An aggressive effort by the Middle East Forum to rally support for Senate Joint Resolution 26, which calls for a halt to arms sales to Qatar, fell short last week by a vote of 42-57 despite a riveting appeal by Sen. Rand Paul (see the video or read the transcript below). Our thanks go out to everyone who wrote or called their senators to urge a yes vote on SJR 26.
This is just the beginning of our efforts to counteract the increasingly pernicious impact of Qatar in both the Middle East and the United States, where its deep-pocketed lobbying is distorting vital public policy debates concerning the region. Stay tuned.
Middle East Forum Director Gregg Roman.
“The vote today is whether we should keep sending weapons to Qatar, who then sends them to our enemies.” |
Also there are reports that Qatar’s weapons have been so indiscriminately distributed throughout the Middle East that many of these weapons have also ended up in the hands of ISIS. So, Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra, ISIS are getting weapons from Qatar. Where does Qatar get their weapons? From the U.S. So the vote today is whether we should keep sending weapons to Qatar, who then sends them to our enemies, and then we send our soldiers to the Middle East to fight against our own weapons. It is insulting, it is insane, and it needs to stop.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (left) with Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in 2012. |
There are also reports that Qatar has been linked to support for Hamas. I’m not talking about one report, I’m talking about dozens and dozens and dozens. So Hamas is violently trying to remove or obliterate the state of Israel – our ally – but we’re going to give weapons to Qatar, who’s giving weapons to Hamas, who has pledged to devastate Israel. Does that make any sense at all? Why would we give weapons to Qatar, who gives them to Hamas, who would attack our ally Israel? Makes no sense at all.
Former [Treasury] undersecretary for terrorism David Cohen writes: “Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally, has for many years openly financed Hamas.” Cohen also noted that Qatar allows fundrraisers to solicit donations for Al-Qaeda and ISIS within Qatar.
“We’re going to give weapons to Qatar, who’s giving weapons to Hamas, who has pledged to devastate Israel.” |
Many sources claim that Qatar has also provided safe haven for Al-Qaeda leadership. Qatar is so distrusted that even the bone-saw-wielding Saudis think it’s unwise to send arms to Qatar. The Saudis – no stranger to terrorism – cut diplomatic relations with Qatar over allegations that Qatar was supporting terrorism. They both have supported terrorism, but now Saudi Arabia is saying, “Qatar’s even worse than we are. We’re bad – we give arms to terrorists. Sure, we do, yeah. But Qatar’s even worse, so we’re not going to give any arms to Qatar because Qatar’s giving them to even worse people than we give them to.”
Protesters burn an effigy of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in Benghazi, May 10, 2013. |
In the chaotic aftermath of the overthrow of [Libyan dictator Moammar] Qaddafi in Libya – there is civil war, there is chaos, and it’s a breeding ground for terrorism – Qatar supports the faction opposed to the faction that we support. Now, that could change next week, but as of now we’re going to give weapons to Qatar today, and they are involved in Libya on the side opposite that we are supporting. Why would we give weapons to a country that opposes us in a civil war. Now, there’s a good question why we’d be involved in the Libyan civil war at all and why we ever went over there to topple their government, but that’s water under the bridge now.
“In Libya ... Qatar supports the faction opposed to the faction that we support.” |
You have this chaos in Libya, where the United States is supporting one side and Qatar is supporting the other side. So why in the world would we give weapons to people who are opposing us in an armed conflict? No one disputes that Qatar has armed al-Qaeda and other radical groups throughout the Middle East. But people say, “Oh, we’ve got a base there, they let us land, they let us do stuff. So we need to look the other way and not care that they continue to support Al-Qaeda, ISIS, al-Nusra, and other radical elements throughout the Middle East.”
How much of a risk is it to sell arms to Qatar? Only time will tell. How much of a risk is it that our soldiers may in the future fight against U.S. weapons that Qatar passes along to extremists? I think that’s a very real risk. It has already happened. And it will continue to happen. If you do not condition arms sales on behavior, they will not change their behavior.
