Qatari Image Campaign Visits the White House

The Emir of Qatar visits the White House on Tuesday, his meeting with President Trump coming amid what many are calling “an expensive image campaign.” The American Jewish community, for instance, is divided by whether its public figures should be accepting free trips to the emirate that clearly benefit Qatar at no cost to the Qataris except for an awful lot of [expendable] dollars while the willing travelers try to convince their constituents that their journey changed the course of discourse. Cynics aside, it was less than one year ago when Qatar’ neighbors in the Gulf accused the emirate of supporting terror and began a program of isolating it by cutting off landing rights for it airlines and curtailing many other means of economic intercourse. The “angry neighbors’” rhetoric sounded like recordings of candidate Trump campaign speeches. But while attempts for a rapprochement in the Gulf have proven fruitless, the atmosphere at the White House has warmed up considerably. On Tuesday, the President and the Emir have a working lunch scheduled during which they might review the $300 million in weapons including high-explosive warheads and laser-guided rockets the administration told Congress this week it is approving. Supporters of the warm-up-to-Qatar policy urge eyes to remain fixed on the importance of building a strong regional front to fight Iran.