BYLINE: Paul Blustein and Dana Milbank | The Washington Post
Members of Congress planning to attend a World Trade Organization meeting in Qatar next week have received classified briefings warning that terrorist cells may be operating in the Persian Gulf country, according to people familiar with the briefings.
Reflecting the anxiety about security risks Americans may face at the meeting, the sources said, members of the U.S. delegation have been told in the briefings that upon landing in Doha, Qatar's capital, they will receive emergency gear including a gas mask and medical supplies, along with a radio device that could be used for communication if people are evacuated to a ship offshore.
The briefings were arranged by the Bush administration, although the U.S. trade representative's office would not say who provided them. The information has appalled some of the attendees, including one congressional staffer, who said: "You've got to wonder if the guys making the call [about holding the meeting in Qatar] have actually read the intelligence reports." The briefings, which were also provided to administration officials and a small number of business executives serving on official advisory committees, have prompted several members of the House of Representatives to drop out, according to Capitol Hill sources. A handful are still planning to go, including Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.), ranking minority member of the panel's trade subcommittee.
No senators are planning to go. Several who are deeply involved in trade issues, including Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Hagel (R-Neb.), have changed their minds about attending, although their offices cited reasons other than the briefings. Three Cabinet members expect to go -- Robert B. Zoellick, the U.S. trade representative; Donald L. Evans, the commerce secretary; and Ann M. Veneman, the agriculture secretary.
The Nov. 9-13 meetings are aimed at launching a new round of global negotiations to lower trade barriers, a goal that eluded the WTO's 142-member nations the last time their trade ministers gathered two years ago in Seattle, where anti-globalization protests disrupted the session. Zoellick and other administration officials have put top priority on holding a successful meeting on time, to demonstrate the international community's commitment to cooperation and openness. Qatar was chosen in part because, as a remote and highly stable oil emirate, it seemed safe from disruption.
After the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon and the start of the bombing in Afghanistan, U.S. trade officials and their counterparts in a number of other countries publicly discussed plans to move the meeting to Singapore or Switzerland. But it was kept in Doha after officials in Qatar, an important member of the coalition against terrorism, objected to the proposed change. The U.S. delegation, which was once planned to include more than 150 people, was reduced by about two-thirds, and dozens of business executives also canceled plans to attend.
At least some of the classified briefings included slides showing a suspected terrorist with expertise in truck bombing who was believed to have entered Qatar in recent months, according to sources. The officials conducting the briefings also cited evidence that, while Qatar's leadership is friendly to Washington, some anti-American Islamic fundamentalists have infiltrated the ranks of the country's military.
One of the fears cited by the briefers was the possibility of an airplane attacking or crashing into the conference center. As a result, Washington is discussing with Qatar authorities the need to maintain anti-aircraft weapons near the meeting site, and to have U.S. Navy ships nearby in Doha's port, the people familiar with the briefings said.
A spokesman for the trade representative's office declined to comment on the briefings. "We will not publicly discuss our security precautions," he said.
Word of the briefings has aroused anger among a number of business executives and representatives of nongovernmental organizations who have planned to attend the meeting. Many of them have received an unclassified briefing from Zoellick's aides that warned of risks but only in very general terms. U.S. journalists assigned to cover the meeting have not been briefed at all.
"The government is choosing not to share this information widely, and God help them if anything happens to the people" who aren't being fully briefed, said one industry official. "I think that in the absence of information, people are probably both more worried and less worried than they should be. I've been to Qatar; it's a very quiet, safe place. But because of the absence of this kind of information, and because it's an Arab country, there may be a tendency to be too worried -- or perhaps there are risks that we aren't aware of."
Non-governmental group representatives directed much of their anger at Vice President Cheney, who held a phone conversation with Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Thani, about 10 days ago that apparently put to rest any possibility of moving the meeting. Cheney has a relationship with the emir from the Persian Gulf War.
Administration officials said Cheney simply reiterated the administration's position, that the U.S. delegation would attend wherever the meeting was held, and if the WTO deemed Qatar to be safe, so be it. Because the WTO operates by consensus, Qatar effectively held veto power over changing the decision to hold the meeting in Doha.
"There was no need to intervene because it was not our decision," said Mary Matalin, a top Cheney adviser. "Our position had been from the beginning that if they felt they could secure the conference, and they decide to host it there, we will come."
During Cheney's conversation, the emir assured him that security was under control, a senior White House official said.BYLINE: Paul Blustein and Dana Milbank:
