Bahraini security guard shot
30 Mar, 2007 
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In the early hours of this morning in Al-Bustan hotel in Manama a scuffle broke out between drunks, purportedly American, and hotel security guards. It is reported that one of the servicemen drew his pistol and shot the Bahraini night-shift guard Abbas Ali Salman Al-Shakhoori in the head.
Al-Shakhoori has been taken to Salmaniya Medical Centre where he has been declared brain-dead. He is said to be in a very critical condition and his doctors do not expect him to live beyond today. His family, friends and people from the village are now at Salmaniya hospital by his side and the situation is very tense.
I hope a full investigation is launched and the person responsible for the death of Al-Shakhoori – regardless of nationality or position – is apprehended and handed justice.
I hope too that this situation is handled calmly by the people and the government so that it doesn’t get politicised and blown out of proportion.
I wish to extend my deep condolences to the family and friends of Al-Shakhoori. May he rest in peace.
Like Bones said HE IS NOT DEAD!
Everyone is praying for him . Stop pointing fingers and jumping to conclusions.YES HE WAS SHOT AND THERE WERE BULLETS IN HIS HEAD ACCORDING TO THE MEDICAL REPORTS stated in an English paper.
http://www.bahraintribune.com/
looks like it’s not only Abbas that is brain-dead…
Steve, I’m not going to bother with you any more. You’re singly and your ilk are doing a lot more damage to the United States than bin Laden could every hope for. So carry on.
But be warned that I shall not allow you to hijack any topic on this blog to do your deed.
First of April always brings such friendly fire.
I have not really read all the comments, but the few i have, i just wanted to say that we should not be caught up in all this. We all see now that when a man/woman in the states or europe does something wrong, it the ISLAM that gets to be put on trial more than the crime itself. So in other words lets not judge and put “americans” on trial as well.
It is a terrible thing that happened, and whatever has happened it really needs to be looked into and the real culprits caught and dealt with no matter who or from where.
I hope this does not turn out to be another debacle, but knowing Bahrain, it maybe.
My prayers and thoughts are with him and his family, may allah swt get them thru this.
The state of Montana is working on a gun bill now. http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0693.htm Best I can say about it is that its a dumb ass bill.
Woops I posted the 2005 bill heres the link to the 2007 bill
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0693.htm
Mahmood: “Steve, I’m not going to bother with you any more. You’re singly and your ilk are doing a lot more damage to the United States than bin Laden could every hope for. So carry on. But be warned that I shall not allow you to hijack any topic on this blog to do your deed.
Well, we disagree that allowing slander against America to go unanswered would do more damage than rebutting it, but, Mahmood, it’s your blog. You can always kick me off whenever you want.
When your free speech offended the powers that be in Bahrain, they shut you down. If my speech is too free for your taste, you can always shut me down. After all, why should you be any different from them? Why should you put up with any dissent from your position or have your posts questioned? Why should you give up absolute control over the opinions expressed in your domain just to indulge this Western free speech fad?
Wouldn’t it be better to suppress all disagreement to achieve conformity of thought and unanimity of position? It would certainly make you more popular among your readers who must otherwise suffer my opinions which conflict with the conventional wisdom of Bahrain. My unpopularity with vast swaths of your readership is absolute proof that I am wrong, right? Off with my head, I say! Smash this rebellion in your backyard now before it spreads.
Free and unfettered speech is a messy and disagreeable thing, full of aggravation and conflict. Who needs it? People who agree with you may not be your friends and people who disagree with you may not be your enemies. It’s confusing. Mahmood’s Den may not be ready for it, nor Bahrain, nor the Middle East, nor the umma.
Sandy: “Everyone is praying for him . Stop pointing fingers and jumping to conclusions.YES HE WAS SHOT AND THERE WERE BULLETS IN HIS HEAD ACCORDING TO THE MEDICAL REPORTS stated in an English paper.”
If this poor guy was shot in the head and survived, he was probably shot with a handgun, not a rifle. You are unlikely to survive a rifle shot to the head because usually the larger charge propelling it gives the bullet greater kinetic energy which transfers to the target it impacts, resulting in greater damage. Catastrophic damage. Rifle bullets generally travel in excess of the speed of sound, which is why rifles crack, while handgun bullets are subsonic, which is why handguns pop. Handgun bullets are likely to embed themselves in the body, while rifle bullets generally pass through a body, leaving through and through wounds, ie a small entry wound and a large exit wound.
For example, Robert Kennedy was shot in the head with a handgun at close range and took 26 hours to die. John F. Kennedy was shot in the head with a rifle from a distance and died immediately from a catastrophic wound.
I am surprised that an assailant can hit somebody in the head from middle distance with a handgun. Certainly, if the guard saw somebody aiming a gun at him, he would move, making it difficult for anybody but a prime shot to hit him in the head. This leads me to believe that the guard was shot from ambush, unaware that he was under attack, and therefore standing still.
