Attack of the Five Monarchies An Alliance of Dictators and Despots
by <
http://original.antiwar.com/author/rannie-amiri/> Rannie Amiri,
October 01, 2014
It is the irony of ironies. A cadre of repressive monarchies is chosen to
liberate the captive peoples of Iraq and Syria from the tyranny of ISIS.
Combating a group known for its violent sectarianism, the five Arab allies
ordered by the United States to participate in the bombing campaign against
ISIS are themselves the region's worst sectarian agitators. Jordan, Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are now at the vanguard of
efforts to dismantle an organization that is essentially of their own
creation.
After the downfall of Saddam Hussein, it was King Abdullah II of Jordan who
raised the sectarian specter, warning of the emergence of a "
<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Crescent#mediaviewer/File:Schiitischer_Ha
lbmond.jpg> Shiite crescent" in the Middle East, sending panic throughout
the monarchies of the Gulf and beyond. It was a rallying cry; a call to arms
which heralded operations to destabilize Iraq, and in less than ten years
time, Syria.
Bahrain has been a true standout in its brutal crackdown against
pro-democracy activists and reformers who hope to see the unchecked powers
of the al-Khalifa royal family restrained. For its part, the regime has
hidden nothing. Their brazen oppression is very much out in the open for its
Western allies to witness: torture, show trials, arbitrary detentions,
revocation of citizenship, deportations and media blackouts. All are daily
occurrences and come in the backdrop of longstanding socioeconomic and
political disenfranchisement. Two of the country's most prominent human
rights defenders are Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, the (imprisoned) co-founder of
the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Nabeel Rajab, its current president.
Rajab succinctly contextualizes Bahrain's political crisis:
"The ruling family is Sunni. The ruling family is repressive. It's true that
the majority of protesters are Shia, because the majority of the population
is Shia, but we are not against the family's religion - we are against their
policies, attitude and behavior. The ruling family tries to present it as a
Shia-Sunni issue, but we are not against the Sunni people.
I come from a mixed family and our revolt is against the ruling family that
wants to keep all the power. We are struggling to share this power. Seventy
percent of our government is from one family, we have had the same prime
minister for more than 40 years. This system can't continue. It is time for
democracy, justice and human rights. We are a civilized, educated nation.
But unfortunately we happen to be ruled by a
<
http://www.dw.de/unfortunately-we-are-ruled-by-a-tribe/a-17758922> tribe."
Saudi Arabia and Qatar must be mentioned in tandem. The two rival families -
al-Saud and al-Thani respectively - have long vied for power and influence
in the Middle East. Initially it was through the dueling television stations
Al Arabiya and Al-Jazeera. It has since become far more sinister: by funding
competing, armed extremist groups. Qatar has effectively abandoned the
Muslim Brotherhood as its proxy of choice, opting instead for the de facto
al-Qaeda stand-in, Jabhat al-Nusra or the Nusra Front, one of the main
"opposition" factions operating in Syria. Its main competitor of course is
ISIS, the brainchild of Saudi Arabia. Patrick Cockburn, writing in The
Independent, nicely details how Saudi Arabia was complicit in helping ISIS
take over northern
<
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/iraq-crisis-how-saudi-arabia-he
lped-isis-take-over-the-north-of-the-country-9602312.html> Iraq. Other
journalists have drawn similar <
http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/21537>
conclusions.
ISIS is a takfiri group branding anyone not conforming to their regressive
ideology as worthy of execution, particularly Shia Muslims, Alawites,
Christians and Yazidis. Members of ISIS' own (purported) sect - Sunni
Muslims - are given a reprieve of sorts but have equally suffered under
their rule. In Saudi Arabia, the official Wahabi creed is only one step
removed from the takfiri worldview. It comes as no surprise to learn that
its Shia citizens are the victims of pervasive, institutionalized
discrimination. Some clerics in the Kingdom have even gone so far as to
brand them non-Muslims (which opens up a whole set of permissive practices),
a view likewise held by ISIS.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has worked in concert with Saudi Arabia in
opposing certain political parties, namely the Muslim Brotherhood. Along
with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the UAE was the only other country to
officially recognize Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Notorious for cracking
down on all forms of dissent, the UAE also has a habit of deporting Lebanese
Shia
<
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/02/uae-deports-lebanese-expa
triates.html> expatriates from the country, presuming a connection to
Hezbollah based on sect alone.
"America is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf
of our common security," Obama said. "The strength of this coalition makes
it clear to the world that this isn't America's fight alone. Above all, the
people and governments of the Middle East are rejecting
<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/23/obama-hails-arab-allies-isis-s
yrian-air-strikes> ISIL ."
Obama naively equates the Arab people with their governments. The people of
the Middle East reject not only ISIS, but these five monarchies and all
their machinations and schemes as well. Including them in any coalition to
fight the very sectarian, destructive monster they directly or indirectly
helped create is yet another reason why the military campaign against ISIS
is destined for failure.
Rannie Amiri is an independent commentator on Middle East affairs.
Received on Fri Oct 03 2014 - 17:37:33 EDT