Qatar crisis divides administration
Trump sides with group blockading Gulf nation; Tillerson tries to mend fences
President Trump’s decision to turn on Qatar— just days after he boasted he had brought Arab nations together in “historic” unity to fight terrorism— has stunned diplomats here and abroad. Qatar is a long-standing ally of the United States and home to the largest U.S. military base in the region, with some11,000 troops near the capital, Doha.
WASHINGTON — America’s top diplomat, Rex Tillerson, spent much of last week working on a single issue: how to defuse the potentially explosive crisis in the oil- and gas-rich Persian Gulf after the Trump administration unexpectedly sided with one U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia, against another, Qatar.
Tillerson did not get very far.
It didn’t help that his boss, President Donald Trump, appeared to undermine him, seemingly at every turn.
In meetings with senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and other nations, Tillerson urged all parties to remain “open to negotiation” but failed to push them closer.
The core of the issue is a 13-point list of demands that Saudi Arabia and its three partners have slapped on Qatar. Monday was to be the deadline for Qatar’s response. At Kuwait’s request, the deadline was moved to Wednesday, but Qatari officials issued a defiant response nevertheless.
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Than i was dispatched to deliver the letter from the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to the Kuwaiti ruler, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, according to Qatar’s official news agency.
Mohammed said earlier that the demands were extreme and “made to be rejected.”
“Everyone is aware that these demands are meant to infringe (on) the sovereignty of the state of Qatar, shut the freedom of speech and impose (an) auditing and probation mechanism for Qatar,” the foreign minister said.
Even State Department officials say privately that the demands are over the top, including the closing down of the Arab world’s prime television news network, the Qatari-based Al Jazeera, whichis often critical of the region’s potentates.
It would be like Trump demanding closure of the BBC.
More broadly, however, the diplomatic showdown involves fighting terrorism and countering Shiite Muslim-led Iran. The Sunni Muslim governments of the gulf, led by Saudi Arabia, accuse Qatar of being too cozy with Tehran and supporting militant groups.
Trump lent enthusiastic support to Saudi Arabia, backing its move, made along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, to cut off Qatari airspace, seal its land and sea borders and suspend diplomatic ties. (Kuwait did not join the blockade and is attempting to mediate.)
Trump’s decision to turn on Qatar— just days after he boasted he had brought Arab nations together in “historic” unity to fight terrorism — has stunned diplomats here and abroad.
Qatar, like Saudi Arabia, is a long-standing ally of the United States. Qatar is also home to the largest U.S. military base in the region, with some 11,000 troops near the capital, Doha. It has been the launch point for numerous U.S. Air Force bombing missions against Islamic State militants.
The tiny emirate has an independent streak, tends to follow its own foreign policy line and is more liberal than its neighbors — all of which angers its much larger neighbor, powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
Unlike the more authoritarian gulf states, Qatar praised the so-called Arab Spring protests against entrenched rulers and has even welcomed Israelis to Doha, while most of the rest of the Arab world officially shuns Israel.
Trump took an exceedingly positive view toward Saudi King Salman and the newly minted crown prince, Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, and U.S. diplomats suspect the father and son were able to sway Trump into believing their criticisms of Qatar. His praise, in turn, gave the Saudis a green light to act harshly.
The confusion within the administration was no more evident than on June 9. Tiller son made conciliatory public comments and called on Qatar’s enemies to ease their crackdown. Less than an hour later, Trump marched into the Rose Garden, sang the Saudis’ praise again and called Qatar a “funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis have been trying to repair the damage since.
Qatar acknowledges that it has given haven to groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a pro-Islamist organization banned in Egypt, and other militants. But Qatari officials say that is their democracy.
In Doha “we have an Israeli trade office, and we have a Hamas representative office,” Mohammed, the foreign minister, told a group of reporters and academics in Washington last week. Hamas is a militant group that rules the Gaza Strip.
Another of the Saudi-led quartet’s 13 demands is that Qatar cut off or reduce diplomatic relations with Iran. The foreign minister said that was an impossible demand, in part because the two countries share a massive offshore gas field. “We have to have a relationship,” he said.
The foreign minister said he felt Trump was listening too closely to “the blockading nations” and should consult his own intelligence services to get the full picture of Qatar’s dealings with militants.
A White House statement continued Trump’s hard line on Qatar, saying he “underscored that unity in the region is critical” but believes that “the overriding objective of his initiative (from the Riyadh meeting) is the cessation of funding for terrorism,” a clear swipe at Qatar.
On Sunday, Qatari Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al Attiyah said in an interview on the Sky News channel that although he hoped matters would not escalate to the point at which “a military intervention (was) made,” Doha was ready to put up a vigorous defense.
“Qatar is not an easy country to be swallowed by anyone. We are ready,” he said. “We stand ready to defend our country.”
Special correspondent Nabih Bulos contributed from Beirut.