I believe that the Arab Gulf states would have made a mistake had they postponed the dispatch of the Peninsula Shield Force to Bahrain, especially in light of the obstinacy of the opposition, its rejection of all the calls to dialogue, and the absence of any wish in its ranks to cooperate with the government's calls to achieve reform. It is clearly favoring the staging of protests, sabotage and the destruction of properties, and listening to a “resonating” voice coming from Tehran. When Iran saw the troops of the Peninsula Shield Force entering Bahrain - in a courageous Gulf step aiming at deterring its goals and unveiling its anarchist intentions and plans - it became furious to see that it had become exposed. Iran, and the Shiite opposition in Bahrain before it, forgot that the GCC states were not faking when they established the Peninsula Shield Force. They built it as a joint military, security and defensive power with the ability to implement the required tasks, defend the internal security of the Gulf states and deter any foreign attack that might target them. Moreover, what legitimized the entry of the Peninsula Shield Force to Bahrain was the official request of its government, supported by joint defensive and security agreements signed by the GCC countries. It is worth mentioning at this level that the entry of these forces with symbolic numbers does not aim at carrying out a combat mission, but rather at helping a member state in the Council protect its possessions, restore security, calm and stability in the country, and prevent regional states such as Iran from expanding toward the Gulf, infiltrating it on the sectarian level, creating tension pits and generating turmoil which might threaten its states and security system. I do not know since when Iran is concerned about Arab blood and since when it defends the demands of the Arab people, at a time when it is oppressing and killing the Arabs of Ahwaz, insulting the Baluchistan population before the entire world, and has been occupying Arab Emirati islands for over thirty years. In addition, the Revolutionary Guard forces execute dozens of Ahwaz citizens every year, just because they are expressing their views and rejecting the oppressive policies practiced against them, even holding these Ahwaz tribes accountable when they speak their Arabic language. Is Ahmadinejad's government not the one that publicly falsified the last presidential elections and killed those protesting against it, the first of whom being activist Nada Sultan? Is Ahmadinejad's government not the one which used the Basij to shoot at the “green wristbands” youth? And finally, when it got fed up with the steadfastness of the opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, was it not the one that placed them on house arrest while Salar Abnoush, one of the Revolutionary Guard commanders, described the supporters of the opposition as being “cattle” and accused them of collaborating with foreign states? Now, Iran and its supporters from behind it, are trying to teach the Gulf states the principles of democracy and human rights, in order to numb the Gulf populations and turn countries into rubble to achieve its expansionist goals. A while ago, a local report in Iran revealed that half the urban population was living below the poverty line. What characterizes this report is that it was drawn up by three prominent and governmental Iranian researchers, i.e. Mansour Kiani, Khalil Attar and Jila Habibi. It was presented during a recent conference organized by the National Statistics Center under the sponsorship of many ministries, Tehran University and the UN-affiliated Population Fund. The report assured that Iranian economy was suffering numerous problems, namely the fact that the inflation rate has reached around 40% and the unemployment rate 20%. Moreover, the report considered that among the urban population, at least 23.3 million were living below the poverty line, indicating that the percentage of the families living below this line ranged between 44% and 55%. And despite the “bluster” of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and his “gelatinous” speeches, Iran is still trying to export its domestic problems and is still abstaining from mentioning or even recognizing its social and economic troubles. Are the Iranian people, with all their ethnicities and sects, not entitled to a decent living and to seeing Ahmadinejad's government improve their livelihood and health conditions along with the services instead of wasting the wealth on armed militias outside of Iran to increase the tensions with the others and interfere in their affairs? Mistaken are those who believe there are no real patriotic people with legitimate demands for reform among the Bahraini protesters, and that some have nothing to do with Iran and its agendas. However, there are also leaders and an “ideological” fifth column which yelled its name, are benefitting from its financial and moral support, are serving its expansionist goals and believe in Wilayat-e-Faqih. But is it possible for those who want reform to threaten their government with another, to carry pictures of Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs of Iran and cheer a “twelfth” state that is currently toppling the Bahraini government? What is certain is that the governments of the Gulf states know more about the problems of their citizens (both the Sunnis and the Shiites) and are more capable of handling and solving them far away from Iran's interference or using them as a “scarecrow” to fuel the situation instead of fixing it. Moreover, the entry of joint Gulf troops to Bahrain in these sensitive security conditions, delivers a message to the others, saying that the security of the GCC states cannot be tampered with, that the fate of their people is united and that their governments will firmly stand in the face of the attempts to introduce any ideological chauvinism or expansionist wishes fueled by Iran or any other. However, this does not spare the governments from adopting the path leading toward reforms, from discontinuing the stalling at the level of human rights and social justice and from distancing themselves from the accusations that are questioning people's loyalties. Or else, they will face a grim fate and difficult endings.
