Obama’s past is really a wild card. He was born into a Muslim family and by all accounts was a Muslim of some nature until he heard the acidic and anti-American calling of Reverend Wright. There is no way for Obama to separate himself from his past. And let’s be honest here, if America was concerned about a Muslim owned company taking control of some of America’s docks, as they were in the Dubai Port deal a few years back, even a converted Muslim who has joined a radical Chicago Church is not going to give Americans the warm fuzzy feeling that Obama is looking out for them. This may not be fair or accurate, but it is reality. The Dubai Ports reaction showed that much. Race is the least of Obama’s problems.

Obama may be such a unique American story he cannot create ties to enough of the American population to win. Americans are more than aware we live in a complex world which is constantly being misrepresented and spun by political and media elites towards their won agendas. They do not trust the image being portrayed by the liberal media. Obama is still too much of a cypher with too many unanswered questions, hampered by too many questionable choices regarding who he decided to associate with over the years, to create a connection with America. This nagging question is driving the vote in West Virginia, which is not as backwards as many think it is, and is much more representative of ‘fly over’ Main Street USA than not.

Obama is going to get pummeled by more dirty laundry, his facade has been shattered after the Rev Wright and Bill Ayers scandals, and Tony Revko is waiting in the wings (as is a Rev Wright book) to cast further doubts and increase the wave of buyer’s remorse heading Obama’s way. For all these reasons (not to mention the wild card stumbles and missteps sure to come) that Clinton should hang on into the convention. Honestly I have no idea what will happen, but the Clinton’s are power hungry enough, and have sound enough reasons, to go all the way with this race. I would too.

And the more Rushbo and Ingrahm and Levin rail against McCain the stronger he grows! I am beginning to understand that it is not McCain who turned the GOP on its head, he is the beneficiary of those who did turn the GOP on its head – The Amnesty Hypochondriacs. That is my affectionate, tongue-in-cheek label for those who would lose all to deport all long term, law abiding (excepting their lack of work permits, which is misdemeanor) illegals. And it seems they have succeeded – in losing all they had and hold dear. I cannot help but notice McCain’s support keeps growing as the hyper-partisan talking heads ramble on and on about how liberal he his. It’s as if the electorate is trying to find the most annoying candidate for all those who belittled those they disagreed with and now have destroyed conservative coalition.

Rush and others hint they may sit home this election, and that seems to spurn even more support for McCain. It seems America wants the Mary Poppins conservatives to sit home this election and measure themselves against their purity measuring tapes, self absorbed with their inherent purity and perfection in all things conservative. They seem to be pushing with all their might, through their support of McCain, to call the bluff or threat of the hyper-partisans.

I made a critical and basic error in my predictions of the 2006 race – I seriously underestimated the dislike of the GOP. I was not happy with them, but I had not realized I would be one of the last conservative independents to give up and try the Dems. I thought there was a little political collateral left to save the GOP for one more try. Part of that is due to the fact I don’t shift positions radically or with the wind. Thus why I never budged on Iraq, Harriet Miers, low taxes, Dubai Ports, the ban on Embryonic Stem Cell research, comprehensive immigration. I mix to be sure – but I have seen no reason to move on any of these issues. I don’t switch positions very dramatically. So I was not ready to dismiss the GOP too easily. Well, that is me – not America.

This year I am not going to be so blind. Dem turnout is just overwhelming GOP turnout in the primaries (see addendum below). And one of the most liberal GOP senators, one even I would not want to support because he is too left of me on too many issues, is leading the pack for the GOP nomination. The purity wars of the GOP clearly did more damage than I thought. McCain is strong on defense and spending, but he is also strong – in the supposedly wrong way – on immigration. That was supposed to be his Achille’s Heel, the one thing that would bring him down. It is not working out that way. The one issue I thought would stop McCain (and surprisingly the one we agree on!) is not doing what I expected. It is not slowing him down and may be propelling him forward.

Now I am wondering if there is a correlation between McCain’s growing support and the growing rants from the far right. Is this not the real reason why things are all upside down in the GOP? We know the GOP has been hurt by the stubborn purists, but maybe we have underestimated the damage they have done. The GOP is losing statewide elections in once red states like VA, and it lost 6 Senate seats in 2006, and is experiencing a wave of retirements from the 1994 wave when the GOP took over Congress. And I think those retirements are another sign that people who wanted to change America for the better are walking away from a party now over run by people who want a party in their own narrow images. They came to change Washington DC and found too many of their colleagues were changed by DC. Good decent people turned into heckling echoes of Begala and Carville instead of leaders of a new era. As Huckabee so aptly said in the FL debate: non-republicans.

I have no delusions, my views on policies are my own. I don’t believe they are “practically perfect in every way” – as the Mary Poppins conservatives crow – or, more importantly, perfect in every situation. I don’t try to impose my views, I share them and look for like minded people to follow a path of common ground, knowing there are areas all around us where we disagree and may end up opponents. I don’t hate people because one day we agree on one thing and the next we oppose each other. But the hyper-partisan hot-heads have no similar self confidence or self control. And the result is stunning.

