Blood Runs Through the Streets of Bahrain

[cali]

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: February 17, 2011


As a reporter, you sometimes become numbed to sadness. But it is heartbreaking to be in modern, moderate Bahrain right now and watch as a critical American ally uses tanks, troops, guns and clubs to crush a peaceful democracy movement and then lie about it.

This kind of brutal repression is normally confined to remote and backward nations, but this is Bahrain. An international banking center. The home of an important American naval base, the Fifth Fleet. A wealthy and well-educated nation with a large middle class and cosmopolitan values.

To be here and see corpses of protesters with gunshot wounds, to hear an eyewitness account of an execution of a handcuffed protester, to interview paramedics who say they were beaten for trying to treat the injured — yes, all that just breaks my heart.

So here’s what happened.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/opinion/18kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

[AnOhioan]

1. Ah yes...one of the USA's back-pocket dictators

[customerserviceguy]

2. The despots of the Arab world have seen Egypt

And they know the only reason it won't happen to them is that they own their military and police forces lock, stock, and barrel, and will use them to stay in power.

It would be the only thing that stops the toppling of another 8-10 Arab governments, and they know that. Expect them to do everything in their power to survive, they don't have nearly the size of the Swiss bank account that Mubarak has.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. K&R :( n/t