I know a Qatar diplomat… pity they didn’t mention this guy’s name or have his photo in the story.

It was 2004, the season of 3 hurricanes running close to Tampa, Florida where I lived at the time – and had just bought a house.

I knew 3 girls from Kyrgystan that were in Tampa, two of them staying with their aunt who was a diplomatic envoy for the country. Tampa’s Macdill Air Force Base was a headquarters for people from all over the world about the Iraq war. She was there long-term and these two nieces tagged along for the ride I guess.

Anyway, so I met them and got to know them. I also met the guy from Qatar that was that country’s representative. He was a quiet guy, Muslim, and apparently quite strict about it – unless the question involved sex with women other than his wife – and then, he wasn’t really into the Muslim ways much at all.

So the hurricane was coming and I packed the nineteen year old into my truck and the other two girls went with the Qatar diplomat in his rented 2004 Jaguar 2 door coupe. They followed us across the state of Florida to somewhere close to Melbourne because I figured we were safe there for a bit.

We found the only hotel available, a superdive one bedroom, two beds motel where we drank alcohol (they were all Muslim by the way), and layed low for 2 days while the storm passed through Tampa.

So, anyway – I learned some things about people from other countries during those short few months I knew them all. I really wish there was a photo of the guy that was the cause for alarm on the Denver flight – I might know him. I mean, after all – how many diplomats from Qatar can there really be? The place is only as big as one of the Hawaiian islands – right?

No related posts.