Right Truth

Hamid Karzai was half right

Afghan leader Hamid Karzai claimed earlier this week that the United States is colluding with the enemy to prolong our stay in Afghanistan.  And concerning the new suicide bombings in Kabul and Khost, Karzai said,  “Those bombs, set off yesterday in the name of the Taliban, were in the service of the Americans to keep foreigners longer in Afghanistan.”  I say Karzai is half right.

The United States is currently holding talks with Taliban leaders in Doha, Qatar.  In fact, the United States built a special embassy of sorts for the Taliban there. The planning and negotiations for these talks have been ongoing for a long, long time. 

The Gateway Pundit posts video of former UN Ambassador John Bolton with Greta Van Susteren  stating the Taliban agreed in January to have an office in Doha for peace talks.

So Karzai is nuts when he claims the United States has anything to do with the attacks, planning or executing them, he is not wrong when says the US is colluding with the enemy.  That's what Barack Obama does.

As Leslie H. Gelb at  The Daily Beast says, "To Hell With Karzai".

—stop letting these Karzai guys play us for suckers and speed up our exit, and stop wasting American lives and dollars.  (read it all here)

Amen.

We need to get our military home from Afghanistan and other Muslim countries.  We need to stop every penny of aid we send them.  Not one more penny. 

 

Rolling Stones Play Israel, Defy BDS

Defying BDS:

Via Joshua Pundit:

In spite of a concerted campaign by 'anti-Zionists', the Rolling Stones have announced they have no intention of cancelling their planned concert in Jerusalem on Israel’s Independence Day, Monday, April 15.

“We’ve been slammed and smacked and twittered a lot by the anti-Israeli side,” said Mick Jagger, the band’s leader and most recognizable member since 1963. “All I can say is: anything worth doing is worth overdoing. So we decided to add a concert on Tuesday.”

Needless to say, tickets to both concerts, Monday night in Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem and Tuesday night in Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, have been sold out even as Jagger was speaking.

(continue at JoshuaPundit)

 

Taliban to Gitmo: Bye-Bye!

The United States government has been begging the Afghanistan Taliban for years, and I do mean years not months, to pweese o pwritty pweese be fwriends with us!   Now the US has promised to release all Taliban terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay prison if the Taliban will agree to open a political office for peace negotiations in Qatar.  The news media report this as something new, as if contact with and negotiations with Taliban leaders is a news flash, which it is not.  

We reported in September 2011 about plans to build a Taliban Embassy in Qatar, a prelude to peace talks, according to Wired's Danger Room.   The news became public later that the Obama administration was considering releasing Taliban members from Gitmo.

According to sources familiar with the talks in the US and in Afghanistan, the handful of Taliban figures will include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, and Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan.

More controversially, the Taliban are demanding the release of the former army commander Mullah Fazl Akhund....

The Taliban are holding just one American soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, a 25-year-old sergeant captured in June 2009, but it is not clear whether he would be freed as part of the deal. (The Guardian UK)

 

All the negotiations over the past years between the US and the Taliban have failed, as they were intended to do by the Taliban who play the current gullible administration like a violin.  It was reported that the reason all the talks failed is because those negotiations were leaked to the media and the Taliban got their itty bitty feelings hurt. 

The U.S. government not only  approved of the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, they insisted.  Just call it a peace offering from the U.S. to the Taliban...

It seems that the Taliban has not had any official diplomatic representation for 10 years and their new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ... will be just one of many embassies in Doha Qatar.

A little history:

Prior to the Afghan invasion:

On the eve of the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Secretary of State Colin Powell instructed his ambassador in Islamabad, Wendy Chamberlin, to get a message to [Mullah] Omar through Pakistani intermediaries. It was neither a lengthy nor complicated communication. Nor was it an invitation to further dialogue.

“It is in your interest and in the interest of your survival to hand over all al-Qaida leaders, to close the terrorists’ camps and allow the U.S. access to terrorist facilities,” reads Powell’s message, prompted by suspicions of a 9/11 follow-up attack and unearthed by the National Security Archive. “We will hold leaders of the Taliban personally responsible for any such actions. Every pillar of the Taliban regime will be destroyed.” (Photo: ISAF,  Danger Room)

After the Afghan invasion:  

As I've said before, "Why should anyone be surprised at this idea of an embassy for the Taliban in Doha Qatar, when again and again since 9/11, the U.S. Government has engaged in "outreach" with Islamic supremacists and jihadists."

