Monday, October 10, 2011
Bahrain, the heart of the matter - Part 1
This so-called uprising is not supported by all Sheite in Bahrain, infact many of them would not agree with the way the riots have been conducted. The original call for change, that may well have been embraced by all factions at the start, has been obliterated and the cause now destroyed.
The Bahrain Hezbollah sector of society in Bahrain comes under the guise of an Islamic group called Al Wefaq and it is this party that has caused all the friction within Bahrain’s demonstrations of late. Although a small minority they have managed to torture and kill their own people whilst threatening and intimidating thousands of other moderate Sheites in favour of the Al Khalifa monarchy and blame the security forces for those deaths. They call them martyrs, young boys sacrificed and used as scapegoats to further their cause. It could all be so avoided but with each death they feel a sense of victory as the world takes note of another loss, another demise, another young life ended too soon in the grave.
GAME OVER AL KHALIFA
From the first day of the protests it became evident to Bahrain communities caught up in the rallies that the rioters believed they were taking part in a game, playing with people’s emotions and toying with the security and economy of the country. In doing so they crippled many businesses even those that belonged to less extreme Sheites who infact disagreed with their wanton destruction and vicious attacks on Bahrain. Their coup d’etat of the Al Khalifa rulers had been meticulously planned and lead by Iran.
It would be impossible to summarise all of the events of the past 8 months. Although I have kept a diary of each event from the start, I feel weary in my attempts to keep repeatedly going over the same old story and still have no-one listen or take notice. I shall instead highlight the main points that I feel never received a fair media deal or news coverage, and then leave you to your own judgement. (http://bit.ly/rovi3D)
THE PEARL ROUNDABOUT
The Pearl roundabout was their initial (and still is) focal point for gathering, it represents the collaboration of the 6 countries in the GCC (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain) and was one of the oldest monuments in Bahrain. Their dogged determination to re-enter the area where it all started is astounding but nobody fully understands why they have such a strong resolve in attempting to go back there. There is such a deep intent on provoking the security that one can only assume this is what gives them their fortitude in wanting to return back to the Pearl. What they would do once they got back is anyone’s guess, even theirs I think.
Loved by many over the years and seen on all the publications of Bahrain, the Pearl stood for so much more than just the GCC co-operation, it resembled world harmony, cultural friendships and religious alliances. It wasn’t just a stony monument without feelings, it stood for history and future progress. So when it was pulled down there was mixed feelings. Jubilation that it was no longer being abused by the wretchedness of the Bahrain Hezbollah faction but also extreme sadness that this loved central point of the capital, Manama, had to go. So the decision in removing the Pearl was not made lightly but we feared that if it remained that it would continue to be abused and uncontrollable interference with the highways passing through Manama would have been unavoidable. It was proving more of a danger to people by keeping it there than removing it. So she was razed to the ground.
SALMANIYA HOSPITAL
The largest public hospital in Bahrain, Salmaniya, was raided and hijacked by Al Wefaq’s leading terrorist group Bahrain Hezbollah (http://bit.ly/qOXqcy http://bit.ly/ndvmKe). They stole blood from the blood bank, abused and used the drug supplies (much of which has never been retraced), trashed and destroyed all of the wards and expensive machinery, abused the use of ambulances whilst transporting weapons to their villages, refused to pick up or treat patients in Sunni areas, and denied access to the hospital for anyone other than those of their faith, and that included expatriates.
Cancer therapy treatment patients were turned away and appointments for operations were cancelled. Doctors who tried to help visitors were either beaten or kept in a room. http://bit.ly/kZjsW8 The child in this video needed to be fed through a drip but her and her father were denied entry into the hospital because they were both naturalized Bahrainis.
Accident and Emergency area was flooded with tents, control centres and the gates were being patrolled by youths preventing people from coming and going. Live broadcasts to Iran’s TV channel Al Alam (apparently the only source of news they wish to believe) was aired 24/7. It’s hard to judge how many people were prevented from receiving medical help. Up until recently ambulances have had police jeeps escorting them to calls as people feared that the ambulance drivers would take them hostage. It happened and people were scared that it could happen again. Faith and trust in the one public service that should have given us hope and strength in times of need had been squashed, now nobody could depend on the ambulance drivers to save anybody. It was a nightmare for people who had car crashes, house fires, work injuries, needed operations, hospital care, or even had long awaited operations. It all sounds like something from a novel doesn’t it, something only dreamt about or imagined, but it happened, all of it, I was there and I witnessed most of it.
