[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 4612-4614]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       BAHRAIN, IRAN AND THE GCC

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA

                           of american samoa

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 29, 2011

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the threat 
posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran to Bahrain, a U.S. ally and a 
member of a group of U.S. allies, The Gulf Cooperation Council or the 
GCC.
  Bahrain is a small country with a free economy and a government that 
is friendly to the United States. It plays host to the Fifth Fleet of 
the United States Navy, which patrols the waters of the Persian Gulf 
and protects world shipping there. Bahrain has been declared a major 
non-NATO ally by the United States Government, and has established a 
Free Trade Agreement with us to facilitate better relations between our 
countries.
  But today, Bahrain is under attack, in a proxy war between Iran on 
one side, and the entire GCC and their allies in the United States and 
Europe on the other. As the demonstrations sweep through the Middle 
East demanding democracy, Iran has seen its opportunity to fish in 
troubled waters by stirring up long-time resentments among Bahrain's 
majority Shi'a population.
  Not that the Shi'a protests are without merit, or are completely 
foreign imports: to the contrary, they have real complaints that the 
Bahraini government will have to address, and has committed to address. 
But Iran, which has long been probing Bahraini defenses and stress-
testing the social system, believes that its chance has finally come to 
achieve one of its cherished foreign policy goals: the weakening of the 
GCC by picking off one member state at a time.
  Iran has long desired to export its so-called Islamic revolution, and 
to expand its influence in the rest of the Islamic world. The preamble 
to the Iranian Constitution states that their armed forces, ``. . . 
will be responsible . . . for fulfilling the ideological mission of 
jihad in God's way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God's law 
throughout the world.'' Iraq and Bahrain, Lebanon, Afghanistan and 
parts of Pakistan, all have come in for special attention because of 
their substantial populations of Shi'ite Muslims. In fact, those who 
committed several terrorist acts during the 1980s in GCC countries 
proudly claimed allegiance to and sponsorship by Iran, leading Bahrain 
to break diplomatic relations with Iran in protest.
  Iran has long used its military and intelligence assets to 
destabilize neighboring countries. And it aims to destabilize the 
entire GCC, and peel its member states away from the United States and 
the West, starting with Bahrain. A perfect example is what has been 
happening in Bahrain since last year--long before the current protests 
started. In the run-up to last year's elections, Bahrain disrupted a 
terrorist plot to instigate a violent overthrow of the government. 
Although some of those arrested may have been caught unfairly in a wide 
net, others were shown to be complicit in subversive and violent plots 
against the state.
  Another example of Iranian pressure before the February outbreak of 
protests is the constant burning of tires and setting of fires, almost 
every night, at various points in Bahrain.

[[Page 4613]]

