certainly getting their military training on how to shoot; though the UK probably didn't think they would be training their guns on women and children, but that certainly seems to be the way it's going doesn't it?
Press TV: Considering this is essentially the first Persian Gulf nation to be affected by these protests; and we've also heard of Kuwait as well now - How significant is it that this uprising that began in Tunisia has moved across to these Persian Gulf nations who are very sensitive to any criticism at all, how significant is it that things will shift, or do you see this as a temporary situation?
Rattansi: Well it's been said that it's a perfect storm - you have the Obama administration both internally and externally has been rather useless I think, considered by most policy analysts; you have IMF-backed economic policies and a massive drive to privatize their industries in these countries, which again impoverishes their people; together with the food inflation and the legacy of so many decades of US-backing of non-democratic regimes - these different factors means this was bound to happen sometime, the only interesting thing is that no western agency, because after all these agencies listen to an elite middle class think tank sort of echelon society in these countries, fail to understand that the grass roots, the people at the bottom, will always rise up.
Press TV: As you well know this part of the world is extremely important to the US for its oil and this is obviously having a very global impact. Even though Bahrain is a very small nation, oil prices have been see-sawing throughout the week every since this uprising has begun - How do you think this will impact the US response to that considering oil is something that is very important to them?
Rattansi: Oil prices have been going up, but we must admit that historically they are not that high and of course that is the reason why the fifth fleet is parked in Bahrain. That fleet is there to protect oil and gas in Bahrain and of course Saudi Arabia and that is the strategic importance of it.
I think some think tank people are saying, could they find other places to park their fleet - we notice from Obama's comments, this is a clear case of people being shot down in a way that in any sense the media would talk about Tiananmen Square or back in the 80s in Latin America when client states would shoot down civilians - we know from the fact that the state department is so quiet and continues to say there is violence on both sides as some of the civilians in Pearl roundabout were firing back we know from that (lies) how strategically important it is - they don't want to lose Bahrain and the fifth fleet is not evacuating.
I think the international community, as seen by corporate media, would be surprised if American soldiers started to participate with the already existing British and American weaponry on the street to start killing off masses of the population in a country, which after all, does not have a large population. The numbers of wounded and dead in a country where the population is between 500,000 and 700,000 is proportionately a lot of people being killed.
Press TV: I wanted to ask you about the human cost of this - we've heard a lot of impassioned pleas now by doctors on the ground in Manama asking for the international community to now help them out considering they no longer have enough beds or equipment to be able to treat all these people coming in who are injured or dying. Do you think the international community will finally be embarrassed to telling the Bahraini monarchy enough is enough?
Rattansi: Well we've seen Ban Ki Moon have failed so many times when UN policy or UN general assembly policy conflicts with US foreign interests.
I think what's telling here again is a quote here of retired admiral William Fallon, the former head of the US central command in the Middle East, talking about how different Bahrain is from Egypt. No force, even if the movement could get one together, can start to combat forces trained by British and American interests.
We must emphasize that when we're watching pictures of civilians being mown down, the people that are killing all these people are trained with the connivance of western corporate and government interests, western democracies with materials supplied to them from those western interests.
Press TV: I'd like to ask about something Hillary Clinton just said a while back. She actually praised Bahrain as a model nation in this Persian Gulf region. However, at the same time, according to WikiLeaks and a lot of the cables that have been leaked, the US knew the people were about to reach their boiling point with the monarchy. Why the discrepancies in their public statements versus their private statements?
Rattansi: I think the “Wikicable database”, whilst including lots of valuable information, doesn't necessarily mean to the intelligence or think-tank community in Washington they read those cables. I think what we were seeing there with the cables, trying to be brought out to somehow save face with the state department, are very particularly chosen in an attempt at face-saving by the state department. There's no doubt that this wasn't seen by the think tanks on the Hill. They're now desperately trying to rely on WikiLeaks to back them up, which is another irony because we of course must remember that the alleged source is currently being tortured in the United States, Bradley Manning. If indeed it was him. [Manning] is being tortured by the United States.
So if the state department starts saying [they] knew there were assets in the field that reminded and told us something like this would happen, I think it's particularly shallow and, ethically, very questionable indeed.
As for Hillary Clinton herself, she's proved time and time again when it came from her presidential bid, she offered to use nuclear weapons against Iran - where you're sitting. I think she's proved herself out of her depth time and time again.