During the clear up process of the hospital, we were disgusted to find a torture chamber had been set up and used on anybody who dared to go against their orders. This was used mainly for foreign laborers who had been taken there, hands tied and blindfolded, tortured and eventually killed. http://bit.ly/n5C4Zu http://bit.ly/qgWhKX
Weapons had also been found stashed in the wards, under beds and in cupboards.
It wasn’t long before Salmaniya was taken back from the insurgents, although it felt like a life time, and the hospital was refurbished very quickly. People were able to go back for their appointments, but it took several weeks before anyone went there, until their trust had restored enough to return. The hospital was back on track but there were still scars of the past rape it had endured. Security was higher than usual with tanks positioned at the gates. We were in shock still at the enormity and scale of the devastation that had taken place there but more importantly we were all suffering majorly with suspicion, wariness and mistrust of any of the doctors, medics, ambulance staff and nurses there. We were never more relieved to learn that eventually many of the traitor staff at Salmaniya were arrested and detained for torture, possessing weapons, detention by force and various other charges.
So with Salmaniya being fully operational again, I ask you, why don’t they go there with their sick and injured rather than trying to help each other in a house in Sanabis? Risking death or another martyr? It’s simple, the injuries they are supposed to be sustaining by security forces, if any, are neither life threatening nor emergencies. For surely if your brother, mother or sister were in need of urgent medical help you would, at any cost, take them for hospital assistance. Not just throw them outside a medical complex in the hope that he will survive or that someone will see him and take him in for hospital attention. Its all very suspicious. A guilty conscience may prevent you from wanting to return back to the scene of the crime, but deep down they know that if someone they loved needed serious medical help, that they would never be refused. They were never refused in the past, why should they be now? Medical cover is free for everyone in Bahrain and all doctors who work in Salmaniya work with the code of ethics, therefore turning away a patient is a crime! I dread to think how many patients were turned away during the crises there. Crimes were committed, now punishments have to be paid and may god bless those who died when infact they could have been saved.
UNIVERSITY OF BAHRAIN
http://bit.ly/nCLp17 On 13th March the education system was suddenly violently and aggressively raided by hundreds of Al Wefaq lead Bahrain Hezbollah thugs yielding large sticks, rocks, Molotov, spiked rods and knives. http://bit.ly/pPewWt http://bit.ly/pomuVp Young innocent teenagers going about their schooling that day turned to eachother for support and comfort as they huddled together in locked classrooms. Both Sunni and Sheite youths locked arms to protect the girls against harm’s way as they round them up in a circle of safety. Windows were smashed, doors forced open, computers, desks and equipment were destroyed and caught on fire. Stones were thrown at anyone on the complex as bus loads of trouble makers made their way onto the compound ready to fight. The office was ransacked and student’s private information was stolen and kept for later use. It was an abrupt attack taking everyone by surprise as a definite “them and us” scenario played out. It was a black day indeed for the teenagers of that university and it took several months, a lot of money, and much determination to rebuild and re-equip the large complex. And even when the students did go back to school it took several weeks for them to rebuild the trust of their peers, who once were their friends and companions. Many many good friendships have now been shattered along with the broken windows and hearts weigh heavy with the thoughts and memories of better days.
We wondered what next Iran and its regime had in store for us. The kids were unable to leave the complex for hours that day and the only contact they had with their worried parents was by telephone. Parents were scared, the children were terrified, the staff were in disbelief and the general public were appalled at the intensity of the attack.
That day the youth of Bahrain would have been excused for taking the law into their own hands and retaliating with as much vengeance as they had received from their aggressors. But they showed an enormous power of control not only during that days crisis but throughout the entire 8 months ordeal. They have urged on the side of caution and reason by not entering into any fights with their provocateur’s, and for this reason we are extremely proud of our kids.