The youth involved claimed that they only were trying to make a point, 
and to protest their political marginalization. But the government 
recognized that the fires targeted power lines and communications 
towers more often than not, and suspected that the real aim may have 
been not only to weaken infrastructure, but also to test response times 
of security and emergency personnel. This would be roughly equivalent 
to `probing' attacks such as sending fake bombs through air cargo, to 
see whether and how security forces reacted.
  These tactics are consistent with a continued pattern that we have 
seen from the Islamic Republic, in Lebanon for example, of using 
unwitting young people, inciting them to extremist sentiments and 
radical action, to inflame popular opinion. They convince youth to 
rebel, and get themselves arrested; then their families and friends 
rise up to defend them, and security forces fear them and overreact, 
and this instigates a pattern of resentment and fear on both sides that 
seems--and becomes--autonomous to the participants themselves.
  This is how a terrorist threat ends up shutting down an entire 
society: the tactic is to provoke, provoke, and provoke the rulers of 
society, until they react harshly in fear or anger, and then to provoke 
the people to rise up when the rulers impose harsh measures. Iran 
already had been engaged in these activities in Bahrain for some time, 
when the people of Tunisia and Egypt rose up against corruption and 
repression. They had their networks already established, and had only 
to stoke the flames of resentment they had been slowly fanning over the 
previous years.
  With the security forces already strained to the breaking point--in 
resources and in nerves--it was no great surprise that they snapped. 
The resulting violence and loss of life was execrable, and it is a mark 
of honor to the Crown Prince that he stepped in so quickly to take 
control and instantly to offer reconciliation to the protesters. 
International observers breathed a sigh of relief, and felt as if 
Bahrain had dodged a bullet, and was ready to begin cooling off.
  In order to make it clear to the protesters that he was serious about 
negotiations, so that they would not dismiss the offer as window 
dressing, the Crown Prince specifically named every issue the 
protesters have named. For example, giving the parliament full 
authority--one of the first demands of the demonstrators--and ensuring 
that the government represents the will of the people. His plan 
addressed setting up new procedures for contracting that will be 
transparent and include outside audits, to reduce opportunities for 
corruption by increasing overall transparency.
  He even brought up specific matters of law that may seem obscure, but 
that result in disparate impacts on the two major communities in 
Bahrain, the Sunni and the Shi'a. For example, the Crown Prince 
promised to work with the opposition to determine fair ways to draw the 
lines of voting districts because critics have charged that the current 
districts dilute Shi'a voting power.
  The Crown Prince described all these measures as ways to achieve the 
overall goal, which is to reduce sectarian tension, and ``bring an end 
to envy and division among [the] population.'' When these overtures 
were first offered, the protesters initially stopped demonstrating. 
Many of us believed that a crisis had been averted, and that reason and 
good judgment would prevail. But within a couple of days, the protests 
were renewed, and the opposition derided the offer as not serious, and 
refused to participate. The protests increased in their intensity, and 
swept into the financial district. According to BBC reporting, young 
Shi'a protesters began to set up illegal and intimidating checkpoints 
in key places around the country, ``paralyzing business and choking off 
the economy.''
  The government acted to relieve the overstressed security forces by 
invoking the mutual self-defense provisions of the GCC charter. This 
treaty provided for the establishment of a multinational force called 
``Peninsula Shield,'' with headquarters in Saudi Arabia, which would be 
available to help any member state defend critical infrastructure 
against the threat of attack. 2,000 troops from Saudi Arabia and the 
U.A.E. arrived on the 14th of March and were immediately deployed to 
protect threatened infrastructure.
  The foreign troops were not brought in to confront protesters, in 
spite of immediate claims to the contrary from opposition sources. In 
fact, with the Peninsula Shield troops guarding the infrastructure, the 
Bahraini troops can devote more time and resources to crowd control, 
and avoid committing violence sparked by fear or desperation.
  In reaction to the arrival of the foreign troops, the Prime Minister 
of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, issued a bizarre threat to his neighbor, 
warning the Bahrainis not to seek help from their allies. At the same 
time, the protests took an even uglier turn, with demonstrators no 
longer calling for democratic reform, but for the complete removal and 
even death of the entire al Khalifa family.
  Mr. Speaker, I have to ask why the demonstrators returned to 
protesting again, even after all their demands were agreed to. What 
lies behind this stubborn refusal to accept their long-stated goals? Is 
there some other goal, some hidden agenda, behind the protests? Is 
there indeed an influence from abroad, from Iran, which is fueling 
these protests and fanning the flames? There is no doubt that the Shi'a 
population of Bahrain has legitimate grievances, and I am pleased that 
the government of Bahrain has agreed to address them. There is no doubt 
that many in the crowds of protesters are loyal, patriotic citizens of 
Bahrain who are sincere in their desire for reform. We should support 
those desires, and we should be pleased any time we see a nation that 
is asking for a greater voice for the public in running their political 
affairs. Democracy entails a great responsibility, and it should be 
pleasing to every American to see other peoples that are willing to 
accept that awesome responsibility.
  But we cannot be pleased at the prospect of anarchy, or worse, of the 
violent overthrow of an allied, peaceful government by the worst kind 
of seditious infiltration from a foreign enemy. We cannot sit idly by 
while a country--whose founding document calls for spreading its 
revolution--uses its influence to undermine a peaceful neighbor and an 
entire alliance.
  Iran wants to dominate Bahrain for many reasons. Among them are that 
Bahrain has a Shi'a majority population, and the Iranian regime has 
appointed itself the international guardian of Shi'a rights. Another 
cause for Iran's animus is, of course, the presence of the U.S. Fifth 
Fleet. Using its base in Bahrain, the U.S. Navy can not only patrol the 
waters of the Arabian Gulf and protect the international shipping 
lanes; it also is well-positioned to conduct surveillance missions, and 
even potentially to send missile strikes into Iranian territory with 
only seconds' warning, should that ever become necessary.
  Furthermore, Iran's aim is not just to dominate Bahrain: it is to 
destroy the GCC alliance. Since its inception in 1981, the GCC has been 
a thorn in Iran's side. It has bound together previously fractured (and 
sometimes competing and even divided) countries into a strong 
partnership, with a united economic market and foreign policy. It has 
shown itself an ally of the United States, and an effective bulwark 
against the encroachment by Iran on the foreign relations and even 
military policy of its member states. If Iran succeeds in splitting off 
even one member state from the GCC, the alliance will crumble and 
disappear as its member states are picked off one at a time.
  Bahrain is also a great prize to be taken by a greedy despot. As the 
Bahrainis have worked very hard to diversify their economic base, they 
have discovered that creating an inviting legal and regulatory 
framework can attract an inordinate amount of foreign direct 
investment--disproportionate to their size, or the original size of 
their economy. They have succeeded in making their country a banking 
haven, especially for the increasing number of institutions and high 
net-worth individuals who want to invest without paying or receiving 
interest, or otherwise want to comply with Islamic rules of investing 
and finance. Anyone who controlled that sector would have power greater 
than the size of the country would seem to predict. Bahrain's Free 
Trade Agreement with the United States has doubled our bilateral trade 
volume since it was signed in 2006, again increasing the value of the 
national GDP.
  Finally, Bahrain and its leaders have incurred the wrath of the 
leadership of the Islamic Republic by doing the unforgivable (and, in 
many circles, unthinkable). They have reached out to Iran's arch-enemy, 
the only country Iran hates more than it hates America: the nation of 
Israel. In an unprecedented opinion editorial article, published in the 
Washington Post July 16, 2009, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamid Al Khalifa 
called for direct communication with the people of Israel, and for a 
new approach that treats peace as a process, not an event.
  Mr. Speaker, later that same year, the Bahraini Foreign Minister 
echoed the sentiments of the Crown Prince, in a formal address to the 
United Nations General Assembly. This served to emphasize that the 
proposal was an official government position, not a private initiative 
from a senior member of the royal family.
  Iran, like other nations once characterized as `rogue states', has a 
vested interest in extending and exacerbating the friction between 
Palestinians and Israelis, and in fact has