I am pretty sure there is a backlash against the Mary Poppins Conservatives in the nation. The more they fight for their purity views the more greater America responds in the opposite direction. The more Fred Thompson haunted conservative talk radio the further down his numbers went. The more Rush and Hannity go after McCain the stronger McCain gets. The more the far right rails against the impure the larger the democrat crowds get.

When the purity wars erupted over Miers I could see the train wreck coming, and here is what I said back then:

The anti-Miers crowd won a pyrrhic victory today. The extreme right’s confidence and tolerance was tested, and found wanting. Instead of debating the merits of Miers, and allowing her to get to the confirmation hearings – too many in that crowd demeaned Miers and those, like me, who wanted to know who she was before rising in opposition. Their confidence was a charade as they panicked and lashed out in a way I thought republicans had outgrown and only liberals still did.

It is clear now that us impure conservatives cannot be allowed to participate in any meaningful or leading roles. We are not pure bloods with clear lineage to the far right cause.

…

The message from the Miers fiasco is clear. Only purebloods can be offered for positions of responsibility. If you are not a pureblood, then there is no depth the purebloods will go to knock you down as a mudblood.

…

And that is what is left of the conservative movement. We now have two factions who will never trust each other, and where name calling skirmishes will break out more and more often. It has already started. The genie is out of the bottle and cannot be put back in now.

I was sadly correct in where this would lead. When Dubai Ports erupted from the same panicky group I and many others saw the next phase in the unavoidable implosion of the GOP governing coalition. The final straw, all around, was immigration reform – which knocked the GOP out of control of Congress. Here is one of my many posts sampling the out of control anger of the amnesty hypochondriacs:

Post the list of traitors.
We’ll pull together the list of their corporate sponsors (because I can’t think of who else pushed them to vote for it) and start a boycott.
…
get the roll call.
Let’s crack some heads.
…
And with that, I leave the GOP.
Goodbye, guys.
…
This Is Fargin’ War!
…
Can you say United States of Mexico! Courtesy of our RINOS and RATS! I saw the soccer game between the USA and Mexico from Chicago and the stadium was filled with folk loyal to the RED, WHITE and GREEN…chants for Mexico drowned the USA chants…imagine that in our own land….USM!
…
Treason.
…
Prez. Bush needs horse-whipping.

After all this is anyone is surprised there has been a backlash against conservatism? If not I can’t help them. Bush was respectful and a compassionate conservative who refused to get in the gutter. And for that decorum he was pilloried by those who seem to have trouble getting out of gutter politics. I heard Hannity ask a liberal caller from MD Friday what happened to her, did her parents beat or abuse her? It was a sick and disrespectful joke. It was another immature and insecure stab at someone who simply disagrees. It ranks right up there with Michelle and others going after the Baltimore family for speaking positively about S-CHIP.

I was wrong. I underestimated the damage the hyper-partisans have done to the GOP. It sounds like America is ready to destroy the party Rush holds dear and are inviting him to sit out 2008. McCain is a poke in the eye to the far right and America seems hell bent on poking that eye. Heck, he is the pick of the NY Times! I did not expect this. I feel good about McCain on national defense, pork spending and immigration. Some might expect me to be happy about his rise, but he is not really my top choice (or second or third). No, I am not happy to see how utterly destroyed the party is because of some hot-heads without self control and dignity and honor.

In the end I don’t think this matters much, because if Obama wins the dem nomination he will steam roll McCain. But it is interesting to see how much success the Amnesty hypochondriacs have had in 2008. Not only have their standard bearers all been forced out of the race, their nemesis is leading the pack to the nomination. Now that I did not expect, but then again I underestimated how much rejection the hypochondriacs where able to build up amongst their one time allies. I did not expect it or want it, but it is here.

Addendum: In case people missed all the news regarding the tsunami of democrat voter turnout I have posts on the matter from SC Dem and SC GOP (where the dems had enormous increases to record highs), New Hampshire and Iowa.

Given the early voting numbers in FL, where Dems are competing with the GOP numbers though their primary supposedly doesn’t count, I would say this trend is continuing. If the FL turnout numbers continue to show this kind of massive turnout differential favoring the dems all the GOP is doing is re-arranging deck chairs on their Titanic.

Update: National Review still thinks immigration works for them and against McCain. Boy, are they in for a shock.

But Frist, R-Tenn., acknowledged that if an American buyer is not found, and the Bush administration determines there are no security risks, a deal for DP World to manage and operate major U.S. ports still could go through.

”If everything that the president, the administration has said, and that is that there is absolutely no threatening or jeopardy to our security and safety of the American people … I don’t see how the deal would have to be canceled,” Frist said on ABC’s ”This Week.”

Take that Michael Savage. Remember, the one thing we gain is The UAE funding increased inspection and security of cargo as it is loaded in foreign ports to come here. That is a lot of security to be throwing away in a fit of panic.

Update:

And we need to fix this ASAP before an unfair and horrible image of America sets in:

One of Bahrain’s top politicians has warned that the US row surrounding DP World’s takeover of P&O has taken on a worryingly racist tenor.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, chief executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said that the events surrounding the Dubai company’s £3.9bn takeover of the UK ports group had also caused great consternation in the Gulf.

