Blaming Qatar for the Middle East's ISIL Woes is Hypocritical and
Counterproductive
by Caroline Holmund |
November 25, 2014
If one were to believe a recent spate of headlines spanning both sides of
the Atlantic, the small Gulf nation of Qatar is singlehandedly responsible
for the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as well
as the region's general instability. Over the last few weeks, dozens of
articles
<
http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/uae-and-qatar-public-relatio
ns-warfare-155477673> published in rapid succession by The Telegraph have
alleged that Qatari citizens could be responsible for financing Islamic
extremists, including ISIL. A 20-page
<
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/30/the_case_against_qatar_fun
ding_extremists_salafi_syria_uae_jihad_muslim_brotherhood_taliban> Foreign
Policy article written by Elizabeth Dickinson, a former correspondent for
UAE-funded news organization The National, also alleges that Qatar has
"pumped tens of millions of dollars [.] to hard-line Syrian rebels and
extremist Salafists". And Eli Lake, senior national-security correspondent
for The Daily Beast has been
<
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/05/u-s-spies-worry-qatar-will
-magically-lose-track-of-released-taliban.html> active both online and on
television declaring that this small Gulf state is no ally of the United
States.
However, this new crusade reeks at best of Western hypocrisy and at worst of
the shadowy forces of political lobbying.
First, blaming Qatari support of the Syrian opposition for ISIL is ironic
when it is the United States that has
<
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-secretly-backed-syrian-opposition-gr
oups-cables-released-by-wikileaks-show/2011/04/14/AF1p9hwD_story.html>
consistently funneled money and
<
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-begins-weapons-de
livery-to-syrian-rebels/2013/09/11/9fcf2ed8-1b0c-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_stor
y.html> arms to questionable anti-Assad groups. Few know exactly where this
money has ended up. Also, let us not forget that most of the weapons ISIL is
currently using to slaughter civilians, hostages and POWs are
<
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/8/5982501/the-us-is-now-bombing-its-own-military-
equipment-in-iraq> American-made.
Second, there is
<
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/yeariniraq/analysis/fuel.html>
general agreement that, if ISIL was able to so quickly stride into Iraq, it
is first and foremost because of the United States' misguided war against
Saddam Hussein under Presidents Bush II and Obama. Bush's de-Baathification
order, aimed at destroying the system and ideology that had allowed Hussein
to reign over Iraq for so long, is now widely regarded to have hollowed out
the country's infrastructure and military. Crucially, the process drove many
Baathists underground instead of granting them a role in a more democratic,
inclusive system. As political organizer and writer Robert Creamer
<
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/bushcheney-created-condit_b_58
20916.html> states, "It is no accident that two of the top commanders of
today's ISIL are former commanders in the Saddam-era Iraqi military."
De-Baathification exacerbated sectarian tensions, notably between Sunnis and
Shias in Iraq, and Nouri al-Maliki's 8-year tenure as Prime Minister only
succeeded in driving the former towards tacit or direct support of extremist
groups like ISIL.
Both The Telegraph and Eli Lake
<
http://harpers.org/blog/2013/08/anatomy-of-an-al-qaeda-conference-call/>
strongly supported the Iraq war back in the day, but now have the gall to
heap the blame for the de-stabilization on other countries, from Iran to
Qatar. Glenn Greenwald, the legendary Guardian reporter who brought us the
Snowden revelations, unearthed a more troubling possible reason for the
sudden demonization of Qatar in his
<
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/25/uae-qatar-camstoll-group/>
investigation into UAE lobbyists. According to public documents, the United
Arab Emirates, upset at Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, retained
the Washington-based lobbying firm The Camstoll Group in order to set up
meetings with and persuade hawkish pro-Israel reporters to speak critically
of Doha. (Israel is also upset at Qatar over their support of Palestine and
Hamas.)
A self-defeating strategy
Beyond dissecting the possible motivations of the writers that have ganged
up on Qatar, however, it is crucial to mention how counterproductive these
measures are. While criticizing Qatar may allow Israel and the UAE to score
political points in Washington and London, it will not help the West to
build allies in the Middle East. And this is in the interest of everyone who
wants a stable Arab region free from incessant drone attacks and Western
intervention. The more neoconservatives in the U.S. and elsewhere damage
relations between Washington and potential Middle East allies, the more the
U.S. will feel that military intervention is the only possible course of
action.
The truth is that there are many reasons for developing a closer
relationship with Qatar, and the fact that they are culturally distinct from
the West's Judeo-Christian majority should be seen as an asset to building
bridges with much of the world.
Indeed, Qatar has often played the role of mediator in international
affairs, brokering peace agreements between competing factions in
<
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E
4FF96FF9%7D/Lebanon%20S2008392.pdf> southern Lebanon and
<
http://unamid.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=11060> Darfur. How did the
small Gulf State achieve peaceful outcomes between warring groups? Hamad bin
Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, invited all parties to the negotiating
table in Doha to voice their respective concerns and find a compromise, a
much more democratic solution than using the weight of the U.S. Air Force to
bomb "strategic targets". It was also Qatar that managed to
<
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0603/How-Qatar-helped-w
in-Bowe-Bergdahl-s-release> act as a middleman between U.S. officials and
the Taliban in June, securing the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
Moreover, Qatar has often been a key source of humanitarian aid for
countries that the West has neglected either for political reasons or for
lack of understanding. In October, Qatar pledged
<
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2014/10/12/pledged-gaza-strip-after-i
srael-hamas-war/jHhrn6RPGIUZ8KZq5NPjOP/story.html> $1 billion towards
reconstruction efforts in Gaza following the Strip's largely one-sided
conflict with Israel last summer. Doha has also donated $10 million to
Norway's initiative to gather
<
http://www.mofa.gov.qa/en/SiteServices/MediaCenter/News/Pages/News201405220
75742.aspx> relief for South Sudan, and promised $60 million to relieve the
current
<
http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/syria-pledging-conference-who-p
romised-what-4951.html> suffering of Syrian refugees (more than 3 million
refugees have been registered and many more internally displaced).
Qatar is by no means a perfect country in its internal or external affairs.
Could Qatar do more to combat terrorism? Perhaps. But for the West to blame
this small Gulf State for the Middle East's turmoil after two disastrous
wars and a series of poor foreign policy decisions following the Arab Spring
is unwarranted and hypocritical. Worse, the negative media blitz might just
cost them just the ally they need.
Received on Tue Nov 25 2014 - 11:37:40 EST