Bahrain Shiite Muslims Walk Out Of Political Talks With Sunni Monarchy

MANAMA, Bahrain -- Two senior members of Bahrain's biggest Shiite party say its delegates have walked out of talks with the island kingdom's Sunni rulers, saying they are not serious about addressing Shiite demands for greater rights and political freedoms.

Hadi al-Mosawi says Al Wefaq members left Tuesday's session after a Sunni delegate referred to Bahrain's Shiite majority with derogatory terms.

Khalil al-Marzooq says he's advised the party's top leaders to withdraw from the U.S.-backed talks entirely and a final decision will be made by Thursday.

Al-Marzooq told The Associated Press the government is not interested in political reform, making the dialogue meaningless.

The U.S. has encouraged dialogue after months of protests by Shiites and a crackdown that has killed at least 32 people.

Comments

[fairwayhill]

05:54 AM on 07/14/2011

Obama should stop supporting the dictatorship of Bahrain.

[adamben]

04:42 PM on 07/13/2011

geopolitically speaking, what is the difference if the sunni's share power with the majority shiites? yes, i realize the sunnis will become a little poorer, but will the shiites really turn the country over to iran? they are arabs, aren't they, who, in general, have an antipathy towards persians, no?

yes, i realize that the shiites in iraq, at least the sadrists are pro iran, but the government there, which is majority shiite, hasn't given the keys to iran, at least not as far as can be seen. i also realize that iran supports, arms, trains hezbollah, a shiite arab force in lebanon, but they do the same for hamas, which is sunni arab. so, it seems a little gray in areas.

they will still sell us oil, since even chavez and ghadaffi for that matter care more about money then fueling the economies of regimes they don't like, which i imagine iran does as well.

wouldn't it be better, in the long run, to support democracies? shouldn't the us want to spread democracy around the world? make it more like us? couldn't hurt, no?

[Magic 62]

09:58 PM on 07/13/2011

Actually, we turned Sadrists pro-Iran. Many Iraqi Shia politicians had already escaped to Iran, and at the end of Desert storm when GHWB told the Shia to rise up then left them to be killed by Saddam, almost all their Shia politicians and another 80 to 90000 escaped to Iran. These politicians, and the Iraqis that joined the IRGC's Bedr Brigade of Iraqis. They now form Iraq's government, military and police. Sadrists on the other hand stayed in Iraq and were tormented by Saddam. But they were nationalists and didn't want to have anything to do with Iran. When US invaded Iraq and the occupation, Sadrists still didn't want to have anything to do with Iran, and didn't want the occupation either. When US attacked them he had nowhere else to run to but Iran. Now, back an Ayatollah, trained in Qum, he is most outspoken pro-Iranian in Iraq.

This the causality. Bahraini Shia have nowhere to go but to Iran.

[adamben]

07:28 AM on 07/14/2011

thanks for the synopsis.

[PreacherThug]

11:10 AM on 07/13/2011

Sectarianism is the way......................backwards!

[JOHNSPEAKS]

08:57 AM on 07/13/2011

Put this revolt down harshly and prove that -Might Makes Right-!!!

[BestGuest]

04:24 AM on 07/13/2011

Of U$ puppets and polygamous monarchs:

""Pity the poor people of Bahrain. They have been shot, beaten, tear-gassed – and patronised. On 7 March, at the height of the pro-democracy protests in the tiny Gulf island kingdom, a crowd gathered outside the US embassy in Manama, the capital, carrying signs that read "Stop supporting dictators" and "Give me liberty or give me death". A US embassy official emerged from the building with a box of doughnuts for the protesters, prompting a cleric in the crowd to remark: "These sweets are a good gesture, but we hope it is translated into practical actions.""

"the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mike Mullen, and the then defence secretary, Robert Gates. Disgracefully, at the same time as peaceful protesters were being rounded up and imprisoned, both men offered full-throated endorsements of King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa's brutal regime."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/11/west-averts-eyes-brutes-bahrain

[Talossa]

12:58 AM on 07/13/2011

Love the picture... people screaming, fists in the air. It could be any one of a hundred different cities over there.

Nobody did this better than The Onion.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/middle-east-conflict-intensifies-as-blah-blah-blah,2192/

[Magic 62]

11:56 AM on 07/13/2011

Put some black hats and weird dangling sideburns and it could be Israel too. blah, blah, blah.

[nkurland]

11:37 PM on 07/12/2011

The situation in Bahrain is one of the most sordid we've seen in awhile. Saudi Arabia happily intervened to crush protests for fear that they would spread to their own Shia population, sitting on the bulk of the country's oil. Meanwhile, the monarchy was free to crush dissent using everything from torture to the blocking of hospitals entrances and the deportation of patients.

The whole point of these negotiations is to provide the monarchy with a fig leaf for their reprehensible behavior.

[Talossa]

12:59 AM on 07/13/2011

I love it how everyone here who was praising al-Jazeera for its 'honest', 'forthright' coverage of the Iraq war, is suddenly silent when it comes to their cheerleading for the Bahraini royals when this topic comes up.

