Have we got a good "apologist" (to use a term from theology) site that explains why the deal with the ports is a good thing?
I'm late to the party. I'm eager to hear a good one though. Really.
I have not seen a dedicated "site", but the economics makes sense to me - also, CharlesWayneCT posted #542 above:
". . . nobody is talking about an arab country guarding our port cities.
If we WERE talking about an arab country guarding our port cities, that would truly be silly and we would all be against it.
But since we are NOT talking about that, or anything remotely related to that, saying so does nothing but obfuscate the real issue, which is not security.
Some people own a company, and want to sell the company. The buyer is another company, which is owned by the UAE government. The ports will not be run by the UAE, or even by DP World, or even by O&P, but by the same american subsidiaries that run the ports now, with american workers, trained in running our ports and in our security measures.
DP World gives O&P stockholders 6.7 billion dollars, and hopes to earn it back in the long run from a share of the profits from operating ports around the world that O&P has leases or contracts for. That's all that this is.
If you are nervous, have congress pass a law making it easy for the President to break the leases for "national security" reasons. Right now there is NO EVIDENCE of any security concern with this deal.
Acting in the absense of any rational basis would be rightly seen as simple muslim-hating, arab-bashing. IT would prove the terrorists right, and give comfort to our enemies. It would undermine a country that has been our ally since 9/11, which has endured increasing terrorist attacks because of their support of us.
If we work at it, we could turn UAE into another Iran.
But it is just so easy to yell "Don't turn our port city security over to an arab government."