Why No Bahrain Bob or Butcher of Bahrain?

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

Leading up to the 2003 military invasion and lengthy occupation of Iraq, it was common for the American press to

photo: AP / Hasan Jamali

 

 

Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.

 ridicule Baghdad Bob and to demonize the Butcher of Baghdad. Baghdad Bob was Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf who served as Iraq's Information Minister. He is best known for exaggerating Iraq's invincible army. An army that was, and due to a ten-year No Fly Zone War and stringent economic sanctions, continually bombed back to the Stone Age and starved. The Butcher of Baghdad was Saddam Hussein. The mainstream press continually reminded Americans of Saddam Hussein's dictatorial and ruthlessness policies, including his invasion of Kuwait and repressing Shiite and Kurdish rebellions.

It is still unknown how many hundreds of Bahrainis have just been brutally killed by the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. (A more accurate number may be in the thousands.) Many more have been beaten, arrested, and imprisoned where they are tortured or raped. The people of Bahrain have sent numerous "distress" calls to international communities and governments, pleas that have fallen on deaf ears. Perhaps it's the result of Hammad bin Isa's training by the British Army while in England. It might also be due to his stint at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College. His western military experiences have evidently served him well, mainly in repressing political opponents.

The U.S. and United Kingdom are also supplying massive amounts of weapons and logistics for Hammad bin Isa and his shock troops. They are helping to mask numerous atrocities, including entire villages that have been razed. At the same time, another ally, Saudi Arabia, has sent thousands of troops to help quell Bahrain's Arab Spring. Recall that President Barack Obama just signed a military contract worth $60 billion with Saudi Arabia. As Wall Street investors and military contractors rejoice over this deal, Hammad bin Isa keeps violently attacking and imprisoning the people of Bahrain. The U.S. and United Kingdom must take some responsibility for Hammad bin Isa's brutal regime and his crackdown against human rights activists.

Still, the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet continues to pay billions of dollars to Bahrain for its lease. Anyone who is mystified as to why western democracy is unable to spread in North Africa and the Middle East, even being turned back by some of the Arab Springs now occurring, one only has to look at the U.S. and United Kingdom's relationship with Hammad bin Isa. It is one of utter hypocrisy. Mass arrests, harsh prison sentences for peaceful Bahraini demonstrators, some who received the death penalty, nightly raids on homes, military tribunals, and the torturing of activists, like Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, are being completely ignored.

But the U.S. and United Kingdom are also culpable in aiding Hammad bin Isa destroy dozens of Shia mosques. Hospital and clinics have been raided. Shia Muslim doctors and nurses have been arrested for treating the wounds of protesters and caring for the injured. Newspapers have been shut down. Several Shia members of Bahrain's parliament have been either purged or imprisoned. The political and social fabric in some Shia communities have been eliminated. One desperate Bahraini communique read: "These repressive practices constitute a violation, a threat and a direct targeting of civil peace, in a very direct and dangerous manner, which calls for the international community to own up to their ethical and humane responsibility towards it and acknowledge failure to do so."

In "Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks," Loretta Napoleoni describes the differences between a "nation" and a "shell of a state". A nation is based on a political system and economic infrastructure which is built after the process of self-determination leads to political integration. People politically participate and are afforded rights, education, and employment. They benefit from life-sustaining needs like water, shelter, electricity, foods, and medicines. In the state-shell system, political integration is absent. The state is constructed around the economics of war generated by repression, armed struggle, or an alleged enemy. Thus, "War becomes a way of life."

Furthermore, a modern and democratic nation should display nine main characteristics: sovereignty, constitutionality, the rule of law, impersonal power, legitimacy of authority and citizenship, territoriality, taxation, public bureaucracy, and a monopoly on the means of violence. It is obvious that Bahrain's ruling regime, Bahrain Bob, maintains only the last four: territoriality, taxation, public bureaucracy, and a monopoly on the means of violence. Sovereignty, constitutionality, the rule of law, impersonal power, and legitimacy of authority and citizenship are absent. The reason they are missing and the reason for Bahrain being a state-shell is due to not only the Butcher of Bahrain, Hammad bin Isad, but the Butchers of Bahrain: Saudi Arabia, United States, and United Kingdom.

This causes one to wonder if the United States and United Kingdom are also becoming a state-shell system. At least it would help explain why Bahrain Bob and the Butchers of Bahrain are missing from the western war economies' press.

Dallas Darling ([e-mail])

(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)

Related links: Bahrain   Human Rights   Photos   Protest   Wikipedia: 2011 Bahraini uprising

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