Scott Lucas calls this a “telling” exchange:
SEC. GATES: We had a very good meeting [with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia]. We met for about an hour and a half, one-on-one. It was an extremely cordial warm meeting. I think the relationship is in a good place. We talked about developments all over the region. We obviously talked about Iran…. Q. Did you talk about the Saudi troops in Bahrain? Did you raise that as an issue? SEC. GATES: No.
The inconsistency caused by Americans’ dependence on Saudi oil is intensifying. The more worrying possibility is that sucking up to the Saudis and acquiescing in the brutal Bahrainan crackdown on the majority Shiite population will put the US more squarely in the Sunni, rather than Shiite, camp. That has already caused major distress among Shiites, especially in Iraq (an upside of which may be Sadr’s insistence on getting rid of all American troops by the agreed-upon timeline). A recent update of the Bahraini crackdown:
Medecins sans Frontieres has criticised Bahrain’s security forces for “targeting of health facilities and workers”, turned the country’s largest health centre, the Salmaniya Medical Centre, into an “occupied hospital”. MSF claims, “Wounds are used to identify demonstrators, restricted access to health care is being used to deter people from protesting, and those who dare to seek treatment in health facilities are being arrested.
The NYT zooms out:
With Saudi troops now in the country to support King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Bahrain has taken on the likeness of a police state. There have been mass arrests, mass firings of government workers, reports of torture and, on Sunday, the forced resignation of the top editor of the nation’s one independent newspaper.
Emergency laws give the security forces the right to search houses at will without a warrant and dissolve any organization, including legal political parties, deemed a danger to the state. Even two members of the national soccer team were arrested this week, despite apologizing on television for attending antigovernment rallies last month.
The Dish 