• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Why Does the U.S. Want to Designate Qatar ‘A Major Non-NATO Ally’?

Sep 19, 2020 10:00 am By Hugh Fitzgerald 7 Comments

The American government wishes to name Qatar a major non-NATO ally. Given that Qatar has been a protector and a sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood, and is also the only Gulf Arab state that continues to have friendly relations with Iran, this latest policy move is confusing. The story is here.

The United States hopes to move forward with naming Qatar as a major non-NATO ally, a status that provides foreign nations with benefits in defense, trade, and security cooperation, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

“We’re going to move ahead, we hope, with designating Qatar a major non-NATO ally,” Timothy Lenderking, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Gulf affairs, told reporters in a conference call….

“Major non-NATO ally” (MNNA) status gives a country preferential access to US military equipment and technology, including free surplus material, expedited export processing and prioritized cooperation on training….

Currently 17 countries have MNNA status, including Gulf Arab states Kuwait and Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Why was Kuwait given MNNA status? After a few months of gratitude for the Americans rescuing them from Saddam Hussein’s invaders in 1991, Kuwait reverted to its previous anti-American stance., Kuwait has also been distinctly hostile to Israel, and aside from Qatar, been the only Gulf state to criticize the UAE for normalizing relations with Israel.

Qatar, host of the largest US military facility in the Middle East, has been locked in a dispute with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt since 2017

The United States has strong ties with all the states involved and sees the rift as a threat to efforts to contain Iran. It has pushed for a united Gulf front.

The U.S. may have “strong ties” with Qatar but that is only because – unlike Qatar’s Gulf neighbors, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia – America has chosen to overlook Qatar’s links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. The Arab states opposed to Qatar cannot understand why the Americans treat Qatar with kid gloves instead of joining them in reading Qatar the riot act. And Qatar has chosen this very moment, when the Americans are talking about conferring MNNA status on it, to insist that it will not “normalize” relations with Israel.

The Americans have pushed “for a united Gulf front,” but this will be very difficult to accomplish: for three years, both sides have heaped contumely on each other. Qatar has used its mouthpiece, Al Jazeera, to bitterly criticize both Saudi Arabia (dwelling on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi) and the UAE Al Jazeera’s scurrilous insults will not be forgotten.

The American thinking seems to be this:

First, the air, sea, and land blockade of Qatar by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, imposed since 2017, has not worked: the Qatari regime is still standing, and has not modified its policy of support for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and friendship with Tehran.

Second, since that stick has not modified Qatari attitudes and behavior, the Americans would like to now offer Qatar a very big carrot: designation as a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA). That status gives a country “preferential access to US military equipment and technology, including free surplus material, expedited export processing and prioritized cooperation on training.” This is a very big deal. In the past, however, it has always been given to reward a state for certain policies and behavior, helpful to the U.S., that it has adopted. In the case of Qatar, this MNNA status would be awarded not because it had given up its support of the MB or Iran, but in the hope that eventually it will do so.

How likely is that? Qatar has for decades been the firmest supporter in the Arab world of the Muslim Brotherhood. It hailed the brief reign of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt. For decades it has offered the MB cleric, the Egyptian Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a secure place from which to broadcast his message – he is the most important Sunni cleric in the world – to an audience of between 40 and 60 million people. Would the Qataris suddenly turn him out, and end their support of the MB, the group that has helped to fashion the views of ordinary Qataris, and the royal family, over many decades? The hope of the Americans that, by rewarding Qatar they may change its policies, seems as naïve as the American strategists who predicted that when American soldiers entered Iraq in 2003, they would be greeted as “liberators,” met with “outbursts of joy” that would be hard to contain. Nothing of the sort happened, and by June 2004 only 2% of Iraqis had a favorable opinion of the American-led Coalition forces. The Qatari support for the MB is deep and of long standing. The Qataris are not about to give up the views on which they have been raised since childhood, just because the Infidel Americans are giving them access to military equipment and technology.

