[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 65 (Wednesday, May 9, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E750-E751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                BAHRAIN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 9, 2012

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, tonight I wish to call the 
attention of my colleagues to the situation in Bahrain. Since gained 
independence from the British in the 1970's, Bahrain has forged close 
links with the United States, and become one of our most important 
allies in the strategically important Persian Gulf region. In fact, 
Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.
  Since last year, however, the country has been disrupted by a series 
of anti-government demonstrations. Understanding how important our 
relationship with Bahrain is, especially to our efforts to prevent Iran 
from acquiring nuclear weapons, I recently traveled to Bahrain to 
assess the situation first-hand. And I would like to thank Dr. Al 
Khalafalla and the Bahrain American Council for helping to make my 
visit a success.
  I think it's important that we get the proper perspective on what's 
going on over there. There is no question there have been problems in 
the past. There has been overreaction by the police in certain 
instances in the past year, year and a half. As a result, there were 
people who were hurt severely when they were demonstrating in the 
streets of Bahrain. But the King and the Crown Prince have worked very 
hard to solve this problem. As a matter of fact, the King appointed an 
outside commission, and the commission's report and reform 
recommendations are strongly supported by both sides of the dispute. 
Yet, the parties involved seem to be having difficulty approaching the 
conference table. Why?
  One of the problems they have over there is the Iranian Government is 
working to try to undermine many of the countries in the Persian Gulf, 
and Bahrain is one of them. Some have suggested that the demonstrations 
have been infiltrated by outside radical elements--supported by Iran--
dedicated to destabilizing and undermining the Bahrain Government. The 
evidence is inconclusive but the possibility of Iran doing just that is 
plausible. Whatever the reasons, for the demonstrators, this conflict 
is not going to be resolved in Bahrain, it must be resolved through 
negotiation.
  I am submitting an article from the May 1, 2012 edition of the New 
York Times for the Record which I believe lays out the case for the 
United States to actively encourage both sides to to take a step back, 
take a deep breath, and commit to resolving their differences around 
the conference table. I strongly urge my colleagues to read these 
articles.

                 [From the New York Times, May 1, 2012]

                      The Prince and the Ayatollah

                             (By Ed Husain)

       When I was invited to visit Bahrain by members of the royal 
     family, I hesitated. They had crushed peaceful protesters 
     last year, and their police had used tear gas against human 
     rights activists. Like everybody else, including some of the 
     Bahraini policemen I later spoke with, I was appalled at the 
     violence and thought the monarchy had blood on its hands. But 
     I felt that declining the offer was irresponsible. I wanted 
     to know the monarchy's side of the story. So I accepted the 
     invitation--on the condition that I was free to meet 
     Bahrain's opposition.
       Bahrain is a tiny island nation of 600,000 citizens, with a 
     Parliament of only 40 members, and it cannot be understood if 
     looked at in isolation. For one thing, it stands at the 
     forefront of a regional cold war. Saudi Arabia lies to the 
     west, connected by a 25-kilometer causeway built jointly by 
     the Saudis and Bahrainis. To the east, across the waters of 
     the Gulf, lies Iran. Both Tehran and Riyadh have major stakes 
     in Bahrain.
       En route to Bahrain, I stopped by in Riyadh and had many 
     conversations with top government officials, journalists and 
     academics. Their views were clear: Saudi Arabia would not 
     stand by and see Bahrain's ruling al-Khalifa family fall from 
     power. The Saudis sent in soldiers to help the al-Khalifas 
     regain control of Bahrain in March 2011 and are prepared to 
     do so again.
       If King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa abdicates, they asked, 
     then who would be next among Arab kings? What consequences 
     would the ensuing chaos have on global energy supplies? If 
     power falls into the hands of the main Shiite opposition 
     group, Bahrain could join Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraq, Syria and 
     Lebanon under the Iranian sphere of influence in the Middle 
     East.
       In Bahrain, I was a guest of the king's son, Crown Prince 
     Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, who, in the context of 
     the country's current political climate, is a liberal's 
     liberal. Educated in Washington and Cambridge, England, the 
     42-year-old prince spoke