BAHRAIN FINANCIAL HARBOUR (BFH)
We woke one morning to the news that BFH was under attack. The main artery leading straight through the capital had been cut off. Nobody could get into or out of work. Many people who were on night shifts in offices that night were stranded with no food and little drinking water, unsure of what was happening outside their windows.
The highway of 8 lanes had been dug up, sand and oil had been scattered across the roads to make them impassable, electricity lamp poles had been tapped into, trenches had been dug, barricades were strewn from side to side on the roads, buildings completely vandalized, windows smashed, cars destroyed and bricks, stones and cement lay everywhere, it was utter chaos.
This was like the icing on the cake, now people were beyond scared. If you didn’t need to leave the house then you sure as hell didn’t and most people stayed home for over a month, keeping their kids safe at home with them, both night and day. I moved my children into my bedroom as we slept together more peacefully this way.
http://bit.ly/oTrdQj By now nobody from the anti-regime side was going to work, basically the country had come to a standstill. Shops had no bread, milk, or groceries in stock and there was no petrol in the stations. Drinking water stations were running low and farmers had stopped culling chickens etc. Mothers would ration their food supplies at home down to the last onion because none of us knew when we would see produce, fresh or otherwise, again. It was now that bad and the situation had gotten completely out of hand. Was this really happening to Bahrain? It certainly didn’t seem possible. Folk from abroad would phone and skype us, because thankfully Bahrain did not turn off the internet facilities, and you would hear the stories they were being fed by the media there. But none of the stories portrayed our dilemma, still nobody broadcast our side of the story. Media attention remained firmly on the side of the insurgents and we were baffled. How was it possible that a country could have been attacked by foreign intruders against the majority who lived there and the international media stand by silently, without a care? Why were we being ignored? Why wasn’t anybody taking a stand against Iran’s invasion? This was not part of the Arab Spring, everybody knew that, but journalists were so caught up in the moment of the Middle East uprisings, trying to keep the momentum going, that they assumed too much and put us in the same pocket with Assad and Gadaffi.
Another protest took place after this which was less damaging to the physical aspects of BFH but still left its mental mark on one particular lady who very sadly was caught up in the disturbance. http://bit.ly/qEDxYM Can you imagine how scared this young lady (and her children) must have been when the crowds tried to pull open her door and reach in to her. I know how scary it was because I drove through the very same crowd just 10 minutes before she did. But her terror didn’t stop there, the men at the protest took her car registration number and found out where she lived. Later that same night, they tried to get to her house but were prevented by the local boys of that area who stood up against the invaders. Tensions were flying now heightened by this direct assault of an innocent lady who did nothing wrong but have a picture of her King in her car. They had overstepped the boundaries by insolence of culture, when they struck a woman in public, somebody’s wife and mother. It was a shameful and disrespectful exploitation of both the female gender in an Arab society and the Muslim religion. But if you know Iran then you will also know that they have no sense of decorum, correctness or dignity.
AL FATEH MOSQUE AND THE NATIONAL UNITY GATHERING
Bahrain had had enough of this and were no longer willing to be held hostage. So they organized a meeting at Al Fateh grand mosque. http://bit.ly/pEWxDI Never expecting such a fantastic reaction but over 500,000 people turned out for both the meetings held at different times, in support of the monarchy and Prime Minister of Bahrain. An overwhelming gathering filled with electricity from all walks of life; Arab, Sunni, Sheite, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, from nationalities from all over the world. Nobody was ostracized, criticized or excluded – we were all there, side by side and for the same purpose which was to show support to a very welcomed Government, Prime Minister and King. With a Bahrain population of just 1 million people, the turn-out was an amazing show of solidarity and commonality. http://bit.ly/rdJ6sE This video shows a British expat talking about her true love for Bahrain and all the Bahrainis.