Sheikh Mohammed, who heads up Bahrain’s economic investment authority, and is a key member of the island’s government, said Arab countries could do little if the negative attitude towards the area persisted in the US.

Asked whether it was fair that many were describing the US reaction as racist, he said: “Absolutely, but it’s something we can’t speak about. I think it was a shame. The DP World deal was a good deal. But this is politics.”

And it is hurting a key alliance we need to face Iran and the mad mullahs with nukes:

The governor of the UAE central bank has sharply criticised US Congress opposition to the acquisition of six US ports by Dubai Ports World (DPW) and called for a reassessment of US trade links.”The American side that opposed the deal mixed economic and investment matters with issues of security and politics and this is the wrong approach and it will hurt free trade and international investment,” Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said in remarks published Monday in several UAE-based Arabic papers.

Hat Tip Drudge.

Update: More fallout as UAE may divest itself of dollars for Euros.  Hat Tip American Thinker.

The central bank governor of the United Arab Emirates suggested the country may switch up to 10% of its $22.5 billion in currency reserves into euros, in a sign of fallout from Congress’ hostility to the acquisition of some U.S. ports by a Dubai-based firm.

Are we learning our lesson yet?

Our soldiers in harm’s way in the Middle East must train, arm and fight side-by-side with potential Al Qaeda agents. But we here in America, the ones who send out military to die in our name, cannot generate enough spine to rub elbows with UAE businessmen.

As I predicted and feared, the appetite of the Ayrab-phobes was not satiated with this one event. Their desire to rid America of those not worthy to be here is stronger than most of those who capitulated to the pressure over Dubia Ports World realized. News is out today the Ayrab Cleansers are now looking at ownership of airlines.

Resistance to foreign ownership of U.S. port operations spilled over into the aviation arena when a congressional committee told the Bush administration to postpone a plan to allow more foreign control of domestic airlines.

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday passed a resolution directing the Transportation Department to hold off for 120 days on its proposal to give foreign investors in U.S. airlines more latitude to influence management decisions.

“The committee believes that the U.S. aviation industry is part of our critical infrastructure as are the ports,” said the resolution, which passed by voice vote and doesn’t have the force of law.

Please, don’t insult my intelligence and try to explain this is not xenophobia or fear of Arab Muslims. This is exactly what I predicted would happen once Congress decided to lead the mob mentality instead of being leaders and stopping it. Just like political leaders can stoke riots to expand or work to calm them down, we had a choice on DPW. We blew it.

Idiots like Michael Savage are already on the hunt for other UAE arrangements in the US which mirror the DPW arrangement. I was going to dredge the sewers of anti-foreigner sites to get links but it was not worth polluting my site with those links.

Think about what kind of country we should be if we are to be the shining city on the hill. This kind of emotional, fear laden response is not coherent with the image Ronald Reagan espoused and challenged us to become.

Update:

At least we still have one strong leader in Washington DC – our President:

President Bush’s cautions on the dangers of pulling back behind American borders — in trade and investment, in immigration and in his effort to make the spread of democracy the signature of his second term — first cropped up in his State of the Union address six weeks ago.

But it accelerated even before the Dubai ports deal was derailed by members of his own party, and before an unexpected uprising began among some neo-conservatives, who are now arguing that Iraq, while a noble effort, has turned into a failed mission that must be abandoned.

…

“We’re seeing it in everything,” said one of Mr. Bush’s closest aides last week. “Iraq. The ferocity of an irrational argument over the ports. Guest workers. China and India.”

Of course, this story is buried in a NY Times piece which has its own partisan agenda.  But at least someone is fighting this ridiculous tide.

But it is also likely to keep the heat on a simmering belief abroad that U.S. markets can sometimes be more trouble than they’re worth, economists and foreign trade experts said Thursday.

“People are making decisions to invest elsewhere than in the U.S.,” said Rachel Bronson, a Mideast expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Gulf money is being invested in Europe and Asia. This furthers that trend.”

In the wake of last year’s uproar over Chinese interest in Unocal and Maytag, companies from controversial countries may be inclined to search for less complicated investments when deciding where to park their assets. And in a global economy, there are plenty of options.

To some that may be a reasonable tradeoff if scrutiny of such deals enhances national security. But economists said if too much money drifts away from U.S. investments, economic security could be at stake.

We are all poorer econimcally, morally and with regard to security.  And now I find myself agreeing with Andrew Sullivan:

Well, they’ve set an absurd precedent; now they’ll have to live with it. The Pentagon has another major contract with another Dubai-owned company, Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS).

Note to Andrew: Ownership in ISS and DPW converge at the top in The UAE.  Andrew notes:

Michelle Malkin, it’s time for another conniption.

True, shouldn’t someone be yelling “the Arabs are coming, the Arabs are coming”?

“How long will it be until the establishment finally recognizes CAIR for what it is and denies it mainstream legitimacy?”

The answer is obvious: when CAIR takes over terminal operations in a US port.  How hard is that to answer?

While this frustrates me, I see no point in stooping down to the level of nationalism and jingoism in response. The response to the DPW issue was still wrong. But there is a case to be made that the world fed this animosity over the years of America bashing.  There was no reason to use DPW ethnic and religous make up to find potential risks – none.  Just like we don’t like it when America is smeared with the worst of our people, we should not return the favor as payback.  Something the protectionists need to assess is what is motivating their fear and willingness to only recognize the negative indicators and ignore the more realistic and numerous positive indicators.

