# The Emir of Bahrain's verdict

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Emir of Bahrain's verdict," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-emir-of-bahrains-verdict/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The judgement John Kiriakou says the Emir of Bahrain delivered to him at his beach house, that George H. W. Bush was the last American president to give the Arabs a fair shake, and Kiriakou's reasons for agreeing with it.*

- **Setting:** The Emir's beach house
- **The verdict:** George H. W. Bush was the last US president to give the Arabs a fair shake
- **Kiriakou's evidence:** Bush cut off loan guarantees to Israel over settlements

Kiriakou served in Bahrain in the mid-1990s and has described the posting as among the happiest periods of his life. One conversation from it he has carried forward as a summary judgement on American policy in the region.

## The remark

"The Emir of Bahrain once said to me, we were sitting at his beach house, and he said George H. W. Bush was the last American president that gave the Arabs a fair shake." [1]

Kiriakou endorses it without qualification. "I think that's true. I think that the Arabs have not had an American president treat them with equality and equanimity since George H. W. Bush." [2]

## The evidence

The specific act Kiriakou cites as the basis for the verdict is financial: Bush "cut off loan guarantees to Israel because they wouldn't stop building settlements." Every president since, in his account, "has kowtowed to the Israelis." [2]

His own position on the settlements goes further than the Bush precedent. "The settlements not just have to stop, they have to go. They have to be destroyed," he says, on the model of the Israeli settlements in Sinai, which were destroyed when Sinai was returned to Egypt. [2]

The verdict sits against Kiriakou's description of the West Bank as it now stands, which he compares to Bosnia: "these little islands of Jewish settlers completely surrounded by historically Palestinian land." That, he says, "is absolutely unacceptable." [3]

## See also

- [Bahrain Posting (1994–1996)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bahrain-1994-1996-posting)
- [The Rashid family](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-rashid-family)

## Sources

1. JAILED for Exposing CIA Secrets: John Kiriakou (2025-07-21), at 37:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q5cbp6C4CU&t=2273s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-21-capital-and-coast-jailed-for-exposing-cia-secrets-john-kiriakou/
2. JAILED for Exposing CIA Secrets: John Kiriakou (2025-07-21), at 38:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q5cbp6C4CU&t=2303s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-21-capital-and-coast-jailed-for-exposing-cia-secrets-john-kiriakou/
3. JAILED for Exposing CIA Secrets: John Kiriakou (2025-07-21), at 37:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q5cbp6C4CU&t=2242s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-21-capital-and-coast-jailed-for-exposing-cia-secrets-john-kiriakou/

---

From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-emir-of-bahrains-verdict/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt