Feb 25 2006
Anti Port Forces Shamelessly Attack US Ally
I knew it was coming. The anti-port forces have gone from veiled insults regarding a key ally in our efforts in the Middle East to open insults. Apparently still trying to convince Americans to toss out our besy qualities and ‘fear the Aurabs’ the anti-port voices are now endangering our foreign policy efforts.
The UAE is a critical ally watching our backs with regards to material being shipped here from ports they run overseas, to intelligence from the Middle East on possible AQ activities, to protecting our troops flowing in and out of the region.
The last one is the most important. If we stand by our troops, then our fears cannot become so obsessive we end up putting our troops at risk. We already ask them to risk everything to change the face of the Middle East. We cannot allow emotions to run rampant and sever our ties with an ally who is protecting our fighting men and women. The ally deserves better. The troops DEFINITELY deserve better.
We have been working quietly (the way it is done when doing something classified and clandestine) with The UAE ever since 9-11. That country immediately became our ally and stayed that way through our invasion of Iraq. Which is more than we can say for France, Belguim, Germany, NATO, Russia, Canada and Mexico.
Rick Moran, in some fit of irresponsible humor, has insulted The UAE by comparing them to murderous thugs who target children for suicide bombings:
In a continuing effort to prove that Americans are not anti-Arab Islamaphobes, the government has announced that day to day operations of the passenger rail carrier Amtrak will now be in the hands of a state owned company run by the Palestinian group Hamas.
The deal comes on the heels of an agreement to allow the state owned Dubai Ports World(DPW) to manage ports in the United States.
People in the Middle East are not thin skinned, but they do take honor seriously. Very seriously. And this kind of insult will not, and honestly should not, be dismissd by them or us. Rick seems upset people don’t want to share in his fear of all things Ayrab – so he presents us with a fantasy of where all this will lead. He does this deliberately and with the intention of associating a far better ally than those countries I mentioned above. And in doing so he insults our ally to the core of their being.
The UAE has done nothing to deserve this idiotic comparison. That is like comparing Americans who support the deal with Hamas supporters. Which Rick may also trying to be doing. I have been saddened by this fiasco because I could see so many people losing all self control. But this is not to be tolerated. Some people just are not cut out to deal with international issues and foreign policy.
People who cannot discern an ally after 5 years of impressive support on their part from our enemies because of some cultural connections just don’t have the vision and perception to deal with this subject. The blogosphere allows us all to show our strengths and weaknesses. Those insulting The UAE through insinuation, or in this case an outright slap at their humanity, are not helping our cause. But they sure are exposing their weaknesses. As I commented to Rick on his sight, he and the others should stop trying to screw up our foreign policy and national security anymore than they have done already.
National security is not a game. There are 150,000+ US troops in the region whose backs are being guarded by The UAE. While you have a right to speak, it is not always the case that you should speak. With our troops exposed and our reliance on The UAE to keep them safe, it is time the anti-port deal folks understand we heard you, we disagree with you, and you can stop trying to do all you can to destroy our relationship with our ally The UAE. An ally I am proud to have, as our many, many others.
BTW, I know not all folks against the deal are like this, and many of us came to support the deal after we realized the reporting was gross sensationalism meant to yank our strings. But as more and more people move towards the position of support, indifference or still unsure – more and more the ones left opposing the deal share a tragic common theme.
UPDATE:
The anti-port forces are now calling the Katrina relief donation from the UAE a ‘bribe‘ – shameless and cold that one is. And cultural gifts are now to be deemed suspect.
And this poor soul is all upset that we may trade with the UAE – I guess instead of commercial partners he prefers military enemies. Remind me again why we don’t want a prosperous Middle East full of well employed, peaceful familiies raising their kids in a modern world?
The rantings and fantasizing have gone beyond interesting and worthy of a respectful listen. The only question for the anti-port folks is will they be able to deal with a defeat on this issue. Because their world views, as inaccurate and prejudicial as they are, are not worth losing a key ally and the protection that ally provides our fighting men and women.
