As Persian Gulf monarchs suppress protests in the kingdom of Bahrain, the Obama administration has responded mostly with mild or muted objections — a sharp contrast to its demands for new governments in the republics of Egypt and Libya.
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama phoned the kings of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and urged them to show “maximum restraint.” And in her sternest comments so far, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the crackdown in Bahrain “alarming.” The State Department also complained about the use of “excessive force and violence” against protesters.
But U.S. officials pointedly have not condemned a decision by Saudi Arabia and other neighbors to send tanks and troops into Bahrain or Bahrain’s subsequent declaration of a state of emergency. In interviews with CNN and CBS, Clinton said the intervening countries were merely “on the wrong track” and urged Bahrain’s rulers and the demonstrators to resume negotiations — a prospect that seemed highly remote as the crisis escalated.
The disparate reactions underscore the Obama administration’s reluctance to take a hard line with the gulf monarchies, historically among the United States’ most steadfast allies in the Arab world. While the administration ultimately decided that the Washington-friendly presidents who ruled Egypt and Tunisia were expendable, analysts say, it appears to have concluded that it needs the kings to stay on their thrones, even if that means the silencing of those seeking freedom.
“We’re seeing what U.S. policy really is about now. It’s not about democracy; it’s not about regime change,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, a Qatar-based branch of the Washington think tank. “When we’re talking about the gulf, it’s a whole different ballgame. The U.S. wants these regimes to reform and to see some changes, but it does not want to see them fall.”
