It was typical of Qatar that in April at a democracy forum it should host Tzipi Livni, then Israeli foreign minister and, almost immediately afterwards, Khalid Mishaal, a leader of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that is an implacable enemy of the Jewish state.
No one, it seems, is beyond the pale. The small emirate hosts a massive US airbase at al-Udaid from which operations over Iraq are conducted at the same time as it provides a platform for Yusef al-Qaradawi, an influential but hardline Egyptian cleric watched by millions on the al-Jazeera satellite channel.