UPDATE II:
One final thought before I head out this morning. It is scary to have to trust again. 9-11 obviously shook a lot of people more than I expected. But those of us who back our action in Iraq are need to be a little stronger about all this. Our troops are standing up a government, an army, an economy, etc. And to do that they need to trust Ayrabs who, in some cases, used to fight for Saddam. In Iraq our soldiers are arming soldiers and generals who were in the Iraqi armed forces under Saddam and going to battle with them. The same is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our people are putting their lives in the hands of Muslims day in and day out.
Obviously thosed spooked by DPW’s stock acquisition are not the type to handle that kind of trust that we see in our troops abroad. Heaven forbid these folks had to be around a former Saddam soldier carrying a gun. But we do need to find some internal strength to face down our fears and go forward. The UAE represents the pinnacle of Middle East partners. And again, since the UAE has our back, we cannot afford to lose this ally, and no one has shown any reason why we should toss them aside.
The Wall Street Journal comes out hard against the anti-port side.
UPDATE III:
DJ Drummond at Polipundit has some strong words as well.
The ME oil countries will not have their oil for more than a few generations. They must invest their wealth now so that they can have a future. We buy their oil; we have to let them invest it.
If they invest here, that gives us some influence.
I think the port deal is probably ok from a security standpoint, but it may not be a bad thing if the wealthy Arabs see that the American public’s suspicions could affect their portfolios.
UAE has done a lot to help Bush in the WOT.
If they want to invest their petro-dollars here, they know have to behave themselves. Then everyone can be safe and make money.
I don’t think this is a security issue, but it is possibly an issue of political/economic/cultural penetration.
We buy their oil; if they reinvest the money here, that is good for us
as long as they don’t try to force their culture and religion on us.
Here is an interesting article that is against the deal. The issue seems to be more of creeping influence than of terrorism.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/jonsson022506.htm
This port issue is a little like the cartoon issue–it can be used by the radical Islamists to depict us as Anti-Arab.
AJ,
Do you recall all those silly comments that if we do “xyz” it will mean “the terrorists have won”? It seems to me if we repudiate this ports deal for no valid reason, especially if we manage to insult them at the same time as a “bonus”, then it will be a very significant victory for the terrorists. Too many just don’t seem to grasp that. Last night, very good friends were over who have been extremely supportive of the war and the Bush administration. The husband said, in response to my attempts to explain the difference between fighting all of Islam versus trying to ocnfine the fight to the Islamic fasctsts, “I don’t care; I don’t want Arabs running our ports.” Again, he is not a bigot (though his response is clearly bigoted) but the recent scenes of cartoon riots, the Golden Mosque violence, and so many other lovely incidents have led him to basically throw his hands up and say, “a pox on all of them.” (I am sure lots of people are having this response right about now.) This plays right into al Qaeda’s hands and if our side doesn’t pick up its efforts in the information war, we will be in very big trouble.
This is an interesting article that makes the point that this issue didn’t reallly get to the top levels of the government so that people could be educated about the issue.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PORTS_SECURITY?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-02-25-10-37-13
“The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company’s taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent….President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and even Treasury Secretary John Snow, who oversees the government committee that approved the deal, all say they did not know about the purchase until after it was finalized. The work was done mostly by assistant secretaries.
Snow now says he may consider changes in the approval process so lawmakers are better alerted after such deals get the go-ahead.”
AJ
We need to do some digging and get those such as Tommy Franks out more with his historic perspective and dealings with the UAE during the Afghanistan campaign. He was on Tony Snow’s radio show a couple of days ago, and has some *very* pertinent counters to the sundry slights against the UAE. He lays much of the success of the campaign at their feet, due to their intel.
There’s no transcript of that show, and I’ve been busy digging in news archives for overlooked reports that might echo his comments. I have a few news blurbs on my Sea2Sea blog, but I’m sure with your contacts, you could find much more to contribute.
