American Investors in Bahrain Advised to Pack Up Business Operations and Leave

American Investors in Bahrain Advised to Pack Up Business Operations and Leave

www.debka.com

The advice came from officers with US Central Command 5th Fleet HQ at Manama, who spoke of security tension, a hint at an approaching war with Iran. Arab sources report the positioning of a Patriot anti-missile battery in Bahrain this week; they say occupancy at emirate hotels has soared past 90% due mostly to the influx of US military personnel. They also report Western media crews normally employed in military coverage are arriving in packs.

(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 4/1/2007 by Gools]

It's debka, which I no longer personally rely on as a non-biased and reliable source, so make of it what you will. They have been responsible for some scoops in the past which means you do have to take notice and they do cite US CentCom as their source (but I can't find a press release on their site).

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are just opposite Iran in the Persian Gulf and Bahrain is an island in the Gulf that could be caught up in the action.

What really caught my eye with this story is the fact that Western media organisations are massing in the region.

If true, this to me is a clear sign that something is about to happen.
.

www.debka.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 4/1/2007 by Gools]

Definitely something going on, I started a thread on Kuwaiti stock plummet,

Do you think these events are tied together?

If this is 100% confirmed, to me this is the most worrisome development to date in this Iranian crisis.

Not good, however it could be a precautionary measure, in the event of.

Who really knows. Sounds like a plan for the worst.

I checked the U.S. Centcom's website and the State Departments website. Neither of those mention anything about this. This story is most likely bunk!

I tried to find out more,
but all that I found is two little blurbs, (stuck in the middle of financial articles), denying the rumor.

Yet, the rumors are out there. Perhaps a Bahrain local news site will have more?

Currency Trading Summary

Rumors also circulated that Washington had advised American citizens situated in Bahrain that it would be wise to leave, yet its importance faded as the Government denied any such reports.

Daily Market Outlook

A U.S. Navy spokesman in the White house denied rumours that U.S. nationals were being asked to leave Bahrain because of the possibility of a conflict with Iran.

[edit on 4/1/07 by makeitso]

The top local news from Bahrain:

You can't link to articles on their site so

www.bahraintribune.com...

Click the local news tab, the top local story right now is:

‘Citizens have not been told to leave Kingdom’
Bonny Mascarenhas
Staff Reporter

The US embassy in Bahrain has denied that it has advised their citizens to leave Bahrain.

Speaking to the Tribune, embassy spokesperson Helen LaFave said, “There has been no announcement by the US embassy which was worded to ask american citizens to leave Bahrain. These are baseless rumours which have sprung out of nowhere.”

Reuters had reported that a senior White House official said on Friday that they had not heard anything about US citizens being advised to leave Bahrain.

More on the source site above, the denials are quite strong.

I think I'm finally done with them once and for all.

Most of their "stories" are filled with "our source this and our sources that" blah blah blah. It looks like they just make stuff up out of nowhere sometimes. Then again if something does happen they can point back and say "see! - we broke that story" when it was only a good guess on their part. I could do that.

Too bad there's no easy way of checking on the rumour of media organisations massing in the region - apparently it's from Debka's "Arab sources".
.

edit: thanks for the legwork people , I was in a hurry when I posted this.

[edit on 4/1/2007 by Gools]