Hegseth Slammed By Critics For 'Clarification' On Qatar Deal: 'That's Not What You Said'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post

Oct 11, 2025, 06:10 PM EDT | Updated 10 hours ago


Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an “Important clarification” on Friday after enraging many in MAGA with the claim that Qatar, which gifted President Donald Trump a $400 million luxury jet earlier this year, will get its own airbase on American soil. “The U.S. military has a long-standing partnership w/ Qatar, including today’s announced cooperation w/ F-15QA aircraft,” he clarified on X. “However, to be clear, Qatar will not have their own base in the United States—nor anything like it.” Hegseth continued, “We control the existing base, like we do with all partners.”

Critics on social media were quick to note that Hegseth announced the complete opposite during a press conference at the Pentagon earlier that day, however, while seated next to Qatar’s Minister of Defense, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani. “I’m also proud that today we’re announcing we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emeri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho,” said Hegseth at the time. “The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots.” Hegseth added at the time that this will “enhance our combined training, increase lethality” and “interoperability” between nations.

Longtime Trump ally Laura Loomer expressed outrage over Qatar being a majority Muslim nation with a spotty track record. While numerous other conservative voices decried the apparent partnership for allowing any foreign nation to host their jets on U.S. soil, different countries have long had their military aircraft stationed in America as part of longstanding training agreements with the U.S.

Many critics appeared most frustrated at Hegseth’s inability to issue a consistent message. “But that’s not what you said there,” wrote one user on X who shared footage of Hegseth’s initial claim, with another person asking: “So they will not have a base, but they will have a base? So they’ll have a base but the US will be guarding it is basically what you’re saying.”

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-hegseth-slammed-mixed-messages-qatar-air-force-deal_n_68eab01ce4b0603b42c6ac87

[OldBaldy1701E]

1. He will say anything to keep from saying the truth.

"We did this because the Qataris are very good at kissing Dear Leader's ass."

Yeah, by 'gifting' him a jet that no one else in the world wanted. Everyone else knows that this thing is a white elephant.

[Abnredleg]

3. This is for a $12 billion F15 sale approved by Obama in 2016

And signed during the Trump administration. It’s a routine training agreement, similar to what we’ve offered by others.

You’re correct about 747, however - pure sleaze.

https://www.defenseone.com/business/2016/10/us-allows-qatar-buy-f-15s-and-seals-19b-sale-jetliners/132249/

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. "It's a routine training agreement."

That is not how Kegseth described it.

(I am not saying that he is correct, I am just saying that he did not describe this as 'routine training agreement'.)

[Abnredleg]

7. Those are my terms

And I use them because a training package is a routine part of all major arms sales. In this case, the agreement mirrors the one we signed with Singapore, where we built a training facility for them at Mountain Home AFB when we sold them F15s. The Qatar training facility will be built on the same flight line as Singapore’s. They are built by the US, and controlled by the US.

We have similar agreements with other countries, and they have been training in the US for decades.

[mdbl]

12. You speak as though these assholes in charge today know this should be how it goes

But they don't. We'll see when it's all said and done if they are trustworthy with past precedent or if they turn it into a major fuck-up compromising our security. I expect that latter now.

[Lonestarblue]

2. Yet the MAGA cult said nothing during Trump's first term about Saudi Arabia taking over our largest refinery.

Saudi Arabia owned half of the Port Arthur refinery and bought full control in 2017, I assume with Trump’s blessing. Today the Saudis control the largest refinery in the US. Given our reliance of gasoline, they have a very large influence over the US economy, but the nuts like Loomer don’t even mention it.

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Saudi-Arabias-Texas-Refinery-Just-Made-a-Power-Move.html

[Paladin]

4. "Interoperability." Wow---8 syllables.

trump's English translation team better brace themselves...

[BComplex]

5. So whose pocket got lined in gold for allowing this to come about?

And doesn't this need congressional approval? And how do our generals feel about having a foreign country put an air base in the United States?

