U.S. Has Precious, Yet Precarious, Ties With Qatar

"Hello, Qatar!" bellowed Jamaican American fusion artist Shaggy to more than 3,000 foreigners and a smattering of Qataris this month. "I was told by reliable sources that nobody party like Qatar party!"

Then, in a conservative Islamic land where 95% of the women still dress in black head-to-toe abayas, the ex-Marine hip-hopped his way through lyrics about rude boys, naughty girls and sexy ladies. The few dozen Qatari men on hand stood rigid and wide-eyed, remarking about the weirdness of it all.

Such are the kaleidoscopic contradictions of today's Qatar, a fast-changing nation that has emerged as one of America's most strategic military allies and the likely headquarters in the event of another U.S.-led war with Iraq.

This Connecticut-size thumb of sand jutting into the Persian Gulf -- with sufficient gas reserves to heat every American home for more than a century -- has thrown itself headlong into this new relationship with the U.S. The ties are as precious as they are precarious for both nations.

The relationship is born of the crusade by Qatar's progressive young emir, Sheik Hamad ibn Khalifa al Thani, for modernity and security in a region awash with hostility and religious antipathy.

The alliance was underscored Saturday by a visit by Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and earlier this month by the military exercise under Central Command chief Army Gen. Tommy Franks. The maneuvers involve more than 1,000 U.S. military officers and enlisted personnel throughout the region at a new, mobile command-and-control facility at Qatar's Camp As Sayliyah.

The command post duplicates a facility at Prince Sultan Air Base in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which has been hesitant to support any U.S.-led war on Iraq. But the military's "Internal Look" exercise merely capped a strategic relationship here dating back several years.

Qatar (pronounced KAH-tar) has spent more than $1 billion upgrading Al Udeid Air Base for American forces, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld stopped in Doha, the capital, recently to sign an agreement that will expand U.S. use of the facility. Al Udeid already boasts a 15,000-foot runway and is home to more than 5,000 U.S. military personnel.