Bahrain Begins Military Operation to Clear Pearl Roundabout

Source: CNBC

Bahrain seems to have begun a military operation aimed at removing protestors from the iconic Pearl roundabout in the country.


A bulldozer being carried towards the Pearl roundabout, seen through the windshield of a car.
Up to 50 military tanks, heavy armored vehicles, several military helicopters and ambulances are headed in the direction of the square, which has become a center for protests against the monarchy and the government. Shots have also been heard on the ground.

The military has brought bulldozers to clear the roundabout. These big Caterpillar bulldozers are being carried on trailers behind trucks...

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42102837

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So, it is wrong for Libya to bring in foreign forces, shoot and kill the population..., but it is okay in Bahrain?

Wake up International Community!

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What's more the US has huge leverage there with the 5th fleet (unlike Libya).

We can can politely ask the GCC to bugger off any time we like...

But, what are the chances of that?

That is, when I'm not obliquely being insinuated into being "pro-Qadhdhafi" because I'm not warming up my jet to join in.

The chances of that? There's two, actually--slim & none. The various talking heads will happily go on condemning the Colonel in the harshest tones while quietly helping the GCC Kings along in the same actions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world/middleeast/12unrest.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper">Gates Visits Bahrain Amid Huge Protests

Rather than 'sitting on their hands' as per the other revolutions, seems like the Obama administration is overseeing the suppression of this one.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/2011314124928850647.html

From Aljazeera yesterday:

Hundreds of Saudi troops have entered Bahrain to help protect government facilities there amid escalating protests against the government. The arrival of the troops follows a request to members of the Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC) from Bahrain, whose Sunni rulers have faced weeks of protests and growing pressure from a majority Shia population to institute political reforms.

The United Arab Emirates has also sent about 500 police to Bahrain, according to Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Emirati foreign minister.

The US, which counts both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia among its allies, has called for restraint, but has refrained from saying whether it supports the move to deploy troops.

"We urge our GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) partners to show restraint and respect the rights of the people of Bahrain, and to act in a way that supports dialogue instead of undermining it," Tommy Vietor, the White House spokesman, said. Interestingly, the Pentagon said neither Gates nor Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who also recently visited Bahrain, had been given any indication that Saudi or other forces from the region would deploy to Bahrain.

Security Forces Rout Protesters from Bahrain SquareBy ETHAN BRONNER
Published: March 16, 2011

MANAMA, Bahrain — Hundreds of riot police and military troops moved early Wednesday into Pearl Square, the stronghold of the antigovernment protest movement here, using tanks, helicopters and jeeps with machine guns mounted on their roofs to expel demonstrators clamoring for reform.

Two days after the king of Bahrain brought in 2,000 troops from Saudi Arabia and other neighboring allies and the day after he declared martial law, his security forces rolled across the center of town, taking it from the protesters who had moved in a month ago and setting ablaze the demonstrators’ tented encampment.

Enormous plumes of black smoke erupted across the central city landscape as troops repeatedly fired tear gas canisters, rubber bullets and what sounded like live ammunition, igniting fires in tents, trees and brush. So extensive were the flames that the security forces used water cannons normally used to break up crowds to extinguish the fires.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/middleeast/17bahrain.html?hp