US embassy cable - 05DOHA1721

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 001721 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/ARPI FOR STHORNE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2010 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, QA 
SUBJECT: QATAR: CODEL REED'S 10 OCTOBER 2005 MEETING WITH 
FOREIGN MINISTER HAMAD BIN JASSIM AL-THANI. 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Chase Untermeyer for reasons 1.4 (A) and (B) 
 
1. (C) Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Chris Dodd of 
Connecticut met with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin 
Jassim al-Thani (HBJ) in his private majlis at Al-Wajba 
Palace outside Doha on the evening of 10 October 2005. 
Senator Dodd is the third-ranking Democrat on the Foreign 
Relations Committee, and Senator Reed is the fifth-ranking 
Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Ambassador 
Untermeyer also attended. 
 
---------------------- 
US-Qatar Military Ties 
---------------------- 
 
2. (C) Senator Dodd began by speaking of the Al Udeid Air 
Base as "a tremendous asset" and telling HBJ, "The support of 
Qatar is deeply, deeply appreciated." Senator Reed concurred. 
 HBJ thanked the senators and said, "Militarily things are 
going very well. We have an issue in that I want to move 
(CENTCOM Forward) Headquarters from As Saliyah to Al Udeid. I 
warned the military before and after the Iraq war that As 
Saliyah is near an industrial area. We spent a lot of time 
searching there for a rocket. (Comment: HBJ was referring to 
an RPG fired onto the Qatari side of Camp As Saliyah in March 
2004 by unknown person(s).)  It is an industrial area with a 
lot of trucks and lots of garbage. As the ambassador knows, I 
don,t like that property. We will participate financially in 
moving the headquarters to Al Udeid. It is better for 
security. We bought all the farms around it." 
 
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Iran and Iraq 
-------------- 
 
3. (C) Senator Dodd said he and his colleague would be 
traveling to Iraq the next day and sought HBJ's thoughts on 
the conflict there.  HBJ said, 'We had an American delegation 
(headed by Amb. James Jeffrey) a few days ago (6 Oct). I told 
them I would not talk about the mistakes (made by the US). If 
you succeed in Iraq, we succeed in Qatar, because we were the 
first to support the US.  The constitution might pass, fine. 
But I am worried about the unity of Iraq. There are problems 
with a federal state. There are two kinds of Shia: Arab and 
Persian. The Kurds are a special category." 
 
4. (C) "The Foreign Minister of Iran was here (also 6 Oct) to 
discuss this issue. There is interference (in Iraq) from 
Iran. My fear is that the Persian is more clever than us. 
They always try to sneak around in a quiet way. The war in 
Iraq is in their favor. And if you are looking for a nuclear 
bomb, they will sneak around, with a little negotiation here 
and a little negotiation there, till one day they have it. 
Now we have to think about how to make a balance in Iraq. If 
you don,t have this balance, the Iranians will have their 
hands on most of the oil. Bahrain is majority Shia. In 
Kuwait, there is a big percentage of Shia. The population in 
the oilfields of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia is 
Shia. The Iranians want to dominate the Persian Gulf, and 
they are willing to wait many years. That,s why I say they 
are clever: They are patient. 
 
5. (C) "My fear is if the Sunnis are not on board with this 
(constitution), then we,ll have a civil war. A lot of money 
will pour into Iraq (from terrorist sources), and we,ll have 
Al Qaida there and in Afghanistan. I don,t care if they are 
Sunnis. What I care about is the stability of the region. 
That won't happen while Iran has the upper hand.  You also 
have to use the Arab Shia in Iraq. They are a very important 
element. They won,t go with Iran completely." 
 
6. (C) Senator Dodd asked HBJ if the general impression in 
the region is that the US favors the Shia. HBJ said yes; that 
is certainly the view being propounded by Zarqawi and Al 
Qaida. "It is a problem. I am sure that is not your strategy. 
The Shia have a majority. Your people have dialogued more 
with the Shia, thinking of them as Iraqis, not as Shia." 
 
7. (C) Senator Dodd asked what HBJ thinks of the proposed 
Iraqi constitution. He replied: "How you spread the wealth is 
important. You have to give more seats to the Sunnis in 
parliament. It is very important that Iraq be part of the 
Arab nations. If it is with Iran, Turkey, Israel, and Russia, 
it will get lost." When Senator Dodd expressed surprise that 
Iraq would not naturally be part of the Arab League, HBJ said 
that the Kurdish and Shia elements would not care if Iraq has 
a larger Arab identity. 
 
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Elections 
--------------- 
 
8. (C) Senator Reed asked HBJ when Qatar might hold 
parliamentary elections.  HBJ replied that these must wait 
till electoral district lines are drawn, made difficult by 
having many tribes. A special committee under the Ministry of 
the Interior has been working on the map and was supposed to 
have finished in June of this year. They asked to have 
another eight months to finish, which would be about now. But 
he expects them to conclude their work in February 2006. Once 
the lines are drawn and published, "we will have to start 
doing the paperwork" of an election. And because this would 
be a first for Qatar, it will have to be done carefully. 
Senator Reed said, "We have problems with our elections." 
(Comment: Qatar has held municipal elections in Doha twice, 
in 1999 and 2003, and Doha contains two-thirds of the 
nation,s population.) 
 
9. (C) HBJ said, "I hope we have elections by the end of next 
year -- hopefully. Some are saying February 2007."  When 
Ambassador asked whether Qatar would attempt to hold 
first-ever parliamentary elections at roughly the same time 
as the 2006 Asian Games, HBJ replied (as if never having 
considered the matter), "That is a problem.  Maybe February 
2007 is better." 
 
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Al Jazeera 
--------------- 
 
10. (C) Senator Dodd said, "I know you,d be disappointed if 
I didn,t raise the subject of Al Jazeera."  HBJ said, "We 
are working with the Ambassador on this issue. We are a 
peaceful, small country; we have no intention of harming 
anyone. We are the main target for these people (terrorists). 
They fear Al Jazeera. We are working with the Ambassador to 
fix Al Jazeera without demolishing what we are trying to do 
with a free press. There definitely are mistakes with Al 
Jazeera, but we have the full intention of finding a solution 
to these problems."  Senator Dodd said that more American 
policymakers should appear on Al Jazeera. HBJ said, "That is 
a good idea. You are welcome to appear." 
 
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Future Contact 
--------------- 
 
11. (C) HBJ closed the 45-minute-long discussion by inviting 
the senators to return for the annual Democracy & Free Trade 
conference in Doha in early 2006.  Senator Dodd 
counter-invited HBJ and the Amir to meet with the Foreign 
Relations Committee whenever they are in Washington. HBJ 
suggested that the senators join the Qatar Congressional 
Caucus, and they expressed strong interest in doing so. 
UNTERMEYER