 ... in 2007 we reported on previous failed talks with Taliban leaders that took place in 2005.

In 2009 we reported that cooperation with the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar could lead to help in locating Osama bin Laden if the Taliban had assurances they could return to power in Afghanistan.

In January 2010 we confirmed with sources that the talks were underway.  In October 2010 we reported that Pakistan had freed the supreme commander of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, so that he can play a pivotal role with Mullah Mohammed Omar in backchannel talks through the Pakistani army with Washington. Also here.

February 2011 we reported:

The United States is now negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, who was previously blacklisted by Western nations and the United Nations and  spent four years in Guantanamo Bay, charged with co-ordinating Taliban and al-Qaeda forces around Kabul, is now in a London hotel.  Zaeef is now in secret negotiations between Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and the Taliban's Pakistan-based supreme commander, Mullah Muhammad Omar.  

Apparently the United States and coalition partners trust Zaeef when he says the Taliban has learned it's lesson, and apparently we still trust Karzai and even Mullah Muhammad Omar.  It boggles the mind.  If negotiations work out here's the deal:  in return for power in parts of southern Afghanistan, the Taliban would accept the authority of the Kabul government and expel al-Qaeda and its jihadist affiliates. 

In June of 2011 Hamid Karzai himself confirmed the negotiations and we reported of direct contact with Mullah Mohammed Omar, NATO forces and Washington.

 

And here we are today, planning to release terrorists.  Shameful.

 

 

Today is POW-MIA Day

Remember today is POW-MIA Day:  Via BlackFive, my comments below.

It may be news to many Americans that today is POW/MIA Day ,but that doesn't mean its importance is less. To our knowledge we have only one POW and that is Bowe Bergdahl who has been held for more than two years now. I will quote from Chuck Z as to what you can do to help him.

The best way to do anything to help him is to increase awareness of his absence.  Put pressure on politicians to tell the Pentagon to pull out all the stops and use any means to recover him, and also to tell the public that we will bear any burden, suffer any sacrifice, and kill as many Taliban and their families, friends, and neighbors as we have to in order to bring this Soldier home.  If it isn't worth it, politically, to do that for one soldier, then how many do we have to have as POWs until it is?

To get more info, I'd ask that you contact the following POC's:

Bergdahl family contact:  Idaho Nat'l Guard, COL Timothy Marsano.  timothy.marsano@us.army.mil  208-422-5268

Army Human Resources Command (HRC):  LTC Stacy Bathrick  stacy.bathrick@us.army.mil  502-613-4226

Bowe needs to come home, and the family would love as much assistance in getting the info out there as possible.  These two POC's are the ones that have all the latest info, and are at liberty to speak on behalf of the family and the situation.

This issue should not be dependent on whether we have a bunch of POWs, it is a matter of keeping faith with those who put themselves in harm's way and their families at home.

During the peace talks with Taliban leaders, the subject Bowe Bergdahl's possible release was discussed.    U.S. negotiators asked Tayyab Aga, taliban negotiator, what could be done to gain Bergdahl's release.  According to reports, discussions did not get into specifics, but Aga discussed the possible release of Afghan prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Field.  When the media reported on the negotiations with Aga, those particular negotiations were halted.  

We have reported that there were negotiations prior to those with Aga and there have been negotiations with other Taliban leaders since Aga.  We can only pray that Bergdahl will be at the top of any negotiations. 

We also reported on an embassy for the Taliban that is set to open by the end of 2011 where future negotiations with the Taliban will be conducted, far away from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the embassy is in Doha Qatar. 

POW-MIA Day:   National POW/MIA Recognition Day is not a federal public holiday in the United States but it is a national observance.

 

An Embassy For The Taliban

More proof that the United States does not understand that negotiating with the enemy, specifically the Muslim enemy, is a fruitless endeavor.  There are apparently plans for the insurgent Taliban to open an embassy far from Afghanistan in Qatar, a prelude to peace talks, according to Wired's Danger Room.  How can anyone think this is a good idea?  The U.S. government not only  approved of the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, they insisted.  Just call it a peace offering from the U.S. to the Taliban in honor of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Go back in time ten years and compare the differences in how the George W. Bush administration dealt with the enemy after the September 11, 2001 attacks on America and how the Barack Hussein Obama administration has dealt with them since 2008.  Also let's go back prior to 9/11 and make some comparisons. 

It seems that the Taliban has not had any official diplomatic representation for 10 years and their new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan should be open by the end of this year, 2011.  It will be just one of many embassies in Doha Qatar.