[cliffhammond]

01:28 AM on 07/13/2011

The Bahraini royals own al-Jazeera. Does that help your understanding?

[nkurland]

03:09 AM on 07/13/2011

No media outlet is going to be perfect, and that includes Al Jazeera. With that being said, Al Jazeera provides an Arab perspective and much more thorough coverage of protests in the ME, even if they are totally whitewashing events in Bahrain.

I like to think of them as an Arabic BBC: far from perfect, yet miles better than any of the mainstream U.S. sources.

[SpoonieLuv]

10:51 PM on 07/12/2011

So, the people that were oppressed by the regime meet with the despots for talks, and the despot's representative proceeds to hurl derogatory remarks at them? Good luck getting them back for talks any time soon. Keep heading down that road and the next time you see them will probably be when they're outside the palace gates with a shiny new guillotine.

[Richard Pearce banned]

10:19 PM on 07/12/2011

Interesting choice of headline.

Not 'largest pro-democracy movement walks out of talks with regime', not 'largest opposition groups withdraws from reform negotiations due to lack of progress', but a headline that casts the situation in tribal/ethnic terms, ignoring that the Sunnis of Bahrain want a democratic government just as much as the Shias do.

(Indeed, there are signs that even the royal family of Bahrain would not find a constitutional monarchy with a democratic government bitter pill to swallow, but the 300-pound gorilla (the House of Saud) that it is politic not to mention, sees such a thing as a deadly virus)

[the exit]

11:28 PM on 07/12/2011

Bravo
for noticing, the same thing i did, about this article the style and the language
used, not to mention the angle of delivery .
they think words are simple
yet, put together in the wrong sequance that would make things go Kaboom
.
That is the art of La Propagande ... Propaganda

[BestGuest]

04:32 AM on 07/13/2011

Rather astute observation... i missed that.

[fairwayhill]

09:45 PM on 07/12/2011

The US should stop supporting the dictatorsh­ips of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

[Talossa]

01:01 AM on 07/13/2011

But we should support the dictatorships of Sudan, Libya, Syria and Iran.

[Richard Pearce banned]

09:35 AM on 07/13/2011

I see you favor the right-wing definition of dictatorship (which ignores things like free and fair elections, but instead uses things like how compliant the government is to what the American right-wing desires in terms of foreign policy and economic policy)

[Magic 62]

10:01 PM on 07/13/2011

It's not an either or pal, either we support dictatorships or we don't.

[adamben]

04:29 PM on 07/13/2011

for once i agree with you.

[Sheldon archer]

09:42 PM on 07/12/2011

SIGH...When are people going to come out of the Dark Ages and do away with all stupid religions? Yes, I know..When pigs fly

[BestGuest]

04:35 AM on 07/13/2011

Reading the above comment, im sure some here have realized why a pro democracy movement is given a sectarian stamp in the headline of this article.

The old colonial "Divide and conquer" is still alive and thriving in this Neo-Colonial era.....

[fairwayhill]

09:41 PM on 07/12/2011

The "crackdown" against the democratic protesters of Bahrain was fully supported by the US.

[BestGuest]

05:15 AM on 07/13/2011

With weapons, media backing and strategy.....

Gotta love the "Freedom and Democracy" soup....

[Richard Pearce banned]

09:39 AM on 07/13/2011

And let's not forget the Germans, who just signed a deal to provide tanks to the country that rolled them into Bahrain to 'crackdown' on those protesters (as well as the protesters at home)

[Magic 62]

10:06 PM on 07/13/2011

These weapon purchases are a form tax. Saudi don't even have the crew to operate 1/3 of their US made M1s, and had to hire Pakistani mercenaries to invade Bahrain.

[fairwayhill]

09:39 PM on 07/12/2011

Obama should stop supporting the US supported dictatorship of Bahrain.

[mamiller517]

08:48 PM on 07/12/2011

What I don't understand is that if you compare the Sunni and Shiites with Christians they are so similar. What I see as the cause for all the disruptions in the Middle East is that they do NOT have separation of church and state. If you were to get religion out of government and get people to lead who protect the rights of BOTH then no one has to die. Fundamentally, these two religions are so much more alike than they realize. Why not respect each others differences and let each other worship as they choose?

[fairwayhill]

09:43 PM on 07/12/2011

The fact is that Americans are fighting against the Shiites in Bahrain.

[SpoonieLuv]

10:56 PM on 07/12/2011

In all things theological, the slightest differences in canon can become magnified to the point where these slight differences become justification for wholesale murder. But you're completely right - if it weren't for the Establishment Clause, the United States would not have the free and open society it enjoys today.

[mamiller517]

08:36 PM on 07/12/2011

Can the Shia fight without the Americans, PLEASE?

[Magic 62]

10:01 PM on 07/12/2011

Sure. Iranians would be happy to help them.