Nor can Qatar’s friendly relations with Iran likely be given up. Qatar lives in Iran’s immediate neighborhood, while America is thousands of miles away, and has been steadily decreasing its presence in the Middle East. Iran is militarily the most powerful state, after Israel, in the Middle East. Qatar has judged that it has more to gain by having friendly relations with a generally aggressive Iran than by joining the Saudi-UAE-Bahraini alliance against it. Were Qatar to turn on Iran at this point, the Islamic Republic is likely to react badly. There are also economic ties that cannot be overlooked. A big portion of Qatar’s oil comes from a field that is connected to a field in Iran. Iran and Qatar jointly control the world’s largest natural gas field. Proper exploitation of that field, by both Qatar and Iran, requires close collaboration. Economically, even if it wished to, Qatar cannot disentangle itself from Iran. And it needs to stay on Iran’s good side lest its much larger neighbor decide to claim a bigger share of the natural gas produced from that field.

There is something bizarre about the American strategy of conferring MNNA status on Qatar before it has done anything to merit it. Whatever the motivation, such an act will enrage the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, which have been our firm allies against Iran, and yet have still not been rewarded with that coveted MNNA status. Have the Americans considered how this wooing of Qatar looks to our Middle Eastern allies? And how likely is it that this American reward in advance for Qatar will change its longstanding policies that are so deep-seated? If Qatar has been unwilling to modify its policies toward both the MB and Iran in order to have a sea, air, and land blockade lifted, would it be willing to do so now? Will the carrot work, when the stick could not prevail?

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Featured, Qatar, United States Tagged With: Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA)


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. mortimer says

    Sep 19, 2020 at 10:08 am

    Something very fishy about this. Could it be that Qatar is going to help NATO deal with Iran?

    Reply
  2. james sang says

    Sep 19, 2020 at 11:49 am

    President Trump probably understands the danger of Islam, but if our country can make money from Qatar or any Muslim country, he will make ties with them.

    Reply
  3. John Besharian says

    Sep 19, 2020 at 3:07 pm

    And just who is, “Timothy Lenderking, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Gulf affairs” think he’s working for? The “Deep State” has been getting quite bold in their total disregard of the presidents goals and policies, as of late and “Foggy Bottom” has been as much in the forefront as the CIA, FBI and other alphabet agencies. This could be a brazen attempt to toss this into the mix to see if the administration is forced to accept it, or, if it is rejected as a “Misspoken” Policy statement, to give a reason for Qatar to claim disrespect and close out military base and let Iran have it.

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 19, 2020 at 11:24 pm

      I would not assume that Timothy Lenderking is working counter to the president’s orders.

      In fact–for good or ill–the president has been cozying up to the Gulf States for some time now:

      “Trump expands embrace of Persian Gulf monarchies as Qatar inks deals with U.S. companies”

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-to-meet-with-qatars-emir-as-administration-weighs-next-steps-on-iran/2019/07/08/52106206-a1a8-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.html

      Reply
  4. Quazgaa says

    Sep 19, 2020 at 11:14 pm

    Reminds me of Obama being awarded the Nobel only because he is black.
    Another wonderful exercise in futility.

    Reply
  5. gravenimage says

    Sep 19, 2020 at 11:18 pm

    Why Does the U.S. Want to Designate Qatar ‘A Major Non-NATO Ally’?
    …………..

    I realize that Qatar is not attacking Israel right now, but it is still a hideous Jihad-sponsoring Shari’ah state. It also engages in forced labor–including prostitution. Bad enough to hold the Bad idea.2022 World Cup there. This is another bad idea.

    Reply
  6. OLD GUY says

    Sep 20, 2020 at 11:23 pm

    It seems unlikely that there is much to gain in this action for America. My guess is follow the money trail from Qatar to corporations and politicians. Why we want to befriend these countries with terrible human rights violations is questionable.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Crusades Were Right on Canadian Mental Health Association studies Muslim women’s mental health due to ‘discrimination’ and ‘hate crimes’
  • Crusades Were Right on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • curious george on Israel At A Crossroads?
  • Crusades Were Right on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • William Garrison on The Fantasy Islam of Rice University’s Craig Considine (Part 3)

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.