Qatar is probably playing it shrewd (typical Arabs). Qatar hosted the United States when we launched our invasion of Iraq. We still have a sizeable presence in Qatar and are friendly towards Qatar. It appears that Qatar is also paying protection money to al Qaeda. If the United States crushes al Qaeda then it won't matter that Qatar paid al Qaeda some protection money. If the United States fails and al Qaeda sets up some medieval Caliphate in the Middle East then (in theory) the crocodile will eat Qatar last. The fallacy with this strategy is the folks running al Qaeda are rabid animals. They'll attack Qatar no matter how much protection money is paid out. Of course Qatar may also have a policy of killing off radical mullahs and supressing militant madressas within Qatar. Their support for al Qaeda maybe purely for its activities outside of Qatar (weakens predatory neighbors). Don't you love the Middle East?

Gary