The following statement was issued by our courageous Idaho Republican State Rep. Heather Scott (heather@heatherscott.org) this week:
“Something significant is happening in our own backyard and most Idahoans weren’t even asked. A Qatar-funded military facility is being built at Mountain Home Air Force Base, about 50 miles southeast of Boise. This project is being presented as a simple training partnership, but the reality is far more serious and deserves honest conversation.
Qatar is paying for the construction and long-term maintenance of the training facility as part of a ten-year agreement with the U.S. military. The base will house twelve Qatar F-15 fighter jets and around 300 Qatar military personnel. Local companies will handle the construction, but control of the base will remain with the U.S. Air Force.
Idaho State Rep. Heather Scott
This all stems from Qatar’s 2017 purchase of 36 U.S. fighter jets and growing military cooperation between the two nations. What hasn’t been part of the story is public input. Idahoans weren’t consulted. We weren’t given a choice.
Partnering with Qatar is not like partnering with Canada or Norway. There are extreme fundamental differences in ideology, culture, governance and behavior between Middle Eastern Islamic nations that support Hamas and the United States.
This isn’t just about building a few hangars or training pilots. It’s about allowing a foreign government with a deeply controversial record to operate within our state.
Qatar is not just any foreign partner. It has a long history of ties to organizations such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Just before the October 7th attack on Israel, Qatar gave $30 million to Hamas.
The country also spends billions influencing U.S. universities and media, shaping public opinion and politics. This is not a neutral relationship and whoever thinks it is, is short sighted or willing to sell the US out.
Beyond the geopolitical concerns, there are practical local impacts. Mountain Home is already short on housing for American personnel, and adding hundreds more foreign personnel will only increase the strain. And there is a big difference between western and middle eastern culture.
In September, 2025, an executive order was signed stating that an attack on Qatar would be treated as an attack on the United States. Meanwhile, Idahoans who have strongly supported President Trump in the last three elections, have spent years asking Washington D.C. to focus on our communities, our economy, and our infrastructure. Instead, we are getting Qatar fighter pilots training in Idaho. A pretty weak rallying cry for “Make America Great Again” and not much of a deal for Idaho.
To me, this doesn’t look like “America First.” It looks like global politics being dropped into a conservative state that values its independence and security. Idaho has always stood strong for local control and state sovereignty. Allowing foreign governmentstied to terror funding to operate inside our borders weakens that sovereignty and sets a dangerous precedent for the future.
This is not about being against Middle Eastern peace. It’s about protecting our traditional American values, our heritage, our communities, our state and our country. It’s about making sure that American safety comes before foreign interests. Qatar funds terror, influences our institutions, and seeks political leverage in the United States. They should not be building military infrastructure in Idaho or anywhere else within our US borders.
Rep. Scott is risking the wrath of Donald Trump due to her dissent. Witness his disparagement of patriot Thomas Massie, the GOP’s America-First Kentucky Congressman. Trump has besmirched him as “a third rate GRANDSTANDER…‘lightweight’ Massie…a totally ineffective LOSER…a RINO at best,” who should be thrown out of the Republican Party.
Massie drew Trump’s ire for being among the handful of House Republicans who seek to force the public release of all case files on the sex trafficking of the late Jeffrey Epstein. Rep. Massie is also calling for an end to all U.S. military aid to Israel. Zionist billionaire Miriam Adelson has donated large sums to defeat Massie and appears to be determined to spend more.
Heather’s instincts are sound, but her quick resort to painting Qatar in stereotypical “terrorism” hues pleasing to Israeli propaganda, leaves a meteorite-sized hole in her credibility.
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