Posted on 03/20/2005 1:02:08 PM PST by Nachum
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Qatar and other energy-rich countries of the Persian Gulf are some of the most crime-free places on Earth and among the most friendly to U.S. interests.
Even so, anti-Western feelings are on the rise, and with a Saudi crackdown on terror pushing militants into neighboring countries, observers say the Gulf states must act fast to prevent more bombings like Saturday's theater blast in Doha to halt serious damage to the region's appeal to Western tourists, residents and business.
"If the Qataris can dismantle this cell quickly and prove they are effective, I don't think this will have a great impact on expatriates or tourism," said Mustafa Alani, a terrorism analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.
But if the investigation founders or if attackers strike again soon, "this will undermine credibility. A lot of people will hesitate to come to the Gulf," Alani said.
A Briton, Jonathan Adams, was killed in the suicide car bombing Saturday night. A dozen others, including six Qataris, a Briton, an Eritrean and a Somali, were injured, Qatari officials said.
Qatari authorities identified the charred body of a suicide bomber inside the vehicle as Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali, an Egyptian computer programmer and father of two. The officials said he detonated his explosives-packed car behind the Doha Players Theater during a production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."
Even as an investigation begins, with British and French authorities helping, the attack has brought normally bucolic Qatar into an unappealing club.
Now, only one of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states — the United Arab Emirates — has yet to experience attacks or public crackdowns after thwarted terror plots.
"This will be psychologically unnerving for many people. It shows a serious threat to countries traditionally thought of as safe," Kevin Rosser, an analyst with Control Risks Group, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), has implemented a tough crackdown after suffering terrorist bombings and gunbattles for almost a decade, pushing militants into neighboring countries, including Kuwait, where police have fought running street battles with fundamentalist outlaws. Oman rounded up dozens of suspects this year after uncovering a bomb plot. Bahrain late last year tried a group of men for plotting attacks and having contacts with foreign terrorist groups.
Saturday's bombing in Doha showed the infection of violence has spread there, too.
The blast erupted on the second anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites). Many believe it was launched at the behest of Saleh al-Aoofi, al-Qaida's leader in the Gulf, who urged militants last week to attack "crusaders" throughout the Gulf, including Qatar.
"These groups want to show they can attack any target in any state," Alani said. "They've proved they have sleeping cells in these countries and they can activate them when they want."
Anti-American sentiment — mainly against U.S. foreign policy — is strong in close-knit Qatar, best known as the home of Al-Jazeera TV and the forward headquarters of the U.S. military's Central Command.
But the bombing of a theater packed with civilians, next to a school, may have backfired, undercutting support for anti-Western militants.
"The majority of Qataris sympathize with the fundamentalist movement, including me," said Najeeb al-Nauimi, a prominent lawyer. "But this incident will make us change our minds."
Al-Nauimi said his two sons, ages 9 and 12, boycott American restaurants like McDonald's and Pizza Hut. And, like millions of others in the region, they back bin Laden's battle against U.S. support for Israel and its invasion of Iraq.
But on Sunday, al-Nauimi took his sons to see the theater destroyed in the bombing the day before.
"These people are criminals," al-Nauimi quoted one son as saying.
Al-Nauimi said an attack on a different target, such as the giant U.S. al-Udeid air base in the Gulf state, probably would not have provoked an outcry.
"People would say, 'Ah, the Americans have been attacked.' They won't condemn it," he said.
In November 2001, a Qatari was killed after he fired a Kalashnikov at the U.S. base.
"Everyone called him a martyr," al-Nauimi said. "They said he will go to heaven. But this guy who died in front of the school, he will go to hell."
What's more, the blast could damage Qatar's efforts to build beach resorts and hotels catering to foreigners, diversifying an economy based on its vast reserves of natural gas, said Youssef M. Ibrahim, an oil and political risk analyst who heads Dubai-based Strategic Energy Investment Group.
"If you're an expatriate firm putting people here, you need to factor into your decision the fact that your employees are at risk," Ibrahim said. "That means money: more insurance, more spending on security, more security staff."
Yeah... as if we didn't see this coming. Arab countries blaming the US for their own environment which lets these terrorists flourish. Color me surprised.
Maybe the whole region should convert to Catholicism.
I'm I too believe that muslims don't like the Christians and Jews (sone of pigs and monkeys according too allah) and anyone else not muslim? I AM SHOCKED........
NOT.
" sone " should have been "sons" for the text police out there. :) Hey I'm still a newbie lol
mohammed ibn sharmuta :) :) :)
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