US Fleet in Bahrain: The Reason the Western Media is Silent

Most participants in a recent poll acknowledge the presence of the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet as the main reason for the silence of the Western media concerning the suppression of the popular uprising in Bahrain.

The results of Press TV’s recent poll, which took place from Jan. 26 to Feb. 6, 2012, show that about 80 percent (8,769) of the 11,040 participants consider the presence of the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet and Manama’s alliance with the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia as the main reasons for the silence of the Western media regarding the severe suppression of anti-regime protesters in Bahrain.

According to the survey, about 17 percent of respondents (1,842 people) believe that the Western media have adopted this silence because they do not want to highlight the pain and suffering of the majority Shiites in Bahrain.

However, only 4 percent of the respondents (429 people) think that the low number of protesters killed by the Manama regime, as compared to those killed in Libya and Yemen, is the reason for the media silence in the West.

Since the start of the popular uprising in Bahrain in mid-February 2011, a number of people have been killed and hundreds have been arrested or shot.

On Jan. 26, Amnesty International also called on Bahraini officials, “to investigate reports related to the deaths of more than 10 people due to the firing of tear gas, and to be accountable.”*

The human rights organization also urged the U.S. government not to “make tear gas and other anti-riot equipment available to Bahraini officials.”*

*Editor’s note: The quotation, although accurately translated, could not be independently verified.