Press TV: There's also a certain corporate aspect to this with the whole F-1 grand prix, and a very big deal is being made out of this whether the F-1 Grand Prix in Bahrain will go through or not in March. But the head of F-1, he does not really speak about the human cost of this. He isn't really speaking about the people's demands themselves. He's only speaking about if there is calm then it will be held and if not then it will be cancelled. Is there certain disconnect on the part of corporations in the West to the human cost and to the genuine people's demands in this part of the world?
Rattansi: Ah, the ethics of sport. Yes, Bernie Ecclestone, who runs Formula One, making these statements about Bahrain which don't at all relate to human rights, and much more about the practicalities of arranging things in Bahrain…what's interesting about that, aside from that sport, is that in this country, in Britain and in the United States, there is, as people like Norm Chomsky have talked about, a disconnect between foreign news and the public. The public is showered with news of celebrities, of sport, trying to erase any world view. That world view is changing internally because of the economic crisis.
But the fact that Bahrain, some foreign land to these countries, is now being brought home unto the sports pages because of the Grand Prix Formula One championships, and it being the first of the season, is an amusing aside, if we disregard the fact, as you imply, they're not to give out human rights, because now people who would never be normally thinking about the human rights violations sponsored by their governments are now having to address them in a different paradigm.
Press TV: I'd like to also ask you about the monarchy's response so far. It went from the people have a right to peacefully protest within the Bahraini constitution to an attack at 3am, a completely surprise attack at 3am on sleeping protesters. There was this unfounded claim by the foreign ministers that these people had weapons on them. So, now we have not seen any evidence of that presented even on Bahraini state television, which it's being claimed a lot, but there is no evidence for that. And now we have the crown prince, supposedly a lot of western media calling it an emotional plea for people to go back home and let things calm down, and then for a dialogue to begin. How do you assess the monarchy's response to all of this?
Rattansi: I think it's breath-taking on the one hand, but then again, this has happened before. And in the context of what's been called ethnic cleansing from bringing foreigners into the country to fill the ranks of the security forces. That's not as surprising.
I should say that while we have been speaking to each other, I did notice that the British government had just made an announcement saying that 24 licenses, and 20 open licenses, has called for arms dealers that their licenses for selling arms to Bahrain has been revoked. I'm not sure what that means because that seems to suggest that they didn't know that the Bahraini government was undemocratic before the present murder of so many civilians. But it shows how this story keeps changing by the minute.
And we'll have to gauge, and I'm sure they are gauging right now, how could the Americans, the British, and NATO see themselves pulling out of Bahrain?
Press TV: There's also being a lot made of the sectarian divisions. A lot of people are saying that the monarchy are trying to exploit that. So are certain parts of the western media and the media worldwide. However, we have seen change on the ground there in Manama that people are saying “there's no Sunni, there's no Shia, we're all Bahrainis and we are all together.” Considering now that the Bahraini people have been united, this unrest has been on and off from the 1980's anyhow. Finally, now that we are seeing that these people are united, do you think that this time will be different from previous times?
Rattansi: I think that the way it's been reported here in any program like this one, which we're speaking on, the corporate media tries to stress those sectarian divisions. And I think, as Press TV has been reporting, too much is being made of that.
There isn't a marriage of Shias and Sunnis and so forth in Bahrain. But through the prism of a western orienteer's context were Islam is a kind of evil, there's nothing better than to portray it in this way. The appalling economic order in Bahrain, which we must remember, is a very rich country because of its energy resources, means that it's not so much sectarian divisions. Although, historically the Shia majority has been moved out of all positions of authority and, as I've said, people were brought in, there is now unity here. After all, one might have said the same about Egypt between members of the Muslim Brotherhood and those that probably didn't sympathize like Muhammad al-Baradei.
Sects, different opposition movements, everyone now are coming together against what are outdated systems of government in the context of an international economic crisis that, after all, arguably was created by western banks.
Press TV: Just before I let you go, I'd like to ask you just one more question about Saudi Arabia. Now, Saudi Arabia's role here is extremely important because there has been a lot said about how Saudis see Bahrain as essentially a free country and they are able to travel to Bahrain for alcohol, whatever, just to have a “good time”, for lack of a better word. Will the Saudis ever allow Bahrain to become a free country considering they have so much on the line? A lot of their oil installations, I hear, are right on the border with Bahrain.
Rattansi: I think Saudi Arabia has done more-or-less what Washington has told them to do. These are very changed times and at this stage I think it's a fool to predict what's going to happen because, perhaps, Washington presumably did not tell the Al-Khalifeh family to send out security forces to kill loads of women and children. In this context it's difficult to tell what Washington is saying because Washington doesn't seem to have that many options. There are two scenarios. If Washington really did do in Egypt, as it were, in Bahrain, then, as it's happened before, Saudi just lays back and takes whatever Washington tells them to.
