Holding Fire on The Port Flap
I’m going to hold my fire on this story until I get a bit more information.
I do understand the impulse a lot of people had, Michelle Malkin most notably, to get outraged over the idea of a UAE company handling the operation of six major ports. The UAE is not a counry yuo’d associate with being tough on Islamofascist terrorism. In fact, the government seems to be just the opposite.
On the other hand, it’s not clear to me that there’s any indication that the company in question wouldn’t comply with the rules for operating the ports, which do include security measures. It seems to me that Dubai Ports World isn’t exactly a newcomer to the port business and that we would be able to examine some of their other work to see if they’re capable of abiding by both US and international rules. It seems, from my own cursory reading, that they are.
AIEEEEEEEEE!!! UPDATE: Okay, statements like this one surely can’t be helpful, can they?
Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley, a candidate for governor, said yesterday that he plans to make the Dubai deal an issue at this week’s U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Key West, Fla.
“Not so long as I’m mayor and not so long as I have breath in my body,” O’Malley said about the deal going forward. “We are not going to turn over the port of Baltimore to a foreign government. It’s not going to happen.”
Can someone please let Mayor O’Malley know, when he’s through screeching like the housekeeper in a Tom and Jerry cartoon, that the company that DPW purchased to start this whole kerfuffle was a British company. I’m fairly sure that England still qualifies as “foreign”.
Double AIEEEEEEEEEE!! UPDATE: This exchange from Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR (via K-Lo) definitely isn’t going to help the discussion either.
BLITZER: The — the argument is that the UAE was one of three countries, for example, that has relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan…
HOOPER: Yes.
BLITZER: … before 9/11.
HOOPER: Yes.
And America brought up Timothy McVeigh and the abortion clinic bomber. And we have had many things here. If you — if other people judged us by that same standard, nobody would do business with America. So, I think we need to strip away the smoke and mirrors we’re seeing here on both sides and see for what it is, that there — that there’s just rank anti-Arab, anti-Muslim bigotry here. If was not an Arab country, we wouldn’t have this problem, as we didn’t have for six years, when a British company was in — in control.
BLITZER: But there is a difference between a private British company — and the United States and Britain are the two closest of allies — and this company, which is not a private company. It’s owned by the emir of the United Arab Emirates. It’s a — it’s a government-owned…
HOOPER: Yes.
BLITZER: … company.
HOOPER: You go to United Emirates — Arab Emirates, as I have. It’s about business. That’s what the UAE is about.
They focus on business. They do it very well. And, as the president said, we have worked with these people before. We have — we’re close allies with this country. There’s no reason, other than bigotry, to reject this deal.
BLITZER: Here’s what Karen Hughes, the undersecretary of state, just back from the Middle East, what she says: “I don’t believe Islamophobia is the case. What I have seen in quotes from our lawmakers are questions about security and concerns in line with the fact that a couple of the September 11 hijackers did come from the UAE.”
HOOPER: Well, believe me, the Arab world is watching, and the Muslim world is watching to see what this nation does on this deal.
If we give in to our fears and our prejudices, that will be noticed in the Muslim and Arab world.
John McCain, on the other hand, seems to be speaking reason here (again, via K-Lo).
We all need to take a moment and not rush to judgment on this matter without knowing all the facts. The President’s leadership has earned our trust in the war on terror, and surely his administration deserves the presumption that they would not sell our security short. Dubai has cooperated with us in the war and deserves to be treated respectfully. By all means, let’s do due diligence, get briefings, seek answers to all relevant questions and assurances that defense officials and the intelligence community were involved in the examination and approval of this transaction. In other words, let’s make a judgment when we possess all the pertinent facts. Until then, all we can offer is heat and little light to the discussion.
And yes, it does gall me to side with McCain, thank you for asking.
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Category: Fighting the Islamists, The Good Old US of A
I haven't done much reading on this so I can't speak with 100% assurance. But the reading I have done leads me to think that people are making much ado about nothing. As I understand it, the new contract only applies to port employees, such as crane operators, and not port security (which will remain in the hand of the USCG). These port employees will still be American citizens who must still undergo a security check in order to be employed.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this.
That's generally my impression, too, Robbie. The way I'm reading it is that the Dubai company is basically the big shell company that's hoping to get a decent investment back on port management as a hedge against, say, the oil market dropping in the near future.
They still have to hire local folks to work in those parts and comply with all the current rules and regulations for running the ports, including security.
Bipartisan Opposition Growing Over Arab Company Control Of U.S. Ports
The administration is now facing what clearly is shaping up as bipartisan opposition to an Arab company controlling some major U.S. ports as opposition grows in Congress, talk shows publicize and blast it, and weblogs cover and expand the controversy.
well said jimmie,
good to know the cognitive spirit still roams our earth
The Sum Of All Fears
Rescind Mr. President. Faith is a misplaced emotion in the long war on terror, and the assurance that U.S. ports will be secure when they are managed by a firm owned by a government in one of the most volatile parts of the world, is worthless.