We lost more security world wide. Recall DPW operates a lot of ports sending goods here to the US. They are our first line of defense for stopping WMDs being smuggled in. Here is just a fraction of what we lost:

Until Rove’s decision, Dubai’s business leaders had insisted they would fight on. The chairman of Dubai Ports World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, told me emphatically on Wednesday that his company would do whatever was necessary to convince Congress that the deal posed no security risk — new investment, additional equipment, more scanning of cargo, special checks of UAE personnel, including himself. But that was before the House Appropriations Committee voted 62 to 2 to kill the deal.

Well, are we safer now? Of course not. The Chicken Hawks who could not handle more (not new) UAE business in the US Port market had to panic and toss away UAE funded security equipment and stepped up scanning of containers. Wasn’t one of the lame excuses we heard from the mob we needed to increase our inspection of cargo?

This is what happens when people run around on emotion, especially fear. They don’t think. More:

I suspect America will pay a steep price for Congress’s rejection of this deal. It sent a message that for all the U.S. rhetoric about free trade and partnerships with allies, America is basically hostile to Arab investment. And it shouldn’t be surprising if Arab investors respond in kind. One could blame it all on craven members of Congress, if the opinion polls didn’t show that Americans are overwhelmingly against the deal — and suspicious of Muslims in general. Those poll numbers tell us that America hasn’t gotten over Sept. 11, 2001. If anything, Iraq has deepened the country’s anxiety, introspection and foreboding.

Yep, we are running scared. And Al Qaeda sees it too. And they must be rejoicing that spooked Americans rejected what Al Qaeda deems a major enemy to them, and now they will use this to rally support and make the case America can be beat. They will say America is in retreat now – we only need to kill a few more.

Never show weakness to animals. Even Chicken Hawks should know that. But of course what do you expect from people who just finished sending friendly fire into our ally and weakening them and us our efforts fighting terrorists.

To appreciate how cockeyed America’s Dubai-phobia is, you have to spend a little time here, as I did this week. The truth is, this is one of the few places in the Arab world where things have been going in the right direction — away from terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism and toward an open, modern economy. That’s why congressional opposition came as such a surprise here. People in the UAE think they’re America’s friends.

Read the whole sad story.

Update: An excellent round up on the DPW disaster at RCP. A sad must read.

Update: Oh, in case you missed it, we now are at war with those ‘fereigners’, not Al Qaeda:

The decision by Dubai Ports World to abandon its effort to take over terminal operations at six U.S. seaports was a victory for the numerous politicians who have thundered in recent days that foreign companies have no business handling U.S. port operations.

Now all we have to do is round them up and drop them off over the boarder. Here’s are first target – more Ayrabs!

For an example of the industry’s international nature, consider Inchcape Shipping Services, a London-based company that provides ship agency services — arranging the smooth arrival and departure of vessels — at 200 ports around the world, including more than two dozen in the United States. Inchcape was purchased in January by a Dubai company whose chief executive, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, also heads Dubai Ports World.

How did Schumer and King, those Arab-Slaying Chicken Hawks, allow this to happen? Where are all those brave Congress people? They should march on these heathen port operations right now! Some one alert Michelle Malkin. We need Ann Coulter down their telling these ‘ragheads’ where their place is.

Update: Well, well. It seems Michelle is already out hunting for more feriegners:

And yes, I agree, it’s time for a wholesale reassessment of all other foreign government-owned or -operated critical assets in the U.S. We should have done it a lot sooner. That’s not called xenophobia. That’s called dealing with post-Sept. 11 reality.

The reality being, of course, Michelle is afraid of Ayrab businessmen. And I am not the only one seeing this:

PROTECTIONISTS, REJOICE! The dastardly United Arab Emirates company that would have presumed to unload containers of underwear and toothpaste on U.S. soil has backed down, and it will now divest its U.S. port interests to an American entity. Rest assured, the nation is now safe from dangerous Middle Eastern accountants and port logistics specialists.

Thank GOD we have all been saved!

Update: Congress wins the Dodo award! For killing our economy by making it harder to negotiate trade deals, by lsoing out on serious security enhancements DPW was bringing to the deal, and for generally making is all look frightened.

]]> http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/1461/feed 13 http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/1459 http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/1459#comments Thu, 09 Mar 2006 21:36:44 +0000 AJStrata http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/1459 ** Major Update Below **

Dubai Ports World did what they had to in order to retain the maxium value of their business acquisition – they turned their backs on the US as partners, gave up on us a confident people of honor in the world, and sold off the problem terminal operations to a company which will probably be listed on a lot of congressman’s political donations listings.

The Chicken Hawks are all out strutting in clucking that they defeated their demeons. What they did was expose a part of America most of us thought long dead and gone. We are no longer the shining city on the hill, the city has collapsed in a pile of putrid fear.

Update: As expected The UAE, after taking a lot of risks for us in the Middle East – where all the REAL danger is, is not happy with our spinless republican Chicken Hawks:

Dubai is threatening retaliation against American strategic and commercial interests if Washington blocks its $6.8 billion takeover of operations at several U.S. ports.