But then, I would hate for your Able Danger stellar coverage to suffer. You have been a mainstay for me in that, and those you link to such as Mac and TopDog. I am forever in appreciation for such data and attention.
AJ
Something else on my mind. At the CFIUS briefing to SASC, Stewart Baker (DHS) said that P&O was [registered as] a US corporation, and DP World was not changing that. That would make all contracts, taxes, etc subject to US laws, taxes, etc.
I haven’t any ability to search registered US corporations. And they do go by state. Perhaps you have some contacts in the investment world that has this ability, and could confirm the US Corp status of P&O for the US assets – at least for NY, NJ or FL?
Mata
A few points I would like to make. I have been in the Navy for 17 years and have been to the U.A.E. many many times. The Navy fully vetted DPW a long time ago because they run Jebel Ali the worlds largest manmade shipping port. All the supplies that go to U.S. Naval vessels and a large part of the suppleis for the Army in Iraq come from either Jebel Ali or Fujiera U.A.E. also a huge amount of the cargo containers destined for the U.S. go thru Jebel Ali and we have Customs and HS inspectors there inspecting the containers that is why we did not have to investigate them as thurouly as others and may explain why it was considered no big deal by the CFIUS. If a cargo container with a WMD makes it to say NY harbor it is already to late so the key to security is inspecting the containers before they get here. If we stop this deal does anyone honestly believe that the U.A.E. will continue to allow us to inspect cargo in their country? I know if I was the U.A.E. I would tell those U.S. inspectors to pack their bags and get out as well as the U.S. Navy. So all the hysteria and the threat from Congress to stop this deal will actually make us less secure. As for the so called terrorist ties to the U.A.E. yes they had ties to the Taliban and AQ before 9/11 however, after 9/11 they jumped onto our side with both feet and those supposed money laundering ties well it turns out the bank the 9/11 hijackers used was a British bank in the U.A.E. so does that mean we should have raised hell about P&O running the ports after all Britain has terrorist ties right? And one final thing I posted a comment on Rick Morans site, it was not angry or anything I just questioned his motives on this and I have now been banned from Rightwingnuthouse this is something I expected from sites like KOS and DU(I have been banned from them for a very long time) Rick has really gone off the deep end on this one and it is a shame.
Well, the side taking is interesting. Justin Raimondo is for it. LOL
The final line on your post, “The Wall Street Journal comes out hard on the anti-port side…” threw me for a second; I had just left the article linked, and had to go back to make certain I had the right one, and hadn’t misunderstood the gist.
The article cited does “come out hard,” but against the anti-UAE crowd, quoting and specifically slapping down Senator Rodham-Clinton and a few others.
A new poll on the same page (www.opinionjournal.com) asks: “Should Dubai Ports World be allowed to operate US ports?” Poll results, 78.3% yes, 21.7% no.
Merry Whitney
“DIDN’T KNOW”???????
The Dems keep saying they “didn’t know” anything about the deal.
Funny the Albright Group, yeah, the one founded by that twinkled
toed dancer, Madelaine represents Dubai and the UAE.
Also a connection the that former Senate Majority Leader, Tom
Daschle.
Guess they keep it all under their hats.
A more rational examination would suggest another set up, al la
the Rocky memo that planned an attack on Intelligence.
So the DEMS began their mentioning, mentioning, mentioning
of ports as a failure in Homeland Security and pretended to
have not read the NYT’s or the WSJ (Dinocrat has links to articles
that appeared months ago).
The Dems idea of National Security is to bring all our troops home to
US bases under a new Department of Peace and to build walls and
moats around just about everything, manned by more US GOVERNMENT employees – read MORE UNION DUES and
higher taxes
Still waiting for polls in Michigan and New Jersey. I noted that during
the “briefing” Levin, Kennedy,Byrd and Hillary tried to soften the
“The Arabs are Coming”! But the Arabs already heard them
and Zogby is not a happy camper.