Press TV: I have time to squeeze in just one more question. You mentioned that options are few right now for the United States. That's something that an expert at the Washington institute for near east policy has also said. He said that despite the close alliance, Bahrain has, in fact, been defiant of the US over the years. Is that the feeling that you get, would Bahrain ever have the guts to be defiant over the United States?
Rattansi: Well, it's never been as defiant as Qatar where, of course, another TV station was born and, of course, the United States has bombed its bureaus. Bahrain, as far as I've understood it, has been hand-in-glove with western institutions.
In fact, I've just written a piece of counterpunch which I mention that people from JP Morgan, the big banks, are due for conferences being held in Manama in a fort-night. And they'll be presided over by the crown prince. This is a regime that plays it both ways. Plays it as a free market center with its new shining buildings, plays with its part of enterprising economy that the right wing economic think-tanks of Washington wanted to, and also continues to arrest people.
I think, however, that we're all a little surprised that they could order in security forces just to open fire on men, women, and children - unarmed, sitting in the street - and also, as I understand it, killing emergency personnel such as doctors and so forth.
Thousands of anti-government protesters have reoccupied their former stronghold in the capital, Manama, after troops and riot police retreated from the Pearl roundabout in the centre of the city.
The cheering protesters carrying Bahraini flags, flowers and signs that said "Peaceful, peaceful" marched to the square on Saturday. They chanted, "We are victorious".
Protesters kissed the ground in joy and took pictures of about 60 police vehicles leaving the area.
Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the crown prince, had earlier in the day ordered the military to withdraw, saying that the police would now be responsible for enforcing order, the Bahrain News Agency reported.
Soon after the crown prince's directive, protesters had attempted to stream back to the roundabout, but were beaten back by the police. According to the Reuters news agency, about 80 protesters were taken to a hospital after being hit by rubber bullets or teargas.
The protesters, however, were successful in the next attempt, when the riot police withdrew from the traffic circle as well.
Symbolic centre
The Pearl roundabout, the symbolic centre of the protesters' uprising, had been the scene of heavy-handed crackdown. Several demonstrators were killed and many injured as security forces cleared the area of protesters in a pre-dawn attack on Thursday morning.
It was the scene of shootings again on Friday night when troops opened fire on protesters with live rounds.
An Al Jazeera correspondent in Bahrain, who we cannot name for security reasons, said the reoccupation of the roundabout by the protesters left one to wonder what the violence during the previous days was all about. "It makes one ask what those deaths were for," he said.
The withdrawal of the troops and police from the roundabout appeared to be concessions extended by the authorities to the protesters.
'Time for dialogue'
The opposition, In rejecting a call from the crown prince for a dialogue, had earlier said the government must resign and the army should be withdrawn before any talks with the ruling family can begin.
Ibrahim Mattar, a member of the Wefaq bloc which quit parliament on Thursday, said his party did not believe there was a "serious will for dialogue because the military is in the streets".
Sheikh Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, had earlier asked the crown prince, to start a national dialogue "with all parties".
The tiny kingdom has been in upheaval with the Shia majority taking to the streets in thousands against the Sunni rulers.
Meanwhile, the General Union of Bahraini Workers has called a strike from Sunday, according to a member of the workers union at national flag carrier Gulf Air.
Also on Saturday, Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, called for the dialogue process to begin "without delay". She also said that she was "deeply concerned" by reports of the use of violence by security forces, and called on all sides to show "restraint".
Speaking on state television on Friday evening, the crown prince called for calm, saying it was "time for dialogue, not fighting".
"The dialogue is always open and the reforms continue," Sheikh Hamad al-Khalifa said on Bahrain TV.
"We need to call for self-restraint from all sides, the armed forces, security men and citizens," he said. "I urge you, there should be calm. Now is time for calm."
But protesters have so far shown little appetite to heed his calls, with anger sweeping the streets following the shootings by security forces.
Barack Obama, the US president, discussed the situation with King Al Khalifa of Bahrain in a telephone calln on Friday, asking him to hold those responsible for the violence accountable.
He said in a statement that Bahrain must respect the "universal rights'" of its people and embrace "meaningful reform".
"I am deeply concerned about reports of violence in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.
The United States condemns the use of violence by governments against peaceful protesters in those countries and wherever else it may occur," he said.
"The United States urges the governments of Bahrain, Libya and Yemen to show restraint in responding to peaceful protests and to respect the rights of their people."
