Letter From Bahrain

Yesterday marked that time of week when the local imams invoke politics into the mosque sermons. While the call to prayer occurs five times daily, Friday is the payoff day for Arab Muslims, much like Sunday morning for American Christians. Since there is no separation of Church and State in most Muslim cultures, especially the Arab variety, it’s perfectly acceptable to use a religious forum to incite political viewpoints.

Here are a few things to keep in mind for this part of the Middle East, as the Shia majority in Bahrain take leave of the imams:
1) The US Army’s 1st Armored Division is currently massed just a few miles away
from Najaf, the Iraqi holy city for Shias, where cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is
entrenched with his militia.

2) When George Bush met with Ariel Sharon in the White House earlier this week,
each militarist did his best to confer legitimacy on the other's failed policies of
occupation. Then Bush went further than any previous U.S. president and backed
Sharon’s “disengagement plan,” recognizing Israel's settlements in the West
Bank and countering the claim that millions of Palestinian refugees have the right
of return to their homes in what is now Israel.

3) The U.S. The State Department on Thursday "strongly urged" private U.S.
citizens to leave Saudi Arabia as it announced plans to order some U.S.
diplomats out the country because of security concerns. On Tuesday, after a clash
between Saudi authorities and suspected armed opponents in the capital in which
six people were killed and two explosives-laden cars discovered, the US embassy
in Riyadh warned Americans in Saudi Arabia of the possibility of new attacks.

4) Osama bin Laden’s tape offers to negotiate with European countries if they
withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, while vowing to avenge Israel’s
killing of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Ambush, murder and kidnapping, just another day in "Post-War" Iraq. But there is no insurrection by the Sunni and Shia Muslims, according to the unelected president – just punks and thugs trying to prevent the U.S. Army from protecting Haliburton in the vast oil fields. The moral rot of Vietnam is already so glaring in Iraq that it hardly needs mention

Bush’s inability to cite any mistakes or failures of his as president during a news conference at the White House Tuesday night has little to do with arrogance. This hardening, reckless attitude to law or purpose is simply characteristic of how pathological liars carry on lying; it's what they do.

Every time this unelected president speaks, the audience must be prepared for a pyramid sale of tall stories.

The American oligarchy will always control the many through manufactured opinion, which bedazzles and confuses the many when it is not just plain dumbing them down into dust with a mediocre, standardized public education instead of insightful critical thinking skills.

While Bush continued his distortions and deceptions, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers visited Bahrain to meet with members of the royal Al Khalifa family and the Defense Ministry. Bahrain is an important ally for the U.S. in the Arabian Gulf, and allows a base for the Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

Meanwhile Iraqi militiamen led by Shia cleric Muqtada Al Sadr have pulled back to Najaf. Can anyone imagine contemporary American militiamen led by a Roman Catholic priest taking refuge in the St. Louis Cathedral?

How can Islam be the fastest growing religion in the world?

Of course it’s tough imposing democracy by-the-U.S.-army on a former Muslim dictatorship in Iraq. What's interesting is the U.S. military reflects an example of socialism. Everyone works toward a common goal, everyone is employed, everyone has health care and educational opportunities, and everyone has retirement benefits. That’s more than can be said for many people in the world’s greatest democracy.

The other day I walked alone through the narrow passages of the Manama souq, like a misguided trekker in the labyrinth. The souq is the traditional Middle Eastern market, an area full of energy, aspirations and opportunism where shopkeepers, middle-class Arabs, budget travelers, food vendors, drowsy security guards, the devious, the down-and-out and the disoriented mingle together.

On the simplest level, what you see is not what you get. Beneath makeshift canopies of tightly stretched tarps, a faint semblance of daylight filters down to the pavement. Perhaps the shifting and haphazard tones of gray perfectly represent the illusions of the Middle East. Perhaps the female Muslim beggar crouching at pavement level, shrouded in a pitch-black abaya with a complete face veil, perfectly symbolizes the inscrutability of this milieu.

The Arab men are graciously insincere. In a comfortably air-conditioned shop, an older man in a crisp white thoub glided toward me, all smiles, exuding false warmth. “My friend, how may I help you?” His gaze met my eyes, but there was nothing to his look; it was entirely vacant. I’m confident that if I had expressed any interest in the pricey merchandise, the Arab would have told me whatever I wanted to hear. “Oh, yes, sir. Delivery tomorrow? Very well, sir.” Yet with no interest on my part, the man gradually receded into the background. He seemed like he could just as easily be addicted to loafing and spending his days endlessly tippling black coffee in a drowsy café.

Perhaps this is a more sophisticated reflection of life here in Bahrain: one day my wife and I left work promptly at the end of the day with intentions of driving home. As we meandered through the nearby neighborhood of Juffair, we impulsively stopped at Khazana, a very classy furniture store. Interior design is not an interest of mine, but I am impressed by furniture constructed of real wood and not that damned particleboard found in American stores.

The store manager, Mohammed Sadiq Khan, quickly engaged us in conversation – yet he had none of those fawning, clutch-the-ankle techniques of the typical American furniture salesman, a parasite who will dog your every step. Mr. Khan, a contemporary, was well dressed in slacks and an oxford cloth shirt, with sandals. From Pakistan, his English enunciation was the product of a proper British colonial background. In other words, he was altogether very charming. Of course his inventory was classy, first-rate …. hand carved pieces from Pakistan and India: jewelry chests, fold-up bars, and exquisite desks.

“For you, sir – very special price.”

As we surveyed the array of choices, Mr. Khan discretely signaled to one of his underlings who soon approached with a tray of two glasses of warm, green mint tea from Kashmir. This allowed Mr. Khan time to display his pile of stunning Persian and Afghan rugs. The experience was utterly charming, and I’m not certain how we disengaged without dropping a penny.

Yesterday was Easter, that time when Christians properly celebrate both the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and an adult-size rabbit frolicking among little children with colored eggs and tasty chocolates. Both actions are equally plausible.

One must always keep on alert here in Bahrain, where the Sunni monarchy is part of the ruling minority that must delicately keep the Shia majority in place.

It’s impossible to ignore events in Falluja and the growing international hostage crisis. In Iraq, typically, the Sunnis and the Shias are at odds with each other, but like both the Chinese Communists and Nationalists who united in World War Two to drive out the Japanese, this is what is unfolding now.

Bush has no vision and neither West Point nor the Virginia Military Academy have produced any military commanders of my generation on a par with MacArthur and Patton, to name just a few of the World War eras.

If Bush wins his first election to the White House this upcoming November, I will feel no need to return Stateside any time soon.

Quagmire is an excellent way to describe the future of the U.S. military in Iraq – which shares a 900-mile border with the Shia majority of Iran. And, to the southwest are the unpredictable Bedouins of the House of Saud.