Are we trying to make Arabs hate us? [View All]

[electropop]

This was the subject line of a family broadcast from my brother. He is a smart and decent guy, except he's a right-winger. His message went on to accuse the opposition to the ports deal as being based on racism. As a petroleum geologist, he has been over there recently and worked with his peers there (whom he likes and respects).

My response:

The UAE is not just a random state uninvolved with terrorism (an example of this would be pre-invasion Iraq). UAE banks (such as BCCI, owned by one of the ruling UAE families) funneled money to the 9/11 hijackers. UAE trades children as slaves and sex slaves. The boy camel jockeys are slaves, and 60% are killed or crippled in their work. UAE is repressive to women, even by Middle East standards. UAE was one of 3 nations in the world to endorse the Taliban government in Afghanistan. UAE is deeply enmeshed in a WMD trading network with Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea. We aborted an attack on Bin Laden because UAE royals were with him in a meeting at the intended time of attack. Two of the 9/11 hijackers used UAE as a base.

What Bush is advocating is essentially the same thing as handing the keys of the country to Al Qaeda. This is simply not going to fly, after he has spent years whipping us into a terrified xenophobic frenzy, and especially not when the particular country of his affections is one of the very worst offenders. I'm convinced he must have completely lost his mind to think that he could pull this off. His Treasury Secretary (Snow) will benefit financially from the deal, and he pulled his Maritime Administration chief from Dubai Ports World. These men are the reasons for the deal.

It goes beyond insane to think that such blatant corruption and endangerment of our national security will be allowed to happen. The one last thing that Bush still had 30% of the public fooled on was his claimed opposition to terrorism. This has finally put the lie to that silly claim, once and for all. Many Republicans seem to be finding it to be the last straw, and it's about time. Bush is not a Republican, and the GOP will be healthier for seeing that.

Oh, and, it's too late to worry about making the Arabs hate us. We are doing a very thorough job of that in Iraq. Their lives have gone from miserable to violent and short.