(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - This is a talk with Ali al-Ahmad, director of IGA in Washington on the increasing nervousness of the Bahraini regime in the face of unrelenting popular protests demanding an end to the regime, which has forced action that will change the internal power structure of Bahrain's royal family. Following is a transcript of the interview.
Q: On Friday once again massive crowds turned out to demand King Hamid al-Khalifa and his regime step down. With all the pressure that the Bahraini people are under it appears that the people are still determined to continue with their opposition protests no matter the price. Has it gone beyond where the regime can actually stop these protests?
Ali al-Ahmad: I think it's too late. The regime has suffered and suffers every time they respond to the Bahraini demonstrations. So there is no return they have already crossed that threshold. You are talking about a monarchy that has shown its true face by being willing to destroy its own people; by being willing to sacrifice the solemnity of the country in order to stay in power.
Today, you have an occupied Bahrain; you have a king that has no legitimacy with the majority of the people of Bahrain and you have a population that is determined to create a new system, which could be a constitutional monarchy or even a Republic, which is probably the best option for Bahrain given the fact that the world's democracies are mostly Republics and the US, which led the world in building a Republic should support a Republic in Bahrain.
Q: Our other guest, Professor Rodney Shakespeare has concluded that the UK and US does not stand for democracy in Bahrain. People in both countries would be very surprised at that type of accusation when both of them symbolically say that they stand for human rights; that they stand for democracy - Why is it in the case of Bahrain they have remained silent even against such examples as a fifteen year old boy being put on trial and others on military trial? Still, 'mum' is the word from Washington and London.
Ali al-Ahmad: Well, I think the professor is right. The US and British governments have not only been staying silent they have in fact been supporting the Bahraini monarchy in one way or another by extending them special favors or status; supporting them with weapons and training; allowing them freedom of movement and not criticizing them in any way or shape to the sufficient manner in which they should be.
What you hear sometimes (from these governments) as a statement of concern is to maintain some degree of credibility - it has no grounding in policy. Certain governments would like to maintain the image that they are caring about human rights and democracy in the region where in fact they are doing the opposite.
What I mean by saying that is the US, for example, allowed the crown prince, who is seen as the second most corrupt person in Bahrain - involved in land grabs and expropriating public and private land and he is responsible for the military crackdown; but he is welcomed at 10 Downing Street in London and in the White House. This tells you the real story of what is happening.
The US and British governments are both supporting the monarchy. The professor is also right about corrupt organizations. UNESCO for example is a corrupt organization; otherwise they would not have allowed a small country (Bahrain) to hold a session at UNESCO in Paris.
And the World Bank would not allow them to do the same thing in Washington unless there are kickbacks to these officials in UNESCO and in the World Bank so you are dealing with corrupt international organizations that are supporting dictators following in the manner of the American and British government support. This is not going to continue for long because the people of Bahrain are taking over; it's just a matter of time.
Q: How nervous do you think in general the regime in Bahrain is right now? As repressive as they have been still we witness last Friday people in mass taking to the streets still demanding that King Hamid and his regime step down.
Ali al-Ahmad: I think they are very nervous and this is why the Bahraini officials have been traveling across the globe - they went to Pakistan to seek more mercenaries and more weapons; they are traveling to south east Asia to recruit military help from Malaysia and Indonesia and to get more mercenaries from there. The Saudis are doing the same trying to invite Indonesia and Malaysia to send military troops to protect the monarchy; and we see that from Jordan as well.
So we are seeing a monarchy that is really at the end of its rope. They do not trust even the loyalists in Bahrain so they need to seek mercenaries from elsewhere - and these mercenaries will one day be captured and tried in public.
They are extremely afraid that the world is going to turn against them and the international community will have no choice but to turn with the people of Bahrain when the page turns. The page is turning and before the end of this year we will see it.
The Bahraini monarchy is so nervous they want to link and have Saudi Arabia annex Bahrain. We saw just yesterday the son of the King of Bahrain got engaged and married the daughter of the King of Saudi Arabia. This is an important step for them to try to ensure the survival of the Bahraini monarchy.
But the person who is going to be nervous the most is the crown prince who was here in Washington last week; very nervous according to witnesses and insecure about his own future as he may no longer be the crown prince because his younger brother will now be the new Crown Prince since he is the husband of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia's daughter.
Even within the ruling family they are fighting to maintain their own survival - brothers are fighting for the crown prince role...
Q: The Americans and the Brits are the Bahrain regime's biggest supporters. How likely is it that their own interests will be threatened or pressure within mounts to the point where they will be forced to turn against the Bahrain monarchy?
Ali al-Ahmad: They will turn. A large section of the US State Department and in the White House are viewing the Bahraini monarchy as a dictatorship that should not be there any longer and that it should be transformed to a Republic or true constitutional monarchy.
A lot of people are going to be put on trial. This whole process is going to take some time, but it is better for the British government to be ahead of the curve instead of behind it. The people of Bahrain will ultimately win this battle and the policy makers in Washington are slowly coming to realize that. They are still denying reality, but reality is going to sink in very soon and they will have to deal with the new page in Bahrain.
A new government in Bahrain will be much more beneficial for US policy in the region because they will have not only an ally that's democratic, but democracy will spread there and they will be able to save a lot of the money they are presently committed to spending and in maintaining military bases around the Gulf.
So this would save the American people a lot of money and the US a lot of headache. The image of the US will be better in the region if they support the people because it is the people who will eventually rule.
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