Exclusive talk with Qatar's foreign minister
By Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer Reports
DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- He may be the only person in the world who has met recently with both Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- underscoring Qatar's unique position in the Persian Gulf.
Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim, says when he met in Baghdad with Saddam Hussein in August he emerged convinced that the Iraqi leader would comply with U.N. weapons inspectors. "I believe the guy when he sits with me and he says that he doesn't have any weapons."
In an exclusive interview with me at his residence here in Doha, the foreign minister said Saddam Hussein fully understands the consequences of not complying. And he dismissed the notion of Iraqi cooperation with Osama bin Laden -- citing the fundamentalist Islamism of al Qaeda and the secularism of Saddam Hussein. "I cannot see the link between Iraq and al Qaeda. I know the mentality of the Ba'ath regime is different than al Qaeda."
Earlier in the week, the Qatari foreign minister and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld signed a military pact expanding U.S. access to the sprawling al Udeid air base in Qatar. The U.S. military is currently conducting war games at the nearby As Saliyah military base.
Though he opposes unilateral U.S. military action against Iraq and regime change, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim says it's in Qatar's best interest to cooperate militarily with the United States. "We need this. The Americans need something from us and we need something from them."
But he also acknowledged the down side. "How concerned are you, if you are concerned, that because of your progressive policies -- your support of the U.S. -- that your country, your people could become the target of al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations," I asked him during our interview.
"This is possible. This is possible," he replied. "Things could happen here or anywhere else, but we believe in what we are doing."
