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(Qatar again) A Whole Little 'Uncle Ahmed' Country (fwd)



Here is one far leftish interpretation of what has been going on in Qatar
- the substance of the article is fair enough, but was there a cover up
about a coup in Qatar?

*****************************
Clement M. Henry
Professor of Government
University of Texas at Austin
Austin TX 78712
tel 471-5121, fax 471-1061

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 16:32:07 -0400
From: Mid-East Realities <MERL@middleeast.org>
To: MER <MER@middleeast.org>
Subject: A Whole Little 'Uncle Ahmed' Country

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MID-EAST REALITIES - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 24 October: It's a whole little 'Uncle Ahmed' Country. And for those who don't quite understand, today in Washington the largest African relief organization, Africares, is honoring the black singer Harry Belafonte who just last week lashed out at Secretary of State Colin Powell for being an 'Uncle Tom' and acting like a Black slave for his White masters. Get it?
Rumor has it that there was an attempted coup in little Qatar last week - one the American CIA and Pentagon probably put down on behalf of the 'enlightened emir', Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani; and one the corporate media conspired to cover up. No serious mention of such developments in fact in this New York Times report; nor any direct references to 'Uncles Ahmed and Tom' either... Rather, in the sanization ways so excelled at by the New York Times, it's all about 'stability', 'modernization', and 'democracy' rather than about oil, corruption, arms, political prostitution, and imperialistic Empire.
Oh yes, for those who don't yet know, under threat of starting a whole new international newspaper on its own, the New York Times has just forced The Washington Post to end its joint-ownership of the now Paris-based International Herald Tribune. The NYTimes -- homebase for Bill Safire and Thomas Friedman -- has in mind for itself a larger business/propaganda role in world affairs on behalf of those it serves so well; chief among them those affiliated with the Israeli-Jewish lobby, American corporations, and various government-connected institutions, including of course the infamous New York Council on Foreign Relations.



A Tiny Gulf Kingdom Bets Its Stability on Support for U.S.
By Craig S. Smith

New York Times October 24, 2002
DOHA, Qatar — From the road, the possible nerve center for any American-led offensive against Iraq presents a barely visible profile of buff-colored bunkers, their sloped sides hugging the ground like barnacles and blending into the dunescape of this utterly flat land.

It is called Al Udeid Air Base and its use to direct an Iraqi invasion would signal a subtle shift in the array of strategic alliances that give the United States an overwhelming military presence in the region.

United States relations with Saudi Arabia have cooled since the Sept. 11 attacks and the kingdom has said it may not allow America to stage an invasion from its soil. In the face of that uncertainty, Qatar is an increasingly attractive alternative.

"We are pumping out billions of dollars to develop our relations with the United States," said Hassan Saleh al-Ansari, director of the Gulf Studies Center at the University of Qatar, who, like many people here, believes that having the American military in Qatar ensures the security the small country needs to reach its ambitious goals.

If there is an American attack on Iraq, Gen. Tommy R. Franks, head of the United States Central Command, may yet decide to direct it from Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base, as Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf did during the gulf war.

But this tiny, forward-looking emirate is an increasingly attractive alternative, from a host of different angles. One of those is horizontally, from the ground: the base lies deep in the desert of this thumb-shaped peninsula that juts from the Arabian mainland into the Persian Gulf. Anything approaching the base from any side sticks out on the sandy flats like a peanut on a pool table.

More important is Qatar's progressive leadership, its small population and its moderate strain of Wahhabi Islam. Together, those attributes form a friendlier and more manageable environment for the United States' military than now exists in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia.

Thanks to an enlightened emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who took over from his father in a bloodless palace coup seven years ago, Qatar is now one of the most liberal, democratic countries in the traditionally tribal-ruled neighborhood.

The country has already held municipal elections, in which women both voted and ran for office (though none of them won). It has drafted a Constitution that provides for an elected Parliament. It has even broken ranks with its Arab neighbors by establishing ties with Israel.

