Clinton to Bahraini King: be careful dawg!

As Bahraini security forces crack down brutally on protesters, wounding dozens and killing at least four, including a little girl, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the King's foreign minister to urge him (presumably to urge the King, who would then urge his army and police) to use restraint.

Nicholas Kristof:

As a reporter, you sometimes become numbed to sadness. But it is just plain heartbreaking to be in modern, moderate Bahrain today and watch as a critical American ally uses tanks, troops, guns and clubs to crush a peaceful democracy movement and then lie about it.

This kind of brutal repression is normally confined to remote and backward nations, but this is Bahrain! An international banking center. An important American naval base, home of the Fifth Fleet. A wealthy and well-educated nation with a large middle class and cosmopolitan values.

To be here and see corpses of protesters with gunshot wounds, to hear an eyewitness account of an execution of a handcuffed protester, to interview paramedics who say they were beaten for trying to treat the injured – yes, all that just breaks my heart.

If this happened in Iran, the US would issue swift condemnation and call for more sanctions.