[Peace-discuss] Foreign Policy: Obama administration using loophole to quietly sell arms package to Bahrain

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Yeah, let's keep ALL these wars going. No conflict too big or too small -- it's great for business. How can we hope to compete w/ this? Beyond depressing.

--- On Tue, 1/31/12, Robert Naiman <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org> wrote:Wyden and McGovern have a letter to Secretary Clinton opposing the
arms sale. The letter closes Wednesday. We have an alert in support of
the letter, here:

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/newbahrainarms

Obama administration using loophole to quietly sell arms package to Bahrain
Posted By Josh Rogin   Friday, January 27, 2012 - 4:41 PM
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/27/obama_administration_selling_new_arms_package_to_bahrain

President Barack Obama's administration has been delaying its planned
$53 million arms sale to Bahrain due to human rights concerns and
congressional opposition, but this week administration officials told
several congressional offices that they will move forward with a new
and different package of arms sales -- without any formal notification
to the public.

The congressional offices that led the charge to oppose the original
Bahrain arms sales package are upset that the State Department has
decided to move forward with the new package. The opposition to
Bahrain arms sales is led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Jim
McGovern (D-MA), and also includes Senate Foreign Relations Middle
East and North Africa Subcommittee chairman Robert Casey (D-PA),
Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Sens. Robert Menendez
(D-NJ), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), and Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Wyden and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) have each introduced a resolution
in their respective chambers to prevent the U.S. government from going
through with the original sale, which would have included 44 armored,
high-mobility Humvees and over 300 advanced missiles.

The State Department has not released details of the new sale, and
Congress has not been notified through the regular process, which
requires posting the information on the Defense Security Cooperation
Agency (DSCA) website. The State Department simply briefed a few
congressional offices and is going ahead with the new sale, arguing it
didn't meet the threshold that would require more formal notifications
and a public explanation.

At today's State Department press briefing, The Cable asked
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland about the new sale. She acknowledged the
new package but didn't have any details handy.

Our congressional sources said that State is using a legal loophole to
avoid formally notifying Congress and the public about the new arms
sale. The administration can sell anything to anyone without formal
notification if the sale is under $1 million. If the total package is
over $1 million, State can treat each item as an individual sale,
creating multiple sales of less than $1 million and avoiding the
burden of notification, which would allow Congress to object and
possibly block the deal.

We're further told that State is keeping the exact items in the sale
secret, but is claiming they are for Bahrain's "external defense" and
therefore couldn't be used against protesters. Of course, that's the
same argument that State made about the first arms package, which was
undercut by videos showing the Bahraini military using Humvees to
suppress civilian protesters.

Regardless, congressional opponents to Bahrain arms sales are planning
to fight back. Wyden is circulating a letter now to Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton stating that Bahrain's government continues to commit
human rights violations and should not be rewarded with U.S. arms
sales.

"The Bahraini government has shown little progress in improving their
human rights record over the last few months and in some ways, their
record has gotten worse," Wyden told The Cable on Friday. "Protesters
are still being hurt and killed, midnight arrests are still happening
and the government continues to deny access to human rights monitors.
The kingdom of Bahrain has not shown a true good faith effort to
improve human rights in their country and the U.S. should not be
rewarding them as if they have."

"Supplying arms to a regime that continues to persecute its citizens
is not in the best interest of the United States," Wyden said. "When
the government of Bahrain shows that it respects the human rights of
its citizens it will become more stable and a better ally in the
region; only then should arms sales from the U.S. resume."

That point was echoed by McGovern, who pledged to oppose any arms
sales to Bahrain.

"The government of Bahrain continues to perpetrate serious human
rights abuses and to deny independent monitors access to the country,"
McGovern told The Cable. "Until Bahrain takes more substantial and
lasting steps to protect the rights of its own citizens, the United
States should not reward its government with any military sales."

A State Department official declined to give specifics of the new arms
package to The Cable but said that Bahrain was moving in the right
direction.

"We have seen some important initial steps from the Bahraini
government in implementing the Bahrain Independent Commission of
Inquiry's recommendations, but more needs to be done," the official
said. "We urge the government of Bahrain to take action on the full
range of recommendations that we believe will help lay the foundation
for longer-term reform and reconciliation."

Cherif Bassiouni, the chair of the Bahrain Independent Commission of
Inquiry that investigated the government crackdown on protests in
2011, recently said in an interview that the administration is not
doing enough to pressure the Bahrain regime. "There is merit in naming
and shaming and embarrassing, in pushing, in enlisting public opinion,
domestic and international. This is not the style of Secretary Clinton
or President Obama, and I'm not sure they are necessarily doing the
right choice," he said.

Cole Bockenfeld, director of advocacy for the Project on Middle East
Democracy (POMED), told The Cable on Friday that the new sale will be
perceived by both the government of Bahrain and those in the
opposition as a green light for the government to continue its
repression.

"In the broader picture of the Arab Spring, this further erodes the
credibility of U.S. rhetoric about democracy and human rights in the
region," he said. "Rewarding regimes that repress peaceful dissent
with arms sales simply does not square with the administration's
rhetoric. The administration can no longer afford to endorse the
status quo in Bahrain."

Maryam al-Khawaja, the head of the foreign relations office at the
Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told The Cable on Friday that the
sale of U.S. arms to the Bahraini regime sends the wrong message to
the people of Bahrain, and the region in general.

"This message of ‘business as usual' will only strengthen the regime's
belief that there will continue to be lack of consequences to their
human rights violations internationally," she said. "At a time when
the United States is already being criticized for practicing double
standards when it comes to the so-called Arab spring, to the
protesters in Bahrain, the U.S. selling any arms to the government of
Bahrain is exactly like Russia selling arms to Syria. Bahrain has
become the United States' test on how serious they are about standing
against human rights violations, and they are failing miserably."

UPDATE: Late Friday evening, the State Department sent out a lenghty
statement on the arms sales:

We are maintaining a pause on most security assistance for Bahrain
pending further progress on reform.

During the last two weeks, representatives from the State Department
and Department of Defense briefed appropriate Congressional staff on
our intention to release some previously notified equipment needed for
Bahrain's external defense and support of Fifth Fleet operations.
This includes spare parts and maintenance of equipment.  None of these
items can be used against protestors.

This isn't a new sale nor are we using a legal loophole.  The items
that we briefed to Congress were notified and cleared by the Hill
previously or are not large enough to require Congressional
notification.  In fact, we've gone above and beyond what is legally or
customarily required by consulting with Congressional staff on items
that do not require Congressional notification.

We have and will continue to use our security assistance to reinforce
reforms in Bahrain.  We have seen some important initial steps from
the Bahraini government in implementing the Bahrain Independent
Commission of Inquiry's (BICI) recommendations, but more needs to be
done.  We urge the government of Bahrain to take action on the full
range of recommendations that we believe will help lay the foundation
for longer-term reform and reconciliation.

We will continue to consult extensively with Congress on this policy.
--
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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