WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 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.
But the news drew a sharp rebuke from close Trump ally and right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, who called the plan “an abomination” and accused the Qataris of being associated with Islamic terror organizations.
“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.
Although Loomer holds no formal position within the Trump administration, her online complaints have a history of achieving results. Her criticisms have led to the firing of officials on the National Security Council, Dr. Vinay Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief, and Gen. Tim Haugh, the head of the National Security Agency.
Qatar would pay for the construction of the new facility, a defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide information not publicly released. When asked for more details, Hegseth’s office said it had nothing to offer beyond the secretary’s remarks.
The announcement comes just days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order vowing to use all measures, including U.S. military action, to defend Qatar, which hosts the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East.
Loomer also criticized that decision, writing “I don’t want to die for Qatar. Do you?” on social media. However, she was not alone.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board also questioned the pledge, writing that “this is a decision that can be and should have been debated.
“Instead it comes out of the blue — an executive order following no public debate,” the board wrote.
The small, gas-rich country played a key role in negotiating the most recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas aimed at ending the war in Gaza, as well as in several other key negotiations. Doha, the capital of Qatar, came under surprise attack from Israel last month as members of Hamas were in the city last month to discuss a ceasefire.
Qatar also lavished a $400 million jumbo jet on Trump for use as Air Force One.
However, the Qataris’ connection with U.S. military aviation predates these more recent developments.
In 2020, the U.S. Air Force announced it has signed a deal with Qatar for the sale of more than 35 F-15 fighter jets.
An Air Force environmental study, completed two years later, revealed that Mountain Home Air Force Base was proposing building a facility that would house 12 Qatari F-15 jets and about 300 additional Qatari and U.S. Air Force personnel.
While the U.S. military has a long history of training pilots for allied countries, the practice received scrutiny in 2019 following a deadly mass shooting at Pensacola Naval Air Station that killed three U.S. service members and wounded several others.
The shooter, Mohammad Saeed Al-Shamrani, was a Saudi Air Force officer who was training at the Pensacola base. The FBI said he was linked to the al-Qaida extremist group and had been in contact with it before the shooting.
In the wake of the shooting, the U.S. sent home 21 other Saudi military students after an investigation revealed each had expressed jihadist or anti-American sentiments on social media pages or had “contact with child pornography,” including in internet chat rooms, according to officials at the time. However, the U.S. continued to train Saudi pilots.
Loomer referenced the incident in her social media posts on Friday. “Why are we trying to train more Muslims how to fly planes on US soil? Didn’t we already learn our lesson?,” she wrote on social media.