As the House Appropriations Committee yesterday marked up legislation to kill Dubai Ports World’s acquisition of Britain’s Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation (P&O), the emirate let it be known that it is preparing to hit back hard if necessary.

A source close to the deal said members of Dubai’s royal family are furious at the hostility both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have shown toward the deal.

“They’re saying, ‘All we’ve done for you guys, all our purchases, we’ll stop it, we’ll just yank it,’” the source said.

Retaliation from the emirate could come against lucrative deals with aircraft maker Boeing and by curtailing the docking of hundreds of American ships, including U.S. Navy ships, each year at its port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the source added.

Can anyone wipe the Chicken Hawk droppings off America’s face? Where the votes this fall worth losing our reputation and credibility that was so hard fought for going on over 200+ years?

End update

I now predict a mass exodus of people from both political parties. Those of us in the middle who want calm, reasoned, mature debate to our pressing issues are totally fed up with wingnuts from both sides. I see lots of people leaving the reps and going independent. I am glad I delayed my decision one more year to join the reps. Now I know I will be much happier here in the middle away from the fear mongers. I’ll let The Anchoress represent the thinking of the moderate middle, but check out the comments on the previous post for lots and lots of links coming from the newly disenfranchised.

We were better than this, we should be better than this. And we will be better than this. Americans are ready to eject a lot of noisy flotsam. We have the leftwing nuts drooling mad at Bush calling for impeachment, and we now have the rightwing nuts drooling mad at Ayrabs and calling for us to close up our part of the planet.

So, I stand here and ex-democrat, independent conservative who wants to let those fed up with left and right know that living in the middle is just fine. We are not moderate – because we are not complacent. We simply are not extreme and we do not run on out of control emotion. I do not need Michael Savage or Michael Moore – no one does.

The Chicken Hawks fouled the nest with their fear. They can keep their nest, we will build a new shining city on the Hill.

But there is a component on the right which has worried
me more than 100 DPW contracts: the Chicken Hawks. The term ‘Chicken Hawk’ refers to people who sound brave when sending others into battle, but don’t have the spine to fight the battle themselves. You can be a veteran and have evolved to a Chicken Hawk. While not quite an accurate comparison, simply look at Mad Murtha who was once brave and willing to take on this country’s enemies, but now thinks of nothing but defeat.

No, in the DPW acquisition of P&O we have seen a strange and bad alliance. A desperate left willing to do and say anything to win votes, and a frightened, skittish right afraid of anything Arab or, now, un-American. The comments by Rep Jerry Lewis yesterday, as the spineless Congress voted to protect the masses from the evil Arab Company, showed many have decided it was best to follow the Lou Dobbs formula: fereignors are bad.

What has me saddened is how this is playing in our military, and which is why the reasoning of the right is probably more damaging to America’s image than that from the left. Many on the right, like me, backed the regime change in Iraq. We backed sending our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters into a basket case region of the world to clean it up and try and set it right. In Afghanistan our troops have had to reach out to the locals, many who tolerated if not supported Al Qaeda and the Taliban, to build a free society. Our military trained these people, armed them, and then went and fought side by side with them. All the time never sure if these people were what they said they were, or an under cover assasin.

In Iraq the support was all from the middle and right side of the political spectrum – the left wanted no part of it. So we are the ones who sent our neighbors and family members to Iraq to sacrifice life and limb (and many did) to repeat the process. They went into the middle of the turmoil that brought us 9-11 and again reached out to the people, and worked side by side with them. Fought side by side with them. Died side by side with them.

The military doesn’t expect us keyboard warriors to do what they do, they simply hope they are respected and honored for their efforts. But what kind of honor are we bestowing to chicken out when it is our turn to do the most modest of acts: reach out and work with Americans who will now get their paychecks from The UAE bank instead of the UK bank?

The military folks, who risked everything to build bridges of respect and community, must be wondering what kind of cowards we are back here in the US? People are pissing their pants because a country and company, both of which have worked for years with us in the torrent that is the Middle East, is buying some stock in London. And we are falling apart in a panic over it.

People see xenophobia and arab-phobia in this, and there is an undercurrent of that. Many have finally shed all pretense and have raced ahead of this mob mentality of irrational fear to claim if only they were not arabs! And some are still trying to say Arabs are really worth distrusting.

Lou Dobbs likes to ask dissenters to his America Uber Alles tirades what about the 70% of the people who are afraid (or trying to get Bush) in the polls. My first response is at one time majorities in this country backed slavery and racism. So it is not the numbers that matter, it is what is driving the numbers that matters. Fear is driving these numbers, which is always bad. When fear hits a mob you end up with groups like the KKK – which was an organization and a mob think all centered around fear of others who were different. Sorry, but that is a fact of the KKK. So when you see even minor valid comparisons it is good time to do a real hard re-assessment of ones positions.