But you didn’t hear mention of the momentous rally that filled everyone in Bahrain with such pride and exhilaration. Where were the international media for this? We were left to deal with the criminal intents Al Wefaq lead Bahrain Hezbollah by ourselves, Iran had almost won, and I wondered how people outside Bahrain must have felt if they really knew who and what they were supporting? They were signing our death warrant, very publicly and very casually. We had lost all faith in UK, USA and other great nations, who previously had been our best allies. We felt alone, deflated, betrayed and deceived. It seemed as though nobody really understood and nobody wanted to understand. It was easier for them to all print and broadcast the same lies as eachother rather than stand alone and have the guts to write something that not everybody believed. Not one journalist took the time to report the other side of the story.
Tomorrow I talk about the kids put on hunger strike by their parents, the National Dialogue, City Centre raid, Bahrain flag, Irans meddling, rioters weapons and more.
Thank You
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
@LindaWms60
"jokingly, i said, surely Bahrain is all beach.... Hmm....beginning to wonder if you have ever been to Bahrain my dear. You seem to know soo little about the place you write soo much about! I invite you to actually take a trip to Bahrain and judge for yourself rather than relying on the slanderous tweets ur soo keen on reading and repeating. there are thousands upon thousands who love Bahrain the way it is and in reflection only a small number who dont and many of them are just like you, they dont even live in Bahrain! and i bet this wont be seen on your comments page either
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Bahrain - One Voice
It’s been a difficult few months in Bahrain, that’s true, but we have dealt with it and have now overcome the worst of it. It’s been a learning curve for many of us as we observed the changes taking place in ourselves, our friends and the country many of us expats call home. We gained local knowledge, we discussed local politics and we verbalized our views and thoughts more freely than we have ever done before. And when it came to showing our support at the rallies we were there also, standing alongside the local community and we felt welcomed.
However, as we struggled to understand the complexities of the riots taking place in Bahrain we were more baffled by the complete and utter disaster taking place with the international media. Amazed at BBC’s coverage, appalled by Sky News, disgusted by CCN’s reporting and repulsed by Al Jazeera’s accounts of the past riots to mention a few, and best you don’t get me started on the world newspapers. The internet, love it or hate it, became a battle ground for the war of the words. It was incredible how quickly cyberspace became a catalyst for hatred. Videos were uploaded, blogs were inflaming, tweets were blasphemous, facebook must have seen new pages and causes being established at an incredible speed until in the end not only were we fighting civil unrest but we were actually having a harder time combating this thing called virtual reality.
The opposition was ahead of the media game from the start, their attack on Bahrain had been well planned, well-orchestrated and well -funded by Iranian insurgents. They knew their plan and they paid well. They brought in journalists who were remunerated for their one sided accounts and threatened those who refused to print lies. They uploaded amateur videos of poorly staged incidents between them and the police, videos on Youtube that spread like wild fire throughout the world and that were used on news broadcasts. To the outsiders it looked like complete and utter mayhem, mass slaughter and massacre by the Bahraini police. How could we counterattack such images, how could we come back from media hell?
It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t supposed to be. If something is worth fighting for then it is never going to be an easy match. But we started slowly and from one blog to another, from one tweet to the next and from one voice to the other we did counterattack the inaccuracies that had been said against us and eventually we were heard, but more importantly believed, by the entire world.
The internet is loaded with stage-managed videos, with well thought out slanderous interviews, and there are some pieces that actually tell the truth. But with so much choice it’s sometimes hard to tell which ones are genuine and which ones are outright lies. Unless of course you come across the videos where you do actually see the car running over the police man numerous times, where the thugs are throwing stones, Molotov cocktails and yielding knives, or the ones of Salmaniya hospital being hijacked and used as their control center or of the uprising in Bahrain University. And if you are lucky maybe you will find the videos of Bahrainis crying out for the love of their King and their country.
For those of us who have lived through the hell of the past few months and watched our sunny Bahrain become a shadow of itself, let it be our time to rise up and tell the truth of what really happened here in Bahrain. We have finally found our voices, united we stand like never before, and never has there been a more crucial time in our lives when we have needed to use those voices. Bahrain WAS attacked, it WAS tortured but its stronger now than it has ever been, and let that be a warning to self-centred idiots who still think they can change it into Iran. NO WAY!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Nuclear - such a dirty word
September 11th marked the 6th month anniversary of the Japanese Fukushima Nuclear power plant disaster. For a few days the world’s media had gone wild in Japan with reports and films of overwhelming proportion being shown, as we learned that over 20,000 people were either killed or missing. The country had been devastated by 3 massive disasters, 9.0 earthquake, a Tsunami that engulfed anything in its path along 375 mile coast and then the most horrific Fukushima nuclear disaster.
