U.S. Embassy Doha Closure and Re-opening
At approximately 9:00 a.m, on May 18 a suspicious powder was discovered at the U. S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar. The suspicious substance is being sent to a laboratory for analysis. Until the results are received and a determination is made that the substance does not pose health or safety risks, the Embassy will be temporarily closed to the public. All visa appointments and routine American citizen services will be postponed until the incident is resolved. The U.S. Embassy will immediately inform the American community and the public at large in a warden message and Embassy public announcement when the Embassy reopens.
The Embassy's consular section will remain available to provide emergency services to American citizens while the Embassy is closed. If you are an American citizen and need emergency assistance please call 496-6000.
-------------------------------------------------------
Just saw this and figured I'd post as an fyi/in case anyone had heard anything.
Update from US Embassy (thanks Treysdad): U.S. Embassy to Re-Open on Tuesday, May 19.
The U.S. Embassy in Doha will re-open tomorrow morning, Tuesday, May 19, for all services. Testing of the suspicious powder determined that the substance does not pose a health or safety risk. The Consular Section will be open to provide services to all American citizens and visa applicants who scheduled appointments for tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19.
updated by mod : also being reported online : http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3717931,00.html
Abuimad - if it's anything like UK embassy you can register online!
Point of record ... there have been many documented instances of whole cities in the US being locked down over 'suspicious white powder' that turned out to be a trail laid in flour by those pesky Hash House Harriers :o)
SOP in any US government office. It's called protecting their employees on the off chance the threat is real.
Paul - they published it on their own website.
I expect the embassy will be delighted to know that the public have now been informed that sprinkling a little flour here or there is all that is required to shut the place down for a while.
Stone Cold - Al Qaeda is already in Qatar. I seem to recall that the Kingdom of Yemen Honey shop is on a US list of suspected money-laundering operations, years ago one of the local charities was closed on suspicion of supplying arms to the Chechens, a prominent Qatari official is suspected of tipping off the Al Qaeda No2 when the US was about to capture him here so he was able to escape, there is another Qatari of very elevated birth who is an Al Qaeda fighter, whom Osama is supposed to have down as a replacement Emir once the Caliphate comes, brothers. You can probably find it all on the Internet.
does it take time to register in the embassy ?
Yes, that's good advice.
True tallg, and anyone who may potentially use it today will find it OPEN :-)
And yes, it's a point of interest.
But I would still encourage US citizens to register with the Embassy, and also visit their website for information.
The closure of any embassy pertains to anyone who may potentially have been going to use it, not just the citizens of that country. Plus it seems that not everyone got the warden message.
And even if it is obsolete, it's still a point of interest to know that an incident like this happened. That's why it's in a lot of the news sources this morning.
But by the time djones posted this, it was already obsolete. It implied that the Embassy was closed today, which it is not.
Most Warden messages don't contain information that pertains to non-US citizens.
That's why it's best for US citizens to register with the Embassy to get accurate information rather than coming to QL and sifting through the rumors and incorrect info.
I disagree. It's good to post this information on QL (but you should include your source!), for two reasons;
1) Obviously people didn't get the warden message (see deedee's comment above).
2) It's useful for non-americans to know the embassy is closed
Plus the information was already in the public domain anyway.
See treysdad's post.
Djones, QatarLiving is probably not the best place to be posting US Embassy warden messages. US citizens who are registered with the Embassy will receive all Warden messages.
Looking for further information here will likely only result in creating rumors.
US citizens residing in Qatar who are NOT registered may do so by visiting the Embassy website.
http://qatar.usembassy.gov/
Follow the link to Citizen Services.
will you just stop surfing around and get your bum here to qatar soon :/
Better to be safe than sorry!
well, as they think they are WORLD'S policeman so that's why each and every country needs them for their protection. That's why they have to extra extra careful about thei health
lolzzzzzzzzzz
the-birdie - see the link in treysdad's comment above.
how can we tell this to any friends, who are planning to visit the embassy for their visa procedures?
what is the authenticity of the source
DJones - always post your source!
treysdad - that's about the best source you could have found to verify it's authenticity!
U.S. Embassy to Re-Open on Tuesday, May 19.
The U.S. Embassy in Doha will re-open tomorrow morning, Tuesday, May 19, for all services. Testing of the suspicious powder determined that the substance does not pose a health or safety risk. The Consular Section will be open to provide services to all American citizens and visa applicants who scheduled appointments for tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19.
SOURCE: US EMBASSY DOHA, QATAR WEBSITE
http://qatar.usembassy.gov/
Click for FilExpats Group (50 pts. for approval)
Where did you see this? I have not received any warden notice so until I do I doubt it's authenticity. Please post your source.
and they just shut down so they could party for a few days. :P
White powder? As precedence, are we now expecting the presence of Al Qaeda in Qatar?
Americans are so super sensitive.
I will hoist that up the flag pole and see who salutes it!!