Why All the Fuss About Arabs Operating Our Ports?

Mister Americano doesn't know enough about the contract to the United Arab Emirates company to run America's ports but Mister Americano knows terrorism.

On the one hand, the UAE is an ally and we need to be able to trust our Moslem allies in this war. On the other hand, terrorism gets financed through UAE banks. On the other other hand, the UAE is the banking center of the Persian Gulf so it stands to reason that some money would pass through there and end up in terrorist hands.

On the one hand, the company is foreign owned. On the other hand, the employees at the ports are going to be American longshoreman.

It may not be a bad move for America to have the company get the contract although politically it's not such a good idea for the Bush Administration. Perhaps Karl Rove has a secret plan to get Democrats elected to Congress so President Bush can become a fiscal conservative and veto a spending bill for once.

But if the worry is terrorism the fuss seems to be much ado about nothing.

Mister Americano watches the TV show 24, so Mister Americano knows terrorism, and terrorists are rarely Arabs. In four seasons of 24 only one terrorist plot involved Moslem extremists and those apparently were Turks. But there is one thing that all the terrorist plots had in common: the involvement of rich white guys from the highest levels of American business, military, intelligence, and government, ready to sell out the United States for money, oil, racism, or perverted patriotism.

Maybe we're actually safer trusting our ports to an Arab ally than we would be if we put rich white American guys in charge.

-tdr

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