Keeping the King Well-Armed

With the U.S. 5th Fleet stationed in Bahrain and the U.S. being the Persian Gulf state's leading arms supplier it's no wonder the State Department believes a supportive relationship between the two is "vital [to] uphold the Iraq sanctions regime and to ensure the containment of Iran."

In order to "modernize and increase the capabilities of the Bahraini defense forces," the State Department says, the Clinton administration has approved over $467 million in contracts and sales to Bahrain, including 14 helicopters, 60 Patton battle tanks, and 190 TOW antitank missiles.

U.S. arms sales in the Clinton years Direct government sales Government-approved sales (scale in millions of dollars)

But the Bahraini government wants more, including the tightly held AIM-120 AMRAAM missile that so many would-be military powers lust after. And who wouldn't want a missile that uses its own radar to hit targets that are literally out of the pilot's sight? Bahrain previously wasn't a good candidate to get any AMRAAMs, since U.S. policy prohibits the missiles being sold until any other arms exporter sells its advanced missile to one of Bahrain's potential opponents.

And this is precisely what's happening now. France, one of four countries that makes a missile similar to the AMRAAM, sold some to Qatar. Potentially the opening shot in an arms race, this move suddenly makes it okay for Bahrain (and the United Arab Emirates) to take delivery on AMRAAMS after the year 2000.

While the Bahraini government and the U.S. secure their military and sales relationships, the Bahraini people are deeply divided. The ruling monarchy, comprised of Sunni Muslims, keeps a tight rein on the two-thirds majority Shi'a Muslim population. In fact, Sunnis are favored in all areas, including employment and education, an imbalance which occasional Shi'a uprisings. The government responds with waves of arrests, including 600 in 1996. The State Department's annual human-rights report for 1997 stated that "security forces ... held over 1,300 people in detention for security-related offenses" under the State Security Act, which allows individuals suspected of antigovernment activities to be arrested.

-- Suzie Larsen

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