***WARNING: This post contains some very graphic footage of people being injured and/or murdered. In regards to the videos, some are NSFW and carry a viewer discretion advisory. I will post a separate warning before any such video.***
2011 has so far been a very newsworthy year when it comes to the Middle East. In just six weeks, both Tunisia and Egypt have successfully, and, for the most part, peacefully, fought for their democracy and independence. Yemenis have been protesting for weeks, but due to a mixture of apathy and fear, the crowds have dramatically diminished. Yesterday's protest numbered only at about 2,000, compared to hundreds of thousands at the height of the protests.
Within the last ten days, the protests in Bahrain and Libya have been making news, but for all of the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, because of the nature of what is happening in Libya, the news on Bahrain has been on the back burner in the last week. Let me fill you in, because the two are really quite similar.
Bahrain is ruled by a monarchy. There is a popular based parliament system, but it is effectively useless. The ruling party are Sunni Muslims, yet the vast majority of Bahrain's citizens are Shiite Muslims. The Sunni based government has gone so far in recent years, that they have brought in Sunnis from other countries to build up the population in the country. Protests started on February 14th, with small protests here and there, but didn't start in earnest until February 17th.
Early that morning, the government immediately responded with violence, firing tear gas and beating protesters with batons. In the first day, it was reported that four people had been killed , 231 were injured, and 70 were reported missing. By the early morning hours of the 18th, the orders were given by the royal family to start using live ammunition on the protesters. No one was immune. Everyone was a target: protesters, journalists, medics, and even people in funeral processions. This is a video that was taken in the streets of Manama, Bahrain, and posted on Youtube on February 18th.
***Warning: This video contains violent and graphic footage. Viewer discretion is advised.***
At the 3:00 mark is when things start to turn violent. Protesters see armored vehicles blocking the street ahead. They hold their arms up to show that they are unarmed. Then, they start shouting the words, "Peaceful. Peaceful." in Arabic. The military starts firing automatic weapons on the protesters, killing at least one, perhaps two men. At around the 9:00 mark, you'll hear automatic gunfire again. This time, they're firing at the ambulance. It's quite intense.
The Bahraini Minister of Health, Faisal Mohamed al-Homor, made it illegal for ambulances or medics to pick up the dead or wounded. This resulted in hundreds of doctors and nurses(in non-emergency roles) leaving their posts and joining the protesters to demand his resignation.
At the moment, the "official" count of the dead and wounded are 7 dead and 150 wounded. Bahrainis, as well as most people that have been keeping a close eye on the protest, have been calling that number a very small fraction of the actual figure. I personally have seen video of at least 5 deaths, and dozens of injured. The reason why I say "at least" 5 dead is because I have seen video of probably 10-12 male bodies in hospital beds. Some from similar angles. Some from different angles. It is hard to tell if some of these people are different videos of the same victim or not. A couple appear to have similar injuries, but, a chest riddled with bird shot from a shotgun blast at close range would look similar in any case.
The following is a portion of a phone interview between Dr. Ghassan of Salmaniya Hospital in Manama, Bahrain, and Al Jazeera, on February 18th. He paints a much more dire and realistic picture of what is actually is going on in the country. Keep in mind that this was five days ago. The video does not necessarily show any graphic footage. It does show some footage of the protests, and of protesters carrying the body of one of the murdered demonstrators. It may be a little uncomfortable to watch because the doctor in the interview becomes increasingly emotional. It only brings home the point as to how desperate the situation is in Bahrain.
The hospital is so full of casualties, that they're taking the injured to makeshift triage units inside local theatres. Independent press coming out of the country is virtually non-existent. Most media, if anything, has been coming via Youtube, or by rumor. There are journalists on the ground in Manama, but they are either calling their stories in or reporting by email.
In any moment of chaos, rumors are bound to be rampant. There is a rumor that has been gaining probably the most momentum within the capital city, and it has quite a bit of circumstantial evidence that is tough to swallow. It appears that the Saudi army may have come in to Bahrain to assist the government by firing on the protesters and disposing of the bodies. Numerous injured over the past few days have come in to hospitals claiming that they were shot or beaten by men dressed up in Saudi military uniforms. Here is an interview with one such young man. Keep in mind, I do not speak Arabic. I do not know if the translation is accurate or not. I am only going based upon the subtitles that are at the bottom of the screen.