Someone once said “God created war to teach Americans geography”. From many of the Left’s commenters posting the
Dems talking points – you can see they know nothing of exactly
where the UAE is. Sure they could not point out the Persian Gulf
or the Straits thru which supplies for our troops in Iraq flow in,
and Iraqi oil flows out.
They insist that UAE’s talking to Iran is reason to condemn them,
not realizing it is a very short distance from the UAE to Iran.
I have asked what these self identified New Yorkers would do
if New Jersey was hostile and just across the river. They do not
respond and do not understand that Foreign Policy requires
“back doors” into enemy countries. They will not accept that
this backdoor into the Taliban was very useful to us.
If we loose the UAE as a supporter and friend and our bases in
their land, George Bush’s hands will be tied in dealing from strength
with Iran.
You may think this is silly, but I opened with the Madelaine Albright
connection and therefore I cannot but go back to the slip of the
tongue by one of her subordinate Clintonistas, NANCY SODERBERG.
The night after the very first election in Iraq, all those purple fingers
stunned the Dems and stunned Jon Stewart of the Daily Show.
Soderberg/s book offering GW all the wisdom of the Albright cabal
was just released – the good news from Iraq meant short trip from
publisher’s dock to sellers’ “remainders” pile – so she was shaken.
When Stewart said “What if George Bush is right? What do I
do with my World View?? Nancy Soderberg replied:
“We still have Iran and North Korea!”
What is very telling is that Soderberg made only a few other
“book realease” appearances and then dissapeared until only
about a month ago as one of the “mentioners”
Just connect the dots.
Old Crow,
The fact you were banned from Rick’s site is sad news. I could tell he went over the edge the other day when I posted him.
Well, you are always welcomed here.
Old Crow from RWNH Comment # 8
“Sorry to say I will no longer be visiting your blog shame to I really enjoyed it. See ya later.”
Who banned who? By banning him, I was only doing Mr.Crow the favor of helping him resist the temptation.
The fact that he came back to find out he was banned despite this statement means he’s either an idiot or a liar. Which is it Crow?
Now Rick,
Don’t you think a lot of us who are taking issue with your stance would prefer to never have had to? Its hard to find someone you admire go down a path that is more than a difference in opinion, but is a path that tears at the roots of the admiration that had built up over time.
The emotion around this issue is getting poisonous. Maybe he came back in hopes you changed your mind? There are other options than the two you offered. Some that could lead to reconciliation.
Just a suggestion to think outside the emotion.
Someone in the Republican Party needs to take a leadership roll before it is too late. I would expect to see this kind of behavior on a Lib’s blog and to see it here leads me to believe that if the Dems ever had an opportunity to take back congress, it is coming soon…
SBD
What am I supposed to do when someone makes an announcement like that?
It’s happened 4 or 5 times since I started blogging and I decided that once someone plays the drama queen and pulls crap like that, I am going to assist them in keeping their promise.
It’s one of the two things that get my goat.
Rick,
Honestly it is not my call, it’s your site. I am surprised you only had it happen so few times. Color me the half-full type.
AJ
What am I supposed to do when someone makes an announcement like that?
Buck up and ignore it, maybe? As you hold back the tears? See if he does come back, then start making fun of him?
Anyhoo, that’s not what I came to talk about. It’s your RSS feed, AJ…it’s hosed. All I get anymore are your comments. I think you have flipped a switch somewhere you didn’t mean to. Frex, click on the Entries (RSS) link below to see what I mean.