I know my readership is going to tank again, as it always does when I am blunt, honest and coldly calculating in my comments. Especilly on this subject. People don’t like to face the possibility they are wrong, or cowards. But while the Chicken Hawks run around fearing the Arab Owners of DPW, I fear what the cowards in Congress are leading us to. They blame Bush for not stopping the mob mentality, as they simultaneously use the mob fear to shore up their chances of re-election. In my mind I would not want to be re-elected to lead a country running on fear and lashing out like this. I would put it all on the line – like our soldiers do right now, every day, in the Middle East. So stop blaming Bush because you ‘leaders’ are afraid to get out and face this head on.

The Chicken Hawks are driven by a fear of the “Un-Americans”. The usual suspects who see fit to yank families from their homes and jobs and march them to the borders because they do not have ‘their papers’ in order worry me. Yes, I am talking about illegal immigration – another excuse used to behave poorly. These people equate someone trying to make a living and raise a family, but not registered properly with the government, as some kind of evil parasite that must be excised. Sounds like a tax cheater to me. If we were to have punishments that fit the crimes, all those who’s tax forms were not in order would get uprooted and marched off too! But this is not about law and punishment – it is about fear.

Where is this mob fear going? There was once another nation in Europe who rounded up undesirables based on tissue thin legal grounds. And while the Chicken Hawks out to purge our schools of illegal alien children strut around showing their bravery, I wonder how they would respond when Mexico and the other countries close our borders to stop us from dumping millions of jobless, homeless people on their streets? Will they then use that as an excuse to place the unwanted into detention camps? What does it take to be ‘American enough’ to pass muster with these folks? Who decides? Lou Dobbs?

The Chicken Hawks really bother me (can’t you tell?). They are not showing a lot of self control and very little logic. When it was their turn to stand tall and brave and reach out to people in the middle east they have responded with panic, accusations and now attempts to close the doors on our allies. All those sacrifices and true acts of courage on the battle field and in the subsequent rebuilding of Muslim nations were apparently for nothing. America was supposed to stand tall, reach out and say: let’s give this brave new world a try. Well, at least that is what I hoped she would do.

We failed. We were once the land of The Free and The Brave. Now it looks more like The Frightened and The Scared. How can anyone who backed the Iraq war look our troops in the eye now and say it was too hard for us to rub elbows with Arab businessmen? We just did not have the spine.

No, not the Veto. The pen. Bush has a 45 day review going on where he decides the final outcome. If legislation looks to pass watch Bush sign off on the deal early, making it immune from any laws passed after the fact. As we all should know – you cannot make something illegal after the fact.

Checkmate.

Way to go Wolf Blitzer and CNN. They decided to be journalists and find out the facts. Amazing. Links when they become available.

Some of the interview information are here at The Business Of America Is Business.

Update:

As promised, the transcripts. The first segment was background on Dubai and The UAE basically. Some excerpts. First, scare monger Rep Harold Ford, running for Tennessee Senate (Bill Frist’s seat) runs to Baltimore to shamelessly mislead the gullible on the port deal:

REP. HAROLD FORD JR. (D), TENNESSEE: President Bush wants to sell this port and five others to the United Arab Emirates, a country that had diplomatic ties with the Taliban, the home of two 9/11 hijackers, whose banks wired money to the terrorists. I’m running for the Senate because we shouldn’t outsource our national security to anyone. I will fight to protect America and keep your family safe and that’s why I approve this message.

I emphasized on the erroneaous items in that one short statement. Bush doesn’t want to sell anything. P&O is selling a controlling interest to DPW and we are simply reviewing the deal to see if it conflicts with any of our trade laws and security. P&O doesn’t do port security so we cannot be outsourcing. I would have had to bold the entire lame statement to point out DPW not have ties to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. And I keep reminding folks at one point we had diplomatic relations with Saddam Hussein and armed him. Glass houses everywhere.

Here is the part I came in on. Blitzer was getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the port and its security:

Blitzer: Meanwhile the Pentagon says more U.S. warships are serviced here in Dubai than any other port outside of the United States. Local customs authorities say their security is extremely tight and technologically advanced. They took me behind the scenes today for an exclusive tour.

I made the point many times that DPW and The UAE guard our backs now because they monitor shipments of goods coming to us here through the Port of Dubai. In other words, they already know about port security:

BLITZER: Ahmed Butti is in charge of Dubai Customs. During an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour, he proudly showed off the technology, the hardware and the software that are already used in Dubai. And he spoke of the even more sophisticated equipment now on the way that could detect a dirty bomb.

BUTTI: We’re in the process right now in working together with Department of Energy of establishing all our gates to — radiation machine to detect that and we have a team from our inspectors, already they are on the stairs (ph) right now to be trained how to operate these machines.

BLITZER: This multi-million dollar mobile scanner can literally see inside the containers. Highly-trained operators can focus in on even the smallest details. The same can be done inside the structure. Here in Dubai, when it comes to security and checking what’s inside containers, they say they are not worried about politically incorrect ethnic profiling.

And the myth about only 5% of containers ‘inspected’ is just that. Simple minds would come up with that simple approach (I guess they relate it to passenger screening). But the reality is basically profiling of goods and those shipping them:

(Blitzer on camera): What percentage would you say, are actually physically inspected?

BUTTI: Some, from certain countries, 100 percent sometimes.

BLITZER: Oh, really?

BUTTI: Some countries, no, 30, some countries 20. It depends where it’s coming from. It depends the companies.

