“Officially, the U.S. does not pay other governments for rights to military bases. The logic is straightforward: funneling money to the treasuries of foreign dictators cannot form the foundation of genuine strategic alliances. Yet, to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while staring down the mullahs in Iran, over the last decade the Pentagon has come to rely in an unprecedented way on a web of bases across the Middle East. And a NEWSWEEK investigation of Pentagon contracting practices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Bahrain has uncovered more than $14 billion paid mostly in sole-source contracts to companies controlled by ruling families across the Persian Gulf.

[…] Look at the kingdom of Bahrain, where Arab Spring protests have raged this past month. It’s also home to the 60-acre headquarters of the U.S.’s Fifth Fleet. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa rules the country, and as it happens, Bahrain is also host to the regional headquarters for the [Defense Logistics Agency’s] energy operations—the office that buys all fuel for the U.S. military in the first place. Every year Bahrain’s national oil company routinely wins a chunk of a huge Pentagon contract, called WestPac, to provide fuel to U.S. military operations in the western Pacific. Bahrain’s national fuel company has achieved a rare status: the kingdom, which has a population of barely more than 1 million people, has became one of the American military’s chief fuel suppliers, taking in billions. The DLA points out that Bahrain’s fuel sales are not a sole-source contract like the ones in Abu Dhabi. Instead, the Pentagon says, Bahrain always wins because its bid is low; it offers vast quantities of fuel; and it has few, if any, competitors among the ‘traditional suppliers’ in the region. David Kirsh, a director at the oil—consulting firm PFC Energy, says, ‘The Bahrain Petroleum Co. probably would not be winning these contracts if not for the base.’ The official at the DLA says the agency does its best to provide fuel at low cost to U.S. forces around the world.” - Aram Roston

Welfare for Dictators: A NEWSWEEK investigation reveals how Pentagon billions are flowing to strongmen in the Middle East

[Above: The tarmac at the Al Dhafra military base in the United Arab Emirates.]

Welfare for Dictators:

“[A] NEWSWEEK investigation of Pentagon contracting practices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Bahrain has uncovered more than $14 billion paid mostly in sole-source contracts to companies controlled by ruling families across the Persian Gulf. The revelation raises a fundamental question: are U.S. taxpayer dollars enriching the ruling potentates of friendly regimes just as the youthful protesters and the Arab Spring have brought a new push for democracy across the region?”

Okay, this kind of bothers me.

Queen Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa

Sheikha Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa is the Queen and the first wife of the King of Bahrain, Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa. She is head of the Supreme Council for Women in Bahrain and has largely encouraged the expansion of women’s politicial rights in Bahrain. She was influential in encouraging women to vote in the 2001 elections. In June 2005 she hosted the first ladies of the Arab world in Bahrain for the second meeting of the Higher Council of Arab Women Organization.