I thought "terrorist sponsor" Qatar was our ally!?!

[Liberal_Andy]

Don't remember Wolfie saying anything negative about Qatar (Gutter) during the march to war, do you?

http://www.counterpunch.org/tomchick02122003.html

This is an article from just after Powell's UN lie-fest, and I don't remember any of this being reported.

Go figure...

"Ironically, al-Zarqawi did have a powerful sponser who provided him with a safe house when he was traveling to and from Afghanistan and who gave him more than $1 million to finance his network in Europe. But it wasn't Saddam Hussein, or even a rich Iraqi citizen. It was a member of Qatar's royal family, a man named Abdul Karim al Thani. George Tenet, head of the CIA, is reportedly furious that numerous members of Qatar's royal family have sponsored terrorists. But the Bush administration needs Qatar's military bases to launch an attack on Iraq."

You have to scroll down to paragraph 23. This is a well sourced article and provides links to many others.

I feel safer now. How about you?

[Maple]

1. The trick here is

to be able to change allies and enemies at the drop of a hat.

"But the Bush administration needs Qatar's military bases to launch an attack on Iraq."

You kinda have to monitor the news 24/7 to keep up with 'who's against us, and who's for us' :D

[liberalmuse]

2. Hmmmm....

Qatar has one of the more progressive governments in the Middle East and they are indeed our allies. Even though it's a family-run dynasty, the people get a lot of benefits from the government due to successful offshore oil production. It looks like the Bushies haven't been able to get Iraqi oil production up to projections and they need more oil fast.

[Liberal_Andy]

3. Soooo.......... do they just like the terrorists more than they like us?

Or it it more of a protection racket?

[Wwagsthedog]

4. Qatar?

Recently, the USA petrochemical industry has placed much of its development and investment money in Qatar where there are huge reserves of natural gas (ref., 60 Minutes, CBS, 8/3/2003). What does this mean for the future of the region? Qatar will probably develop the same social ills that have befallen Saudi Arabia. Those include overpopulation and increasing infrastucture demands which lead to young impressionable, unemployed males etc., etc.. And the cycle keeps repeating itself over and over again. When will the world learn?

[Liberal_Andy]

5. A Google search on Abdul Karim al-Thani gets 365 hits in .14 seconds,...

here's three;

http://www.iht.com/articles/85950.html

http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/000193.php

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/publications/General_Powell.htm

"It is worth asking why the White House is so desperate to link al Qaeda to Saddam that they would resort to deception and lies. The reason may lie in the slipping U.S. support for the projected Iraqi war. When examined carefully, the Iraqi violations of U.N. resolution 1441 seem to amount to scurring around to hide questionable vehicles, along with a few furtive phone calls wondering if inspectors will find something questionable in the facilities under scrutiny. The violations are so petty, so weak that it is hard to imagine sending 200,000 troops into Iraq to correct them."

And Fox-Pods still talk about what a great presentation Powell gave.

:argh:

[Liberal_Andy]

6. Monday AM Kick

:kick: