Fear of Iran brought al-Saud to Bahrain

The agreement was concluded in the past during the Iran-Iraq war—it was called the “island shield”. This military and security agreement had been concluded among the Persian Gulf states, but it was not serious, and there were serious disputes among Persian Gulf states in this case. The only evidence is during Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, which was in the form of a partnership and they formally agreed on action, but the real actors were the US, American forces, and the West. The shield has never participated any activity, gathering or military activities. Today, Saudi forces enter Bahrain under the umbrella of the Persian Gulf cooperation, while the forces and facilities are all Saudi and no other country is involved in the operation, other than the UAE, which has 500 police, and not military forces, in the country. Thus the force that entered Bahraini is Saudi.

One of the paragraphs of the agreement maintains that if any of the six countries is attacked by foreign forces, the other nations will take action to help defend it. But in Bahrain, we have witnessed the people’s peaceful and political protests organized by the Bahraini people, having political demands based on the Constitution, namely: a constitutional monarch, free parliamentary elections without Bahrain’s government’s intervention, and reform in birth certificates now granted to foreigners which disturbs the political social balance due to religious conditions.

The entrance of foreign troops against the defense agreement of the Persian Gulf countries or the island shield is in conflict with the spirit of this agreement, because it is explicitly mentioned that “each country that is attacked by a foreign country”, and it is not applied as in the case of Kuwait. However, now we witness Saudi armed forces entering Bahrain to suppress the unarmed and innocent people.

Different Positions of the Arabs toward Bahrain and Libya

Legally speaking, the difference is that the Arab League does not stick to any security agreements, namely, Arab countries did not conclude any military pacts:

1. The Libyan government did not request anything from the Arabs, while the king of Bahrain requested military help from Arab societies.

2. Among the Persian Gulf states, there is such a treaty that became a pretext for entering the country, while the entrance of troops is totally opposed to the spirit of the agreement. When the Bahraini King came to the conclusion that the foundations of his rule have been shaken, he called for the help of foreign forces to suppress defenseless people.

I think there is a difference in that tribalism or sectarianism is magnified by the Arab regimes due to the fact that the Shiite population is larger in Bahrain and there is no religious purpose in seeking change from the Bahraini monarchy (to a constitutional one), but unfortunately the Bahraini regime and the Arab media attempt reflect this movement as a sectarian one. If the Bahraini people were Sunnis, the situation would be different.

All Arab countries—even those which are conservative—and Arab satellites supported the uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia in favor of the people, but unfortunately we witness that when the Houthi began their Islamic movement in the North of Yemen, Arabs adopted a different position. Also the same happened in Bahrain. In the case of the uprising of Omani Muslims in Muscat calling for reform, all the Arab countries broadcast the uprising and the Omani King took immediate action, the people were satisfied and fundamental reforms came into being. As you know, he carried out reforms in the constitution and there were fundamental changes. On the other hand, he did not request anything from the Persian Gulf states, and he satisfied the demands of the youth and the rebels.

So the movements in Oman did not last for more than two to three weeks, but in Bahrain, due to the Shiite uprisings, the uprisings were considered religious and the government tried to suppress the people more violently because their majority is Shiite. The view was that they are seeking Iran’s presence in Bahrain; accordingly, they must be fought because it may accent the risk of Iran’s presence in the region.

Influence of Arabs’ Approach on the decision-making of the West

I suppose that entrance of Saudi forces and the repression of the Bahraini people has been carried out with US approval, because the American Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, and U.S. ground and air forces based nearby. Americans are marked with hypocrisy: they never want democracy movements in the region and seek only their own interests. If their interests are threatened, they recognize neither democracy nor the rights of people, and no longer seek free expression and the political freedom of the nations. We saw that it was after the visit of the US defense secretary to Bahrain that Saudi forces entered Bahrain and suppressed the people more violently than before.