BLITZER: How suspicious you are.

BUTTI: Absolutely.

BLITZER (voice-over): He won’t say which countries have everything inspected, though presumably this Iranian ship loaded with Iranian cargo, which we drove by, would be a prime target for a thorough inspection.

No surprise there. Again, DPW and The UAE know security – they are not some backwater town with camels tied up outside the tents:

BLITZER: Some 1,600 people work for Dubai Customs. Ahmed Butti says every one of them undergoes a thorough background check.

Blitzer then goes on to illustrate how thoroughly modern The UAE is. Folks can read that section for themselves. They do a lot of news on this segment before getting back to Dubai and an interview with an adviser to the crowned Prince of The Emirates. The most important aspect of this interview is the history we, the United States, have had with The UAE fighting terrorism:

AL OTAIBA: Let me put some facts on the table. And I know there’s been questions raised regarding the UAE’s position on the war on terror, especially after 9/11. Now, the UAE has had a long, extensive history of cooperating with the U.S. on issues dealing with military intelligence cooperation, terrorism issues, and so on, since well before 9/11.

In 1991, the UAE contributed forces to Operation Desert Storm. And we allowed U.S. forces to base in the United Arab Emirates. In 1993, we contributed forces to operations in Somalia. In 1998, we sent as many as 9,000 troops to conduct peacekeeping operations under the NATO alliance. We operated in Kosovo for over three and a half years.

These are all facts that perhaps some people may or may not be aware of, but our cooperation and our history in dealing with the U.S., the U.N., and various other allies and friends have been steadfast and absolutely unambiguous.
…

AL OTAIBA: Well, let me put some more facts on the table. The U.S. Navy sends ships up to 572 U.S. Naval vessels to port and ports in the UAE, whether it’s (inaudible). We’re reaching vessels up to the size of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. BLITZER: They come into this port here.

AL OTAIBA: They come into this port, and Fajera (ph) port. Now, the U.S. Navy feels that it trusts the UAE enough to put in vessels of that size and of that level of technology in our port. And throughout history, he we have had a flawless track record in the UAE, whether it comes to terrorism in general and supporting our allies and our friends in the region.

The next segment has a discussion of the Container Security Initiative (CSI), an initiative The UAE signed up to early on:

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, that’s right, it is called the Container Security Initiative, and it currently operates in 42 countries around the world. One of those ports is, in fact, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The idea that U.S. Custom officials work in conjunction with local Dubai officials to identify what they call high-risk containers. They then use those non-invasive techniques to scan them, those things like high-tech radiation devices.

Now, is this working? That is the big question. The idea is to get to these things before they ever leave the foreign country and head to U.S. ports.

Well, the GAO, the Government Accountability Office, did a study, and they found two major problems with the program. One is that there’s not enough staffing and a lot of those containers are not being identified. The other problem being that the devices they use have no technological standard, so you can’t tell whether or not the radiation technology, those sorts of things, are actually working.

But Wolf, CSI tells us that they are actually taking these changes under advisement and they are making the appropriate adjustments.

Well, technology is where it is and they are using the best out there – that is not the fault of DPW or The UAE. Neither is it their fault we do not have the people. But as we saw before The UAE is taking security serious and doing plenty more all by themselves. So while naysayers can point to these ‘facts’, they have no bearing on DPW’s ability to safely operate terminals in our ports.

This segment also has the debate between Rep King (isn’t he shilling for a US port management company?) and a Kevin Massengill, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel workingh in Dubai. Again, I will leave most of this to the reader to digest. One snippet:

MASSENGILL: Absolutely. They’re very good questions.

Wolf, the answer to that is, none of us want to be judged by the way we acted prior to 9/11. That was the watershed event. And all of us recognize now, in hindsight, that there was more we could have done, better ways we could have been prepared.

Very true. Glasses houses all around. The end of this transcript deals with Wolf’s interview with “U.S. Navy Captain Thomas Goodwin. He’s a top Navy commodore here in the Persian Gulf region.”

GOODWIN: If you look at [federal government] fiscal year 2005, and you start counting from 1 October of 2004, and you stop with September 30 of 2005, we have had — the U.S. government’s had U.S. ships in port on 203 different — excuse me — 203 ship visits, for a total of 502 port visits.

That is a lot of opportunities for a repeat of the USS Cole folks. And that was just the last GYF. And the US Navy deals directly with Dubai Ports World:

BLITZER: Now, who provides the services? When a U.S. Navy vessel comes in here, Dubai Ports World, I take it, helps you guys, or is the — is the port operator.

GOODWIN: In fact, it is.

United Arab Emirates — it’s Dubai Ports World — they own the territory. This is their home territory. We work hand in glove with Dubai Ports World for services, and to provide fuel, logistics, and everything that a warship or another logistics ship would need here, absolutely.

BLITZER: And how do they do? How is the receptivity? What do you — what do you — what — what kind of grade would you give them when you come here to Dubai?

GOODWIN: If I put them on a grading scale, like you’re back in college or something like that, I would have to give them at least an A-plus.

BLITZER: Really?

GOODWIN: Absolutely.

