27/01/2012
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
I have long had time for Damon Hill, he has struck me as being not only intelligent (all top drivers are) but also grounded and you cannot say that of all of them.
I was delighted when Damon landed a gig with Sky even though I have no intention of fixing a dustbin lid to my home. What disturbed me was that the very next day Damon rushed to tell us that Bahrain had reformed and it was now okay to race there.
Clearly, Damon is at one with Bernie in not noticing what has been happening. He also has not latched on to the Iranian problem.
Let me spell it out. There is deep trouble between the Shia and Sunni elements of Islam, just as there is between the Catholic and Protestant elements of Christianity.
All priesthood is about power and authority, it always has been. Priests of whatever style always manage to persuade their followers that they possess some magic answer to life's glitches. When Zeus was all the rage, the top job, if you lacked the talent to do anything else, was being his High Priest. The priesthood has always been a pathway to power. Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish priests are as fake as those of Zeus.
Actually, under Zeus we got philosophy, democracy of a sort, drama, comedy, epic poetry, medicine, architecture, pottery, sculpture, everything that makes life worthwhile. Under the god of Jews, Christians and Muslims (a middle-grade Caananite thunder god with good PR) we have had bugger all except hatred and division.
Most of Iran is Shia. Iran is set on a nuclear weapons programme, or so some countries think, which is why there are warships in the Gulf of Hormuz. There are two countries where most of the population is Shia and the ruling minority is Sunni. One is Iraq and the other is Bahrain.
Iraq has been pushed to the rear of the news agenda, but the death toll continues to be horrendous and it is all down to religion. You tell some moron, of which there is no shortage, that he will enjoy 72 virgins in paradise (speaking only for myself, I'd prefer sexually experienced women) and once you have convinced said moron, you have a powerful weapon which can be targeted closer than a smart bomb.
Iraq claimed Kuwait and the West went to war when Iraq invaded. Iran claims Bahrain as a province. The two situations are not the same: Kuwait is oil rich, Bahrain has used most of its oil, but has invested its revenue. What interests Iran is religion and Iran is run by priests.
The thing about priests is that they are always right. They alone possess the magic pill which is the answer to every ill. It is not a coincidence that every fascist regime has sprung from a Catholic country. The Catholic church persecuted heretics, people guilty of thought-crime. Some Islamic clerics are the same. Religious fanatics are all cast from one mould.
There are Islamic countries where it is a capital offence to dare to differ. A while back it was a capital offence in England to be atheist, but we have grown up.
After Damon visited Bahrain, in the company of Jean Todt. a school was the subject of an arson attack. Every country has arson attacks on schools, I have felt like doing it myself, especially when I was a teacher, but this was the 24th attack on a school in five months.
According to Damon, this is normality.
On 27th January, CNN reports that the Bahrain Center for Human Rights claims that four anti-government protesters were killed the previous day, though the Health Ministry insists that one of them, Mohammed Ibrahim Yacoub, died from natural causes.
Damon is the latest in a long line of people who have believed a host nation. On 24th January, 25 Molotov cocktails were thrown in Bahrain. My source is the Gulf Daily News, it is not an underground publication, it is the local newspaper.
Then there is the matter of iron bars being hurled and demonstrations being banned. Damon must surely know about these things. If he doesn't know, then the best thing that he can do is to shut up.
Damon, you travelled to Bahrain with Jean Todt. You got the red carpet treatment and you really should have noticed that you got the special tour. If you really wanted to know what is going on, you could have booked a private visit. Hotels in Bahrain now operate at bargain rates because nobody wants to go there.
You have given a mealy-mouthed account of Bahrain and did not notice that the American Embassy has moved all of its people out of the capital because it is considered too dangerous for them. The USA is an ally of Bahrain, its navy has a major base there.
Every embassy maintains an intelligence service and America reckons that embassy personnel should not remain in the capital. My guess is that, since America maintains a strategically important base in the kingdom, its spooks are not thin on the ground. Sorry, Damon, but your assertion of normality looks pretty weak against that fact.
