US to Train Qatari Pilots Out of Mountain Home Air Force Base

The U.S. military is moving forward with plans to build a dedicated facility in Idaho to train pilots from Qatar, an important U.S. ally in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday.

Hegseth, who made the announcement during a visit by Qatar’s defense minister, said the facility to be built at the Mountain Home Air Force Base, at Qatar expense, would “host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase the lethality, interoperability.”

The arrangement is not unusual. Pentagon officials noted that similar facilities have been set up for other allies for decades, and the Idaho base already hosts a fighter squadron from Singapore.

Influencer Laura Loomer is unhappy.

“No foreign country should have a military base on US soil. Especially Islamic countries,” Loomer wrote in one of several social media posts just hours after Hegseth’s announcement.

The US does share bases with Islamists as in Iraq. Hopefully, Qatar is giving up its terrorist ways. Perhaps Trump is looking for them to sign The Abraham Accords.

The new facility will provide Qatar with strategic flexibility to operate and sustain their advanced fighter aircraft, fostering stronger defense partnerships and enhancing joint operational capabilities.

President Trump is looking for the Middle East to be rebuilt as more prosperous and peace loving.

To be fair, Qatar has worked well with the US lately. However, they have funded and provided other support to Hamas and The Muslim Brotherhood, which needs to be banned because they are terrorists. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have already designated them a terror organization.

President Trump thinks out of the box and he is usually right.