[[Page E751]]

     about Britain's constitutional monarchy, the dire need for 
     political reform in his country, and his yearning for a 
     political settlement with the opposition.
       He appeared genuinely contrite about the excesses of the 
     government in Bahrain, but also convinced that the opposition 
     has no vision of how to improve matters. ``The path to hell 
     is paved with good intentions,'' he said. Constantly, he 
     referred to the need for ``evolution'' rather than 
     ``revolution.''
       Within the ruling family, he led the charge for reform last 
     year, but was abandoned by Al Wefaq, the main opposition 
     party, midway through discussions. The party kept changing 
     its demands and the leaders were divided over what they 
     wanted. This strengthened the hand of the more conservative 
     wing of the royal family, led by the conservative, long-
     serving prime minister, Prince Khalifa bin Sulman al-Khalifa, 
     74.
       The opposition wants the prime minister to resign, but 
     neither the king nor the crown prince can dare ask a family 
     elder to depart in ignominy.
       Just as there are divisions within the royal family, there 
     are serious splits in Bahrain's Shiite political scene. Not 
     all the Shiites in Bahrain want to topple the monarchy. Nor 
     is the opposition composed only of democrats who simply want 
     to oust a monarchy.
       Again and again, in villages and in meetings with Shiite 
     opposition figures, one name kept coming up: Ayatollah Issa 
     Qassim, spiritual leader of Al Wefaq, whose writ runs large 
     across the Shiite opposition movement. Educated in Iran, his 
     sermons are generally anti-American, anti-democracy and 
     vehemently pro-Iran. When Iran's green movement challenged 
     the mullahs in Tehran, Ayatollah Qassim accused the West of 
     ``trying to divide an otherwise peaceful country'' and of 
     ``hatred toward Islam.''
       He is also intolerant of Shiites with divergent views back 
     home. Three Shiite members of Bahrain's Parliament explained 
     to me the consequences of daring to challenge Ayatollah 
     Qassim. When they decided not to honor Al Wefaq's call to 
     boycott elections last October, Al Wefaq-controlled mosques 
     called on people to attack them; firebombs were thrown at 
     their homes and their children were harassed on the streets. 
     They live in fear for their lives, and they are not alone.
       Ayatollah Qassim's supporters not only undermined the crown 
     prince's efforts at reconciliation, but in recent weeks have 
     taken to rioting in villages across Bahrain. In Sitra, one 
     such village outside Manama, I spoke in Arabic with a police 
     official, a Shiite, who said: ``I am Bahraini before I am 
     Shiite. We must live as Bahrainis and do what's right for our 
     country, and not be controlled by Iran's clerics.''
       Like Bahraini Sunnis, the official felt the monarchy was 
     not giving him the means to respond to the rioters. They have 
     no guns, he complained, which left them at the mercy of 
     rioters with home-made arrows and Molotov cocktails. ``Last 
     year, my colleagues in the army and interrogation units were 
     wrong to torture protesters,'' he said. ``But what about the 
     attacks on us now? How are we to defend ourselves?''
       Ayatollah Qassim has not called on his supporters to cease 
     violence against the police, government and dissenting Shiite 
     leaders. Instead, he has demanded that Jawad Hussain, one of 
     the legislators I spoke with, and other dissenting Shiite 
     political leaders and clerics come to the ayatollah's mosque 
     during Friday services and publicly repent for betraying 
     ``the community.''
       Ayatollah Qassim's message does not justify the torture and 
     human rights violations exercised by the government of 
     Bahrain. The demands of the opposition for an end to 
     discrimination in government jobs and for greater political 
     freedoms are valid. But calls for greater human rights must 
     not be selective. Last year the opposition blocked bills that 
     gave women equality and freedom in Bahrain because the 
     ayatollahs opposed it, while the monarchy and Sunni parties 
     supported it.
       Bahrain is an important nation because it is a focal point 
     of what is happening in the Middle East today--the battle to 
     find a balance between preserving the best values of the 
     Islamic tradition while the region eases its way into the 
     modern world.
       It is crucial that Western nations help the country achieve 
     this balance, and that they not provide diplomatic cover for 
     rioters and clerics in the name of human rights and 
     democracy.
       Instead, they should be using every pressure point to 
     strengthen the reformist strands within the monarchy in 
     support of political change, equal right's for women and an 
     end to the language of Shiite sectarianism in Bahrain. 
     Negotiations around the political table are the only way 
     forward in Bahrain.
       Ed Husain is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at 
     the Council on Foreign Relations.

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