At first I was glued to the tv watching in horror but not for long, the faces of those beautiful people filled me with a sense of complete helplessness. Those near the nuclear disaster now had a future of unknown torment. Their crops would have been contaminated, their water source destroyed and their homes were no longer safe. It really was a colossal tragedy.
To add insult to injury Japan’s new trade minister, of only 8 days, Yoshio Hachiro made a series of remarks regarding contamination of his clothes, last week, as he visited the area, and which, needless to say, resulted in his immediate resignation.
But despite Fukushima disaster there are still plans to build more power plants along the insubstantial coastline of Japan. Many Japanese communities are in uproar over this decision and will fight, as best they can, to prevent it going ahead.
Today in Foreign Policy I read that Iran’s Nuclear power plant is ready to go online, the Middle East's only commercial nuclear power plant. The US aren’t happy, Israel isn’t happy and neither are most of the Middle East. But Iran doesn’t care about them, they have the power (now nuclear) to turn themselves into a very commanding and controlling force to be reckoned with, and if neighbouring countries ever thought they had concerns about Iran, well they certainly have a whole lot of worrying to do now.
In a TV interview former Vice President Dick Cheney tells Newsmax TV that Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities if necessary to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Now I am beginning to wonder if the USA will also take a stand alongside Israel to help prevent the production of nuclear weapons, many would hope they would. And the Middle Eastern countries, like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Kuwait sit and wait patiently for the first atomic bomb to land on their doorsteps.
The debate on whether nuclear power is safe or not is ever ongoing. World Nuclear Association and IAEA say that the power is sustainable and reduces carbon emissions, but parties like Greenpeace International and NIRS believe it poses a threat to people and the environment, and unfortunately we have seen examples of the latter too many times. In 1979 The Three Mile Island nuclear disaster of Pennsylvania USA, 1986 Chernobyl of Ukraine, 2011 in Fukushima, Japan and today an explosion at the Southern France plant which treats nuclear waste. They say no leaks were evident, but they could tell you anything and besides I believe they said the same thing about Fukushima.
The evidence of human turmoil after a nuclear disaster is overwhelming and Germany, who ironically was contracted to build two 1,200-megawatt reactors in Bushehr, with a contract of $4.3 billion, has now decided to close all of its reactors by 2022. Italy too has now banned all nuclear power on the strength of the recent Fukushima humanitarian tragedy.
40 years ago this week a phone call about dead sea otters washing up on the shores of Alaska after US nuclear tests lead to the birth of environmental organization Greenpeace. Irving Stowe and his wife, Dorothy, were so outraged by the news that they launched a petition from their home in Vancouver, on the Canadian west coast, and set up a group called "Don't Make A Wave” now known as Greenpeace. Today its international headquarters is in Amsterdam, it has offices in dozens of countries, and even its Canadian headquarters is now in Toronto. It plays a vital role in our awareness of our environment and the fact that tests, of all sorts, take place all the time without the public’s knowledge. Governments don’t particularly like Greenpeace, which tells me they are doing a fantastic job of highlighting their sordid governmental secrets.
With all this Nuclear power comes the seldom talked about problem of containing all the waste. It derives from the use of uranium which is mined from the ground, but once put into production releases chemicals which can remain toxic to living organisms for thousands sometimes even millions of years. So you have to ask yourself is it morally acceptable to be producing poisons that will keep intoxicating the environment or that can be used in a more threatening form like bombs and also is it ethically correct to have already witnessed the Fukushima disaster and the nuclear waste station catastrophe of today in France, and others, and yet still continue to build and use Nuclear power plants. I know where I stand on this subject, do you? And to be honest it seems also that the UN knows its answer too as an “action plan” in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster and growing suspicions that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, will dominate a meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog this week.
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