Sure thing ace. And Pakistan is our "ally" who helps up "fight terrorism" too. Meanwhile, they are giving safe harbor to bin Laden and other al Quaeda leaders, burning down Western businesses and killing Christians.
Then there are our other islamic "allies" like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, who refused to lend us air bases from which to launch war against Iraq. All three of these islamic "allies" are presently rebelling in their streets, burning Western business establishments and embassies, and railing against America and the West with death threats.
You can add Jordan to that list of islamic "allies" who are protesting against the West and rioting.
UAE was suspected by the U.S. government of having ties to al Queada.
The UAE is pro-Palesinian, anti-Isreal.
The UAE officially supports the Taliban, whom we are at war against.
The UAE still has unresolved ties (funding) to the Iraqi insurgency
The UAE was the official operations center of the 9/11 terrorists. It is where they obtained their fake passports and laundered money.
A list of financial companies named by the Bush administration as financiers of Al-Qaeda, reveals involvement of prominent Arab individuals from several countries in the Middle East. One example of such company is the Al Taqwa bank. Among the bank's shareholders are members of the prominent Khalifeh family of the UAE, the UAE's grand mufti and his family members, members of the Kuwaiti royal family, members of the Bin Laden family, a prominent leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood group and several members of Hamas.
The Italian anti-terrorist agency claimed that Al Taqwa handled financing for a number of Arab and Islamic political and militant groups, including groups such as Hamas, the PLO, the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Egyptian Gama'a al-Islamiya, as well as former Afghan mujahedin in bin Laden's camps.
So take the facts and please use them to enlighten yourself a little bit, maybe you'll rid yourself of the penquin symdrome and stop following others off the cliff.
There are countries that are new to the war on terror, and certainly UAE would be considered one of these. I would call them a better ally than Pakistan.
I don't trust them much, but I trust them enough that having a monetary interest in a company that owns U.S. companies that hold leases to ports owned by state governments seems a not-too-risky move in bringing the UAE more into the free-and-interlocked world market which is our best hope to break down the divisions which otherwise will surely lead to the 3rd world war.
You may be resigned to the idea that we must fight and destroy all muslims. I am still hopeful that greed will trump radical islam just as it does so many other beliefs -- that the desire to destroy us will be overcome by the desire to sell us goods and services.
If I'm wrong, we will be in the world war, and I believe we will win it at great cost. But in the grand scheme of things, a fight over the ownership of the foreign company P&O is the wrong fight to pick with a fledgling ally in the war on terror in the middle east, regardless of how you feel about them, and in spite of thier horrid past.
As much as we might like to jump in a time machine so we could have american ownership of our ports, this sale is NOT about that. Blocking the sale will not increase U.S. ownership, and the sale will not change in the slightest any aspect of port operation or security.
I understand that some people simply oppose the idea of having any dealings with Arabs or muslims. But I find that profoundly short-sited and provocative, and a sure path to the war that I would rather avoid if possible.
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