This was an amateurish crime, poorly executed by a criminal who lacked the nerve to directly confront his victim.
Hi Mahmood,
Its been a while. I have been EXTREMELY busy the past 2 months, and could not post here, although its becoming less crazy on my side so Ill have some more free time.
I just wanted to point out something quickly, regarding Steve’s post, when he said:
Do not believe this Mahmood, because Steve doesnt realize that there is a difference between your Den which is private property, and Bahrain, which is a country. Meaning, should someone decide that they do not want a village idiot parading down their living rooms, they may rightfully kick them out, without losing any sleep over whether or not they violated some tenent of freespeech.
Freespeech is a code that is a must for governments to follow. It is a code that states that a government cannot take action against someone whom they do not agree with. It is not however, a statement that damns citizens to sit down in their homes and allow Confederates with a bullhorn to spread propaganda while sitting on your couch. Thats not what free speech is. You understand it I am sure. Steve the Confederate does not as evidenced.
——————–
Anyway, moving on to more cheerfull topics, good job so far on the Den! Believe me when I say that I went through Den withdrawal symptoms when I was busy and tied down, but with more time on my hands, ill be satisfying my addiction more.
Later
-Ibn
You whine too much.
Free speech isn’t about someone asking you to be quiet when you are being a loud-mouthed over-defensive super-sensitive person who diverts the attention from the actual issue at hand. Free speech isn’t about someone deleting spammish comments that have no relevance whatsoever to the subject in question. Do you yell in someone’s ear after they express no interest in listening to you and then insist on yelling by claiming that it’s free speech? No, unless you’re painfully irritating.
You crossed the line by disturbing what could be a very important and useful discussion here. Anyone should shut you up, and rightly so, if they find you being overwhelmingly annoying in a blog they own. It’s their blog, their rules, take it or leave it. Your lecture does not apply here. If you dislike the opinions expressed here so much, go be “the American” elsewhere, there are plenty of decent Americans here who actually follow the rules and react decently in an intelligent and considerate manner even if they fully disagree. Unfortunately, you are not one of them.
If you were the only American here I would probably have a very bad impression of Americans in the blogosphere, to be quite frank.
You will most likely reply further but I’m sure the rest of the commenters will take Mahmood’s lead in giving up on you. Don’t blame us, weird nationalists are hard to deal with.
leonidas ..
lol!
who is owning who my friend? if the farsis are going to own little old bahrain, then they sure as hell will go for the bigger prize .. qatar and the east coast of saudi. all 10+ million barrles of oil a day. as an american, my dear leonidss, i would urge you not to play the game of biting your nose to spite your face.
ibn .. we missed you ….
http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/
Warning: This site contains an excess of free speech!
billT,
You got way to much time on your hands.
Aren’t we getting a little bit off topic?
Who in Bahrain has access to firearms? Police and military. Who else could get hold of a gun and silencer? Lets face it, silencers are not usually standard issue to military or police. This leads me to believe that such a gun was smuggled into the country by someone with a lot of clout.
Who does that suggest? Someone important, or well connected at the very least.
Why has the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry pledged to pick up the tab?
Does this sound just a little bit of a massive cover up? No, I’m not being paranoid.
Envision this;
Bored rich kid tries to ‘persuade’ pretty young lady to go with him, have drink, whatever. Girl refuses, kid tries again . . . repeatedly. Security guard notices and intervenes. Kid gets mightily pissed off and stomps off to his car in high dudgeon. Gets pistol and silencer out of car, and returns to club. If he is high enough up the ladder, the other security guards may not search him. As far as I have noticed, EVERYONE gets patted down and have the ‘wand’ waved over them. Who could have the influence to get round that ?
Kid finds security guard and pops him, then leaves.
This is just my take on it. No facts to go by, just supposition. I would love to be proven wrong, backed by relevant facts of course.
Does this leave many more questions than answers? Where were the security tapes? Who would have seen what happened? Have they been questioned? Why has the ministry got involved? What are they not telling us?
While I generally dislike conspiracy theories, I feel that we are not being told everything, and while I admit that the GDN can be biased, for two days they have published that the assailant was a Bahraini. If it was any other nationality, they would have written differently, don’t you think?
Just my 2p worth.
Steve the American:
I thought you might get on on a soap box again and immediately go on the defensive, rather than stop and think a little about what I wrote. Let me further help you grasp the meaning – once again: your method employed in the defence of the United States of America is very damaging to the spirit and the concept of that great nation.
It is that that the likes of bin Laden could never do, but one which your ilk excel at.
That said I don’t think that any conversation with you is enriching, hence, no matter how much you flap your gums, I don’t think that I shall have anything to do with you.
You can find the door yourself.
Ibn, welcome back! I hope your absence was beneficial to you.
