We’ll be there, Mr Obama Tuesday, 19 April 2011 01:27

Sitting in my hotel room in Seoul where I am on an official trip, I could not resist commenting on US President Barack Obama’s off-the-record comments after speaking to political donors in Chicago about the Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, whom he had met in Washington earlier in the day. Those comments were made after a question and answer session with reporters when the mike was still on and was recorded by CBS news.

There has been a lot of brouhaha about that over the Internet. Essentially, Obama did praise the Emir’s role in the democratic development in the region as he had done earlier at the White House in those comments. What he added was that he was not impressed by the pace of democratic progress in Qatar itself.

Now, Mr President we all agree in Qatar and in the Middle East at large, that our Emir is indeed an influential voice and supports what he feels, and most of us find, is in the best interest of Arab people even when the many governments in the region don’t like it. That’s clearly evident in the case of Libya. But look around and you will find Qatar playing a vital role in efforts to bring peace and help people in different nations.

We strongly believe that change and democracy should come from within and should never be imported or we will have what happened in Iraq. Maybe in Qatar, our pace is slow but we have no doubt we are in the right direction. We are sure that we will achieve all that we have set for in our Vision 2030, likely eight years ahead when you come for World Cup 2022. We believe Qatar is on the learning curve and we are making progress in practising democracy — from media to public debate and education.  

True, we do not have party labels and a representative house but all Qataris are one party behind the Emir and parliament, that will come sooner than later. That’s a commitment made by the Emir. What we have achieved in the last 10 years is a clear evidence what our vision is and where we are headed.

Mr President, we have often written about US foreign policy having double standards and being unmindful of the process of the change in Middle East. We do not want US to export democracy to us because we don’t want to repeat the Iraq experience. But be assured, we can build our own process.