Alcohol is available, and many women walk in public without head scarves. The government not only encourages a free press, it also sponsors the satellite television station Al Jazeera, a flagship of free speech so uncontrolled that even the United States wants it toned down.

All of that is unsettling for Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam's holiest shrines and the long-established patriarch of the Arabian peninsula. Last month, the Saudis recalled their ambassador to Qatar, ostensibly for a slight made against the royal family by a guest on Al Jazeera.

"They don't understand why the emir wants to rock the boat," said a Qatari official waving a Cuban cigar in the living room of his Doha home.

Relations between the two countries have long been strained, beginning with a border dispute in which a Qatari soldier was killed a decade ago. Many people here also suspect that the Saudis supported a 1996 attempted coup to restore the emir's father to power.

As a sort of insurance policy against the hostility of his neighbors, the emir years ago began building a billion-dollar air base on a scale clearly too large for his own small air force. That was a tacit invitation to the United States, and it did not take long before America was at his door.

Qatar's pro-Western atmosphere and the carte blanche offered the American military have proved irresistible to Washington, particularly when compared with Saudi Arabia.

Wahhabism is also the main strain of Islam practiced in Qatar, but the country has a tradition of tolerance established through centuries of contact with seafaring traders in the Persian Gulf.

Today, Qatar (pronounced gutter) is a land of shiny new sport utility vehicles and luxury sedans cruising past brightly lit fast-food restaurants such as Dairy Queen, TCBY, Arby's and Pizza Hut.

Still, the love for things American among average Qataris does not extend to American policies in the region. Ahmed Ali, editor of the Qatar newspaper Al Watan, says skepticism of, if not disgust with, America's motives is widespread. "In 1991, they needed only a few hours to defeat Saddam Hussein when he was at his strongest and now they need all these bases when Iraq is at its weakest?" he asked rhetorically. "Oil is the reason."

At the Starbucks coffee shop beside the indoor ice-skating rink of the Persian Gulf region's biggest mall, tall Qatari men in white, floor-length dishdashas and women in black, floor length abayas glide across the marble floor like living chess pieces. One of them, 32-year-old Hamad Muhammad, said he and his friends are worried about America's proposed Iraqi adventure.

"People are thinking that this is just the start," he said. "First Iraq, next Iran and then Syria, all just to make the region safe for Israel."

Qatar's foreign minister has been repeating that his country opposes unilateral American action in Iraq, even as the United States military moves ahead with plans that would allow it to run the war from here.

"We are working hard to avoid Iraq being attacked," the minister, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, a cousin of the emir, said during an interview last week on Al Jazeera. When asked whether the country would allow the United States to run a war from Qatar, he said, "We might say no to the Americans, and we might say yes."

Few people believe that the answer will be no, despite the popular distrust of American intentions.

The United States already keeps two dozen enormous KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-10A Extenders at the base for in-flight refueling of fighter jets and bombers over Afghanistan. And though the number of American soldiers on the base has fallen by half since the peak of the Afghan campaign, to about 2,200, the base has been expanded over the past six months to accommodate up to 10,000 troops and 120 aircraft.

Qatari officials say the United States has the run of the place.

"We know of some of what's happening there," said the foreign minister, Sheik Hamad, during the televised interview last week. "But I'd be lying to you if I said we are in 100 percent control of the base."

The base's largest bunker is a command and control center from which General Franks will soon direct military exercises and where he may remain to direct a war.

General Franks will arrive with a contingent of 600 officers from Central Command in Tampa in early December for a training exercise in which officers from the Florida headquarters will test coordination between the various commands and bases.

United States officials say Qatar was picked for the regularly scheduled exercise over a year ago. The last one took place in Oman.

But General Franks's decision to bring about a quarter of his Central Command from Florida to Qatar for the exercise marks the first forward deployment of Central Command since the 1991 Persian Gulf war.



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