I:
I was very surprised too. As far as I can gather, there are no relations between Al-Shakhoori and the minister, so this is quite a perplexing turn of events. It could either be a genuine attempt at doing good (from public funds which have not been earmarked for such eventualities, while the Minister of Health’s obviously is) or a call for attention.
I understand that the owners of BJ’s (7 Entertainment) according to the GDN declared that they will bear any costs of medical treatment. That I can understand, a company taking care of its employees which they should be applauded for.
Now I see in the papers this morning that His Majesty has ordered full treatment at his expense.
What does that tell me? Well [1] it is not necessarily an admission of guilt, but [2] a genuine regard to Abbas’ life, [3] a chance to shine at tense times or any other factor.
The thing I would respectfully suggest – and I am fully prepared to stand corrected on the medical assumptions – Abbas is clinically dead. May he rest in peace. What he leaves behind are very much alive and are worthy of help, support and affection: his young wife who is probably pregnant who is now left a very young widow with probably a forthcoming child both of whom need attention and support.
Therefore, I would suggest that Abbas is left where he is, moving him is an extremely dangerous and life threatening operation. I would propose that the various donors divert their attention to his wife and family who lost their source of love and income, they should create a fund to help his wife and family and ensure that should she actually be pregnant, then the child is cared and provided for.
Abbas used to work in two jobs to make a living. There is nothing wrong with that. Let us look at the reason why he has had to do so and treat the cause rather than just the symptoms: according to the excellent Manama Republic he could not finish his high-school education due to him being imprisoned during the troublesome 90s and when he did get out of jail, the Ministry of Education refused to allow him to complete his education; thus, he was limited in his job prospects.
There probably are a lot more like him who have been affected by the effects of the 80s and 90s and creating a reconciliation platform in which truths are sought and apologies offered as part of the reparation of damage done to countless lives is probably the legacy that Abbas would have liked to be the catalyst of and one he would be proud to leave behind.
I’m prepared to offer any help his good wife might need in any capacity I can. I hope that both she and Bahrain get out of this trial stronger and more determined to tackle these issues rationally.
Manhood ,
Your coverage was great I really respect you a lot for it and wish gad give you the wisdom and power to continues in the same direction .
One thing take my attention was the speed of the fifth fleet input to your website which seriously surprise me . What this man doing in our blogs ? why he is there ? It seems they read all our stories to tell you the truth I never expect that .
So we are monitored by both our governments and Americans luckily
Gad help us
Don’t show me the pictures
The Liberators in the North,
Like stats and “proof” of worth,
But just last week and henceforth,
The numbers shocked the earth.
One million souls have travelled on,
A million minds no more,
One million reasons, now bygone,
A million to ignore.
There’ll be some sober reason,
Some common sense and logic,
This is the culling season,
An apt and fitting topic.
One million children of the light,
A million problems solved,
One million journey through the night,
A million lives annulled.
They bastardize the ‘freedom’ word,
A pass through points of law,
Objections ring at the U.N.
As Co-lin sets his jaw.
One million faces disappear,
A million sand niggars choked,
One million fractured by the fear,
A million lovers smoked.
I can’t decide if I should speak,
I’m not sure what to say,
I know that as my horrors peak,
I wish it far away.
One million hearts torn clean apart,
Two million eyes plucked out,
One million names upon the chart
A million more to rout.
Do it for the honour lads!
Stand by your way of life,
Round ‘em! You chase the cads!
The flag? That’s for your wife.
One million Arabs blown away,
A million boys and girls,
One million headlines to downplay
A million priceless pearls.
The fabric of this holy land,
Ignored for want of want,
Can never rise up from the sand,
Without sustained detante.
One million tears of pain have spilt,
A million more will follow,
One million tonnes of Western guilt,
A million words so hollow.
P.T.
This is just the beginning. Only the beginning. And, we will do more damage to each other than others will do to us …
Mahmood: “I thought you might get on on a soap box again and immediately go on the defensive, rather than stop and think a little about what I wrote. Let me further help you grasp the meaning – once again: your method employed in the defence of the United States of America is very damaging to the spirit and the concept of that great nation.”
We disagree there. I see it a different way. Mahmood, you’re basically a liberal, pro-western Arab Muslim, which is a fine thing. While you are more congenial to differing cultures than most in the Middle East and willing to be fair-minded with respect to the US, you are stilll a captive to your culture and its prejudice against America. You were a little too credulous of reports that America was to blame. The Blame America First reflex response to any stimulus has a foothold in your mind. I’m just asking for some fairness.
Mahmood: “It is that that the likes of bin Laden could never do, but one which your ilk excel at.”
