REUTERS: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday Bahrain was "on the wrong track," but the United States may have little leverage as the Gulf kingdom presses a deadly security crackdown.
The United States has responded cautiously to the turmoil in Bahrain, saying this week it understood why the country's Sunni Muslim rulers called in reinforcements from Saudi Arabia as they face spreading anti-government protests by the country's Shi'ite Muslim majority.
But Clinton's tougher comments, made in TV interviews in Cairo while on a trip to the region, reflected what analysts said was growing U.S. concern that the situation could boil over into a full-blown confrontation between Sunni Gulf Arab states and Shi'ite-ruled Iran.
"We find what's happening in Bahrain alarming. We think that there is no security answer to the aspirations and demands of the demonstrators," Clinton told CBS, urging Bahrain to negotiate a political agreement with demonstrators.
"They're on the wrong track and we think that the wrong track is going to really affect adversely the ability of the Bahraini government to bring about the political reform that everyone says is needed," she told NBC. » | Andrew Quinn | WASHINGTON | Wednesday, March 16, 2011
