US Lawyer in Bahrain Apologizes For His Country:

"'As an American national, I am deeply ashamed of what my government has done,' Mr Stafford Smith said in a letter to the Gulf Daily News.

'It is profoundly hypocritical for us to pretend that we are fighting a war to spread the rule of law to Afghanistan and Iraq and - as our first action - deprive people of the very rights we say we are fighting for.

'Hypocrisy is the yeast that leavens hatred and it is hardly surprising that so many people express their disdain for us.'"