Thousands of protesters poured into a main square in Bahrain's capital Tuesday in an Egypt-style rebellion that sharply escalated pressure on authorities as the Arab push for change gripped the Gulf for the first time.
Security forces have battled demonstrators over two days, leading to the deaths of two protesters. In a clear sign of concern over the widening crisis, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa made a rare national TV address, offering condolences for the deaths, pledging an investigation into the killings, and promising to push ahead with reforms, which include loosening state controls on the media and Internet.
Bahrain is too vulnerable to an Iranian takeover to watch protests by people presumably sincere in wanting freedoms from a minority Sunni autocracy without feeling that it is in our national interests for this proto-revolt to fail.
Once again, wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to worry about Iran exploiting a crisis to hurt us and the Bahraini people in the process despite the hopes of the protesters?
Let's stop racing about putting out fires. Let's take down the arsonist.
