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Where the west is welcome
By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN, Times Senior Correspondent
© St. Petersburg Times
Big American cargo planes rumbling overhead. A U.S. congressional delegation on a quick visit to the Al-Udeid air base. And on the Internet, satellite photos showing the dramatic change in the base over the past six months -- a new 13,000-foot runway and storage for tanks, warplanes and ammunition. "You see C-5s landing and taking off at all hours of the day," said Dr. Ali Nama, an urban planner at Qatar University. "People are beginning to ask questions." The activity betrays what may be the worst-kept secret in the Middle East: Qatar will be a prime staging area if the United States invades nearby Iraq. But while everyone knows something is up, the official silence has been deafening. "Here a Western country is talking about attacking an Islamic country, and the government can't afford to go on record supporting that," said P.P. Bala Chandran, managing editor of the Peninsula, a Doha-based daily. The Bush administration is also playing it coy, hinting one day that a strike against Iraq is all but inevitable and insisting another that there has been no firm decision to oust Saddam Hussein by force. Critics say an invasion could take a heavy toll in lives, with no guarantee the current Iraqi regime would be replaced by anything better. Among the many U.S. allies publicly opposed to a strike is Saudi Arabia, where several thousand American soldiers are stationed at an air base near Riyadh. Rising anti-Western sentiment in the kingdom since the 1991 Persian Gulf War has been among the factors prompting the U.S. military to shift more and more resources in other gulf nations. Here in Qatar, the United States has found a warmer welcome. About the size of Connecticut, with just 700,000 people, Qatar is among the most pro-Western of Arab countries. And compared to neighboring Saudi Arabia, it's a downright liberal place.
The Saudis' conservative culture requires women to shroud themselves in black and shuns anything that smacks of sex. But at Qatar's huge new City Center mall, female clerks in skin-tight jeans waited on customers one day this week while the lyrics "I want to have sex on the beach" blared in the background. Unlike its neighbor, Qatar allows the consumption of liquor, permits movie theaters and live entertainment and lets men and women mingle freely in public. Not surprisingly, Saudis flock here in substantial numbers on weekends, helping fill the luxury hotels that overlook Doha's spectacular corniche, the broad esplanade that runs for miles along the gulf. Qatar recently held its first municipal elections, in which women were allowed to vote and run for office, and has drafted a constitution that creates an elected parliament. And although it lacks diplomatic relations with Israel, Qatar is among the friendliest Arab nations when it comes to the Jewish state. The foreign ministers of the two countries recently met, and Israel maintains a low-profile trade office in Doha. Like other gulf countries, Qatar is rich in resources, boasting the world's largest field of natural gas. But much of the progress is due to its 50-year-old emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. Since he deposed his father in 1995, the emir has set his country on a course of pro-Western modernization. His most noticed -- and controversial -- move was starting Al-Jazeera, the feisty satellite television channel that revolutionized Arab media by daring to air criticism of Arab leaders and policies. In the six years since its inception, Al-Jazeera has managed to anger every Arab nation as well as the United States, which blasted it for showing tapes of Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Qatari government has also pushed higher education, stressing practical majors like banking and petrochemicals instead of the Islamic courses that leave students at many Arab universities ill-prepared for the job market.
Qatar University, whose student body is almost 75 percent female, just started an engineering program for women. All of the university's courses in engineering, science and business are taught exclusively in English. "The labor market is always complaining that they have difficulty hiring graduates because they don't speak English," said Dr. Saif Alsowaidi, vice president for administrative affairs. Two U.S. universities have also established satellites here -- Virginia Commonwealth offers degrees in fashion, graphic and interior design, and Cornell will enroll its first class of premed students this fall. While many Qataris are still traditional in outlook, "I think most of the changes being provoked by the government will be good for society," Alsowaidi said. "In the last three or four years things have changed -- I wouldn't say drastically, but noticeably -- especially opening more opportunities for women as well as strengthening the industrial infrastructure." Construction is everywhere in Doha, adding to an already-striking collection of high-rises. Among them is the imposing headquarters of the Qatar Olympic Committee, which bemused the sporting world by recruiting eight Bulgarian weight-lifters to become Qatari citizens and represent the country in the 2000 Olympics. (One Bulgarian, who changed his name from Angel Popov to Said Saif Asaad, took the bronze medal.) In 2004, Doha will host the Asian Games. And last fall, it was the site of a major conference of the World Trade Organization. "This is all part of the reluctant bride coming out onto the balcony and being seen," said the Peninsula's Bala Chandran. "Qatar is getting ambitious and close to center stage." A pragmatic ruler, Sheik Hamad wants to maintain close ties to the United States as a way of ensuring that his tiny country remains safe and prosperous in a highly volatile part of the world, observers say. Well before talk of invading Iraq turned serious, Qatar and America had a defense cooperation agreement that allowed the placement of U.S. troops and equipment at Al-Udeid airfield, the Doha airport and an army base. Although the exact figure remains secret, there are thought to be a few thousand U.S. forces currently in the country. "U.S.-Qatari cooperation in the military predates Sept. 11, and there have been plans and discussions under way for cooperative projects," said a Western official. "To say this was being done only to get rid of Saddam Hussein is not accurate. "I don't mean to suggest that nothing here has to do with Iraq -- that would be disingenuous -- but a lot was going on anyway."
Despite their government's cooperation with the United States, many Qataris are unhappy with America's Mideast policies, which they consider pro-Israel and anti-Muslim. And they are not pleased about what is widely assumed to be a military buildup. "Nobody wants to invade Iraq, especially if it starts from Qatar," said Dr. Ahmed Kareem Al-Mulla, who directs a stop-smoking clinic in Doha. "Saddam has weapons but he's not going to use them against Arabs and I don't think he's going to use them against Israel." But thus far there has been only one small, peaceful protest against U.S. policy, unlike the massive demonstration in neighboring Bahrain in April that injured more than 70. Nor has there been much grumbling about Qatar's ruling family, which remains popular and firmly in control. Qataris are generally contented, enjoying free education and health care, and generous subsidies for housing and utilities. "The average Qatari's bread and butter is more than taken care of and he's an affluent citizen by Third World and even First World standards," said Bala Chandran. "If they talk politics, it doesn't go beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." For the time being, Qataris simply watch the C-5s and keep their public criticism and speculation to a minimum. And in the absence of any official word, the local media say virtually nothing about a Qatari role in any strike against Iraq. When will the silence be broken? Bala Chandran gestures toward Doha's international airport, located just behind the newspaper office. "If there is an invasion and F-16s start flying off from there, that's when." -- Susan Taylor Martin can be contacted at susan@sptimes.com
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
DOHA, Qatar -- You'd have to have your head in the sand not to notice some unusual activity in this little desert nation:
