The Hill: Bahrain hearing ignores failures of US policy

Op-ed by Brian Dooley.

On Tuesday, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held its first hearings on Bahrain since the large scale pro-democracy protests there in early 2011. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has yet to do so. The House Middle East/North Africa (MENA) subcommittee called only one witness, Barbara Leaf, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Arabian Peninsula.

Most of the hearing’s questions were focused on Yemen, and to those hoping to receive clarity on how the United States is going to press for a transition to democracy in Bahrain, the hearing proved a disappointment.