All the scenario generators who think up excuses to discriminate against a critical Middle East ally are simply playing the game of “guilty until proven innocent”.

So many people after 9-11 said we should stand tall and not cower down to fear, or change who we are and what America is, because then Al Qaeda would have won.

Well, to discriminate based on race, religion and nationality (quite a feat), and to presume guilt until proven innocent means we surrendered as a people.

We surrendered to Al Qaeda and we surrendered to our fears because we are afraid that our processes, our people working in these ports, our government and our ally will all fail. We lost confidence that we can stop Al Qaeda without compromising what we are as a people.

Well, some of us have not surrendered. But most have. Fear is the mind killer. We are lashing out at shadows in our minds and insulting a people who have risked their lives to be our allies in the Middle East, and who have provided us safe passage to where we need to go to fight this war.

And we are going to throw it all away. All the great generation fought and died for – we are going to throw it away. No one has ever been able to make me feel ashamed of this country. No European (and I have debated them long into the night for many years), no little tin despot in South America, no mindless communist apartchik, no radical Imam, no misguided socialist.

It could only happen if we ourselves did something – like quit while we were ahead. We were heading towards success in the Middle East. Standing up mature peaceful democracies so they could join the modern world in art, scientific exploration and commerce. To become partners. And we had so many small countries as allies and examples to hold up to those trouble spots called Iran and Syria. Places of real concern.

But the conservative base gave out, its will to stand strong and unbowed is depleted. I guess it had to happen sooner or later, to give in to the constant fear of attack. I lived through the beltway sniper, I know how constant fear grates on the will.

The liberals are laughing because they see this as the natural result of all the saber rattling in the first place. For years they said fear motivated the right and their march to war. I guess now they can claim they were right.

I assumed the right would sooner or later overstep and get labeled wrongly. That’s how these things work. A swing to one side, compensation back the other way, and then another swing. We have been a 50-50 nation for a while and the last swing would dictate leadership for sometime.

Surprisingly, we look to be adopting the European solution to this issue, make foreigners (sometimes known as immigrants) second class citizens, unfit for certain work. Because make no mistake about it, once the precedent is set those consumed by fear will use it to push Arabs and Muslims out of certain jobs in banking, transportation, engineering, medicine, security, law enforcement, etc. Radical muslims in all these areas pose a risk. And then we will find that those who oppose such acts will need to be segregated along with their Arab-Muslim friends, just to be extra cuatious. And then Bin Laden will be able to die a happy man.

How’s that for fantasizing? Tragically, that scenario has run through mankind’s history many, many times. Europeans refined it early in the last century. Standing tall against these waves of panic has been the rare exception. And that used to be our role in the world.

So it is sad to say I cannot support a party that throws out what it means to be America every time they get spooked or surprised (which, from all the excuses I have read sums them all up). The media says ‘boo!’ and we start reacting emotionally, without thought or control.

Geez, it has even taken the fun out of blogging.

UPDATE:

I felt like I needed expand on this post a bit. First off, I am disturbed by the lashing out at an Arab company simply because it is Arab. But I am not saying all who have questions about the deal have done this. What repulsed me was the comments at sites like Lucianne, Free Republic, LGF, etc – sites I am honored to be linked from. The commentors are going much farther into the abyss than many bloggers.

But the problem and challenge remains what precedent will this set, and when will it end? Tony Snow – who is on the same side of this issue as myself, Rush, and others – has done a lot of actual investigation and reporting on this matter and gathered hard evidence of DPW’s and The UAE’s bona fides in this matter. UAE hosts US bases and provides a place for our troops to train and transition into operations. The opportunity to get us has been within their grasp for years now. Rush reminds us that UAE and DPW did not need to spend billions of dollars to send a nuke to our shores, they run the ports that ship to us – they could do it know.

So what we have is the best example of an Arab-Muslim ally we are going to see for a decade at least – and too many want to malign them and shove them away towards our enemies out fo the slightest possibility of mere chance that maybe something could happen.

So, when we are done walling off the pre-eminent example of Arab-Muslims we could trust, do we then proceed to restrict all the others who are less trustworthy or represent more risk? Are we going to ban Arab airlines and pilots? Heck, should Arabs or Muslims be allowed anywhere near an airport (they will learn our security details you know!). Will Sean Hannity and anyone else calling for this deal to be stopped promise to stop here?

Or will we end up rounding up Arab-Muslims and containing them in holding areas? Once we make an example of the best ally we have and say they are untrustworthy of being in positions of responsibility – what choice do we have but to go after the rest?

UPDATE II:

Oh yes, those who lamely point to terrorist sympathizers in the UAE and working with the Taliban are throwing rocks from glass houses. The UK has terrorist sympathizers too, including an MP named Galloway and a shoebomber. And never forget we sold weapons to Saddam Hussein. So climb down those rickety old high horses!

And as Mark In Mexico says – follow the money and realize WHY democrats are yanking chains and saying ‘Boo!’

At least CBS is resisting the tide:

Never have I seen a bogus story explode so fast and so far. I thought I was a connoisseur of demagoguery and cheap shots, but the Dubai Ports World saga proves me a piker. With a stunning kinship of cravenness, politicians of all flavors risk trampling each other as they rush to the cameras and microphones to condemn the handover of massive U.S. strategic assets to an Islamic, Arab terrorist-loving enemy.