Then:

On the eve of the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Secretary of State Colin Powell instructed his ambassador in Islamabad, Wendy Chamberlin, to get a message to [Mullah] Omar through Pakistani intermediaries. It was neither a lengthy nor complicated communication. Nor was it an invitation to further dialogue.

“It is in your interest and in the interest of your survival to hand over all al-Qaida leaders, to close the terrorists’ camps and allow the U.S. access to terrorist facilities,” reads Powell’s message, prompted by suspicions of a 9/11 follow-up attack and unearthed by the National Security Archive. “We will hold leaders of the Taliban personally responsible for any such actions. Every pillar of the Taliban regime will be destroyed.” (Photo: ISAF,  Danger Room)

Now:

Because now there’s a new U.S. message: negotiations. About two weeks ago, Omar put out a message gesturing toward negotiating an end to the war with the United States, which happens to be the position embraced by President Obama. Now, with the approval of Washington, the Taliban is opening a quasi-embassy in Qatar, so the talks have an address...(Danger Room)

This idea of getting the Taliban leadership out of Afghanistan (and Pakistan) to a lovely new headquarters for more negotiations with the United States should be ringing alarm bells across the Western world. 

Negotiation with the Taliban isn't new, under the Obama administration several attempts have been made in person with those directly under Mullah Omar and indirectly with Omar himself.  None have accomplished anything good.  The Taliban continue to attack and kill Americans.  Remember, lying to an enemy is standard operating procedure for Islamists.

The initiative follows more than a year of informal stop-start talks between Western diplomats and a senior representative of the Taliban, Tayyab Agha, at the home of a former Taliban diplomat in Qatar.

Abdul Hakim Mujahid, the former Taliban ambassador to Islamabad and one-time envoy to the UN in New York, said Mr Agha was negotiating with the personal authority of the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. (The Australian)

Who will be paying for the travels and the new embassy for the Taliban?  I cannot find out any information on that.  Referring to this new building as an embassy is a disgrace, but what else should we call it?  Perhaps a new base of operations?  The entire idea of it is a disgrace.

This new embassy would be a perfect place for fundraising, terror plotting, recruiting, training.  Wow, what a great idea -- for the enemy.  But we're assured that won't happen.

Why should anyone be surprised at this idea of an embassy for the Taliban in Doha Qatar, when again and again since 9/11, the U.S. Government has engaged in "outreach" with Islamic supremacists and jihadists.

In "The U.S. Government’s Failed History of Muslim Outreach Since 9/11" in Pajamas Media, September 11, Patrick Poole offers a superb summary of the U.S. Government's misguided, wrongheaded, politically correct attempts to reach out to Muslim groups -- attempts which invariably get them tied up with Islamic supremacists and even violent jihadists.

When President Obama hosted his annual iftar dinner in August to commemorate Ramadan, the list of invitees published by the White House was curiously missing the names of several attendees — all of whom are top leaders of organizations known to be purveyors of jihadist ideology. But it was not like they had crashed the party. One of the unlisted, Mohamed Magid, head of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islamic Society of North America, was photographed by Reuters sitting at the front table only a few feet from the president as he spoke.

This was just the most recent episode in the federal government’s disastrous attempts at outreach to the Muslim community since the 9/11 attacks. With the release of President Obama’s new strategic plan to combat “violent extremism” by expanding outreach to these same terror-tied groups, the present administration seems intent on compounding the problems wrought by its predecessors.

Misguided outreach activities began long before 9/11, with the best example being the case of Abdurahman Alamoudi.

Alamoudi was the conduit through which much of the U.S. government’s outreach was pursued following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Not only was he asked by the Clinton administration to help train and certify all Muslim military chaplains, his organization being the first to do so, but he also was appointed by the State Department in 1997 as a goodwill ambassador to the Middle East, making six taxpayer-funded trips. It is fair to say that during this period, Alamoudi was the most prominent and politically connected Muslim leader in America.

As we now know, Alamoudi was indicted in October 2003 for moving money on behalf of Libyan intelligence in an assassination plot targeting Saudi Prince (now King) Abdullah. The U.S. government has admitted that at the time he was being courted by Democrats and Republicans alike, he was a major fundraiser for al-Qaeda....

 

There is much more. Read it all. (Jihad Watch)

Silly me, maybe an embassy for Islamic terrorists sanctioned by the United States doesn't seem so far out after all, considering all the bowing and scraping to the enemy here at home.

