[VISION] | PEOPLE: There are no people visible in the image. | TEXT: HBJ once told an American official, "[The Iranians] lie to us, and we lie to them." More generally, Qatar tends to use Aljazeera as a tool of diplomacy. The network's coverage of domestic Qatari affairs is limited -- instead, Aljazeera news programming often seems aimed at annoying other Arab states. The United States was also a regular target of the network after the invasion of Iraq. For example, one false story broadcast in 2005 alleged that U.S. soldiers in Iraq were removing women's veils. The report caused widespread outrage in the Arab world and, according to then deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, was responsible for the killing of more than 100 American personnel. Qatari officials protested their innocence, claiming that Aljazeera was independent of government control and was permitted freedom of expression. Yet the output of the Arabic news channel and associated website suggests that they omit stories that might damage important diplomatic relationships (although the English channel and website are less constrained and more objective). Qatar has also sheltered or otherwise affiliated itself with prominent regional radicals. In addition to hosting Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, the emirate has permitted firebrand Egyptian cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi to broadcast a regular show on Aljazeera for years now, despite episodes justifying suicide attacks on Israeli children on the basis that they will grow up to become soldiers. And in the mid-1990s, Qatar allowed al-Qaeda terrorist Khaled Sheikh Muhammad, wanted by the United States for plotting aircraft bombings, to live in Doha, where he was given a government job and protected by a state minister. Outreach to Israel and the U.S. Military After Sheikh Hamad overthrew his indolent father in 1995, Doha worked to develop better ties with Washington, which at the time tended to view its relations with Arab Gulf states through the prism | O