Qatar in dilemma over U

Qatar in dilemma over U.S. threat to Iraq

Doha |Reuters | Gulf News 15-07-2002

Qatar opposes any attack against Iraq, but fears that a rejection of a possible U.S. request to use its territory as a military launch pad would harm its ties with Washington, officials and diplomats said yesterday.

They said the stated policy of the Gulf Arab peninsula state was not to allow the use of its soil for attacks against any fellow Muslim or Arab country.

But they added that if the United States pushed hard it would be difficult for Qatar to resist since they look to their powerful ally for protection.

"Despite a general aversion to the U.S. Middle East policy which is blatantly pro-Israel and lacks even-handedness, Gulf states look at the U.S. as the ultimate guarantor of their security and stability, and they would not like to alienate their powerful ally," said a senior Arab diplomat.

U.S. President George W. Bush has vowed to use "all tools" to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, accused by Washington of trying to rebuild weapons of mass destruction.

Qatari officials said Doha has not yet received a request from the United States to use its territory. "But if and when it comes, it will be a very critical moment for the leadership to accept or reject the request," said an official.

The United States was the first country that recognised Qatar's Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani when he took power in a white palace coup seven years ago.

"Iraq is a sisterly Arab state with which the people of Qatar share a common history and cultural bonds. There could be a popular backlash if Qatari soil is used by the U.S. for the destruction of Iraq," the official told Reuters.

"But at the same time, the U.S. is an important political, economic and military ally with which Qatar has various bilateral agreements and it would be difficult to jeopardise those agreements," he said.

Diplomats said one of them was a security pact, which includes U.S. access to air and naval bases in Qatar, close to Bahrain, home to the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's fifth fleet.

Qatar also hosts a large U.S. military warehouse where Washington has prepositioned heavy arms and equipment for a full mechanised brigade.

The two countries are expanding Al Udeid airbase, 45 km southwest of Doha, which has a 4,500-metre runway, one of the longest in the Middle East. It is also designed to provide shelter against biological and chemical attacks.

The $1 billion expansion is half complete. U.S. forces have used the airbase to launch raids and surveillance aircraft as part of Washington's declared war on terror in Afghanistan that began in October to flush out Osama bin Laden's Al Qaida network, blamed for terror attacks.

At present, the base houses about 3,000 U.S. troops and 40 fighter jets in makeshift camps.

But the final plan is to station 10,000 troops and 120 planes, diplomats said.

The Qatari officials said their country's decision on whether to allow the U.S. forces to use Al Udeid airbase would depend on the position adopted by its partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

"Although we are all bound by our bilateral treaties with the U.S., a concerted and well-considered approach will be in the interest of all parties concerned," said one official.

The United States has about 25,000 troops deployed at air bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.