Back in July, I wrote a piece on Dana Shell Smith’s Qatari connections and her role advising Senator Kamala Harris.
Now Dr. Oren Litwin of Islamist Watch has completed a methodically researched piece that raises serious questions about Smith’s Qatari ties.
Following the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Smith raised eyebrows when she objected on Twitter to President Trump’s pitiless description of Baghdadi’s death. She wrote: “This gruesome, vivid and probably exaggerated description of dogs chasing down Baghdadi will endanger our personnel in the region. … When bin Laden was killed, we were careful to be clear that he had been given a proper Muslim burial.”
As Litwin notes, Qatar has extensive connections to Islamic terrorists and Smith to Qatar.
Canadian businessman Alan Bender went further. Bender, who had spoken with high-level Qatari officials, said that Smith was being paid by Qatar through her consulting firm Decibel Strategy LLC — which Bender described as “her fake company in the U.S.” (The company has no public presence and does not describe its clients or services.)
Smith is not the only former diplomat to be working for Qatar’s interests. Even if we stick to public data, several former ambassadors have gone so far as to openly take Qatari money.
The list is impressive. Former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar (1995–1998) Patrick Theros was the long-serving president of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, and also was one of the first board members of Qatar Foundation International. Amb. Chase Untermeyer (2004–2007) did business consulting for U.S. firms operating in Qatar before becoming the founding chairman of the Qatar-America Institute in 2017. And Amb. Joseph LeBaron (2008–2011) is now vice chair of Daruna, a firm providing housing for migrant workers in Qatar and the chairman of which is Qatari royal family member Shaikh Nasser Al-Thani; LeBaron also became a senior advisor to Squire Patton Boggs, which has lobbied for Qatar since 1994.
Qatar is currently the biggest player in Sunni Islamic terrorism in the region. From Hamas to the Taliban, Qatar is always there. And yet the Democrats, who won’t stop talking about other countries, always defer to and never criticize Qatar.
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