For years, leaders in both political parties have allowed Qatar and Qatari entities to work against American national interests. Now “regime change” is necessary there, if the civilized world is to destroy radical, Islamist, jihadists and live in peace.
The Obama administration, already proven wrong on so many key foreign policy matters, is certainly incorrect to count Qatar as a friend of the United States and our longstanding allies in October 2014.
Qatar opened a spigot through which massive sums of money flow to politically connected cronies inside our country, and entities located there continue to work against American values so crucial to winning victory against the rising tide of murderous violence. For example, the Washington Free Beacon reported in July that “Qatar has sought to curry favor with elite Westerners, donating between $1 million and $5 million through 2013 to the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.”
Also, the Business Standard recently reported an investigation undertaken by the New York Times, which connected the dots of a “huge fund funneling process [that] has transformed the American think-tank world into a muscular lobbying arm of foreign governments’ in Washington.”
The donor nations included Qatar, and the think tanks included the Brookings Institution and the Atlantic Council. “Scholars say these donations often contain implicit clauses that research groups would refrain from criticizing the donor governments,” the Business Standard story said.
By ceaselessly inflaming passions using Al-Jazeera, by promoting the Muslim Brotherhood, by channeling funds to terror organizations including Hamas as well as Boko Haram, and by promoting other nefarious activities, a long list of entities based in Qatar effectively constitute a corrupt foreign enterprise
that can only be dismantled once the Al-Thani family, and their allies are excised from influence.
Because America has not yet dealt appropriately with reality on the ground in Qatar, we have been spinning wheels in the sand ever since September 11, 2001, when this country finally woke up from an ignorant slumber.
Enough is enough. It is past time to cut financial support for terror groups emanating from Qatar.
One organization urging a regime change is the Qatar Awareness Campaign Coalition, which is an ad hoc group of journalists, retired military, publishers, and activists who are helping to spread awareness concerning the influence of Qatar — a state sponsor of terrorism — in the United States. The coalition consists of several experts on matters such as national security, Islamic terrorism and transnational organized crime. Its members consider the Qatari influence on American foreign policy to be a major threat to national security and world peace. (Disclosure: As a coalition signatory, I seek and receive no reward of any kind for my activities, which can be viewed at stopqatarnow.
In a book published in 1785, Thomas Jefferson sagely noted that corruption in politics is age old: “With money we will get men, said Caesar, and with men we will get money.”
Inside the United States, especially under the Obama administration, enforcement of laws and regulations that supposedly limit foreign powers from purchasing influence is, shall we say, “lax” and uneven.
Friends of the Obama administration do what they want, whereas enemies suffer unrelenting, continual assaults.
In theory, recipients of financial support from foreign governments must register as foreign agents—have all who received and still receive largesse from Qatar rigorously complied with the full extent of existing laws and regulations.
Only after the American public understands who benefits from Qatar, can we fashion a winning strategy with input from patriots.
Leon Panetta is wrong
We cannot afford to spend the next generation or two using expensive tactics to fight against an indistinct and ill-defined enemy.
The list of former Obama administration critics is swelling, yet even they miss this essential point — America and the modern, civilized world must expose, discredit and expunge a portion of the Islamic ideology that encourages killing in the name of God.
Spreading the poisonous theory that God requires followers of one religion to kill any person, rebuts the presumption that such an organization actually practices a “religion.”
An almighty God, capable of so much across a universe man still cannot fully comprehend and secure enough to bless each human with free will, certainly does not wish precious life lost, in his name, for reason or any kind of reward.
An easy victory
As anyone who lives in the Middle East learns quickly, lines blur when considering whether nation-states are enemies or friends.
So long as the al-Thani family rules Qatar as a monarchy, that nation will never be a true friend of those who prize ideals and values enshrined in the highest law of our land. set forth in our Constitution.
We and concerned allies should topple the regime, vacuum records to discover who outside Qatar is on their payroll, and arrange for swift transition to a new government that is run to serve the best long-term interests of a larger slice of local nationals than adherents to the Al-Thani family.
Qatar has 2.1 million residents, many of whom are foreign nationals. It is no Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Pakistan with 31.8 million, 32.6 million, 27.3 million, 80.8 million, and 196.2 million residents, respectively.
America already has a large military presence inside Qatar, so it should be a
simple matter to achieve in Qatar what has eluded us so badly in other places.
Following 13 years of military actions abroad and restrictions on individual rights at home, America must finally get serious about calling our battle what it truly is and then winning it.
We and those who embrace the benefits of modernity must help Islam expunge the misguided theory that killing over religious differences is God’s will.
The United States and our true allies need not fight radical Islamist jihadis for decades. We can defeat our enemies decisively much faster, starting as soon as possible in Qatar.
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