The port purchase story has brought out strong feelings and strange alignments. At Wizbang they’re looking to their readers to answer this puzzler:
Michael Moore is against the ports deal and Jimmy Cater is for it.
Time for a Wizbang opinion poll.
I…

Color me more confused as time goes on. Has White House bungling and Democratic misdirection created a major kerfuffle where there’s no need for one? From the New York Sun: On the Waterfront Somehow, it doesn’t add up. Senators Menendez,…

And there’s been considerable, nasty rot among conservative commentators who appear to be resenting that this president turned out not to be a dumb bunny dependent on their guidance after all, and it hurts…..so, like the liberal ‘elitists’ they’re out to trash him.

Bush has been solid on national security, no company that threatens that would get his okay. And it’s actually very important to remember that not all Muslims are terrorists or terrorist supporters. Duh.

The more this UAE port management story is being reported, examined, and discussed in the MSM, as well as on opinion pages and in the blogosphere, the more I find myself believing that the issue has bas been overhyped unecessarily. Even with saying …

…my kingdom for a horse (I haven’t had a winner in weeks). If you’re wondering what the hell I’m talking about, so am I…let’s see, where was I? Oh, yeah, ports!
It’s all about the ports, now, isn’t it?…

Normally pro-Bush journalists and bloggers have joined the fray as well, creating strange political bedfellows in the process. When conservative stalwarts such as Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin agree with liberal New York Senators Chuck Schumer and …..

Well, in the case of the UAE

We know their address

WE OCCUPY THE UAE!

That’s why the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearings
will be very interesting tomorrow.

Hope that CSPAN CAN FIND A CAMERA as they were short
for the Able Danger Hearing last week.

Wonder if Hillary will risk having Zogby even more angry with
her by showing up?

Will be interesting to note who attends and who is elsewhere -
short notice is great excuse.

See opportunity for someone to top Kennedy, Schummmmy,
and Biden at the Alito hearing.

Buck up AJ – the Dems got lured into hearings and Warner was
on Fox and CNN touting the value of the UAE to our basing
in the Mideast.

The real strategy of the Dems is to screw up GW’s threat to
Iran. Think about that and hope we can watch the hearing live
tomorrow.

The right side of the blogsphere learned the wrong lesson with their victory over the President’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. They do not run the country.
What this looks like to me is the Democrats using Karl Rove tactics a ……

Immediately when I heard about this story, I didn’t jump to conclusions, I researched more about Dubai Ports, researched about the history, researched about who was conducting security, and I ended up where you are.

I haven’t had time to bang out a post on this issue, but I’m not sure I could add much more to the discussion than what I have read here.

Let’s kick these political opportunists out of office!

This Republican administration is in the middle of a two-year push to ink a corporate-backed “free” trade accord with the UAE. At the end of 2004, in fact, it was Bush Trade Representative Robert Zoellick who proudly boasted of his trip to the UAE to begin negotiating the trade accord. Rejecting this port security deal might have set back that trade pact. Accepting the port security deal – regardless of the security consequences – likely greases the wheels for the pact.

That’s probably why instead of backing off the deal, Dubya – supposedly Mr. Tough on National Secuirty – took the extraordinary step of threatening to use the first veto of his entire presidency to protect the UAE’s interests. Because he knows protecting those interetsts – regardless of the security implications for America – is integral to the “free” trade agenda all of his corporate supporters are demanding.

We’ve seen this before. Just last year, Congress approved a U.S. taxpayer-funded loan by the Bush administration to a British company to help build nuclear technology in Communist China. Despite major security concerns raised – and a legislative effort to block the loan – Congress’s “free traders” (many of whom talk so tough on security) made sure the loan went through so as to preserve the U.S.-China free trade relationship that is allowing lawmakers’ corporate campaign contributors export so many U.S. jobs.

There is no better proof that this Republican-dominated government takes its orders from corporate interests than these kinds of moves. That’s what this UAE deal is all about – the mixture of the Republican goal of privatizing all government services (even post 9/11 port security!) with the political Establishment’s desire to make sure “free” trade orthodoxy supersedes everything.

This is where the culture of corruption meets national security policy – and, more specifically, where the unbridled corruption of on-the-take politicians are weakening America’s security.

Here we have a major U.S. security scandal with the same country we are simultaneously negotiating a free trade pact with, and no one in Washington is saying a thing.

They are talking tough about national security – but almost no one is talking about what may have fueled this Republican administration’s decision to push forward with this deal: the desire to move forward:

Big Money’s “free” trade agenda.

Talk about a politcal party that would sell its mother for a buck!

My biggest fear in the current brouhaha over DP World buying P&O Terminals isn’t the government of the UAE.

My biggest fear is the U.S. Congress….

I agree with you that this is way overblown and people are running scared. Remember the phrase from WWII; “All we have to fear is fear itself”. I think this is what is getting to most people. They don’t try to understand the facts (operation of ports not security, leasing not buying, etc.) and so they are fearful of the unknown. The MSM make statements like they are facts, when they are just misleading the American people. Others come to interesting conclusions. Sean Hannity today was talking about how the UAE banking system supported some terrorists. Based on that conclusion, guess we are not to do business with any country that has a bank that unknowingly dealt with terrorists. That would include England and a number of others.

From your blogs, we here get the facts and can better make a decision. I always look forward to your blogs. So please, keep up the good work!!

Arab countries have to invest their petro-dollars somewhere.

At that intelligence conference, everyone was against the UAE having the port business.

They were suggesting our government is under the influence of the wealthy Arabs.

I don’t see what harm could come from Bush making his case.

http://anomolous.eponym.com/blog/_archives/2006/2/22/1777898.html