On Friday, thousands observed funerals for the four people killed in a pre-dawn raid on a protest encampment at Manama's Pearl roundabout a day earlier.
Riot police had used clubs, tear gas and bird-shot guns to break up the crowd of protesters. They also tore down their tents, and blockaded the roundabout with police vehicles and barbed wire. More than 200 were wounded in that raid.
At the funerals on Friday, many chanted slogans against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family. They said that while they would earlier have settled for the prime minister being sacked, they were now demanding the fall of the entire ruling government, including the royal family.
Mourners told Al Jazeera that they were both grief-stricken and angry at the heavy-handedness of the police, and that they were demanding that the international community take notice of what they call the brutality of the security forces.
As Friday prayers commenced, Sheikh Issa Qassem, a prominent Bahraini Shia Muslim religious leader, delivering his sermon in a northwestern village, described Thursday's violence as a "massacre".
Our correspondent reported that Qassem said the government was attempting to create a "sectarian divide" between Sunnis and Shias. He advocated peaceful protests, saying "violence is the way of the government", and that protesters should not espouse violent actions.
"Many of those who in the past came out [to protests] ... are afraid. They're frightened and they don't want to turn up at a protest ... because they are fearful for their lives," our correspondent said, citing an incident on February 15 in Manama, when at least one person was killed when police fired on a funeral procession.
Also on Friday, Bahraini state television showed pictures of a pro-government rally, attended by hundreds of people, taking place in Manama, despite a ban on public gatherings.
It took until Hosni Mubarak was safely in Sharm El Sheikh and newly free Egyptians were celebrating in Tahrir square, but president Obama finally came out firmly for democracy in Egypt, no qualifiers attached.
Obama's words were eloquent indeed; for my money even more so than his 2009 speech in Cairo. As he explained, what the world had witnessed the previous 18 days was truly "history taking place. The people of Egypt have spoken. Their voices have been heard. And Egypt will never be the same... for Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day."
The president went on to detail a set of expectations: protecting the rights of Egypt's citizens, lifting the emergency law, revising the constitution and other laws to make this change irreversible, and laying out a clear path to elections that are fair and free.
Those expectations are entirely in line with the core demands of the organisers of the protests-turned-revolution. For that, Obama deserves credit, although at least some should be held in reserve until we see how much pressure his administration is willing to put on the military to ensure that it carries out a full transition to democracy.
What's more, in changing themselves, Mr. Obama declared that "Egyptians have inspired us". They did so in good measure, he rightly explained, through understanding their full worth, as equal members of the larger human history and community. "Most people have discovered in the last few days that they are worth something, and this cannot be taken away from them anymore. Ever."
Putting inspiration to the test
Yet this inspiration is already being put to the test all across the region as the protests spread like a "freedom virus," as one Cairene taxi driver put it to me the day before I left Cairo.
As I write this column the Bahraini government is in the process of brutally suppressing the protesters in its own version of Tahrir Square, Pearl Square.
If the US is Egypt's primary patron, in Bahrain it is among the ruling family's biggest tenants, as the country is home to the Fifth Fleet, one of the US military's most important naval armadas, crucial to protecting Persian Gulf shipping and projecting US power against Iran.
But while Bahrain has long been depicted as relatively moderate compared with its Salafi neighbor, Saudi Arabia, the reality is that the country is repressive and far from free, as citizens have almost no ability to transform their government, which according to the State Department "restricts civil liberties, freedoms of press, speech, assembly, association, and some religious practices."
In the wake of Egypt, where many people harbor resentment against the Administration for its lack of early support for the democracy movement what can Obama do now? Can he in good conscience acquiesce to the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protesters so soon after his eloquent words and late coming to supporting the Egyptian revolution?
The larger question is: What is more essential to American security today, convenient bases for its ships, planes and troops across the Middle East, or a full transition to democracy throughout the region?
Al-Qaeda 'failure'
The answer is clearly the latter, as evidenced by the fact that America's two primary antagonists in the Middle East, al-Qaeda and the Iranian government, have seen their standing sink in proportion to the rise of the pro-democracy movements.
In any war, cold or hot, propaganda is crucial, and here it is impossible to lose sight of the fact that al-Qaeda has had little if anything to say about the Egyptian revolution precisely because it was a massive non-violent jihad that succeeded miraculously where a decade of al-Qaeda blood and vitriol have miserably failed.
As for Iran, the government's rhetorical support for the Egyptian revolution while it continues to suppress its own democracy movement is clearly emptying the Iranian regime of any remaining credibility as an alternative to the US-dominated order.