[[Page 4614]]

called for the extermination of Jews worldwide. Ahmedinejad cannot 
countenance an outreach by his neighbor to a nation he hates so 
completely.
  Why does Ahmedinejad hate Bahrain? It is easy to see. Bahrain is a 
member of the GCC. It is the host of the hated U.S. 5th fleet. It is 
rated the 10th most free economy in the world by the Heritage 
Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom. It is politically free, where 
women are educated at state expense, can dress as they please and are 
not bound by law to dependence on male relatives; where there are 
Christian, Jewish, and female Members of Parliament; and where the 
royal family has maintained peace and stability for over 300 years. In 
short, it is, and stands for, everything that Ahmedinejad has sworn to 
destroy.
  Mr. Speaker, it is in the interest of the United States to see that 
Bahrain continues to be a haven of peace and prosperity in a troubled 
neighborhood. It is in our interest to support the integrity of the 
GCC, and to provide diplomatic and political support for GCC and 
Bahraini initiatives. It is in our interest to support a government 
that has provided freedom and opportunity for women; freedom for its 
citizens; tolerance for religious minorities; economic freedom, growth 
and prosperity; and a peaceful haven for the region. It is in our 
interest to support a government that has reached out to call for peace 
with Israel, to put an end to the vicious cycle of anger and despair 
that has characterized the Arab-Israeli relationship for far too many 
decades.
  For all these reasons, it is important to the United States to help 
its Bahraini allies in their time of need, to withstand the threat and 
the increased pressure from Iran. We support the reform agenda laid out 
by the Crown Prince, and call on all parties to show calm and to meet 
together around the negotiating table. We call on the Bahraini 
government to demand restraint from its security forces, to avoid at 
all costs any repeat of the bloodshed we have seen. We call on the 
demonstrators to sit down and negotiate their differences, and find a 
way to achieve the progress that they deserve.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a critical time for one of our most important 
allies. The U.S. Congress should do all in our power to show our 
support, to encourage peaceful negotiations that will preserve the 
stability of the country, the continuation of the ruling polity, and 
the achievement of the aspirations of all the people of Bahrain.

                          ____________________