Otherwise, carry on…
Rick,
I hope you read this. My post on your site was over the top a little and for that I apologize. I reacted like that because it reminded me of my reaction after 9/11 towards all Muslims and I still catch myself doing it occasionally, I believe I posted a screed on your web site a few weeks ago that was way over the top about Muslims. Allow me to tell you a story. I have an uncle who was captured by the Japanese in WWII in the Philippines and was a victim of the Battan death march, to this day he can not bring himself to eat rice or any kind of Asian food and he dislikes Japanese people. He knows this is irrational but he just can’t help himself his experiences during his captivity are just ingrained to deeply. I do not judge him nor blame him for that because it is not his fault. I am in the Navy and on 9/11 I was deployed with the Carl Vincent battle group, we were just steaming off the coast of Pakistan about to enter the Gulf when the airliners hit the WTC’s. We were stunned by it and shamed, why because we were sworn to protect the country and we felt we had failed in that duty, that was the initial reaction what came next was anger and hate. As a Senior NCO when I realized this was happening not only to me personally but to the people I was expected to lead I had to take a step back and look at myself and I have to say it was not easy nor pretty. To my shock I realized I was becoming a bigot and the people I was leading where heading down that path also so what did I do? I looked at it rationally and logically and remembered some of my experiences of meeting and interacting with Arab Muslims in the ME. You see I had been honored to have made friends with many people of Muslim and ME descent. One in particular I recalled was in 1994 when I was assigned to teach the Officers and crew of the Bahraini Patrol boat Manama, I spent four days on that boat on patrol in the Gulf and we had many conversations about our different cultures and religions one of the Crew invited me to his house to meet his family and I did. I came to realize that they were the same as average Americans they wanted to have a good life pay their bills and raise their families these are the majority of Muslims and Arabs. When I recalled this I came to realize that you cannot condemn a whole people or religion for the actions of a few fanatics if you do that then you give the fanatics what they want, think about it in America we have our fanatics the Black Muslims, KKK, Aryan nations, Black Panthers, Timothy MCvie, ALF and ELF some of the Anti-abortion groups and so on. Does this mean they represent what all Americans are? No way and the same goes for the Arabs and Muslims there are over 1 billion Muslims in the world out of that we might be talking about 12 million that actively support and believe in what the fanatics do that is way less than 1%, the problem is that 1% is what we see on the news day in and out and in the military it is the ones we have the most contact with. A good example of this is Police Officers I have a few friends who are Police and after a few years on the job they start looking at everyone including family members as criminals because that is what they have contact with 7 days a week 8 hours a day. We have to be very careful we do not fall into this trap and the only way we can do that is whenever we have strong feelings about something we need to step back and look at ourselves and what is motivating us to feel the way we do.
You have to understand that the average Muslim in Pakistan or other Muslim countries are not educated the illiteracy rate in the Muslim world is around 80% or more so where do they get there INFO from? The Imams in the Mosques of course and the Imams are using this to their advantage to incite the people that is why the worst riots over the cartoons have been in the poorer Muslim countries note no major problems in places like Iraq, U.A.E, Saudi Arabia and so on. Until you have been to Pakistan or Afghanistan or even the non-urban area’s of Indonesia you just cannot understand how primitive these people live. Imagine no TV no Internet just radio it is literally like stepping back into the 17th century. So what is the answer well what we are doing now a combination of military and humanitarian engagement and economic ties and that is were this port deal comes in, tell me do you think if we had no economic or military ties with the U.A.E. that they would have helped us as much as they have in the WOT? We train their military and we sell them F-16’s, Apache Helicopters and M1A1 Abrams tanks also we keep their oilfields running and all this aids us and them that is just the way it is as stated before nations do not have friends they have interests. So how do we stop the Imams? Here is were I think we are dropping the ball in the WOT and we need to grow a set of NADS and do something that is not very American and totally ruthless but is necessary, we need to target the radical Imams by throwing them in jail when possible or killing them when it is not this includes assassination. Once we start doing this they smart ones will start getting less radical and the ones who don’t will be dead or in hiding. The Imams and Mullahs we are dealing with now are not what would be considered Imams a few decades ago, want to see an example of a true Imam see Ayatollah Sistani in Iraq he is more concerned about the spirit than the material world and that is as it should be with all religious leaders.
The Dumbing Down Of The Port Debate…
The UAE is an important ally that should not be treated like this. We need all the allies we can find in that region and to throw it all out over some simple minded hysteria is just plain wrong!
……
OLDCROW–
I thought your post about your Navy experiences and the UAE was very informative.
Crow:
Apology accepted. You are unblocked.