Gates: Bahrain Needs Thorough Reforms
The New York Times reports:
MANAMA, Bahrain — In the wake of a violent clash between protesters and Bahrain’s security forces and pro-government vigilantes, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned this tiny kingdom’s ruling family on Saturday that “baby steps” toward reform would not be enough to meet the political and economic grievances sweeping the region.
Mr. Gates also cautioned Bahrain’s king and crown prince during two hours of meetings in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, that if the reform process was prolonged, the United States feared that Iran would become involved and create more chaos.
“I expressed the view that we had no evidence that suggested that Iran started any of these popular revolutions or demonstrations across the region,” Mr. Gates told reporters afterward on his plane. “But there is clear evidence that as the process is protracted, particularly in Bahrain, that the Iranians are looking for ways to exploit it and create problems.” He added, “Time is not our friend.”
Mr. Gates did not offer any details of the evidence he cited.
Despite his warnings, Mr. Gates said he was convinced that the king, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, and the crown prince, Sheik Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, were serious about reform and starting a dialogue with protesters demanding more democracy. The immediate problem, Mr. Gates said, was that the main opposition party in Parliament had not agreed to conditions for the talks — an obstacle that the crown prince appeared to address in comments to reporters traveling with Mr. Gates.
“There are people far, far more conservative than I,” the crown prince told reporters at the Sakhir Palace in Manama. “I by no means am on the right of the political spectrum, and they need to sit down and talk. I’m hopeful that they will join the dialogue without preconditions.”
The crown prince also said that “at the end of the day we all are going to have to live in the same country together and talk to one another.”
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