American and British arms used to kill peaceful Bahrainis

From the Bahrain Freedom Movement

Save Bahrain from Saudi occupation

The use of the American-made and supplied Apache helicopter gunships, the British-made and supplied tear gas canisters and guns and various other weapons has exposed the catastrophic moral and ethical downfall of all involved in the attack on the unarmed civilians of Bahrain. The Saudi invasion that started on Monday 14th March is a replica of the invasion of Saddam Hussain’s invasion of Kuwait on 2nd August 1990. If that invasion was wrong, how could the Saudi occupation of Bahrain be right? The world community is thus duty bound to end this occupation. The latest episode of the all out war started at around 4.00 am GMT Sunday 13th March with massive attacks from the air and land at the peaceful protesters at the Pearl Square, many of whom were asleep. They were hit with salvo of tear and nerve gases, live ammunition and rubber bullets. Hundreds have so far been injured and many killed.

Among those confirmed to have lost their lives are Jaffar Ali Salman, 31, from Karranah and Ahmad Abdulla Hassan, 23, from Hamad Town. The Pearl Square has been scorched by the invading Saudi army. On Friday 18th March, the central monument at the Square that came to symbolize people’s revolution was demolished by the Al Khalifa and the Saudi invaders. Could they also erase the images of the revolution from people’s memory?

As the killed and injured were taken to the main hospital at Salmaniyah it soon became clear that it jad been overstretched. The private international Hospital also opened its doors for emergency treatment. Makeshift hospitals were opened by the people, one of which is in Matam Khamis in Sanabis. Calls were made for blood donation as the Saudi and Al Khalifa killers opened fire with no mercy on Bahrainis.

A team of doctors and nurses from Kuwait was turned away by the Al Khalifa which, instead, opened the doors for the Saudi killers. On Friday 18th March Salmaniyah hospital was raided by Death Squads and took away patients records to hide the true picture from an expected team from the Red Cross.

The past week has been amongst the worst in the history of Bahrain as Death Squads roamed the towns and villages, wielding swords, axes, iron bars and wooden sticks and attacked Bahrainis. At night the residents were attacked inside their homes in several villages, including Malikiyah, Sitra, Nuwaidrat, Bani Jamra, Masha, Daih, Karzakkan, Dar Kulaib and others. There are plenty of images clearly showing these vicious militias attacking and destroying people’s lives and property. The American and British ambassadors in Manama have failed to take moral stands against what the Bahraini natives see as genocide by the Al Khalifa.

Feelings of despair have continued as it became clear that Robert Gates, the American Secretary of State for Defence, had given the green light for the Saudis to carry out their invasion and to use the American weapons. He was in Bahrain on Saturday 12th March, one day before the bloody attack on the demonstrators near the financial harbor in which one civilian was killed and more than 1000 injured. Washington and London have continued to defend the Saudi aggression and refused to accept that it was an “invasion”.

The Saudis and the Al Khalifa could not have deployed their American and British-made and supplied weapons without the approval of the Western officials. There is country-wide revulsion at the indifference to the value of human life shown by those officials who had sided with the Al Khalifa hereditary dictatorship which is killing and maiming Bahrainis, supported by Saudi invaders.

It is time to save Bahrain from this dual evil. Silence is not an option.