US will prove to be no friend of Qatar’s
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger spoke the truth when
he said: “America has no perm
anent friends, only interests.
” The fact that the Trump admi
nistration is prepared to over
look Qatar’s terrorist ties to
gain financial and military b
enefits lends credence to that
wily veteran politician’s adm
ission.
Just seven months ago, followi
ng US President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia,
his very first foreign trip i
n office, he attacked Doha for
being a haven for terrorism a
nd the terrorists’ chief finan
cier. He later boasted that he
had encouraged the Kingdom an
d its allies to distance thems
elves from their former brothe
rly neighbor gone rogue.
It is known that I had my doub
ts about Trump’s character and
fitness for the job of president when he was a candidate, but I hoped he woul
d not renege on his promises like his predecessor
Barack Obama, who cuddled Iran
while disparaging Gulf states
.
Once elected, we believed we h
ad a reliable partner. Trump’s
visit was considered a sign o
f respect for the historic all
iance between Saudi Arabia and
the United States. We were wr
ong. It was nothing but a medi
a photo opportunity without substance, meant to pa
cify the Arab world, which was pushed aside by Obama in t
he aftermath of his nuclear de
al with the devil.
The Saudi-led alliance that in
cludes the UAE, Bahrain and Eg
ypt was prepared to re-embrace
Qatar on condition it agreed
to implement 13 demands. The l
ist included the severance of
Doha’s ties to the Muslim Brot
herhood, Daesh and Hezbollah;
the closure of its propagandis
t media outlets; the curbing o
f diplomatic ties with Iran; a
nd ending Turkey’s military pr
esence on Qatari soil.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin H
amad Al-Thani played the innoc
ent and pretended he was willi
ng to talk about all the issues of contention. Howe
ver, rather than show goodwill
, he has exacerbated the fallo
ut by strengthening his countr
y’s relationship with Tehran a
nd permitting Turkey to deploy
air and naval forces, in addi
tion to ground troops.
Logically one might expect tha
t the US government would frow
n upon the emir’s fraternizati
on with Iran, the world’s bigg
est sponsor of terrorism, and might not be to
o pleased about a burgeoning T
urkish military presence so close to where US Central Command has i
ts forward headquarters — which hosts 11,000 US and coal
ition troops — especially give
n that the relationship betwee
n Washington and Ankara is allegedly rocky.
Emir has sold his brothers down the river and, if he imagines that America will stand beside him once it gets what it wants, he is in for a shock.
Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor
In reality, neither logic nor
principles play any part in th
e shifting sands of Trump’s st
ance, which has dramatically w
armed in favor of Qatar, despite Doha denying clear evidence co
ncerning Iran’s efforts to des
tabilize the region. It is also, according to reports, mu
lling the use of an Iranian is
land to host teams competing in the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Perhaps Qatar’
s sweetener in the form of the
purchase of US fighter jets worth $12bn sealed shortl
y after Trump’s public critici
sms was very persuasive.
To quote Gardiner Harris, writ
ing in The New York Times a fe
w days ago: “With a mix of lob
bying, potential investment an
d pledged support for the Unit
ed States military, Qatar’s ch
arm offensive with the Trump a
dministration appears to have
paid off.” The writer cites Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson’s recent e
ffusive praise of Qatar as “a
strong partner and long-time f
riend,” a sentiment echoed by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Tillerson has always displayed
a pro-Qatar tilt, going so fa
r as to blame Riyadh for the c
ontinuing rift. Most recently
he urged all sides to bring an
end to the dispute, ostensibl
y to counter “the spread of Ir
an’s malign influence.” And no
twithstanding that Tehran is D
oha’s new best friend, he insi
sted that “Qatar has made sign
ificant progress to improve ef
forts to combat terrorism.” It is worth noting that Tiller
son’s relationship with Qatar
stretches back to his Exxon Mo
bil days, when he described Qa
tar as a model for other resou
rce-rich nations.
For a while, Tillerson and Tru
mp were at odds over Qatar, bu
t the Secretary of State’s vie
w has prevailed. Last month, Trump thanked the emir
for his actions “to counter te
rrorism and extremism in all f
orms” without detailing what f
orm those actions had taken.
Qatar has wielded its dollars
like a weapon and that is a la
nguage guaranteed to woo Trump
’s avaricious mind. It has ple
dged massive future investment
s in the US: In 2015, Qatar’s
Sovereign Fund earmarked $45bn
for investment in US infrastr
ucture.
Qatar not only wants to make t
he Al-Udeid airbase a permanen
t fixture, it is also intent on expanding the U
S base to include gated commun
ities for families, entertainm
ent centers and other faciliti
es geared toward the comfort o
f American troops stationed th
ere. How kind of the emir to b
e so concerned about the well-
being of foreign military pers
onnel. Some might call this op
en bribery; if so, the favour is returned.
Under pressure, Qatar has agre
ed to abide by the Open Skies
agreement with the US. Its subsidies to Qatar Air
ways, which American airlines
have complained constitute unf
air competition, will now be d
isclosed.
Besides lobbying US lawmakers
and important think tanks like
the Heritage Foundation, seni
or Qatari officials have also been cosying up to Americ
an Jewish community leaders wi
th invitations to visit Doha.
The Jerusalem Post revealed th
at Rabbi Menachem Genack, who
heads the Orthodox Union’s Kos
her Division, took the bait
and flew to Doha for meetings.
Qatar has hired seven lobbying
firms in the United States in a bid to rebrand its image, incl
uding one owned by an Orthodox
Jew. Seemingly the emir belie
ves that, if he can pull influ
ential American Jews into his
corner, he will win the game.
Israel, which has railed again
st Qatar’s hospitality for the
leadership of Hamas and its c
loseness to Iran, is unimpress
ed. And no wonder, especially when Doha hosts the
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Yusuf Al-Qaradawi in st
yle — a man who has claimed God us
ed Adolf Hitler to wreak the H
olocaust on the Jews as a divi
ne punishment. “Israel’s embas
sy to the United States does n
ot support Qatar’s campaign to
improve its image in the Amer
ican Jewish and pro-Israel com
munity,” an embassy spokespers
on told Haaretz.
Trump may be willing to tango
with Sheikh Tamim at the expen
se of America’s tried and trus
ted friends but on no account
should we be intimidated to fa
ll into line. Qatar’s ruler ha
s sold his brothers down the r
iver and, if he imagines that
America will stand beside him
once it gets what it wants, he
is in for a shock.
• Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor is a prominent UAE businessman and public figure. Twitter: @KhalafAlHabtoor Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view