Hardly anyone in the US has heard of Qatar, and many, wrongly, lump all Arab countries as hotbeds of US-hating terrorists.
Now, thanks to this idiot diplomat, anyone who sees this story will associate Qatar with terrorism. Clearly, anyone who reads the story will see that this guy was simply arrogant and acted in poor taste, but most people do not read beyond the headline. Moreover, when people do read the whole story a point that jumps out at them is that the diplomatic was returning from visiting a genuine Qatari terrorist. Most Americans will not realize that such visits are routinely done as consular services of virtually every embassy around the world.
I have already received about a dozen email from people in the US and Canada asking about the safety situation here in response to this story.
It just takes a little story like this to derail years of progress towards a strong international standing--i.e. sadly this will get far more publicity in the general American press than anything like the Doha Debates or the good work being done by the people at Reach out to Asia.
I hope this guy is severely reprimanded by his superiors and learns his lesson.
This is horrible PR for Qatar.
Hardly anyone in the US has heard of Qatar, and many, wrongly, lump all Arab countries as hotbeds of US-hating terrorists.
Now, thanks to this idiot diplomat, anyone who sees this story will associate Qatar with terrorism. Clearly, anyone who reads the story will see that this guy was simply arrogant and acted in poor taste, but most people do not read beyond the headline. Moreover, when people do read the whole story a point that jumps out at them is that the diplomatic was returning from visiting a genuine Qatari terrorist. Most Americans will not realize that such visits are routinely done as consular services of virtually every embassy around the world.
I have already received about a dozen email from people in the US and Canada asking about the safety situation here in response to this story.
It just takes a little story like this to derail years of progress towards a strong international standing--i.e. sadly this will get far more publicity in the general American press than anything like the Doha Debates or the good work being done by the people at Reach out to Asia.
I hope this guy is severely reprimanded by his superiors and learns his lesson.