I suppose a drone strike would be out of the question???

 

 

Minority Rules Your Money

By Debbie Hamilton

No doubt about it, the United States of America is no longer ruled by the majority, but by many minority groups.  Those groups include Americans categorized by gender, religion, race, class, and more.  For some strange reason, political correctness, perhaps some form of misplaced guilt, or other reasons, the majority have allowed their voice to be silenced by the minority who demand preference.  As we debate US debt and raising the debt ceiling, none of these forced expenses are being considered.

One example of minority rule is the LGBT agenda. 

Gay history will now be taught in California schools to children as young as kindergarten, as to how many other states will follow suit we will have to wait and find out.  As I remember back to my own kindergarten days, I didn't know  anything about sex except that little boys and little girls were different.  Exactly how much tax money, money that California and other states don't have, will this cost the already burdened taxpayers?  Why should the taxpayers, who are majority heterosexual, be forced to pay this expense for a very small minority of the population?   Why should children, who are majority heterosexual, be forced to endure this indoctrination?  Because the minority demand it.

Exactly how does the LGBT population America compare to the heterosexual population?  Here are key findings from this study from April of 2011:

* An estimated 3.5% of adults in the United States identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and an estimated 0.3% of adults are transgender.

* This implies that there are approximately 9 million LGBT Americans, a figure roughly equivalent to the population of New Jersey. 

Tax money to study penis size in gay men: 

The federal government helped fund a study, the study was one of many linked to an $899,769 grant,  that examined what effect a gay man's penis size has on his sex life and general well-being -- gay men with "below average penises" were more likely to assume a "bottom" sexual position, while those with "above average penises" were more likely to assume a "top" sexual position. Those with average penises identified themselves as "versatile" in the bedroom. (Fox)

The above study comes after another study which shows a link between gay male penis size and gay self-esteem.    How in the world could the majority of Americans, who are straight, have lived without the results of this study?  (sarcasm)

Why even have these studies?  Because, we are told, the LGBT community is understudied, and needs to be studied in order to form public policy.

The belief by a minority of Americans in hoaxes like global warming costs taxpayers.

One example, the majority of Americans do not believe in man-made global warming nor do they believe in using tax dollars to support green projects.  If a company cannot survive on its own in the market place, then it should not be supported by tax dollars.  One example is a Salinas California car manufacturing company that was expected to build environmentally friendly electric cars and create new jobs folded before any cars could run off the assembly line.  A $300,000 community development grant, $240,000 additional funds and more than half a million dollars in city funds, all gone, all spent, for vehicles the majority do not want and do not intend to purchase.

The Illegal alien minority costs taxpayers.

Non-Americans benefiting from the labors of legal Americans over the needs of legal Americans. With the current debate on raising the debt ceiling, the cost of illegal immigration is not even being debated.

American taxpayers spend $113 billion annually subsidizing illegal immigration and padding the pockets of businesses addicted to cheap labor. Taxpayers at the state and local levels bear the brunt, providing $84 billion in services annually while the federal government spends $29 billion. The latter figure is – incidentally -- almost exactly equal to the interest payment on the total federal debt this past April. Of course, the debt continues to grow uncontrollably because the government must borrow to keep up with, among other things, the growing cost of illegal immigration.

In some states, reducing the fiscal burden of illegal immigration would represent nothing short of an economic miracle:

- California’s budget deficit is $28 billion yet the state spends $21.8 billion subsidizing illegal immigration, or 75% of their total deficit. 

- Massachusetts could almost clear their books by ending illegal alien subsidies; the state’s deficit is $2 billion while their annual cost of illegal immigration is $1.86 billion. 

- Maryland and New York would enjoy much needed surpluses; those state’s expenditures on illegal immigration actually exceed their deficits! (Fox News)

In colleges and universities in many instances illegals get in-state tuition rates as well as scholarships, loans and grants which must be deprived from legal US young adults - the minority rules.

In 2010 it was reported that the cost of harboring illegal immigrants in the United States is a staggering $113 billion a year -- an average of $1,117 for every “native-headed” household in America  but another report concluded each illegal alien cost American taxpayers $346 billion annually; they affect 15 different executive agencies of the U.S. government.

An effort is being made by the GOP to reach Hispanics where the economy is concerned.

The wrong kind of legal immigration costs American taxpayers.

As part of our economic recovery the type and amount of legal immigration needs to be changed.

