Racists take note

[Plane]

http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

REMEMBER DUBAI PORTS WORLD?

Remember Dubai Ports World? This is the Islamic government-owned firm that was going to manage some of our top ports before public outrage stopped the deal. Well, that didn't stop them...because now Dubai Ports World is joining a program to screen U.S. cargo for nuclear weapons. What...Al-Qaeda's bid for the job wasn't low enough?

In a twist of irony, Dubai Ports World was chosen as one of the companies to do the screening as part of a process instituted after the uproar over....yup, you guessed it...Dubai Ports World. Now don't get me wrong...Dubai Ports World may be a fine company. But It is a government-owned firm...owned by a government that hasn't always been friendly to the United States. They also have had terrorists based in the United Arab Emirates, that includes Dubai. Do we really want to put such a firm in charge of our nuclear security?

Apparently so. The Bush Administration, in its infinite wisdom, just loves the idea of the fox guarding the henhouse. Oh, and by the way...you're paying for it. This is part of $3.4 billion in taxpayer money authorized for the screening of cargo for nuclear bombs.



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Can we trust anyone who is an Arab?

[Universe Prince]

Oh no. Are we going to go through this nonsense again of how we can't trust DP World? Please, let's not. I promise I will go outside and bang my head against a brick wall if we can avoid that conversation. Banging my head against the brick wall would be less painful. And I won't have to watch people unite in xenophobia again. Apparently nothing brings people together like a common irrational fear.

[Amianthus]

And I won't have to watch people unite in xenophobia again.

Come on. The Dems insist it wasn't xenophobia that made them not like the Dubai Ports World deal.

And I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

I think it was just a case of being against anything proposed by the Republicans.

[Universe Prince]

I think it was just a case of being against anything proposed by the Republicans.

Perhaps. I saw an awful lot of fear mongering about it being Dubai from both parties. I felt ashamed for my country for the first time in my life. Not just the government, mind you, or the politicians or some policy decision. But my country. I could see no good intentions, though many claimed such. All I could see was people reacting in fear to something that was essentially an imaginary mountain made from a nonexistent molehill. Maybe that was a fault of my perspective, but I lost a lot of faith in my fellow countrymen as a result. I thought we were better than that. I was wrong.

[hnumpah]

I was wrong.

Aye, that you were, and Plane as well, apparently. As I recall, when the news broke about DPW taking over from the British firm, Bush and company hadn't even bothered to review the deal to see what the security ramifications might have been, or if there were any. Seemed to me folks just wanted them to put the deal on hold until they could review the deal and be sure we weren't handing the henhouse over to the foxes. Before that could happen, though, DPW decided to pull out of the deal, or at least thepart of it involving the American ports in question.

Bang away.

[Universe Prince]

Seemed to me folks just wanted them to put the deal on hold until they could review the deal and be sure we weren't handing the henhouse over to the foxes. Before that could happen, though, DPW decided to pull out of the deal, or at least thepart of it involving the American ports in question.

That isn't the way I recall it going down. People were insisting that Dubai was a haven for terrorists, and that letting them have anything to do with our ports was like letting terrorists run our port security. Republicans and Democrats were in agreement that DP World would be a threat to our national security. Yes, a few days after DP World won the bidding for Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), there was a push in Congress for a review of the deal. But a a day or so after that the push to entirely block the deal began (initiated by Democrats as I recall.) DP World volunteered to halt the process of it taking over operations at various U.S. seaports to allow for time to prove that DP World was not going to create an increased risk for terrorism. But by then Republicans and Democrats had united behind the notion that Dubai was not to be trusted and in no way should the deal be allowed to happen. And DP World said it would hand over operations in U.S. seaports to a U.S. group because the U.S. Congress had said that there was no way they were going to allow the deal of DP World taking over the operations from the U.K. based P&O.

[Amianthus]

That isn't the way I recall it going down. People were insisting that Dubai was a haven for terrorists, and that letting them have anything to do with our ports was like letting terrorists run our port security. Republicans and Democrats were in agreement that DP World would be a threat to our national security. Yes, a few days after DP World won the bidding for Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), there was a push in Congress for a review of the deal. But a a day or so after that the push to entirely block the deal began (initiated by Democrats as I recall.) DP World volunteered to halt the process of it taking over operations at various U.S. seaports to allow for time to prove that DP World was not going to create an increased risk for terrorism. But by then Republicans and Democrats had united behind the notion that Dubai was not to be trusted and in no way should the deal be allowed to happen. And DP World said it would hand over operations in U.S. seaports to a U.S. group because the U.S. Congress had said that there was no way they were going to allow the deal of DP World taking over the operations from the U.K. based P&O.

Summary of info on the Dubai Ports World deal.

[Universe Prince]

Thanks, Amianthus. I skimmed that already to make sure my recollection wasn't completely off. There is also a brief timeline of the fiasco at the other end of this link.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Can we trust anyone who is an Arab?
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Probably about as much as we can trust anyone who is a Zionist.
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What is the problem with having American security exclusively given to Americans?

I think that our Constitution banning non-native-born people from running for president is a fine idea. The same is true of American security. There are 300,000,000 people in the US. Surely among them we can find adequate people for guaranteeing our security.