As you heard, the Saudi army is being accused of not only shooting protesters, but filling vehicles with bodies to dispose of them. This video was posted three days ago. Another video surfaced on Youtube on the 19th, supposedly showing Saudi military vehicles on the highway between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. According to the person posting, it was a caravan of personnel entering Bahrain. Again, unsubstantiated, but if it's true, this is historic.
And last, and possibly the worst rumor to surface in the last couple of days is this. Refrigerated trucks have been seen in Manama, with Saudi plates, guarded by Bahraini military personnel, loading dead bodies of protesters inside. Those same trucks have been seen on the highway back to Saudi Arabia. The rumors have been circulating for days now, and foreign journalists have doubted it all along. A couple of cell phone pictures have been taken, allegedly showing the trucks, such as this picture taken two days ago. The three refrigerated trucks are parked, circled in the top left hand corner of the photo:
It wasn't until a reporter for the UK's Independent spoke with a male nurse that worked under the umbrella of the United Nations, that the story started to garner some credibility. Not only did he confirm the allegations, but add that an American friend of his by the name of "Jerrod" videotaped bodies being thrown into the trucks and was arrested. He has not been seen since. That was a week ago. The article goes on to hypothesize to some degree why the Saudi Arabian government would step in to essentially assist a neighbor country with genocide, and it has some very plausible arguments.
If these allegations are true, they go far beyond "human rights violations". It is genocide, pure and simple. If the rumors regarding the Saudi army are found to be true to any degree, we are seeing something take place that is on a level of Hitler and the Nazis. Keep in mind, those are two words that I don't throw around lightly. This goes way beyond Tunisia, and far beyond Mubarak. There were 300 deaths in all of Egypt during 18 days of protests. That was in a country of 80 million people. Bahrain has a population of 1.2 million people, and they have only been protesting for 9 days. If there has been any good news to report, yesterday the King released hundreds of political prisoners that have been in prison for protesting, blogging, and distributing materials against the government.
What upsets me is that there is absolutely no coverage regarding the unrest in Bahrain on US television. Stories of Justin Bieber's haircut make national news, but this gets ignored. I don't understand it. How is this not important? Can someone please explain this to me?
2011 has so far been a very newsworthy year when it comes to the Middle East. In just six weeks, both Tunisia and Egypt have successfully, and, for the most part, peacefully, fought for their democracy and independence. Yemenis have been protesting for weeks, but due to a mixture of apathy and fear, the crowds have dramatically diminished. Yesterday's protest numbered only at about 2,000, compared to hundreds of thousands at the height of the protests.
Within the last ten days, the protests in Bahrain and Libya have been making news, but for all of the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, because of the nature of what is happening in Libya, the news on Bahrain has been on the back burner in the last week. Let me fill you in, because the two are really quite similar.
Bahrain is ruled by a monarchy. There is a popular based parliament system, but it is effectively useless. The ruling party are Sunni Muslims, yet the vast majority of Bahrain's citizens are Shiite Muslims. The Sunni based government has gone so far in recent years, that they have brought in Sunnis from other countries to build up the population in the country. Protests started on February 14th, with small protests here and there, but didn't start in earnest until February 17th.
Early that morning, the government immediately responded with violence, firing tear gas and beating protesters with batons. In the first day, it was reported that four people had been killed , 231 were injured, and 70 were reported missing. By the early morning hours of the 18th, the orders were given by the royal family to start using live ammunition on the protesters. No one was immune. Everyone was a target: protesters, journalists, medics, and even people in funeral processions. This is a video that was taken in the streets of Manama, Bahrain, and posted on Youtube on February 18th.
***Warning: This video contains violent and graphic footage. Viewer discretion is advised.***
At the 3:00 mark is when things start to turn violent. Protesters see armored vehicles blocking the street ahead. They hold their arms up to show that they are unarmed. Then, they start shouting the words, "Peaceful. Peaceful." in Arabic. The military starts firing automatic weapons on the protesters, killing at least one, perhaps two men. At around the 9:00 mark, you'll hear automatic gunfire again. This time, they're firing at the ambulance. It's quite intense.
