Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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Bahrain Stands Tall

Monday March 3, 2003

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This weekend was a very, very mixed bag of diplomatic, military, and intelligence news for the United States.

The Turkish parliament approved a resolution allowing the US to base troops in Turkey but not by a large enough margin to overcome a parliamentary rule requiring an absolute majority of those in the chamber at the time of the vote. Several legislators abstained, thus preventing the US from launching a thrust into Iraq from Turkey, but saving the US taxpayers some $30 billion in cash and loan guarantees.

Looking Southeast from there, a joint effort between Pakistani and US intelligence forces resulted in the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who is believed to be the chief operating officer of Al-Qaida on Saturday night local time.

The arrest may have the effect of sending Al-Qaida reeling for some considerable amount of time and, depending upon what information they scooped up with Khalid, might well lead to a string of additional arrests.

Due south of Ankara, the heads of Arab nations were meeting in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt for a summit which had been scheduled for later this month in Bahrain, but was moved up to March 1 at the insistence of the Egyptian Government.

Our opponents fervently hoped the summit would show united Arab support for the French position of continued delays in Iraq's disarmament.

It showed anything but. Some examples:

First, a proposal for diplomatic missions to the UN and Baghdad got bogged down when the attendees couldn't agree on who would go to Baghdad or what they would say once they got there.

Then, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, according to the English language Saudi Newspaper "Arab News", accused Saudi Arabia of being "a US puppet." The Saudi Crown Prince responded by saying to Qaddafi, "Do not talk about things which have nothing to do with you. Lies precede you and the grave is ahead of you."

This occurred in a public portion of the meeting causing the Egyptians to abruptly shut down television coverage.

Finally, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) submitted a resolution calling for Saddam Hussein to step down and accept exile in return for immunity from prosecution. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, according to the Associated Press said the "proposal must have originated from Israeli leader Ariel Sharon" and "found its way quickly to the garbage pail."

Reaching into the "garbage pail" and reissuing the proposal at a meeting of foreign ministers of Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the U.A.E.) the call for Saddam to go was endorsed by the governments of Kuwait and Bahrain.

The support of the King of Bahrain is extremely important. Bahrain is the smallest of the Gulf States - a small group of islands off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf. In fact the whole country is about three times the size of Washington, DC. However, its small size is no indicator of its enormous influence throughout the Arab world.

Bahrain has been one of the staunchest allies of the U.S. The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet has been based on Bahrain dating back to 1949 when Bahrain was still a British Protectorate.

"In 2001," according to the BBC, "Bahrainis gave overwhelming support to proposals put forward by the Emir - now the King - to turn the country into a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament and an independent judiciary by 2004."

In a 2001 research paper for the Heritage Foundation, Brett D. Schaefer wrote, "It is no coincidence that the country that has made the greatest strides against terrorism, Bahrain, is also the most economically free country in the region."

It is likely that the U.S. government will point to Bahrain as the model for a roadmap to democracy in a post-Saddam era in the Middle East.

The world's press is focused on the small nations currently on the U.N. Security Council who have only a vote to give or withhold. They would do well to examine U.S. Allies like Bahrain - also small in size - which have been unflagging in their friendship and support; and have a great deal more at stake.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A list of countries in the Arab League; the CIA's "Factbook" entry on Bahrain, a link to the Heritage Foundation's background briefing on Terrorism and Freedom and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

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