This patch of scrub desert 15 kilometers (10 miles) outside Qatar's capital Doha has only 1,500 residents, close to the number of military personnel who have come here as part of the US Central Command.

"The base is relatively far from the residential area, and we don't see them," said Ali Jaber al-Merri.

But his son, with him at the local mosque, said the worst part was the constant landings, takeoff and overflights of warplanes -- particularly at night, when many of the attacks on Iraq take place.

The war plane issue has become an issue in local politics.

Abdullah Ahmed al-Zyara, campaigning in the As-Saliyah constituency for April 7 municipal elections, said: "The residents I've been talking to are complaining about the noise of the planes."

"My campaign platform includes the issue of environmental protection, because noise is a form of pollution," he said.

But Hamad bin Nura al-Merri, a member of the outgoing municipal council, has come to the opposite conclusion.

"No one is complaining about it," he said. As-Saliyah residents "have gotten used to military maneuvers, which have traditionally taken place in the region."

Some of the noises are more disturbing than others. Mohammed al-Merri, 25, recalled the explosion near the base on March 23.

No one was hurt in the blast, which Qatari authorities said was triggered by gas in the tank of a car being crushed at a demolition site a little more than a kilometer (three-quarters of a mile) away.

But the mere presence of the US military behemoth here is enough to keep many Qataris at a distance.

While As-Saliyah has become the venue for daily briefings by Central Command carried live by television networks the world over, more immediate neighbors are staying away.

"My business has fallen by 70 percent," complained Ali Masood al-Hababi, a car salesman at As-Saliyah.

"My debts are growing and I don't have enough to pay the salaries of my employees," he said.

Qatar, a small kingdom grown wealthy on oil and gas revenues, is considered one of the most pragmatic players in the Middle East.

While Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani gave the United States a key venue for the war on Iraq, Qatar also hosts Al-Jazeera television, the all-news Arabic channel that has irritated Washington by its attention to Iraqi casualties and footage of US war dead.

Thousands of other US troops are based elsewhere in Qatar at the Al-Udeid air base.

For their own interests, many residents of As-Saliyah just hope the war is short.

"I didn't get paid for months because customers have hesitated to come here since they started talking about installing an American base" last year, said Saleh Abu Futuh, an Egyptian employee at Hababi's car dealership.

"I hope that this war doesn't last for long."

SPACE.WIRE