Qatar relishing role of small state with bold policies

DOHA, Qatar -- Qatar has an Israeli trade office, a U.S. military base -- and a satellite television channel that regularly criticizes the United States and refers to Palestinian suicide attacks against Israeli civilians as "martyrdom operations."

It's a tiny country packed with contradictions and eager to assert itself. It's also a place the United States may have to rely on if it wages war on Iraq.

By the time Saudi Arabia hinted this weekend it might let the United States use it as a base for strikes on Iraq, Qatar was already in line. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani said last week that if the United States asked to use a U.S. air base to strike Iraq, "we will consider it carefully."

The element of openness toward the West, and America in particular, is evident on its streets and shopping malls, with youngsters wearing Metallica T-shirts gathering at McDonalds, or searching for the latest Britney Spears CD at one of Doha's new malls.

About 1,000 U.S. military personnel are posted in Qatar, along with many civilian Americans working in the energy sector.

Abdullah, a Qatari who gave only one name, said he opposes U.S. and other foreign military presence in the Persian Gulf, but believes "the main reason they are here is because of Arab disunity and Iraq's adventures in Iran and Kuwait."

Elsewhere in the Gulf, the U.S. presence also is generally accepted. But in Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet has a base, anti-Israel and anti-U.S. protests grew violent earlier this year. Demonstrators' Molotov cocktails set a satellite dish and a sentry box afire inside the U.S. Embassy compound in the Bahraini capital. Bahraini police guarding the embassy fired tear gas and rubber bullets. A protester who was hit in the head by a rubber bullet died two days later.

There have been no such protests in Qatar.

The U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia is one of the grievances fueling the anger of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, the accused terrorist mastermind blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Rising to power

Until a few years ago, Saudi Arabia was the undisputed power in the region, devising foreign policy its smaller neighbors silently followed.

Qatar began to assert itself in the mid-1990s, seeking its own role in the Persian Gulf, Arab and international scene.

Qatar allowed Israel to open a trade office in Doha in 1996 and staff members are believed still working quietly there even though Qatar, under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Iran, officially suspended ties with Israel last year to protest what many Arabs saw as Israel's excessive use of force against Palestinian protesters. Also in 1996, Qatar launched Al-Jazeera, a satellite channel that has angered many Arab governments as well as the United States with its bold, independent editorial policies.

Qatar's stance on Iraq is being closely watched by other Arabs, who call for solidarity with the Iraqi people. An Egyptian newspaper last week ran a front-page story that purportedly was an account of a meeting between Saddam and Sheik Hamad in which Saddam threatened to "wipe Qatar from the earth" for lending bases to the U.S.

A Western diplomat based in the Gulf said in an interview that the scrutiny was unfair.

He said Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal's assertion on Sunday that if the Security Council adopts a resolution authorizing force against Iraq, "everybody is obliged to follow through," proved Qatar's insight all along.

U.S. defense officials have said core staff of the U.S. military command responsible for operations in the Gulf and Central Asia will be shifted from headquarters in Florida to the al-Udeid air base in Qatar in November, suggesting further preparations by the Pentagon for a possible assault on Iraq.

The base, 22 miles south of Doha, is a command center with a 15,000-foot runway and can shelter nearly 100 aircraft.

"Qatar wants an alliance with the United States, the Western world and to be part of the free market economy. It believes in the right of each country to be independent and to determine its own policies," said Qassem Jaafar, an expert on Middle East affairs. "It is a small, rich country that believes it has a lot to lose and everything to gain."