Fewer than 6 percent of legal immigrants were admitted because they possessed skills deemed essential to the U.S. economy. Most are admitted because of family ties to earlier immigrants, many of whom are living in poverty or near poverty. 

As a result, immigration bloats an already-existing surplus of low-skilled workers, increasing job competition and driving down wages for American workers. (Fox--Bob Dane is Communications Director for FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Kristen Williamson is Communications Assistant for FAIR.)

Minority religions get preference over Christians and Jews in the US.

Shariah law is now allowed in American courts.  This is against everything that  America stands for, allowing a religious law to take precedence over our courts and laws, yet it happens.  Out of fear?  Out of political correctness?

In our schools and universities Muslims get preferential treatment.  Christians and Jews are not allowed to pray, no symbols of their religion are allowed, yet Muslims get prayer rooms built, foot baths, special time away from class for daily prayers, Korans and prayer rugs included, along with separate spaces for males and females.  Muslim mosques get permission to build against the wishes of victims of Islamic terror.  (no LGBT training for them I'm assuming)

When is the last time you saw a Muslim pulled over for full TSA groping in an airport?  When is the last time you heard some non-Muslim complain about a Muslim acting suspiciously without first worrying about getting sued by CAIR? 

The cost of security in this nation, especially in airports, is crazy.  Why?  Because we are trying to protect ourselves against terrorism, Islamic terrorism.  Yet we fail to profile, we fail to follow the Israeli plan (which works), while expenses continue to grow for TSA agents to take away water bottles and shampoo, grope out children and elderly.

Minorities rule how the media reports.

Flash mobs across the United States cause damage to property and lives.  In the media their race is conveniently left out of reportage.  (They were Black by the way.)  Had they been White Christians or Jews, that would have been prominent in the reporting.  A Muslim is caught planning evil and his religion is conveniently left out of the reports.

Christians, Jews, and many others who are strong and express their faith proudly are mocked while Muslims and Islam are off limits from anything negative.

Foreign aide.

Here are 172 pages of foreign aide, searching for a bottom line amount is almost impossible.  Good luck.  Go take a look at where your money goes.  The United States is the major donor to almost everything around the world. Time to stop being the world's bank, the world's army, the world's peace keeper, the world's hospital, ...

I've only touched the tip of the iceberg.  Political correctness, Liberalism are ruining this country.  Do not raise the debt ceiling.  Cut CUT CUT the waste out of the budget, cut the PC / we've got to fund everybody in the world attitude.  Cut all the foreign aide we give to our enemies, money we have no idea where it goes, how it is spent.

It's time for American politicians and voters to return to a time of sanity, clarity, and put this country and our needs first.

It is time for the majority to rule again. 

 

AMERICA’S COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL IS ‘NON-NEGOTIABLE' - SAYS SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID

BY: FERN SIDMAN

"Our mood is not one of celebration.  Our mood is one of caution and concern.  Unease sits heavily on our shoulders", declared US Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) at the 2011 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC. Expressing concern about the security of Israel he said, "At no time in Israel’s history has her future faced such tension and such serious tests.  Uncertainty awaits us on many fronts."

 

In the midst of such unprecedented global acrimony directed at the Jewish state, Senator Reid pledged his continued support for Israel. "I stand with Israel, the Congress stands with Israel and America stands with Israel because the values that have cast our histories are one and the same.  And our futures will be intertwined even more than our history has been.  You know these values: Democracy, opportunity, justice.  Strength, security and self-defense.  Innovation.  Peace.  These values fasten the unbreakable bond between the United States and the State of Israel", he said.

 

Addressing the recent assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US Navy SEALs, Senator Reid told his audience that the United States based its tactical approach on previous Israeli operations of this magnitude. Referencing the history making "raid on Entebbe" conducted in the summer of 1976 by Israeli commandos when a plane was hijacked and Jewish passengers were separated from the rest, Reid said, "Many of the elements of the Entebbe story sound familiar to the details we’ve heard in recent days about the raid that brought another hijacker to justice.  Before both missions, intelligence services surveyed the targets.  Troops built and trained on an exact model before flying through the darkness, to unfamiliar foreign terrain, to do what they had to do.  The surprise mission was carried out with staggering speed and success."

