Qatar Training Pilots in Idaho is a Tempest in a Teapot

I’m writing less about flight than faith.

I was on-air as the deal between Qatar and the United States was being announced. I could see it on the TV monitor on the wall. It caught me by surprise, as it did many of you. My first thought after I finished my show was, “What the heck are Trump and Hegseth thinking?” Qatar has been a fair-weather friend; sometimes, we’re told they’ve supported terrorist outfits and also provided military assistance to the United States. It’s the former that has a lot of people jacked up.

I had an immediate emotional response. Then I did what I normally do. I started reading details from as many sources as I could find. First, our military has deals with many countries around the world to allow training at our installations. Especially if the countries buy our military hardware. Qatar qualifies on that count. Two, our country has often made shifting alliances. The Soviet Union in World War II. Saudi Arabia and Syria in the First Gulf War. After 9-11, Libya funneled intelligence to Washington.

The Conspiracy Theories Dominate Social Media

So why the alarm about Qatar? Some posts I’ve seen online say that the President is making deals because Qatar gave him a new plane. I find that a little simplistic, and I find the conspiracy theorists and paranoids making that connection a little too simplistic. Or they’re people looking to score some personal political points. If it's the latter, then are some people more concerned about personal gain than our nation's future?

The Washington Post is no friend of Donald Trump, and this weekend, the paper published an exposé about how Qatar and other Arab nations have been working behind the scenes for several years with the United States and Israel. Because all parties detest Iran, and as the Arabs try to modernize their countries, Israel is a good business partner. Oh, and terrorists depress tourist travel. Trump has argued all along that hotels, beaches, and golf courses will lift all Arab boats.

I believe the other aspect is the red flag that goes up when people hear “Muslim”. I shouldn’t be surprised, as I see many of the same people constantly attacking each other over what it means to be a Christian. “I am and you’re not!” “I’m going to heaven and you’re going to hell!” We aren’t burning each other at the stake, but like politics, we’re devolving into tribal camps. I don’t really care where you worship, as long as you don’t play loud music at 2:00 a.m., don’t let your dog use my grass as a toilet, and please leave me alone. I try to stay out of my neighbor’s path, and I expect the same treatment from others.

We Worry About Foreign Elements When Battling Ourselves

Furthermore, I’m also amazed at the boiling rage I see when someone sees that their faith is questioned. If your faith is solid, what’s the issue? And for all the people who bristle at criticism, they’re just as nasty in some cases when they’re claiming other denominations are filled with apostates. Frankly, I don’t care what you think about my relationship with the Almighty. What I do care about is protecting my state’s so-called abortion ban at the ballot box next year. But if we devolve into burning each other at the stake, we’re not going to present a unified front. It’s a bit like the unified front being established to stop the homicidal Iranian regime.

Bill Colley

I’m not looking to force anyone to share my beliefs. If I wanted to convert you, I would pray. I’m told it’s a powerful tool. An old friend is a theologian. He began his relationship with God as a Presbyterian, then moved on to Roman Catholicism. Now he’s a deacon in the Byzantine Rite, the equivalent of a Protestant pastor. If you click here, you can read a homily he delivered two weeks ago. He concludes by asking, then answering, how we can live our faith.

Time to Cool Down and See the Real Opposition

By the way, it doesn’t require a cudgel. Just some reasonable people who don’t react by picking up a stick and smacking every challenge they face. We’re living in a time when people take the warfare part of spiritual warfare literally, and every story they see about preparing for literal war is a conspiracy to subvert our fading way of life. It’s fading not because some tiny foreign country will train over Bruneau Canyon, but because of our internal divisions. At my sister’s Baptist Church, they sing, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me…

It doesn’t mean we’re patsies, but we can lead by example.

A similar version of this essay appeared at Substack