Consider what it means to move staff and their families from a capital city to the sticks. It is no small operation and it only occurs at a time of crisis, especially when a friendly country is involved. The political cost of moving the staff of an embassy to safety is huge, but Damon has had his freebie and he reckons that Bahrain is safe.
Sorry to disagree, Damon, but the American State Department does not consider Bahrain to be safe. You do, as the result of a brief visit when the red carpet was rolled out. I don't wish to labour the point, but you spoke out for Bahrain the day after it was announced that you had landed a gig with Sky. Let me see, who owns Sky? It would not be, by any chance, that cuddly Rupert Murdoch?
There have been changes in Bahrain, that is true. They are not, however, reforms. What has happened is that the ruling power has set right some of the crimes it perpetrated. That is not reform, that is a PR exercise.
Some employees of the Grand Prix circuit have got their jobs back. They were sacked because they were Shia. Jean Todt has now visited Bahrain, but he did not raise his voice when motor racing people were deprived of their livelihoods on the grounds of religion.
What I don't get about Todt is that most of his ancestors were murdered on the grounds of religion. You would have thought that he might have paid attention.
Then there is the case of medical professionals being handed prison sentences for treating the victims of brutal repression. Some of those doctors and nurses had been volunteers at the Grand Prix.
Jean Todt said nothing in public about these people. He has now enjoyed a freebie so he can speak candidly, in favour of an oppressive regime.
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After your visit, Damon, there was an explosion in a block of flats in central Manama (above). The official reason is that a gas boiler exploded, but some in the region believe that it was bomb making gone wrong.
They believe this because the apartment block in question is not connected to a gas supply and no other apartments in the building were evacuated. No chance then of a nonexistent boiler being to blame.
The Bahraini security forces were on the case. Had it been a gas explosion, which it could not have been, there being no gas supplied to the building, it would have been a job for the local fire service.
If my gas boiler has a problem, MI5 is not involved.
The opposition in Bahrain has said that it will protest against the running of a Grand Prix. That is a given and it is daft to ignore the threat. It is not just a local protest, Shia Muslims everywhere are interested and the largest Shia population is in Iran.
That is why Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain. It was actually an invasion, but the Bahrainis put it out that it was 'assistance' - after the event. The Saudis invaded because like everyone else in the region, they fear Iran.
Iran is known to sponsor state terrorism. I can think of many ways to wreck the Bahrain GP through terrorist acts, the sort of thing that could be prepared in your kitchen. When you have a sophisticated nation involved, the possibilities go off the chart.
The Bahrain GP must not happen and the reason is Iran. There is a reason why the EU has announced sanctions. There is a reason why heavy-duty warships are in the Gulf of Hormuz. There is a reason why Mossad is assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, or not, as the case may be.
Iran's religious leader, who is also a Holocaust denier. has said that Israel has no right to exist and that is not funny given Iran's programme of missiles and weapons.
Whatever the rights or wrongs about Israel, it does exist. It is a vibrant nation and a democracy. Islam cannot get its collective mind around democracy because the idea undermines the dominance of the priesthood.
Israel exists because of America, which underwrites its existence. Israel prospers because it has American backing. Israel is the 51st State and any threat to Israel is a threat to America.
A Grand Prix in Bahrain boils down to Iran versus the USA.
A Grand Prix in Bahrain is a terrorist's wet dream come true. Bahrain employs security consultants, mainly former members of Special Forces, but it does not have the resources to police a major event. London is employing 22,500 security staff for the Olympic Games. Bahrain cannot muster that many.
Jean Todt and Damon Hill have been treated to a freebie and are now experts about a problem which is taxing some of the finest minds in the West. I wish that life was that simple.
Do us all a favour, Damon, buckle down and do your new job and leave politics to the experts By 'experts' I mean people like those on the ground who have advised staff at the American Embassy to relocate.
You negotiated with Bernie and secured the future of the British GP, provided that you can pay the bills. This does not mean that you can speak outside your level of competence.
I know why some hacks talk up Bahrain, they are the people who get the special deals. Damon, you got a special deal to fly out there, you were cosseted. I have had my share of freebies, I know how the system works.
Forget Bahrain, there is not going to be a race this year.
Mike Lawrence
mike.lawrence@pitpass.com
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