ABU DHABI Ñ Bahraini parliamentarians are calling on the kingdom to
expel the U.S. military amid three straight days of violent anti-American
protests.
The deputies demanded that King Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa sever ties
with the United States
as well as other countries that are participating in the war against Iraq.
Parliament is dominated by the Islamic movement.
On late Monday, an explosion was reported outside Fifth Fleet
headquarters, Middle East Newsline reported. Officials said anti-U.S. protesters detonated a propane gas
tank outside the naval base. Nobody was injured.
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"Our Arab leaderships have been considering these countries as friends
for years and now they are being repaid for their blind trust and unlimited
support," parliamentarian Abdul Nabi Nasser said in a session of the
National
Assembly.
The United States maintains the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in
Manama. Last year, Bahrain was designated as a major non-NATO ally.
Last week, King Hamad received a telephone call from U.S.
President George Bush. The official Bahraini new agency said the two men
discussed the Iraqi war as well as bilateral relations.
Parliamentarians also called for a boycott of the United States. The
proposal included the ban of U.S. journalists from parliamentary sessions.
Some of the deputies called on the kingdom to withdraw Bahraini forces
from Kuwait. Nearly 1,000 Bahraini troops as well as a warship are
participating in a Gulf Cooperation Council military mission to protect
Kuwait from Iraq.
"They are turning brothers into foes," Mohammed Khalid Mohammed, vice
chairman of parliament's Services Commitee, said. "It's not acceptable for
Muslims to kill each other except in self-defense."