I can't say that Brezinski or Kissinger were admirable Secretaries of State.

Possibly better than Rice, but she might still negotiate something useful.

Kissinger's "Peace with Honor" ended in a humiliating and disgraceful rout.

Brezinski's paranoid obsession with the USSR ended in the creation of Al Qaeda.

Both of them sucked deeply and for far too long: foreigners with foreign obsessions. NOT what I expected in an American Secretary of State.

[hnumpah]

So what part of what I said was wrong?

1.  Bush and company hadn't even bothered to review the deal...

2.  ...folks just wanted them to put the deal on hold until they could review the deal and be sure we weren't handing the henhouse over to the foxes.

3.  Before that could happen, though, DPW decided to pull out of the deal, or at least thepart of it involving the American ports in question.

That Bush tried to blow it off at first and allowed the calls for a security review to become calls for the deal to be quashed altogether simply shows how badly he and his administration mishandled the affair. If he hadn't been so pigheaded about it, the deal might have passed a more thorough security review and survived, but by dragging his feet and insisting there was no problem, he allowed opposition to build to the point that DPW pulled out.

And now Plane wants to paint those who opposed just giving away the keys to our ports to a company owned by a government that has a record of acting against us, without an adequate security review, as 'racist', and you're ashamed of your country. I'm not. I'm glad they stood up to the idiot in the White House and let him know he can no longer just have everything his way with impunity. That it took this issue to bring that about was the luck of the draw.

[Universe Prince]

So what part of what I said was wrong?

1.  Bush and company hadn't even bothered to review the deal...

2.  ...folks just wanted them to put the deal on hold until they could review the deal and be sure we weren't handing the henhouse over to the foxes.

3.  Before that could happen, though, DPW decided to pull out of the deal, or at least thepart of it involving the American ports in question.

You're exactly right, except for parts 1, 2 and 3. 1) As I recall, Bush et al. had looked over the deal and okay with it. 2) The "folks just wanted them to put the deal on hold" bit was quickly surpassed by the part where folks just just wanted to shoot down the deal. 3) DP World was willing to delay the deal and did not decide to simply hand over the operations to a U.S. group until Congress essentially said "no f---ing way". And quite frankly, the deal was reviewed plenty, and there was zero evidence that it would have been the equivalent of handing the henhouse to the foxes. But the people who objected didn't give a damn. It was Dubai and that was enough for them to oppose it. Dubai is no more a haven for terrorists than is the U.K. or the U.S. but that didn't matter. Republicans and Democrats united in xenophobia to kill a deal that is exactly the sort of deal we should have been encouraging.

That Bush tried to blow it off at first and allowed the calls for a security review to become calls for the deal to be quashed altogether simply shows how badly he and his administration mishandled the affair.

I agree that Bush mishandled it, but that doesn't excuse the rest of what happened.

And now Plane wants to paint those who opposed just giving away the keys to our ports to a company owned by a government that has a record of acting against us, without an adequate security review, as 'racist', and you're ashamed of your country. I'm not. I'm glad they stood up to the idiot in the White House and let him know he can no longer just have everything his way with impunity. That it took this issue to bring that about was the luck of the draw.

Have everything his way? It wasn't his deal. He isn't the one that took the hit. It was a legitimate deal between P&O and DP World, and DP World took the hit. They were ready to bend over backwards to assuage security concerns, and we would have none of it. Blame whomever or whatever you want to blame, but we fearfully slammed shut what should have been a door open to peaceful cooperation and trade. Not because we feared peaceful cooperation or trade, but because we feared the people with whom the peaceful cooperation and trade would have occurred. Feared them because they were not to be trusted, because they were Them, because they were foreigners from (cue spooky music) the Middle East. Yeah, that made me feel ashamed for my country. As I said, I thought we were better than that, and I was wrong.

[Universe Prince]

Way to go, Xavier. You tell 'em. Need to keep American security in the hands of Americans. We can't trust them foreigners. Them pinko commie terrorist son of bitches better not mess with us, right Jim Bob?

(Yeah, that was all sarcasm.)

[Plane]

"...giving away the keys to our ports to a company owned by a government that has a record of acting against us,..."


The security card used by the DOD is made by Schlumberger.

Do you think that trust shouold be invested in no froeighn agency or governbment that has ever disagreed withthe US Government?

[_JS]

Just to build on UP's sarcasm, though without the sarcasm...

Wasn't it foreigners who made the Manhattan project possible? Wasn't it foreigners who made NASA feasible? Those damned foreigners (OK, some sarcasm).

Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on this one. Democrats and Republicans should be ashamed. Did you know that the UAE flies the latest generation of F16's? They have a small military, but are one of the best-equipped in the Middle East. Also, they purchase weapons from us with very nice defence contracts.

It is an interesting double standard. Would we allow an Israeli company to handle our ports? Probably.

As a sidenote, UP we'll have to eventually stop this socialist/libertarian agreement stuff. It might permanently damage reputations

[hnumpah]

The security card used by the DOD is made by Schlumberger.

And?

Dubai has a considerably more recent history of providing assistance to America's enemies.

That does nothing to answer the charge that you would paint those who opposed the deal as racist, period, as per the title of this thread. And that, old friend, is bullshit.