Bahrain : Key US Base Island In Gulf Explodes In Protests & Chaos

A shocking point-of-view video of attacks on pro-democracy, pro-reform demonstrators in Bahrain. At least five died in these attacks, with more than 500 wounded :



Bahrain is not Egypt. For one thing, its ports are home to the United States Fifth Fleet (excerpts) :

As riot police in Bahrain attacked hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators Monday with tear gas, rubber bullets and concussion grenades, U.S. strategic interests in the Gulf appeared poised to receive yet another battering from the revolutionary wave that is sweeping the Arab world.

Just days after the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, stripped Washington of its strongest diplomatic partner in the region, pro-democracy demonstrations in Bahrain threaten one of its most crucial military outposts in the centre of an arc of instability that now stretches from North Africa through the Middle East to South Asia.

Bahrain’s Shiite majority, which accounts for almost 70% of the population, is challenging the island’s Sunni king, Sheik Hamid bin Isa al-Khalifa. They want him to rewrite the constitution to give Shiites a larger share of power and economic opportunity, while demanding investigations into widespread complaints of torture and corruption.

Bahrain is the smallest and most volatile of the Gulf states, with a long history of animosity between a ruling Sunni elite closely allied to the Saudi monarchy and its Shiite majority, which has a religious affinity with Iran.

There are concerns large-scale Shiite unrest in Bahrain might encourage similar protests among Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority. But perhaps the biggest impact of any Shiite uprising would be renewed calls to end the significant U.S. military presence in Bahrain.

The tiny oil-producing state just off the east coast of Saudi Arabia is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, headquarters for a U.S. Marine Corps amphibious unit and a crucial base for U.S. Air Force jet fighter interceptors and spy planes.

Bahrain gives Washington a base in the very heart of the Gulf from which it can protect and monitor the movement of 40% of the world’s oil through the Strait of Hormuz, spy on Iran and support pro-Western Gulf states from potential threats.

The Fifth Fleet, with 15 warships and an aircraft carrier battle group, has made Bahrain its headquarters since 1991. Just last year, the Pentagon launched a US$580-million project to double the size of its naval base in Bahrain. But all those plans could be swept aside if the political storm raging elsewhere in the Arab world suddenly engulfs the emirate.

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