At the end of September, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that the "United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States."
A few months earlier, he had accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One.
Earlier this month, War Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked Qatar for the role it played in the peace talks between Israel and Hamas and announced that a new Qatari Air Force facility will be built at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho's Elmore County to house a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots.
Derek Jones, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, was stationed at the Idaho base when he was an Air Force fighter pilot. Knowing what the pilots will learn, he approves of the idea of them having access to "some great training for the aircraft by high quality personnel."
"Having been an instructor to foreign nationals, we don't always teach everything we know," Jones relays. "We certainly teach enough to where they still become predictable to us, even if they become our adversary at some point."
He says Iran is a perfect example.
"We have to remember, prior to the Ayatollah unseating the Shah of Iran, we were providing their training," Jones notes. "They had a close relationship. They had Tomcats. They had some of our equipment, and they were trained in the U.S."
He says no one ever questioned whether the United States would be able to exact full force "with devastation upon them" should they turn, "which we've proved over and over again in recent years."
Jones adds that the U.S. must have some military alliances.
Considering the facts and his own experience, he does not have a problem with this partnership with Qatar.