The Bahraini Minister of Health, Faisal Mohamed al-Homor, made it illegal for ambulances or medics to pick up the dead or wounded. This resulted in hundreds of doctors and nurses(in non-emergency roles) leaving their posts and joining the protesters to demand his resignation.
At the moment, the "official" count of the dead and wounded are 7 dead and 150 wounded. Bahrainis, as well as most people that have been keeping a close eye on the protest, have been calling that number a very small fraction of the actual figure. I personally have seen video of at least 5 deaths, and dozens of injured. The reason why I say "at least" 5 dead is because I have seen video of probably 10-12 male bodies in hospital beds. Some from similar angles. Some from different angles. It is hard to tell if some of these people are different videos of the same victim or not. A couple appear to have similar injuries, but, a chest riddled with bird shot from a shotgun blast at close range would look similar in any case.
The following is a portion of a phone interview between Dr. Ghassan of Salmaniya Hospital in Manama, Bahrain, and Al Jazeera, on February 18th. He paints a much more dire and realistic picture of what is actually is going on in the country. Keep in mind that this was five days ago. The video does not necessarily show any graphic footage. It does show some footage of the protests, and of protesters carrying the body of one of the murdered demonstrators. It may be a little uncomfortable to watch because the doctor in the interview becomes increasingly emotional. It only brings home the point as to how desperate the situation is in Bahrain.
The hospital is so full of casualties, that they're taking the injured to makeshift triage units inside local theatres. Independent press coming out of the country is virtually non-existent. Most media, if anything, has been coming via Youtube, or by rumor. There are journalists on the ground in Manama, but they are either calling their stories in or reporting by email.
In any moment of chaos, rumors are bound to be rampant. There is a rumor that has been gaining probably the most momentum within the capital city, and it has quite a bit of circumstantial evidence that is tough to swallow. It appears that the Saudi army may have come in to Bahrain to assist the government by firing on the protesters and disposing of the bodies. Numerous injured over the past few days have come in to hospitals claiming that they were shot or beaten by men dressed up in Saudi military uniforms. Here is an interview with one such young man. Keep in mind, I do not speak Arabic. I do not know if the translation is accurate or not. I am only going based upon the subtitles that are at the bottom of the screen.
As you heard, the Saudi army is being accused of not only shooting protesters, but filling vehicles with bodies to dispose of them. This video was posted three days ago. Another video surfaced on Youtube on the 19th, supposedly showing Saudi military vehicles on the highway between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. According to the person posting, it was a caravan of personnel entering Bahrain. Again, unsubstantiated, but if it's true, this is historic.
And last, and possibly the worst rumor to surface in the last couple of days is this. Refrigerated trucks have been seen in Manama, with Saudi plates, guarded by Bahraini military personnel, loading dead bodies of protesters inside. Those same trucks have been seen on the highway back to Saudi Arabia. The rumors have been circulating for days now, and foreign journalists have doubted it all along. A couple of cell phone pictures have been taken, allegedly showing the trucks, such as this picture taken two days ago. The three refrigerated trucks are parked, circled in the top left hand corner of the photo:
It wasn't until a reporter for the UK's Independent spoke with a male nurse that worked under the umbrella of the United Nations, that the story started to garner some credibility. Not only did he confirm the allegations, but add that an American friend of his by the name of "Jerrod" videotaped bodies being thrown into the trucks and was arrested. He has not been seen since. That was a week ago. The article goes on to hypothesize to some degree why the Saudi Arabian government would step in to essentially assist a neighbor country with genocide, and it has some very plausible arguments.
If these allegations are true, they go far beyond "human rights violations". It is genocide, pure and simple. If the rumors regarding the Saudi army are found to be true to any degree, we are seeing something take place that is on a level of Hitler and the Nazis. Keep in mind, those are two words that I don't throw around lightly. This goes way beyond Tunisia, and far beyond Mubarak. There were 300 deaths in all of Egypt during 18 days of protests. That was in a country of 80 million people. Bahrain has a population of 1.2 million people, and they have only been protesting for 9 days. If there has been any good news to report, yesterday the King released hundreds of political prisoners that have been in prison for protesting, blogging, and distributing materials against the government.
What upsets me is that there is absolutely no coverage regarding the unrest in Bahrain on US television. Stories of Justin Bieber's haircut make national news, but this gets ignored. I don't understand it. How is this not important? Can someone please explain this to me?
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