[Abnredleg]

8. The F15 sale was approved by the Obama administration in 2016

And signed by Trump in 2017. And it’s a training facility on a US Air Force base that we will build and control, just like the other foreign training facilities that have been built in the US since the 1950s. So the generals will have no issue with it, because that’s been the norm their entire careers.

[BComplex]

15. The news said they were building it. Not us. eom

[Abnredleg]

16. Qatar is paying for it

The work will be done US contractors because you can’t build on US military bases with foreign contractors without the appropriate clearances. You could argue that that means they are building it.

[EX500rider]

9. Personally I don't see much difference

He didn't say their own air base originally he said a facility at a US base, he even named the base.
Anybody that follows any kind of Air Force stuff knows that several countries have that kind of deal.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

13. "[S]igning a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emeri Air Force facility at the Mountain HomeAirbase in Idaho."

That's what Hegseth first said. To me, that is very different from the later statements of clarification.

[EX500rider]

14. That's exactly what they're doing though right?

Building a facility at a current US Air Base?

[debsy]

10. For dumpster's billionaire administration, it's all about the money and the power.

And, to be clear, it is all about the money and power THEY will personally derive from to these “deals”. No actions by his administration ( including the SCOTUS 6) are for the public good. They are selling us off to the highest bidder and lining their pockets in the process. They are greedy, evil, and rotten to the core. Traitors.

[twodogsbarking]

11. So we can expect Qatar to have a base that they control.

[Abnredleg]

17. No

We’re talking admin buildings, classrooms and hangars on the flight line at Mountain Home, similar to the facility Singapore has. They don’t have sovereignty on the facility, and neither will Qatar. No foreign military with training facilities in the US has complete control.

[twodogsbarking]

18. Yeah, we'll go with that.

[Abnredleg]

19. Do you have any facts to offer

Yes, the Trump administration is corrupt, but that doesn’t mean everything they do is wrong or bad. This deal has been in the making for a decade, and mirrors other deals made over the years, deals that do not hand control of training facilities over to foreign militaries.

People are turning this into something far more than what it is. Here is a link to a satellite image of Mountain Home AFB. See those two aircraft shelters on the flight line to the left of the image. Behind it are a couple of buildings labeled Peace Carvin V - that is the Singapore Air Force training facility for their F15s. That’s what we are talking about - just a couple of buildings that are not separated from the main base in anyway.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0483073,-115.8766102,2327m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTAwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

[twodogsbarking]

20. uncle

[Abnredleg]

21. Have a beer on me

This horse is dead.

[OrwellwasRight]

22. Everything you say makes sense. However...

You cannot deny that what you’re explaining as a typical training arrangement is not at all what Hegseth said. Not remotely. This “controversy” is of his making, not Obama’s. So Hegseth may just be ignorant of what the real deal is; or, he may know what the real deal is but is a poor communicator and described it incorrectly; or, Hegseth leaked some deal that has been secretly made with Qatar in relation to the 747 and/or Gaza. This seems unsupported by evidence, but with these grifters in this administration, I wouldn’t put it past them.

In any scenario, the trouble is of Hegseth’s making. Do you agree with that?

[Abnredleg]

23. No - he has consistently talked of a "facility" in both messages

He had to clarify his meaning because “facility” got distorted into “base”, which has a very different meaning. In the military, for instance, people eat at the Dining Facility (DFAC) located on a base. A foreign base on US soil would huge deal; a facility is a routine training arrangement. This arrangement to build a training facility for Qatar was based on previous agreements to build training facilities for other nations, and those who follow military procurement immediately understood the original statement for what it was. The only reason he had to clarify is that people misinterpreted what was being announced and started running around with their hair on fire. Hegseth is totally incompetent but his only mistake was underestimating the public’s knowledge of just often foreign militaries train in the US.

[OrwellwasRight]

24. People didn't misinterpret; he was unclear.

"Today, we’re announcing a letter of acceptance in building a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho," Hegseth said.

As he described it, the facility could have been a base. He should have been more precise. The confusion was his entirely fault. Not clear why you’re so committed to defending this guy in thread after thread but you do you. Peace out.