Who Are We Willing To Hop Into Bed With?

The debate rages. Where do you stand on the issue of turning over management of 6 ports to a United Arab Emirates company? Let’s clear one thing up right now. People need to understand that it won’t remain simply 6 ports in the U.S. Already negotiations are underway for the same company to take over management of Tampa, Florida’s ports.

Let’s see what we do know or are at least being told. We are being told that the port authorities of each of the cites will retain ownership of the ports and that Homeland Security will continue to provide the security for the same ports – for whatever that is worth and this is part of my problem. The company, Dubai Ports World, will become the managers of operations at these ports. DPW is owned by the government of U.A.E.
We are being told that some of the 9/11 hijackers came out of U.A.E. and that Bin Laden has had close ties to the government of U.A.E. for quite some time. This was revealed during the 9/11 Commission investigation.

We know that the U.S. has and still is, using U.A.E. as a launching ground for our war on terror. We also know that the government there was very instrumental in the capture of the mastermind of the U.S.S Cole bombing. It is clear, whether we like it or not, the U.A.E. is considered a close ally of the U.S.

We know that the U.S. considers Saudi Arabia as an ally in the war on terror. We also know that Saudi Arabia has notoriously bad human rights violations, among other things, yet we are willing to overlook those to maintain our bases and support with the Saudis.

We also know that President Bush is firm in his stance that the U.S. should proceed with this transition of authority, and turn management over to DP World. We know that the entire process is complicated, which adds to the skepticism of many Americans. I’m not even sure who has the ultimate authority in allowing the sale. I believe it is Congress because it involves a foreign country and it involves trade. The President has threatened to veto an attempt by Congress to prohibit the sale. Congress vows it has the votes to override his veto.

I found out also today that former Senator and Presidential candidate Bob Dole, along with other members of a Washington law firm, was hired by Dubai Ports World last year as a consultant. So we all knew it would only be a matter of time before we found out the politics behind this scheme.

So here’s the deal as I see. We could take this opportunity to make a positive thing from a potentially real bad situation and this may be the only way the Republicans along with the President can salvage any good out of this.

Most everyone agrees that the security in our ports across the U.S. is poor at best. Let’s go ahead and give the contract to this U.A.E. company and move forward to put into place extremely strict standards and guidelines to make our ports secure.

Bill O’Reilly at Fox News is in agreement with allowing the sale. He goes so far as to say that if we slap U.A.E in the face over this issue, our war on terror is doomed.

The question we need to ask ourselves is what are we willing to overlook when it comes to the Emirates, to maintain their support for the war on terror? Can they be trusted? President Bush assures the Americans that they can be. I would like to see something more than simply his word. I would have to see some guidelines put into place first, then I think I might feel better.

If we can put into place a security system with checks and balances into our ports, then I say we give them the deal. If we are going to conduct business as usual when it comes to port security, then I think we need to figure out a way of convincing the government of U.A.E that the American people just plain don’t like Arabs. That might be a hard row to hoe.

Tom Remington