Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Trump stance on Qatar applauded
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Arab states that have laid virtual siege on Qatar praised U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday for supporting their stance when he called on the Persian Gulf state to stop “the funding of terrorism.”
Since taking office, Trump has aligned himself closely with Saudi Arabia and an allied bloc of Arab countries. His comments Friday firmly positioned Washington in the camp of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which severed ties with Qatar last week and accused it of sponsoring terrorism.
Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, Trump said Qatar “has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
“The time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding — they have to end that funding — and its extremist ideology in terms of funding,” Trump said.
The row has sparked one of the worst political crises in decades among some of Washington’s closest Mideast allies.
Qatar denies that it backs extremist groups, and says the allegations are politically motivated and intended to tarnish the country’s image.
Qatar has ties with Iran and has supported Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia, however, is locked in a regional power struggle with Iran. Persian Gulf monarchies and Egypt’s government also view Islamist groups as a threat to their rule.
Qatar, however, is not entirely without support. Turkey has offered to provide food and medicine to help ease its isolation.
On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country hoped the rift between the “Muslim countries” would end “through peaceful dialogue before the religious holiday,” referring to Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. He was speaking as his Bahraini counterpart met with Turkey’s president in Ankara.
Explaining Turkey’s stake in the conflict, Cavusoglu said, “we see threats toward the Gulf region as threats toward us.”
Cavusoglu added that a 2014 agreement with Qatar to set up a Turkish military base there is designed to support the security of the entire region.
In Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country will undertake every effort to help ease the tensions. He was speaking at a meeting in Moscow on Saturday with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Trump too had offered possible mediation earlier last week.
Kuwait’s ruler also is making an effort to help mediate.
The four Arab states increased their pressure on Qatar on Friday by listing 12 organizations and 59 people on a terror sanctions list. They had already blocked direct flights between their countries and Qatar. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE also prohibited Qatari flights from using their airspace. Additionally, Saudi Arabia closed Qatar’s only land border, affecting a significant source of food imports for the peninsula nation.
In separate statements Saturday, they lauded Trump for his supportive stance. A statement from Egypt’s presidency said President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Trump spoke Friday by phone and that el-Sissi thanked him for his role in “the formation of a united front to combat terrorism.”
The UAE issued a statement welcoming Trump’s “leadership in challenging Qatar’s troubling support for extremism.” Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency carried an official statement welcoming Trump’s remarks, adding that cutting off terrorism funding “required decisive and swift action … regardless of its financier.”
The tiny island-nation of Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf, similarly said it “praised the statement made by President Donald Trump.”
Earlier Friday, though, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sent a different message from Washington, urging Qatar’s neighbors to ease their blockade and calling for “calm and thoughtful dialogue.”
ASHCROFT FIRM HIRED
Qatar has hired former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s firm to lobby for the country, according to disclosures released Friday by the Justice Department.
The disclosures, filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, show that Qatar hired Ashcroft Law Firm, for 90 days, agreeing to pay it $2.5 million to help the Persian Gulf nation comply with U.S. money-laundering and counterterrorism-financing regulations and to stress its efforts against global terrorism.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires lobbyists for foreign clients to disclose information about their activities.
In an appearance Friday with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Trump called Qatar a “funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
To challenge that image, Ashcroft promised to enlist former government leaders who held senior positions in the departments of Treasury and Homeland Security, the FBI and the intelligence community. Their services would be paid for out of the $2.5 million fee, according to the fourpage contract, which also says that Ashcroft, who served as attorney general from 2001 to 2005 under President George W. Bush, will lead the effort.
Contacted after business hours, Ashcroft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Qatar’s population is smaller than Houston’s, but it has a sovereign wealth fund with stakes in global companies from Barclays to Credit Suisse Group. It’s also a home to the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s central command in the region.
Ashcroft’s firm promised to provide crisis response; management, program and system analysis; and media outreach and advocacy to highlight Qatar’s efforts to end global terror, according to the contract. As part of that effort, the firm plans “a comprehensive legal and government relations strategy” that will communicate broadly and to “certain domestic agencies and leaders.”
In addition to Ashcroft, six members of his firm registered as lobbyists for Qatar, including Christopher Peele, a former special trial attorney in the fraud section of the Justice Department; and Michael Sullivan, a former director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
DIVIDED FAMILIES
Rights group Amnesty International said thousands of Persian Gulf residents are caught up in the diplomatic dispute.
Among the raft of punitive measures, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain ordered Qatari nationals to leave their
territories within 14 days and announced that all of their nationals would need to leave Qatar in the same time period. They also warned that anyone who expresses support for Qatar online faces imprisonment and hefty fines.
The rights group said that, according to Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee, more than 11,000 nationals of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE live in Qatar. Many Qataris also live in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE.
“These drastic measures are already having a brutal effect, splitting children from parents, and husbands from wives. People from across the region — not only from Qatar, but also from the states implementing these measures — risk losing jobs and having their education disrupted,” said James Lynch, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Global Issues Program.
In one case, the rights group said a Qatari man, who has lived in the UAE with his family for more than 10 years, was refused entry and sent back to Qatar as he tried to return home to Dubai. His wife is a UAE national and is forbidden from traveling to Qatar, while his children are Qatari nationals and are required to leave the UAE. He also risks losing his job, the group said.
There are also students who risk not being able to sit for their final exams, the rights group said.
“There can be no justification for tearing families apart, suppressing peaceful expression, and leaving migrant workers abandoned and at risk,” Lynch said.
Among the raft of punitive measures, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain ordered Qatari nationals to leave their territories within 14 days and announced that all of their nationals would need to leave Qatar in the same time period.