[Terpfen]

And all it would take would be a few al Qaeda sympathizers in management to make it easier to smuggle ship-borne weapons into this country.

No, it wouldn't. The UAE isn't going to influence the procedures, rules, and activities of US Customs, the Coast Guard, DHS, and their unions. It simply is not going to happen. If all it takes is some corporate officer's say-so to smuggle a nuke into this country, we're in such bad shape that it wouldn't matter who owned the ports anyway, because the nukes would've already made it through.

[dirtboy]

No, it wouldn't. The UAE isn't going to influence the procedures, rules, and activities of US Customs, the Coast Guard, DHS, and their unions. It simply is not going to happen.

They don't have to influence the procedures. However, they will have a front-row seat regarding port security. All it would take would be for a couple of sleeper sympathizers to report back to AQ where the biggest security holes are.

And recall that the 9-11 hijackers were largely college-educated men. We're not talking ship hands here, but people capable of getting a management job with a Dubai-based company.