Bahraini Revolutionary People Call US “Great Satan”

During one of the nightly clashes with Bahrain’s security forces, a new chant broke out among opposition protesters: “The US is the Great Satan”.

People are angry at the US for its non-stop support for the Manama tyrant, including resumption of arms shipments to the Al-Khalifa regime.

Bahrain tugs at just about every critical Persian Gulf issue for Washington. Atop the list: America’s relations with Saudi Arabia as the main patron for the embattled Bahraini monarchy, and the stability of the Bahrain-based headquarters of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, which is one of the Pentagon’s main counterweights to Iranian military influence in the Persian Gulf.

And now anger is building up among the protesters led by Bahrain’s Shiite majority.

Their demands began last year with calls for a greater say in the country’s affairs. The protest cries gradually sharpened to urge for the downfall of the Western-backed king and his inner circle.

In recent weeks, the tone toward the US has darkened as protesters have now realized that all their misfortunes arise from the US.

Banners at anti-government rally earlier this month denounced America’s “double standard”.

“Obama supports the killers, not democracy and freedom”, said one message. Another carried a picture of US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with the lines: “US interests come before our freedom”. Some protesters burned handmade Stars and Stripes.

The US has in actual words kept mum about Bahrain’s crackdowns, such as arrest sweeps and job purges, and use of temporary martial law-style rule last year to convict activists in a special security court.

Earlier this month, the US said it would resume some military sales to Bahrain after suspending shipments amid the crackdowns. US State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described Bahrain’s ability to ride out the unrest as a “a critical component of our commitment to (Persian) Gulf security”.

The US decision brought backlash from Bahraini protesters and other nations. Anti-government protesters chanted against Washington for the planned shipments.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty’s over-40-year rule.

Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors.

So far, 69 people have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured.