Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): The president's deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes said that Camp David meeting with leaders from the six GCC countries was "unique" and came in a "pivotal moment in the country". Its goal was not to just have some photos, but to set up a game plan for security cooperation.

Rhodes responded to one of the journalist's questions regarding "the absence in particular of the Saudi King and Bahrain's King, which has gotten a lot of attention. And does it at least remove some of the prestige of what this gathering was supposed to be?"

Rhodes added in the press conference organized by the White House at "Camp David" summit headquarters on Thursday, May 14, 2015, "You're going to see out of these very clear assurances from the United States about the nature of our security commitments to the GCC; very concrete pathways laid out in terms of developing GCC capabilities. In that context, we have here very senior delegations from each country and also the people responsible for all of the different security portfolios in these countries. With respect to Saudi Arabia, having the Crown Prince and the Deputy Crown Prince who are the individuals who have taken the lead on these strategies for Saudi Arabia in terms of security, defense, intelligence, is absolutely the appropriate representation."

"And on Bahrain, this morning in the session, the Crown Prince spoke at some length. He clearly has a critical role and voice within not just Bahrain but the GCC generally," he added.

Another journalist asked about the human rights issues, "You said that the issue was raised, but has it ever gone beyond that? Has it ever gone to the point of suggesting to them that certain things, certain weapons programs, et cetera, might be tied to improving and increasing democratic forms or rights for women, et cetera?"

Rhodes answered, "We have not -- to be I think as specific as I can, we have not leveraged our security cooperation to try to force a change in terms of the political systems inside of these countries. When there have been situations that concerned us, we've been willing to look at limiting or pausing the provision of certain assistance."

"For instance, in Bahrain, when we had concerns about human rights violations in the context of the protests that took place in 2011-2012, we put a hold on the provision of some of our security assistance that we believe would have potentially been utilized in those activities. So we have sent a clear message to include withholding certain types of assistance when we see actions that we object to," he continued.

He further stated, "But I think, again, applying that type of pressure, frankly, generally in these relationships, it's not clear to us that that would lead these countries to embrace different political systems. They clearly have a different view of how to organize their society."

What we have said, repeatedly, is there are issues that we care deeply about that we'll continue to discuss. Whether that's freedom to assemble, whether that's the rights of women and minorities inside of countries, we speak up for those things everywhere and we'll continue to do so.

The president's deputy national security Advisor Ben Rhodes said at the end, "What we have said, repeatedly, is there are issues that we care deeply about that we'll continue to discuss. Whether that's freedom to assemble, whether that's the rights of women and minorities inside of countries, we speak up for those things everywhere and we'll continue to do so."

The Arabic Issue