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February 21, 2006FT & Buster on the Dubai question UPDATEDI know this story is turning into a huge one, and I confess in my last post, to being more than a little concerned about what this takeover could mean. I know I am clearly not the only one wondering, “what is Bush up to? What is he thinking?” This article from Financial Times helps clarify things a tiny bit. Buster actually brought a different perspective to it this afternoon while we were driving (my ear infection has me reeling so he was at the wheel with his learner’s permit). “Why is everyone freaking out?” he asked. I explained what I knew of the circumstances and Buster listened, thought about it for a second and said, “well, Bush is just being consistant. He’s spent the last few years trying to convince the world that - Islamofascist extremists aside - the Muslim world is one that can be compatible with democracy and with business. He’s being consistant and basically sending the same message he has always sent: Arabs have a place at the table, but they’ve got to get their rowdies under control. He’s showing the SANE Muslims how deeply the world has come to distrust ALL of them because of the actions of the nuts. Money talks, right? Hit them in the pocketbook (let them see how the behavior of the extremists are complicating things) and maybe they’ll finally start taking these gangs in hand.” I thought it was an interesting take on it, and told him so. “I look at it this way,” Buster said. “He’s gotta have a reason for backing this, and I can’t for a second believe that his reasonings are for anything but America’s good. The problem is, as usual, he absolutely STINKS at making things clear. People are screaming that they don’t understand what he’s doing…all he’s doing is being consistant. People used to love him for that. Also, I think he’s showing off who the racists are. Do you realize, that this is ONE MORE THING Bush has done that - really - the left should be approving of? Just like liberating women in Afghanistan, just like closing down the rape rooms in Iraq, this is one more thing the left would approve of if only someone else were president, because it precludes the racist element. But of course, they’ll hate him for it, too.” I can’t tolerate more than perhaps ten minutes of Sean Hannity’s show - I’m sure he is a very nice guy, but that yappy Irish voice goes right up my spine (being a yappy Irishwoman, I can say that). We tuned in just to hear the latest and he was reading off of the 9/11 Commission report, where Dubai was cited a number of times. Buster laughed. “Is that the same 9/11 Committee he said had no credibility, a year ago?” While I didn’t like Buster’s attitude, I have to admit that Hannity’s manuever struck me as a bit specious and a little “too easy.” A very easy way to attach ideas to a question that so few of us yet understand. My best pal called me up later and she was, in fact, screaming - “what is Bush up to????” (My ear! The pain!) I told her what Buster had said and she was amused - “funny, McClellen just came out and said essentially the same thing.” Buster opined again this evening: “This is probably going to be another thing Bush has to drag us kicking and screaming through, and it will be alright. In the end, we’ll thank him.” Let us pray. UPDATE: NRO has interesting running commentary from its scribes and readers. Keep looking. Gateway Pundit has a terrific round up of “moderate” opinion on the subject and also some input from a source he calls a “trusted moderate Egyptian” which is also helpful. Maybe we all take a deep breath and learn more? Instapundit also has a good round-up. Strangely enough, Buster seems to be on the same track as many of these folks, and the president. Glenn Reynolds rightly observes that - as usual - the WH should have been READY with some of these positive stories about Dubai. Seems to me things ran a bit more smoothly, and intelligently, when Karen Hughes was setting the information tones. UPDATE II: Confederate Yankee is thinking the knee jerked too fast on this situation. http://theanchoressonline.com/2006/02/21/financial-times-on-the-dubai-question/trackback/ 8 Responses to “FT & Buster on the Dubai question UPDATED” |
February 22nd, 2006 at 1:18 am
[...] Go read the rest…financial-times-on-the-dubai-question [...]
February 22nd, 2006 at 7:07 am
The Sum Of All Fears
Rescind Mr. President. Faith is a misplaced emotion in the long war on terror, and the assurance that U.S. ports will be secure when they are managed by a firm owned by a government in one of the most volatile parts of the world, is worthless.
February 22nd, 2006 at 7:31 am
Top 9 Decisions That Would Be (Possibly) Worse Than Putting The UAE In Charge Of Our Port Security
9. Making Ted Kennedy the head counselor at an alcohol rehabilitation center for adolescent girls (Editor’s Note: I know the Ted Kennedy/drinking/sex thing has been done ad nauseum, but it just does not feel like a Top 9 list
February 22nd, 2006 at 11:16 am
I agree with Buster on this, except I believe even more strongly that not only should we let the Dubai Ports World deal go through, we must let it go through.
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Doing anything else would be racial profiling in a situation where racial profiling is not just wrong, but stupid. We know who is in charge of this, the have a good track record on security, and American ports being operated by foreign companies isn’t a ‘new’ thing, Dubai Ports World is buying a British Company.
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I also fail to see any danger in this, and expect that the management will be much more careful of security than any other company would be.
February 22nd, 2006 at 11:39 am
Buster’s one smart dude.
His explanation, over at The Anchoress, makes a lot of sense. And it would explain the stubborness that Bush is showing on this issue. Naturally, it’ll be hard for folks to examine this impartially - but it goes a long…
February 22nd, 2006 at 12:35 pm
As AJStrata put it, if DPW had been irresponsible to begin with, they could have already been stuffing cargo ships with terror related items from originating ports all over the world. It’s too bad too few people only trust President Bush up until he makes his next decision.
February 22nd, 2006 at 1:00 pm
I agree with Buster — the whole ultimate premise of this whole war, I think, was that we need to bring the Middle East (and Islam in general) into the 21st Century.
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Actually I don’t think Bush had anything to do with this deal (the latest is that it went down before Bush even learned about it), but I think that he thinks that any special bill from Congress to kill this deal would be a bill of attainder and thus unconstitutional as well as politically unwise in the long run, so I can understand why Bush is warming up the veto pen.
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My understanding is also that this Dubai company is merely buying ownership of ANOTHER company that has already been in charge of scheduling the loading and unloading of cargo ships, and that this same company will thus continue to do the same work they’ve been doing all along. The Coast Guard and the DHS will continue to perform their inspections of all incoming cargo as they have been doing. Thus nobody from Dubai or UAE is going to be touching, examining, fiddling with, or moving cargo. So I really don’t see a problem with this deal.
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And to be downright harsh, I think that at least SOME of the people who are complaining about this deal believe that no Arab, or no Muslim, or both, can be trusted to have anything to do with U.S. ports. Well, guess what: This country has spent four years, billions of dollars, and thousands of soldiers’ lives to provide fifty million of these Muslims in two countries with political freedom. That’s a helluva sacrifice for a people too untrustworthy to even be allowed to INVEST in a company that operates in American ports.
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I just wish that some of the people screaming HELL NO about this deal would at least learn what the deal IS. I mean, I’m a fairly lazy researcher, and I still managed to find this stuff out about this Dubai deal over the past twenty-four hours or so. But I’m afraid that some people are beginning to dig in their heels on this one. Already over at Lucianne.com, some posters are already rolling out some of the insults (”Bushbot”, “Kool-aid drinker”) that they used against those of us who wanted Harriet Miers to get a chance to prove herself BEFORE being s***canned.
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Thanks for letting me rant.
November 17th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
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