VZCZCXRO8235
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHDO #0641/01 1691229
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 181229Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6766
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1038
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//PASS TO USCENTCOM FWD//
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000641 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/PD, NEA/ARP 
INFO NSC FOR ABRAMS, DOD/OSD FOR SCHENKER AND MATHENY 
LONDON FOR ARAB MEDIA OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2012 
TAGS: KPAO PREL QA ALJAZEERA
SUBJECT: BEGINNING OF THE END? KHANFAR STILL AT THE HELM OF 
AL JAZEERA, BUT STRIPPED OF FINANCIAL AND ADMIN POWERS 
 
REF: DOHA 495 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Chase Untermeyer, reasons 1.4 (b&d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Wadah Khanfar remains Director-General of the 
Al Jazeera Network (AJN), but no longer has responsibility 
for financial and administrative issues. Although Khanfar 
placed a positive spin on the recent AJN board reshuffle in a 
meeting with Emboffs, our assessment is that his position has 
been greatly weakened, probably irretrievably so. End summary 
 
¶2. (C) Following the reshuffle of the AJN board reported 
reftel, DCM and PAO met June 18 with Wadah Khanfar, Director 
General of AJN and Managing Director of Al Jazeera Arabic, 
and with Hamad Al Kuwari, newly appointed AJN board member, 
Qatar's last Information Minister and a former Ambassador to 
Washington. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
KHANFAR SPINS THE STORY: IT WAS ALL HIS IDEA 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) When asked about the significance of the changes on 
the board, particularly the appointment of one of the Board 
Members, Ahmed Al Kholaifi, to the new position of vice 
chairman responsible for oversight over the daily operations 
of the network, Khanfar laughed and said that there have been 
a whole slew of dramatic conspiracy theories explaining his 
removal from the board.  In fact, he said, the decision was 
one of practical efficiency. He confirmed that Al Kholaifi 
has taken over day-to-day oversight of financial and 
administrative issues for the network, and claimed the 
appointment was the result of a suggestion he himself had 
made in March this year. Underlining the fact that Al 
Kholaifi is a Qatari, he said the decision was partly a 
response to a local newspaper campaign earlier this year 
(reftel) attacking Al Jazeera and Khanfar for ignoring 
Qataris in hiring and promotion practices. 
 
¶4. (C) Khanfar said the daily administrative demands on his 
time have made it difficult for him to focus on strategic 
projects for developing and expanding the network. Having Al 
Kholaifi on board in his new capacity would free him up to do 
so. He then went on to say, however, that his ability to 
focus on these new projects is also hijacked by the demands 
of running the Arabic channel, which consist of one urgent 
claim on his time after another, allowing little time for 
strategic thinking. He claimed to be looking seriously for a 
replacement for himself at the head of the Arabic channel. 
 
¶5. (C) Khanfar noted casually that "no-one can be head of a 
network like this forever," giving the example of the BBC 
network, which has, he said, a five-year term on the position 
of director, allowing a constant renewal of vision at the 
top. When asked what he would like to do "after Al Jazeera," 
he mentioned training and consulting as possibilities. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
AL KUWARI: I AM STILL LEARNING; THIS IS A BIG PROJECT 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶6. (C) A close contact of the mission, Qatar's last 
information minister and a Qatari ambassador to Washington 
and the UN for ten years prior to that, Hamad Al Kuwari has 
been running his Bin Omran Group for the past ten years, 
dealing in road-building, construction and real estate.  He 
told Emboffs the AJN board appointment came as a surprise to 
him but (as is usual in cases of Amiri appointments) he 
considered the request to serve by the Amir an offer that 
could not be refused. 
 
¶7. (C) He told Emboffs he is in learning mode and was seeking 
their input, at which DCM gave a brief summary of the history 
of USG-Qatar relations as they relate to Al Jazeera, and USG 
priorities in this regard. Al Kuwari was clearly disposed to 
defend Al Jazeera and its track record and made the case that 
Al Jazeera has been at the forefront of significant and 
positive changes in the media landscape of the region. He 
repeated several times that Al Jazeera is editorially 
independent and cannot be pressured by the Qatari government, 
at the express wish of the Amir - contrary to what Arab and 
other governments believe. He reiterated Khanfar's point 
concerning the importance of a Qatari (Ahmed Al Kholaifi) 
being placed in charge of financial and administrative issues 
 
DOHA 00000641  002 OF 002 
 
 
for Al Jazeera. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (C) Although as engaging as ever, Khanfar did not exude 
his usual aura of power and confidence. Although he rattled 
off a few of the "strategic" projects for developing the 
network (new media, newspaper, magazines, etc.) his discourse 
was not convincing, in that he did not focus on them or 
describe them with the energy one would expect from one who 
had just been freed up to do what he considered the most 
important work.  Khanfar also referred to the influential 
Hamad Al Kuwari as "a good friend of mine," saying "I know 
him well," while at a meeting later that day, Al Kuwari told 
Emboffs he barely knew Khanfar, beyond meeting him "four or 
five times at receptions." Khanfar's relatively mild 
deception here gave his already improbable spin an even more 
improbable cast. 
 
¶9. (C) It is too early to tell in what direction the new 
board will take the network, particularly the Arabic channel. 
However, it is increasingly clear that the chief 
preoccupation of the new board - and of the Amir in making 
the changes on the board - was not the editorial content of 
Al Jazeera but the network's financial, administrative, and 
personnel practices. 
RATNEY