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The US military is moving ahead with plans to build a dedicated facility in Idaho to train pilots from Qatar, a key US ally. middle eastSecretary of Defense pete hegseth The announcement was made on Friday.
Hegseth, who made the announcement during a visit by Qatar’s defense minister, said the facility to be built at Mountain Home Air Force Base “will host a contingent of Qatari “The F-15 and pilots will enhance our joint training, increase lethality, interoperability.”
The arrangement is not unusual. pentagon Officials noted that similar facilities have been established for other allies for decades, and the Idaho base already hosts a fighter squadron from Singapore.
But this news was sharply criticized by Trump’s close associate and right-wing influential person. Laura Loomerwho called the plan “disgusting” and accused the Qataris of being linked to Islamic terrorist organizations.
“No foreign country should have a military base on American soil. Especially Islamic countries,” Loomer wrote in one of several social media posts just hours after Hegseth’s announcement.
Although Loomer holds no formal position in the Trump administration, her online complaints have a history of getting results. His criticisms led to the firing of National Security Council officials, Dr. Vinay Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief, and Gen. Tim Haw, the head of the National Security Agency.
Qatar will pay for the construction of the new facility, said a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide information not released publicly. Asked for more information, Hegseth’s office said it had nothing to offer beyond the secretary’s comments.
The announcement comes just days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order vowing to use all measures, including US military action, to protect Qatar, which hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East.
Loomer also criticized that decision, writing, “I don’t want to die for Qatar. Do you want to die?” On social media. However, she was not alone.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board also questioned the pledge, writing that “This is a decision that can and should be debated.
“Instead it comes out of the blue – an executive order without any public debate,” the board wrote.
The small, gas-rich country played a key role in the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as well as several other major negotiations aimed at ending the war in Gaza. Qatar’s capital Doha was suddenly attacked by Israel last month as Hamas members were in the city to discuss a ceasefire last month.
Qatar also cost Trump a $400 million jumbo jet for use as Air Force One.
However, the Qataris’ relationship with US military aviation predates even these recent developments.
In 2020, the US Air Force announced that it had signed a deal with Qatar for the sale of more than 35 F-15 fighter aircraft.
An Air Force environmental study completed two years later revealed that Mountain Home Air Force Base was proposing to build a facility that would house 12 Qatari F-15 jets and approximately 300 additional Qatari and US Air Force personnel.
While the U.S. military has a long history of training pilots for allies, the practice came under scrutiny after a deadly mass shooting at Pensacola Naval Air Station in 2019 that killed three U.S. service members and injured several others.
The shooter, Mohammed Saeed al-Shamrani, was a Saudi Air Force officer training at the Pensacola base. The FBI said he was affiliated with the al-Qaeda extremist group and was in contact with it before the shooting.
In the wake of the shootings, the U.S. sent home 21 other Saudi military students after an investigation found that each had expressed jihadist or anti-American sentiments on social media pages or had “contact with child pornography,” including in Internet chat rooms, according to officials at the time. However, the US continued to train Saudi pilots.
Loomer mentioned the incident in his social media post on Friday. He wrote on social media, “Why are we trying to get more Muslims to fly training on American soil? Haven’t we already learned our lesson?”