Here is why I do not like the UAE port deal

[DancingBear]

Very simply: because Bush does.

I'm not trying to be cutesy - far from it.

I have no "hidden agendas" re: A-rabs, no closet racism against different cultures.

There is not ONE Democrat/progressive alive who should be for this deal, predicated on the simple fact that George Bush likes it.

When is the last time this treasonous son a bitch has done anything for the good of this nation? We know the answer - never. There are threads all over DU linking this deal to Carlyle, to Snow and CSX, to "free trade" - do I buy it? Damn straight. This deal is for one reason and one reason only - money. Favors need to be repaid all over the place.

Will it compromise security? Probably. The idea of letting a country whose democratic ideals fall right in line with Bush run the ports (and please, no nuanced answers here about who runs what) is not a good idea. Will someone/somewhere find a loophole through UAE that wasn't there before? Probably. If Commander Dipshit can't find planes in the sky, the idea of finding crates on ships is taxing at best.

Just follow the money, kids, just follow the money. The bastard will compromise our security for the almighty greenback, as he has proven with his callous disregard for first responders, for firefighters, etc. He'll do the same here, because there is money to be made, and palms to grease.

Besides, doesn't the UAE make a wonderful military jumping off point for the Middle East? Can't get Daddy's friends angry, or there goes PNAC.

[MuseRider]

1. He has made it incredibly

easy to know where to stand hasn't he? I used to have to think but now, Bush** likes it? No way is it worth a shit. I wish I could find one thing, just one thing that wasn't despicable but I can't.

:hi: DB

[patrice]

2. An intelligent nice lady I know who doesn't pay very close attention to

Politics most of the time, expressed Exzasperation! and amazement at the port deal and said the president is very stupid.

[Mizmoon]

3. I go away for a few weeks and the cabal blows up

This is my first chance to say anything about this here on DU. I hope there aren't a lot of people pushing the "raciscm" angle here on DU. It's false. This has nothing to do with race.

Clearly this doesn't jibe with the Bushies' assertions that this war is so dire that we must spy on Americans, lock muslims up without a trial, and basically suspend the Consitution.

Britain is our closest ally. UAE is ... well ... not anywhere near to being our closest ally.

Hell, I object to ANY foreign company running the ports. Why aren't those jobs going to Americans?

All I can tell you is that the most staunch Bushies I know here in New York are going totally psychotic over this and calling for Bush's head. They all assume that this is some corrupt money deal. It's really the straw that broke the camel's back.

Crash and burn, you neocon monsters. Crash and burn.

Once again the Democrats are going to have to clean up the mess.

[Nihil]

9. Hmmmm

> This is my first chance to say anything about this here on DU.
> I hope there aren't a lot of people pushing the "raciscm" angle
> here on DU. It's false. This has nothing to do with race.

Well from the outside it looks like it has a LOT to do with race.
And if you care to look a little deeper, there is even more to see.

Nobody (like NOBODY) gave a shit about P & O running the show even
though they were foreign ... they were nominally British and so
were "OK". Britain has been bought out and are "safe".

Nobody (apart from the occasional so-called CT person) gave a shit
about an Israeli company running the security for many airports ...
specifically those involved with the 9/11 planes. They too were
apparently "OK". No-one dares to question an Israeli connection.

Now some dealer flogs a company to the highest bidder (who happens
to be based in the "wrong side" of the Middle East) and there is a
huge screaming match capturing most of the political coverage on the
networks. What else is sneaking through or quietly being dropped
due to "lack of interest"? What else will be creeping along to get
to the stage where no-one can change its course?

This is one big smokescreen that is playing (very successfully) to
the inbuilt "race" card in Joe Sixpack and pretending that it is
anything else is, at best, naive.

[Mizmoon]

11. Disagree completely

"Britain has been bought out and are "safe"."

Britain is our closest ally. We really do have a special relationship with them and I'm totally comfortable with them running the ports. You could argue, I suppose, that their being white makes the special relationship possible. I would counter that we have a shared history which makes us close. I don't really feel like going into our financial dealings with them over the 20th century, but saying we "own" them is going too far, I think.

"Nobody (apart from the occasional so-called CT person) gave a shit
about an Israeli company running the security for many airports"

Well, Israel is also a very close ally with a special skill in airport security. I'd fly El Al any day.


"Now some dealer flogs a company to the highest bidder (who happens
to be based in the "wrong side" of the Middle East)"

Whoa, whoa, whoa ... just "happens" to be on the wrong side if the Middle East? It's not that simple. They recognized the Taliban. They don't recognize Israel. 9/11 hijackers were from there. We have known forever that we can't inspect shipping very thoroughly. He who operates the ports controls the manifests and whatnot. It is clearly not good to have an untrustworthy company that is owned by a suspicious government run our ports. To make blanket accusations of racism is knee-jerk liberalism - and I'm pretty darn liberal to say that. But like it or not there really are people who are after us and who would like to blow up more stuff here.

Don't let the fact that the Bushies have made a mess of everything distract you from the certain fact that there are jihadists out there who want to mess us up. Google "Islamic Thinkers Society" and look at the cache. They just took down their website last week. They are based in New York.

[Fridays Child]

4. Given his history of Orwellian policymaking...

...your reasoning is, sadly, good enough.

[Uben]

5. Thats totally ridiculous

...and absolutely true!

[DancingBear]

6. Pitiful, ain't it?

I was going to write this long researched screed and then I thought of the immortal Groucho Marx line:

"Whatever it is, I'm against it!" :)

[Telly Savalas]

7. But Bill Frist is against it.

And it's just as easy to reflexively disagree with everything he says.

[DancingBear]

8. Frist is a lying piece of garbage,

but a "which way does the wind blow" pol of the highest order.

Bush is a sociopath with no qualms at all about kiling the innocent to enhance the bottom line. Therein lies the difference.

And, BTW, I'm betting that Frist hasn't finished "nuancing" his position - I'm sure the final quid pro quo hasn't been delivered yet.

[Telly Savalas]

10. Good point.

I'm still solidly in the "who cares about the deal, port operations shouldn't have been privatized in the first place" camp, but that's a good distinction you draw between Bush and Frist.