Sheik Isa, Pro-American Emir of Bahrain, Dies at 65

Emir Isa ibn Salman Khalifa, a staunch American ally who during a 37-year reign transformed his sparsely populated kingdom of fishermen and pearl divers into a modern financial hub for the Persian Gulf, died of a heart attack Saturday minutes after a meeting with the U.S. Defense secretary.

Coming soon after the death of Jordan’s King Hussein, the passing of 65-year-old Sheik Isa was the second of one of the region’s old-guard monarchs in just over a month--underlining that power is being handed over to a new Arab generation.

A traditionalist who led his country to independence from Britain but was distrustful of democracy, Isa was immediately succeeded by his eldest son, Crown Prince Hamed ibn Isa Khalifa, 49, who took his oath as ruler during an emergency Cabinet meeting convened a few hours before his father’s funeral.

“I am assuming the rule of Bahrain, relying on God, exerting all the efforts possible to serve our country and our people,” Hamed said in a statement released by the official Gulf News Agency.

A spokesman for the late emir said the heart seizure came without warning just minutes after he had said goodbye to U.S. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen. He died almost instantly.

Cohen, who was in Bahrain on the first leg of an eight-day Mideast tour to promote support for the U.S. policy toward Iraq, learned of the death at a luncheon with the Bahraini defense minister. He immediately returned to the palace to offer condolences before proceeding as planned to Saudi Arabia.

“I could tell even this morning as I was talking with him that there was something that wasn’t quite right,” Cohen recounted to reporters accompanying him, according to the news service Agence France-Presse. “He had a very warm and generous spirit, a light in his eyes, that was not there today.”

As preferred by his Islamic faith, Isa was buried on the day he died.

Women in black wailed outside the cemetery where the emir’s remains, wrapped in a simple blue cloth, were interred. Thousands of people, including high-ranking government officials and relatives from the extended royal family, attended the hourlong ceremony.

Authorities announced a three-month mourning period, and Bahrain’s television and radio broadcasts were given over to solemn readings of Koranic verses.

In some neighborhoods, people came out of their houses to weep and exchange embraces with their neighbors.

The diminutive emir, who would mingle with his people during walks along Bahrain’s beaches, at weddings and at regular public audiences, had not been ill.

Yet he did have a history of heart problems and had undergone angioplasty surgery last year in the United States, according to news services.

Although Isa was Bahrain’s only king since independence from Britain in 1971, grief-stricken officials said there will be no disruption of government policies after his death because, in the words of one, “we are a country of institutions. We are a country of systems.”

Nevertheless, said the official, who asked to not be identified, it will take the country a long time to recover from its grief.

“It’s a big shock for all of us,” the official said. “They used to call him the father for every Bahraini. He was a symbol of kindness and the symbol of modern Bahrain.”

Eulogies for the emir poured out of Arabian capitals Saturday.

Sheik Zayed ibn Sultan al Nuhayyan, ruler of the United Arab Emirates, said Arabs have “lost a dear brother and a wise leader.”

Oman’s Sultan Kaboos ibn Said praised Isa as someone “known for his noble stands and his wise policies.”

Among the first to arrive in Manama to offer support and condolences after the death was Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who assumed the Jordanian throne after King Hussein’s death from cancer Feb. 7. A host of other Arab dignitaries and leaders were expected to formally meet Hamed today.

Isa became emir in 1961 upon the death of his father, Sulman. At that time, Bahrain was a British protectorate.

Over the years, he aligned himself closely with Saudi Arabia and the United States, becoming a reliable U.S. military ally in Washington’s struggles against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The U.S. 5th Fleet has its land base in Manama.

An experienced army commander, Hamed appears well prepared to assume his father’s leadership mantle. Appointed crown prince and heir apparent while still a teenager in 1964, Hamed has spent more than two-thirds of his life being groomed for the role.

Soon after graduating from Sandhurst Military Academy in Britain, Hamed took command of Bahrain’s national guard, which later became the army.

During the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, in which Bahrain joined the U.S.-led coalition to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, Hamed worked closely with American officers. In recent years, Hamed has been increasingly involved in the day-to-day running of the country’s affairs.

He speaks English well and is a qualified helicopter pilot.

Bahrain, a small but strategic country, has a population of about 600,000. It is made up of one large island linked to Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province by a 13-mile causeway and several smaller ones.

Bahrain grew wealthy when oil prices skyrocketed in the 1970s. Yet, in comparison to its Gulf neighbors, it has the least reserves of oil. To cope with this deficiency and guard against the day when the oil finally runs out, Isa sought to diversify Bahrain’s economy by turning the nation into a regional banking and trading center.

The country also built up its tourist industry, catering mainly to visitors from Saudi Arabia lured by the freer night life in a country where alcohol is sold legally.

With its high-rise office buildings, five-star hotels, quaint fishing boats, excellent highways and a seaside corniche lined with flower gardens and palm trees, the Bahraini capital gives off the look of a contented and prosperous state.

However, Bahrain also has its pockets of poverty and dissent. Some among the Shiite Muslim majority have accused Isa’s government of committing torture and other human rights abuses in order to keep the Shiites second-class citizens compared to the dominant Sunnis.