11-06-17 Bahrain and the US // Bahrain y EE.UU. // 巴林和美国

Bahrain�s Dictatorship and the Pentagon

By Jacob G. Hornberger

June 17, 2011 "fff" -- -Sometimes it�s good to look at foreign dictatorships to see what the president and the U.S. military have done to our country. Consider, for example, the trial of 20 doctors that is currently taking place in Bahrain.

As most everyone knows, Bahrain is ruled by a brutal dictatorship, just as many other countries in the Middle East are. Bahrain is also besieged by anti-government demonstrations, just as other countries in the Middle East are. Like other dictatorships in the Middle East, Bahrain�s dictatorial regime is using brute force to suppress the protests.

What distinguishes the Bahrain dictatorship from, say, the Libyan or Syrian dictatorships, is that the U.S. government supports the dictatorship in Bahrain while opposing the Libyan and Syrian dictatorships. Thus, not only does U.S. foreign aid flow into the Bahrain dictatorship, the U.S. military also has a major base there.

The Bahrain dictatorship is accusing those 20 doctors of participating in anti-government protests in Bahrain. Guess what type of court the doctors are being tried in. You got it: a military tribunal, just like those employed by the Pentagon at Guantanamo Bay.

It probably won�t surprise you to know that the doctors are accusing Bahrain�s military of torturing them while in custody and forcing confessions out of them � and that the military is denying it.

The tribunal is actually a special national-security court that was established last March as part of the emergency rule that the dictatorship imposed on the country to deal with the anti-government protests. Emergency rule essentially means martial law, with the military wielding the power to protect �national security� by establishing �order and stability� within the country.

Not surprisingly, in previous prosecutions in Bahrain�s national-security court, defendants have been charged with �terrorism.� Moreover, since the trials pertain to �national security,� some of the proceedings have been held in secret.

Sound familiar?

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