Hard to argue with people who have direct knowledge of a subject. And it is hard for me to weigh speculation (especially wild speculation) more factual or real than first hand experience. And that experience is hard to argue with, as Wolf found out as he ended his interview:

BLITZER: Because a lot of us remember the USS Cole.

GOODWIN: That is correct.

BLITZER: And, so, you — you — you — that’s very much on your mind?

GOODWIN: Very much on our mind, absolutely, everybody.

BLITZER: And, so, you — you — you work together with the UAE to make sure that could never happen?

GOODWIN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BLITZER: So, it’s a pretty good operation? I — I guess it’s a good story to tell.

GOODWIN: It’s absolutely a good story to tell.

And I think, again, for the people back home, again, just — just think about this for one moment here. And it’s a foreign port for us in America, all right? But you’re here. And, every day, every day, there is a U.S. ship in a port in the UAE, either here in Jebel Ali, or in Dubai, or in Fujairah, which is on the open ocean side of the Straits of Hormuz.

BLITZER: And the same receptivity you get here in — as in Dubai, you get in the other ports?

GOODWIN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Dubai Ports World runs the — the port in Fujairah. They run the port here in Jebel Ali, and, obviously, in Dubai.

BLITZER: No problems with Dubai Ports World?

GOODWIN: None at all. They have been a master partner in this effort.

For those serious about a serious issue, please look at all the transcripts (one more here) and the give and take. CNN did an excellent job. I think Tony Snow would be proud (he has been doing top notch reporting on this subject)!

Any contact with Muslim states involves the chance that an al-Qaeda infiltrator may slip through. But terrorists have attacked the USA without the UAE leasing any port unloading facilities. They are also capable of attacking without the use of foreign nationals, as the cases of Iyman Faris, Jose Padilla and others show. Any possible threat enhanced by the Dubai Ports deal is already present through many other avenues.

One example would be New York’s JFK airport which receives flights from no less than ten Muslim-owned airlines — including twice daily non-stops from the UAE on Emirates airline. While the UAE-leased seaport terminals will be staffed by the same American employees who work there now, these Muslim-owned airlines are piloted by Muslims into the skies over New York, Washington, Los Angeles and other cities every day.

The home-country security for these flights is the responsibility of Muslim security officers and screeners. Any of these flights could simply veer off course and take out a skyscraper in a matter of seconds. Any of them could carry a nuclear weapon into our skies and detonate it over a city. Why are no politicians propounding on this threat? Should we shut them down? Even if we did, would that really end the threat?

…

We can slow the spread of nuclear weapons technology and we can hasten the spread of democracy, but it is physically impossible to wall ourselves off from the threat of nuclear terrorism. The only way to defeat that threat is by action — political, diplomatic, economic and military — in the Islamic world. Action which will either physically destroy a nuclear threat or action which will result in the creation of societies no longer interested in waging terrorist war against the free world. The combination of these two methods is our only chance for victory. Walling ourselves off does not protect us, it guarantees our defeat.

The UAE is no democracy, but it is a trade-oriented society rightly seen as the “Hong-Kong of the Gulf.” About 60 percent of the UAE’s 3.4 million residents are non-native. The UAE is currently host to more US Navy ships than any foreign port. It is a banking, tourism, and shipping center for the entire region. In surveys, a plurality of Iraqis indicate the UAE is the country they would most like to emulate.

Among Islamic countries the UAE is one of the most progressive. If we choose to wall ourselves off from a country such as this, then what are we doing in Iraq or Afghanistan? The entire strategy of forcing the development of democracy is at question and the questions are being asked by the usual isolationist forces on both left and right joined by hordes of political opportunists.

…

No strategy is without risk. President Bush’s strategy emphasizing development of broad military, political, diplomatic and economic relations with Muslim societies as full or partial allies in the war on terror has paid off in terms of thousands of terrorists captured or killed. The risk of abandoning this strategy is far greater than the risks associated with continuing it.

Good stuff.

UAE buys British firm that runs U.S. military facilities

You think they UAE bought Ft Belvior or something! First off, anyone knee jerk enough to think British firms run military facilities deserves to be tossed out of this discussion for extreme gullibility as a repeat offender. Here are the details in the story:

The Bush administration has informed Congress of a review of the UAE acquisition of a British manufacturer of engine components for U.S. military aircraft and main battle tanks. The British firm operates nine factories, including military production facilities in Connecticut and Georgia.

Officials said Dubai International Capital has acquired the London-based Doncasters Group for $1.2 billion. Doncasters produces engine components and turbine blades for military platforms, and its clients include Boeing, General Electric, Honeywell and Pratt and Whitney.

Got the gist of this now? They run commercial factories, which sell parts, some of which go on military airplanes. they DO NOT operate US military facilities! If a Dubai firm runs a plastics company, which sells plastic to the military, is it now running our military and a risk to all mankind? The anti port folks deserve this insult to intelligence.

They ran off half cocked on the Port deal, and now everyone who has an agenda wants to go back to the well for another round of gullibility. In fact, I predicted just this kind of thing would happen as the fear mongers chase out our allies based on race, cultural and religious ties Al Qaeda. For all we know, this is an Al Qaeda effort to separate America from its best ally in the region. But what it does show is someone, somewhere sees easily duped American public.