Qatar's Game

By Elliot Jager

On the map of the Middle East, it is easy to overlook the peninsular state of Qatar, bordering Saudi Arabia and jutting into the Persian Gulf opposite Iran. Yet, as the dominant exporter of liquefied natural gas, it is one of the world's wealthiest countries. Nor is it easy to pigeonhole. Already home to a world-class museum of modern art, it will host the World Cup soccer games in 2022; its national airline has inspired some of the most creative commercials on television; and through its sponsorship of the broadcast dynamo Al-Jazeera, it punches considerably above its weight in global media.

In 1996, Qatar invited Israel to open a trade mission and welcomed a visit by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. In 2008, it allowed the Israeli tennis star Shahar Pe'er to play in a Women's Tennis Association tournament, and Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni to address its Doha "Democracy Forum." (Shimon Peres had made his second visit to Doha a year earlier.) Considered an American ally, Qatar also hosts, rent-free, the U.S. military's command overseeing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of this—both the spectacular economic development and the cultivated cosmopolitanism, in a country where native Qataris, practicing a "liberal" form of Wahhabi Islam,  comprise but one-seventh of the total population of 1.4 million—is attributable to Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and his family. The family includes his first lady, Sheikha Mosah Bint Nasser al-Missned, one of the most influential women in the world and a spearhead of local reform, and Prime Minister Hamed bin Jaber al-Thani, whose recent corporate flirtation with Israeli entrepreneurs has been interpreted in some quarters as a political overture to the Jewish state.  

There is, however, a darker side. During Israel's 2008–2009 military campaign to put a stop to Hamas rocket-fire from Gaza, Qatar broke off relations with Jerusalem and coordinated with extremist Arabs, plus Iran, to mobilize support for the Hamas regime. Subsequently the Qataris offered to resume relations on condition they would be allowed to funnel reconstruction money directly to Hamas authorities. In addition to thus helping bankroll one terrorist organization, the al-Thanis have played a key role in facilitating another, Hizballah, in its rise to suzerainty over Lebanon. To complete the circle, in December 2007 Qatar invited Mahmud Ahmadinejad to address the Gulf Cooperation Council in Doha, the first Iranian leader ever to do so.

And then there is Al-Jazeera, created by Sheikh Hamad in 1996, based in Doha, and a key tool of Qatar's foreign policy. In an Arab world where, until recently, dissent was forbidden, the channel's readiness to criticize Arab autocrats (excluding, naturally, the ruler of Qatar) has been undeniably exhilarating. Al-Jazeera has also played a critical role in setting, or codifying, the notion of contemporary pan-Arab unrest. At the same time, however, it has consistently disseminated the fulminations of al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, spread the radical views of the Muslim Brotherhood, provided a bully pulpit for the extremist preacher Yussuf al-Qaradawi, championed Hamas over Fatah (by, among other things, broadcasting the "Palestine Papers"), promoted the Hamas-Iran-Syria-Hizbullah agenda, and glorified as martyrs those killed "resisting" Israel.

To a Western observer, Qatar's foreign policy can seem merely incoherent. On the one hand, the ruling family professes to promote reform and democratization; on the other hand, it is a friend to medievalism, rejectionism, and violent pan-Islamism. At Al-Jazeera, when Qatar's rulers don't know what to make of a crisis, the network, too, can vacillate—for instance, by at first downplaying the current disturbances in Egypt, only to become the nexus of anti-Mubarak agitation. But on closer inspection, the incoherence begins to look deliberate. Through Al-Jazeera, and unlike the BBC's World Service shortwave broadcasts or the Radio Free Europe of yesteryear, Qatar not infrequently exercises its soft power in the service of tyranny.

No doubt, there is a self-protective impulse at work here. In return for not being targeted by terrorists, Qatar has come to an arrangement with Islamist groups. For years it has given safe haven to members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and since 2003 has reportedly been paying al-Qaeda to spare it from attack. Such "neutralist" playing-off of contending forces and values might even be excusable were the ultimate goal to bring the principles of modernity to the Arab world. Regrettably, there is slim evidence that Qatar's Swiss-like inscrutability has any purpose beyond self-preservation, consequences be damned.

(Reprinted with permission from Jewish Ideas Daily)

Qatar Report  Bertelsmann Stiftung.  For all Qatar's preaching, its own so-called democracy ranks in the bottom third of countries surveyed by a recent German project on "Shaping Change."  

“Worst" on Counterterrorism  Elizabeth Weingarten,  Atlantic.  Qatar has allegedly funded Islamic movements in order to save itself from their wrath.

Al-Jazeera's Agenda  Pinhas Inbari,  Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.  The Qatari station has sought to advance the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood.