What Do the US Embassy Warnings Mean?

The U.S. embassy recently issued a warning to its citizens that upcoming protests in Bahrain will take a violent turn, as always. On the Tuesday before the last, violence broke out. A policeman was kidnapped and tortured, then thrown into the streets. In addition, police cars were burnt, and the policemen were attacked with iron bombs and Molotov cocktails. Moreover, demonstrators photographed all this themselves and published it online for alleged opposing forces like instigator Mullah Eisah Qasim, who was interrogated after he called for the crushing of the police.

In its warning to its citizens, the embassy made it clear that violence will not be directed towards them, but the resulting traffic problems and effects on movement were enough to warrant a warning urging citizens to relocate. One wonders what these new locations are. Surely, they will not be in villages where violence is committed by persons commended, supported, encouraged and legitimized by Western media and Western institutions.

Why did the American embassy suddenly admit that demonstrators are actually those committing acts of violence? Was it difficult for the embassy to admit this last year? Or was the admission intended to grant legitimacy to the current violence by describing it as an inevitable evil?

Ask any Bahraini and he will tell you that those committing violence have always been the same persons and that international organizations are pressuring the government to release the same persons every time. They are the same persons that the BBC network scrambled to interview and the same persons whose statements the English Al-Jazeera network rushed to broadcast as if they were facts. A correspondent of the British Sky News covering their perspective of the story has received an award from the Queen of England herself. The American president, from his platform in the U.N., demanded from the Bahraini leadership that these same people be a part of the Bahraini government.

Everybody knows that Iran’s patrons are pressuring Bahrain to get off the backs of Iran’s patrons in Syria. Unfortunately, Iran is not the only one eager to move the battlefield from Syria to Iran. America prefers confronting Iran in Bahrain, far away from the borders of its ally Israel. The European Union would like to push the conflict away from the Mediterranean. Russia tries to keep its last ally in the area. Just like that, all of a sudden, Bahrain found itself to be a victim of both its enemies and friends.

Unfortunately, the history of the major forces in the Cold War shows that political games of this kind can last for decades. When these games manifested as a race in nuclear arms in Europe, the Middle East, with its heritage, was rendered susceptible to another kind of game. Instead of a game of chess with nuclear weapons in Europe, the population in the area is subjected to a lethal game that involves gambling with light weapons until death.

In each country the West promised to liberate, extremist movements were actually launched such as al-Qaida, Hezbollah and Fayaleq Al-Quds, among others. These movements were repackaged and proposed as legitimate, then unleashed. In the midst of Western calls for transformation of the area’s countries into democracies, it became clear that violence is coming and that world organizations will pave the way for the entry of apocalyptic cavalry to wreak killing and death throughout the land. All of a sudden, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia are no longer mistakes, just miscalculations. These tribulations became a part of a racist plan that refuses to acknowledge non-Westerners’ humanity.

In light of the above, some see that the U.S. embassy's urgent call to its citizens to relocate to other places is a sign to the opposition to escalate of violence. Others see it is as a signal to begin working on dividing Bahrain geographically on sectarian bases. Even those who consider the West as their ally are seeing that such an announcement poses an undesirable pressure on the government in its efforts to contain violence by sending the wrong messages to the opposition.

We are at a historical turn in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Bahrainis must realize that, regardless of the world’s superpowers’ calculations regarding the area, they (the superpowers) are still humans and must amend and review their plans if they collided with reality. The matter is up to us as a nation; we should not become a game to Iran. Policemen have shown amazing self-control in confronting reckless hatred, just like the king and the government have shown self-respect and admirable deliberation in facing unprecedented provocations from inside and out.

Bahrainis must show that they have the same ability by accepting justice and that negotiation is not a weakness. If we wanted to rescue what is dearest to us, our country Bahrain, there must be a price as no conflict comes without a price. Even though this conflict was imposed on us and others, we must look around us to realize that our leaders did the right thing. Many abroad are angry that we sustained the least losses. Many want Bahrain to be another “Berlin.” It is in our hands to prevent their plans. Peaceful resistance by most Bahrainis in the face of terrorist movements of the alleged opposition paid off in the past. Let us finish what we started, and hopefully the doors of our country will always remain closed towards the bad.