Special to WorldTribune.com

Originally published Oct. 3, 2013

[Editors Note: The following report was based in part on a report by the Gulf Daily News in Bahrain which has been disputed by the government of Bahrain and the U.S embassy there. The Gulf Daily news stands by its report. See: Bahrain, U.S. embassy deny reports of statements attributed to Gen. Shelton]

WASHINGTON — The United States was said to have planned to destabilize at least two Arab countries over the last two years.

A former leading U.S. military commander asserted that the administration of President Barack Obama worked to destabilize the regimes of Bahrain and Egypt, Middle East Newsline reported.

[Ret.] Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.

[Ret.] Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the administration’s drive against Bahrain, wracked by a Shi’ite revolt, was led by the intelligence community.

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“America thought Bahrain was an easy prey that will serve as key to the collapse of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] regime and lead to giant oil companies controlling oil in the Gulf,� Shelton said.

In an interview on the U.S. network Fox News, Shelton said the administration plot was foiled by Bahraini King Hamad in 2011. He said Hamad agreed to a Saudi-sponsored decision by the GCC to send thousands of troops to Bahrain to help quell the Shi’ite revolt, attributed to Iran.

Shelton, who met Hamad during his assignment to the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet, based in Manama, said the administration plot harmed relations with both Bahrain as well as neighboring Saudi Arabia. He said Riyad ended any trust in Washington after it was found to have helped the Shi’ites in Bahrain.

The former Joint Chiefs chairman, who served under President Bill
Clinton and President George W. Bush, said Egypt stopped a drive by Obama to
destabilize Egypt in 2013. Shelton said Egyptian Defense Minister Abdul
Fatah Sisi, a former intelligence chief, also detected a U.S. plot to
support the ruling Muslim Brotherhood amid unprecedented unrest. On July 3,
Sisi led a coup that overthrew Egypt’s first Islamist president, Mohammed
Morsi.

“Had Gen. Al Sisi not deposed Morsi, Egypt would have today become
another Syria and its military would have been destroyed,� Shelton said.
Shelton, who did not disclose his sources of information, said Arab
allies of the United States have moved away from Washington. He cited the
new alliance between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
against the Brotherhood.

“I expect calm to be restored in Egypt,� Shelton said. “Gen. Al Sisi has
put an end to the new Middle East project.