U.S. Ports to be Run By UAE Company

[Franklin]

The Bush Administration (or regime, if you prefer) is pushing for a company from the United Arab Emerites to large ports on the East Coast of the U.S. The British company, Pensinsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which has been running the ports, has been sold to the UAE company, Dubai Ports World. O'Reilly supports the continuation of the company at the ports.

In an unusual circumstance, I think I agree with Bush and O'Reilly. The UAE has been one of our strongest Arab supporters and their intelligence regarding terrorist activity has been of great value to the U.S. To kick them out based on the fact that they are Arabs would smack of racism and further inflame negative opinions of the U.S. Of course no foreign enterprise, Arab or not, should be given carte blanche regarding security matter, but as I understand it they won't, as the company wasn't when in British hands.

As usual, Bush did not handle the situation in a very politically savvy way, but that doesn't make him wrong in substance. He has incurred the wrath of the Left and the Right and is threatening to veto any congressional action to reverse his decision. I can be convinced otherwise, but as of now, I support his position.

What say you?

[Destiny]

The Bush Administration (or regime, if you prefer) is pushing for a company from the United Arab Emerites to large ports on the East Coast of the U.S. The British company, Pensinsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which has been running the ports, has been sold to the UAE company, Dubai Ports World. O'Reilly supports the continuation of the company at the ports.

In an unusual circumstance, I think I agree with Bush and O'Reilly. The UAE has been one of our strongest Arab supporters and their intelligence regarding terrorist activity has been of great value to the U.S. To kick them out based on the fact that they are Arabs would smack of racism and further inflame negative opinions of the U.S. Of course no foreign enterprise, Arab or not, should be given carte blanche regarding security matter, but as I understand it they won't, as the company wasn't when in British hands.

As usual, Bush did not handle the situation in a very politically savvy way, but that doesn't make him wrong in substance. He has incurred the wrath of the Left and the Right and is threatening to veto any congressional action to reverse his decision. I can be convinced otherwise, but as of now, I support his position.

What say you?

I am uneasy with the fact that foreigners will be running what is American. Does this bother anyone but me? How about some views on this? Or maybe I am missing something.

[WileyCoyote]

Yeah, it bothers me too. It would be nice if Dubya were doing it out of principle, that he doesn't want to alienate our allies. But I don't trust that scoundrel. So the UAE won't be doing security, but they may have access to manifests and other data about what is coming in and going out and when. And the company is run by the government. The UAE isn't exactly squeeky clean. Some of the 9/11 terrorists had connections to the UAE. Very shallow evidence of terrorists training in Iraq, not the part that Saddam controller, BTW, was used as justification to invade that country. Dubya thinks he isn't accountable to anyone, including the Republican controlled Congress.

[vervilledeb1]

Looks like us "common" folk are not the only ones uncomfortable with this little deal. Lawmakers are also very leery.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/26/ports.dubai/index.html

[vervilledeb1]

Here is something I dug up while searching some information on this. This is written not by Americans but I do know there is at least one Arab. I'm just trying to get different opinions. What do you think? I figured if I tried to get a view from both sides maybe I would feel better and be a little more educated on this.

The first quote on how Americans are in "terrorist panic" upsets me. Who wouldn't be just a tad panicked?!

http://globalization.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://americanfuture.net/%3Fp=1400

[vervilledeb1]

Here are the ports I found for anyone interested.


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41353000/gif/_41353388_po_ports_map203.gif

[Destiny]

Thanks, I was wondering where they were. A little to close to home for me thanks. This makes me very uneasy.