Qumar
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Qumar is a fictional Middle Eastern country in the television show The West Wing. It is an amalgam of standard stereotypes about the Middle East including oil wealth, radical Islam, state-sponsored terrorists, and the oppression of women.
Qumar is an absolute monarchy, ruled by a dictatorial sultan and his family. The nation was first introduced in the third season where it was mentioned as a close ally of the United States, but one that badly mistreated women. Also mentioned was the fact that America leases Kalifa Air Base in that nation, which has been there for some time. The lease was renewed in late 2001 and concludes in late 2011. After the September 11th Attacks it became the main venue for the show's terrorism subplots. Qumar was described as being a home for and financial supporter of the fictional Bahji terrorist group. The end of the third season saw the President order the assassination of the Qumari defense minister, Abdul ibn Shareef, on evidence he was a terrorist mastermind. Prior to that, Shareef had orchestrated a botched attempt to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge.
Qumar originally blamed Israel for the assassination. Bahji operatives, Qumari citizens educated in Qumar, shot down the plane carrying Ben Yousef, the Isaraeli foreign minister. In retaliation, Israel bombed two terrorist training camps in the north and south of Qumar using 8 Thunder Fighter jets. In response to this, Qumar launched the boat Mastico, which carried arms headed for the Bahji, which the U.S. stopped. The government requested access to a sophisticated weapons system, then the release of convicted Bahji operatives, then millions of dollars; however the U.S. forced the boat to turn around. The assassination and U.S. involvement became public knowledge just after Zoey Bartlet was kidnapped, thanks to investigative reporting by Washington Post White House reporter Danny Concannon.
At the end of the fourth season, while President Bartlet had temporarily relinquished his presidential powers under the provisions of the 25th Amendment, the United States bombed several terrorist training camps in the country after the kidnapping of Zoey Bartlet. In addition, the military also launched a limited ground invasion to detain and question suspects. President Bartlet, National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally, Secretary of State Lewis Berryhill, White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, the U.S. ambassador to Qumar, and the U.N. secretary-general, as well as perhaps Secretary of Defense Miles Hutchinson, vehemently opposed these acts, in light of the long-standing American-Qumari alliance.
Only a limited number of Qumari characters other than Shareef have appeared on the show, most notably Ali Nassir, the Qumari ambassador to the United Nations, and Prince Umar Usef, the Qumari ambassador to the United States.
Maps in the background of some scenes have shown Qumar to be occupying a section of the Persian Gulf coast, on the north side of the Strait of Hormuz opposite Oman, which in real life is Iranian territory. Jabal Nafusa (which in real life is in Libya) is a large city in Qumar. The nation of Iran, however, also exists in the show, as demonstrated most recently in The Wake-Up Call in season six.
Qumar is something of a compilation of the worst elements of Saudi Arabia and the Taliban. No country in real life has laws as harsh as those the show gives Qumar. No country allied with America is known by the public to harbor terrorist training camps.
Qumar continues on the show to be a U.S. ally, though the Sultan and other officials were extremely troubled by the assassination, bombing campaign, and invasion. As a result of the air strikes, gas pipelines were damaged, leading to economic troubles for the country and its European allies.