In this sense the success-so far-of the Egyptian revolution has presented Obama with a unique window of opportunity to forcefully advocate and press for the same kind of democratic transition across the Middle East and North Africa.
The signs on Tuesday were somewhat optimistic, as the President warned all regional leaders that they should "get ahead of the wave of protest" by moving towards democracy as quickly as possible. Yet Obama refused to mention Bahrain by name in his press conference, even as the government was cracking down on the protesters.
Instead, the US president argued that "each country is different, each country has its own traditions; America can't dictate how they run their societies," an utterly meaningless declaration since it contradicts the very advocacy of democracy that the President has made out of the other side of his mouth.
And now, once again, in the wake of government violence against peaceful citizens, the Obama administration stands silent, refusing to openly condemn the Bahraini government. Is the administration incapable of learning from mistakes in the immediate past ?
In fact, Bahrain isn't even the most important country where the ambivalence of US democracy advocacy continues to frustrate real change.
From Egypt to Israel
Not a single Israeli flag was burned (as far as everyone I know from Tahrir can recall) during the 18 days of protest, but while the Israeli occupation remained tangential to the protests, one of the main sources of initial solidarity and coalition building among the young Egyptians who ultimately helped organise the revolution was the outbreak of the second intifada, which led to the formation of a very active branch in Cairo of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (it's worth noting here that almost no mainstream media analysis of the roots of the youth movement mentions this fact).
Indeed, after I ran into organisers wearing "End the Occupation" t-shirts, it became clear how similar, and interlinked, were the Israeli occupation and the Mubarak "system's" (as the protesters referred to them in their numerous chants to bring it down) occupation of Egypt.
The reality remains that on its own terms, the Israeli occupation (or rather double occupation, as increasing numbers of Palestinians describe their lives under PA/Hamas and Israeli rule) remains among the most repressive and brutal in the contemporary world, and perhaps its most destabilising.
And, as with Mubarak, the United States is the most important supporter and enabler of the occupation's continued presence against the wishes of the vast majority of the people forced to live under it.
And here, as the Palestine Papers released by Al Jazeera reveal, the words and deeds of the Obama administration have run roughshod over its rhetorical commitment to greater democracy and openness.
They reveal that senior members of the administration directly threatened Palestinians leaders with a cut-off in aid should they not follow American policies or even resign in response to continued Israeli settlement expansion and other violations of the Oslo agreements.
The Obama administration needs to tell us if that is still US policy, and if so why democracy is suddenly okay for Egyptians but not for Palestinians, or at least as of today, for Bahrainis.
We also need to know how Obama will respond if the Palestinians take up the mantle of Cairo and march en masse to dismantle sections of the West Bank wall or the Erez crossing in Gaza, in defiance of both Israeli and Palestinian political commands.
And the tests don't get any easier. Bahrain is child's play compared not merely to Yemen, which is a crucial base of Al-Qaeda (or so it is claimed) but even more so for Saudi Arabia, whose absolutely repressive regime is among the worst in almost every category possible, in direct proportion to its immense oil reserves and wealth.
Democracy without hypocrisy
One of the most fascinating and uplifting aspects of Tahrir square was the utter lack of hypocrisy within its confines. Authoritarian societies are by definition filled with double-talk, lies of various shades and a broader climate of hypocrisy which becomes the grease, however rancid, that allows the wheels of society to turn, even if they wind up spinning in their tracks for decades.
In finally supporting the Tahrir experiment, President Obama was, in effect, pledging to end decades of American hypocrisy in its policies towards the Middle East and larger Muslim world.
But in order to live up to this promise he will have to develop one set of policies for all the peoples and countries of the region. And doing that will demand an even more costly break with the past, putting old allies at arm's length until they respect the rights of their peoples while embracing, however tentatively, groups that once seemed more easily characterised as, if not quite foes, then at least untrustworthy partners in securing American interests.
Obama concluded his remarks celebrating the emergence of a new Egypt by saying that the revolution "forever more will remind us of the Egyptian people, of what they did, of the things that they stood for, and how they changed their country and in doing so changed the world."
Let's hope in changing the world, Egyptians haven't left the United States and other major powers too far behind.
Mark LeVine is a professor of history at UC Irvine and senior visiting researcher at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. He has authored several books including Overthrowing Geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv and the Struggle for Palestine (University of California Press, 2005) and An Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books, 2009).
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
South Africa's Closing Argument Against Israel for Genocide at the ICJ
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