Qatari soldiers in the US and the Pentagon’s new media rules

When Secretary of War—or Defense—Pete Hegseth announced last Friday that the US would allow Qatar to build an air force facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, the response was far from positive. The thought of a foreign nation—particularly one that has not been a reliable ally for very long—building a base on American soil sounded like an unprecedented leap from how America usually operates. 

And, were that description accurate, it would be. Fortunately, that’s not what’s happening.

Hegseth later clarified that “Qatar will not have their own base in the United States—nor anything like a base. We control the existing base, like we do with all partners.”

As Will Kaback described, “Further details make the news seem a lot less alarming than a 150-character push notification might imply. . . . This arrangement is not unprecedented. It’s not common, but it certainly is far from unique.” 

So, what’s actually going on?

The US sold Qatar a contingent of F-15 fighter jets in 2016, and allowing their pilots to train in the continental US was a condition of the purchase. Qatar—which is smaller than the state of Connecticut—does not have the space to adequately train with the jets in its territory, and the topography around the Mountain Home base is the closest fit to what they have back home. 

As such, training there made the most sense, and they were approved to work out of that location in 2022. And while in Idaho, they’ll be training alongside pilots from America, Singapore, and other allies.

The agreement is set to last through at least 2034, though it could be extended further if needed. That puts the Qatari presence at Mountain Home on the same timeline as America’s troops in Qatar after the US renewed its agreement to occupy Al Udeid Air Base for another ten years last January.

Why headlines are dangerous

Ultimately, the announcement about a Qatari presence on American soil is far from the “betrayal” and “abomination” that far-right activist Laura Loomer and others initially described. But that is due more to how it was portrayed in the headlines than because of what Hegseth or the content of the actual articles presented. Still, the headlines were enough to stoke anger and confusion among many, and that points to a much larger problem.

As Micah and Conner discussed earlier this year in the Culture Brief, media bias has been a problem for quite some time, and the companies that deliver news often find greater profits in pandering to a particular audience than by trying to be objective. There are signs that this trend may be shifting, but we’re not there yet. 

To make matters worse, most people who get their news from social media never read beyond the headlines, with as many as 75 percent of those who share posts doing so without ever clicking through to the article. So, when CNN and others use misleading headlines to generate interest in stories like the one above, the ensuing narrative can be challenging to correct.

And it would appear that Hegseth and the Pentagon are tired of trying to do just that. 

“A stranglehold on the free press”

Last month, Hegseth announced that any journalist who wants to maintain access to the Pentagon must sign a statement acknowledging that Defense Department “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.” Moreover, such information will be provided “when there is a lawful governmental purpose for doing so,” and anyone who attempts to attain information by talking directly with Pentagon employees will be in violation of the new rules. 

The policy also warns that service members could be prosecuted for releasing “non-public information” to journalists and reporters. Consequently, were the media to ask for such information, they could be credibly accused of “soliciting DOW (Department of War) service members and civilians to commit crimes.”  

So, while the new policy does not explicitly threaten the media for reporting information that the Pentagon deems unapproved, the implied consequences of crossing that line are dire. As Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley warned, “What they’re basically saying is if you publish anything that’s not in the press release, is not the official statement of the Pentagon, you could be held responsible. . . . That is going to create a stranglehold on the free press. And the cost is too great.”

As such, more than thirty news organizations, ranging from CNN and the New York Times to Fox News and Newsmax, have declined to sign the agreement. And when the deadline passed yesterday afternoon, dozens of reporters turned in their press badges and left in defiance of the new rules. 

It’s unclear how long the Pentagon will maintain this policy or whether media members who refuse to sign it can still perform their jobs without direct access. However, if Hegseth is truly attempting to address the well-earned lack of trust in the media’s reporting, forcing them to choose between the government’s official narrative and sources they cannot adequately verify seems like a pretty awful solution that will only make the problem worse. 

Unfortunately, that tendency to cling to answers that only exacerbate the issues is hardly limited to the Department of War.

The only solution to sin

Our ability to identify a problem matters little if our solution makes it worse. Yet, far too often, we get so wrapped up in finding an answer that we never stop to evaluate whether we’re addressing the real issue until it’s too late. And while we can make that mistake in any area of our lives, one of the most common is in our approach to sin.

Recognizing where we fall short of God’s standard is usually pretty simple. A little self-awareness goes a long way in discerning where we’re most vulnerable to temptation. However, it can be easy to fixate on the symptoms of our sin rather than the root cause, with the result that those roots become even more deeply embedded in our lives.

Jesus spoke to this tendency in the Sermon on the Mount, when he repeatedly focused on the motivations behind our sins as much or more than the actions themselves (Matthew 5:21–48). And his solution echoes what we find in Psalm 51, where David cries out, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). 

As long as our solutions to the sins in our lives focus on what we can do rather than on who God wants us to become, odds are good that those sins will only grow into even bigger problems. We may go through periods where it seems like the issue is solved, but the temptation is likely to return in force unless we partner with the Holy Spirit to truly repent and address the reasons why that temptation held such sway in the first place. 

So, where does the Holy Spirit need to get to work in your life? Are there any sins that just keep coming back, no matter how hard you try to solve them? 

We are blessed to serve a God who knows our hearts and minds well enough to identify the real source of our sins. But he’s not going to fix them for us unless we humbly submit to partner with him in that effort. 

Are you willing to take that step today? 

Quote of the day:

“You cannot make men good by law; and without good men you cannot have a good society.” —C. S. Lewis

Our latest website resources:

• Hostages come home, Super Bowl halftime debate, Nobel Peace Prize, MLB playoffs & NBA and NHL are back! |CB Ep. 41
• Why didn’t God free the hostages two years ago?
• Understanding the AI Bible, assisted suicide, congressional term limits & free speech
• When you don’t want to read your Bible
• Focus on the “i” in the middle