Resumen de Prensa

28/04/2006

Bahrain trabaja con EEUU en la lucha conta el blanqueo de capitales y la financiación del terrorismo (PalmBeachDailyNews.com)

The Middle Eastern Gulf state of Bahrain works closely with the United States on such major issues as money laundering, anti-terrorism and military assistance, Bahrain's ambassador to the United States said Wednesday.

An anti-terrorism law in the works in the country will criminalize terrorist financing and provide a legal avenue for action, Nasser M. Al Belooshi said.

"We are against terrorism," he said. "At the end of the day, what we're doing is good and what the terrorists are doing is evil."

Al Belooshi spoke to more than 50 members and guests of the American Jewish Committee at The Colony. AJC honorary board members Nancy and Mark Gilbert hosted the cocktail reception.

Al Belooshi, who resides in Washington, D.C., came to the United States in 2003 to coordinate and expedite the signing of the U.S./Bahrain free-trade agreement. The agreement was signed in 2004 and ratified last year. He was appointed ambassador in 2005.

Al Belooshi also discussed the history of Jewish residents in Bahrain.

In the early 1900s, many Jewish immigrants from Iraq, Iran and India settled in Bahrain. When Israel was formed in 1948, most of the Jews left Bahrain.

Today there are 70 to 100 Jews living in Bahrain, but that number is on the rise, Al Belooshi said.

Bahrain has always been inclusive of all religions — Jewish, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Baha'is and Sikhs — whose adherents live side-by-side and are productive members of society, he said.

Al Belooshi made frequent mention of Bahrain's longtime friendship with the United States. An island nation nestled midway between Saudi Arabia and the peninsular nation of Qatar in the Persian Gulf, Bahrain is the home port for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

He said the Gulf States "feel very unsafe because of the nuclear ambitions of Iran," which Bahrain opposes.

"We need to see a more united front against this," he said. "America has always been a country that has helped. I hope (the U.S.) will help and push for peace in that region."

"Bahrain is the only Gulf State that has given Jews land for a synagogue and there has been a well-maintained synagogue for 100 years," he said. "Bahrain also was the only country to have offered American missionaries in 1888 land on which to build a church. The synagogue and the church still exist as emblems of Bahrain's tolerance of all religions."

Al Belooshi was asked if Bahraini officials are afraid that radical groups may target his country because of its alliance with the United States.

Twenty-five thousand Americans and their dependents from the Fifth Fleet live in Bahrain and a half-million Americans pass through the country each year, he said.

"We are an island and islands can protect themselves in a better way," he said. "Yes, we are afraid, but our responsibility is bigger than other countries. Just imagine an American killed in Bahrain. It would be a disastrous situation. That's why we have to be careful not once, not twice, but 100 times. That's why we have a very strong intelligence relationship with the U.S. and Great Britain."

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