Mahmood, you have caught Malik’s Syndrome, where anybody who disagrees with you is JUST LIKE BIN LADEN! Must we start the Bin Laden drinking game anew? However, unlike Bin Laden, I can assure you that I have yet to harm a fly, let alone draw blood on a fellow human. When they gave us live rabbits to eat in Air Force survival school, I could not bear to behead the bunny. My ilk has a long, long descent to make befoe we match the depths to which Bin Laden and his ilk have sunk.
Mahmood: “That said I don’t think that any conversation with you is enriching, hence, no matter how much you flap your gums, I don’t think that I shall have anything to do with you. You can find the door yourself.”
I prefer to be thrown out. A fatwa prohibiting my speech here would be even better. If you refuse to engage disagreement, you must do the work, not I. I am too lazy to self-defenestrate.
P.T.,
That was a rich poem which certainly gives me an insight into the rage and sadness you feel about the tragedy of the current war in Iraq and all the innocent lives lost there.
May I see the one you wrote about life under Saddam?
I: “Envision this; Bored rich kid tries to ‘persuade’ pretty young lady to go with him, have drink, whatever. Girl refuses, kid tries again . . . repeatedly. Security guard notices and intervenes. Kid gets mightily pissed off and stomps off to his car in high dudgeon. Gets pistol and silencer out of car, and returns to club. If he is high enough up the ladder, the other security guards may not search him. As far as I have noticed, EVERYONE gets patted down and have the ‘wand’ waved over them. Who could have the influence to get round that ? Kid finds security guard and pops him, then leaves.”
This scenario makes a lot of sense because this is a Dumb Young Kid With Too Much Testosterone crime. However, the silencer seems out of place. It is a rare shooting that includes a silencer. If this shooting took place inside, a silencer is going to make the gun harder to hide and get inside. Also, a silencer is not going to silence a handgun in an enclosed place. It’s still going to be loud. Was the gun found with a silencer on it? This silencer business just seems a little too melodramatic to me. Is it in fact, true, or has this story been improved upon for drama’s sake?
No, not “too lazy” but one that has no shame nor honour – speaking from your hated Arab perspective, that is.
Good riddance then.
Feel sorry for the Abbas the poor guy got killed and nobody yet knows who shot him???? why was he shot LAISH the poor man is hard working citizen and yet he just gets shot in the head and no one moves. a BAHRAINI was shot what part don’t we understand a brother. a producing member of this country he used to work two jobs so he can provide for his family and it passes like a normal day ???
to all my bahraini brothers and sisters, being a bahraini means alot of things the most important part is that we are not just citizens of a great country but it means that all of us are brothers and sisters one family no sunni no shia no more this sect crap, we are workers of this country as i write this letter you should know i’m crying although i don’t know abbas i never met him but he is a brother to me BCAUSE HE IS BAHRAINI, what makes me sad that i’m not in the country i wish i took the bullet instead of him at least i would end up dead and not see this day that a bahraini gets shot and nobody moves we should be ashamed that the killer is not yet cought SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME.
Oh stop the melodrama for God’s sake!
The authorities are treating the case very seriously and are working on it rather diligently. So wipe your tears, they’re not the thing that Abbas mostly need at this particular moment, nor does his family.
This is another thing they should think of. Why they refused to allow him to complete his education? and what was his crime exactly? Is spending one or two years in jail not enough? Why he should pay for the rest of his life for something that he did when he was 17 or 19? and even if he was older than that doesn’t he deserve to be given another chance?
Steve the American – I’d also like to point out that the US military always defers to local authority in those cases where military members commit crimes. In other words, if you commit a crime in Elbonistan, you are going to be tried in Elbonistan by Elbonistani laws and, if convicted, serve time in an Elbonistani prison. The US military is not going to intervene, except to ensure that you have adequate legal representation. The idea that an American service member who commits a felony in a foreign land will be flown home to be tried for that in America is utterly clueless of actual practice.
This is not actually true in many cases. An example is the Marines who are on trial for the rape of an 14 year old Iraqi girl and murder of her family. The 1 who is now a civilian is being tried in Kentucky not Iraq where the crime was committed.
Dr. Haitham Salman, in response to a question, provided this valuable insight based on the clinical report:
- patient was in full cardiac arrest on arrival to the Emergency room.
- return of heart beat was after 20 min of CPR
- The primary injury to the brain alone can result in loss of brain functions, and loss of circulation to the brain for more than 5 minutes can result in severe brain damage. Now add both together and the 20 min loss of circulation is an underestimation here as the timing is from the time he came to emergency room. SO, he has loss of circulation for more than 20 min.
- The GCS (Glscow coma score) of 3/15 is the lowest score possible and it indicates worst prognosis
- absence of brain stem reflexes indicates loss of the basic and most essential brain functions and loss of brain stem function is essentially brain death.
- brain death is a clinical diagnosis which means there is no need for sophisticated studes like EEG to confirm it
So… how are the police doing apprehending the culprit? Do they need a ruler to help them… ?