You got it all mixed up, Mr Ambassador Wednesday, 23 March 2011 02:47

Diplomats do often get things wrong. And US diplomats more often than not, if Washington’s policies in the Middle East are any indication. The September 2008 US diplomatic cable from Doha leaked by WikiLeaks and reported by Reuters yesterday, therefore, is no surprise.

It makes two points: That Qatar (with “… more money than it knows what to do with it” as the cable puts it) was being avaricious in seeking huge amounts from international oil companies in donations to finance the Sidra Medical Centre project and that the project’s Chair H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser had begun “to exert influence outside of her traditional lane of social/educational issues”.

The embassy also said that in this case Qatar had “badly miscalculated” ostensibly because “none of the US IOCs (international oil companies are considering donations ..” for fear of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

True, Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world and does not need foreign aid for development projects in its own land. And it definitely knows how to spend its riches. From reconstruction projects in war-devastated Lebanon to Darfur and humanitarian aid from Tsunami-hit Indonesia to flood-hit Pakistan and even hurricane-hit New Orleans in the US are testimony to that. But that’s not the point. The point is whether Qatar has a right to the social responsibility bucks that these corporations so proudly flaunt about?

The huge amount, between $1bn and $1.7bn (according to the cable), will not look so huge if you look at the massive operations these companies have in the country and if you look at the outlay of the project for which the Qatar Foundation has set up a $8bn endowment. And that when Qatar is asking its own corporations to spend at least 2.5 percent of their income on socially beneficial projects. And interestingly among the companies the then QP chairman purportedly asked for contribution is Q-Chem.

As to the project’s nature, it clearly is both educational and social. And what’s wrong if Sheikha Moza were to take up projects outside these spheres. The Arab world looks at her as a role model and Qatar is justly proud of her.

The Peninsula