Activist Emphasizes Necessity of Dismantling US Military Bases in Bahrain
In an article, Baqir Darwish, president of the Bahrain Human Rights Association, said that, among other things, a foreign military presence in Bahrain is not compatible with the concept of full sovereignty.
The article is as follows:
The Bahraini Ministry of Interior’s actions in prosecuting critics of the US and Israeli military presence in the country cannot close the file on an issue that is no longer taboo; issues that the government never imagined would be raised by local, Arab and Islamic public opinion simultaneously, but times have changed.
Among these demands are the following: Is a foreign military presence compatible with the concept of full sovereignty? What is its impact on national identity? Does the citizen have the right to question this foreign presence? Can a country hosting a superpower base make independent foreign decisions? Given the changing wars, what is the impact of this presence on Bahrain? Has this not become a responsibility that requires a review of the shape of security relations in the region? Is the real security of any country achieved by relying on foreign military bases or by strengthening national sovereignty? What can we learn from the experiences of countries that have ended foreign military presence on their territories?
There are many questions, but we should not ignore the first problem of legal reality, even if (US President Donald) Trump has violated the UN Charter. Despite security agreements between the two sides, this does not mean that there is a popular obligation for an independent military commitment. Formal agreements do not necessarily mean political legitimacy. Popular legitimacy has a clear path, either through a fully-fledged elected parliament or through a popular referendum.
Certainly, the US Fifth Fleet was not established on the basis of these mechanisms in a country suffering from successive crises, where the doors of political prisons are still open to anyone who criticizes the government’s policies. In general, the discussion of legal reality requires expert opinion, but this is the main reason that answers the title of the article as well as the provocative campaigns; national sovereignty is indivisible and the political dignity of the people is inseparable from control over their territories.
Here we are faced with a government that shares your security decision and even imposes it on you by force in this criminal war against Iran. Who knows what rank the American military official who directs the interior minister or the commander-in-chief of the Bahraini defense forces holds? Haven’t we seen Trump humiliate and mock his allies on live TV?
The question is: Does the security room in the Bahraini Interior Ministry have an answer for the benefit of continuing the US military presence, especially after the countless damages that have been inflicted on the country as a result of using Bahraini soil to attack a neighboring Muslim country? Of course, Trump will demand financial compensation for the damages caused by the US military base from the Bahraini budget, a budget that is waiting for an opportunity to increase taxes and continue the economic failure as a result of unwise policies, including insane military spending to intensify the internal security siege.
The US military presence in Bahrain was first established during World War II, using British facilities, and military cooperation continued after Bahrain’s independence, becoming the permanent headquarters of the Fifth Fleet since 1995, thus becoming one of the most prominent instruments of US military influence in the region.
However, this presence has undergone political and military transformations since the 1940s, and the 1991 war with Iraq has had an impact on the transformation of this military presence in the region, meaning that it is a presence that can be assessed. This is inseparable from the approach of the United States since World War II to establish hundreds of military bases and use them to support its combat operations and project its military power in order to deter enemies and protect its national interests and strategic and security objectives.
A report published by the Congressional Research Service in July 2024 shows that the United States military has or uses more than 128 military bases in 51 countries around the world. This war of aggression, launched by the United States and the Israeli occupation regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran, should be an opportunity to end the US military presence in our region, especially since this presence serves colonial projects, the division of the region, and the Greater Israel project.
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In 1992, after mounting protests and public pressure on the political elite, the Philippine parliament was forced to reject the extension of the agreement and close the US military base, even though the Philippines is an ally of the US government and has moved towards negotiated sovereignty.
Furthermore, the experience of reducing the presence to varying degrees in several countries, including Spain, Ecuador and Uzbekistan, has been varied after crises stemming from such a presence. Bahrain, in particular, and the Persian Gulf region in general, is no exception; it is time for these bases to leave our region.
Source: 4342849
