[antaresequity]

Right...

So your premise is that this deal has something to do with the war on terror vis-a-vie UAE as a forward staging area for an attack on Iran because the UAE represents a geo-proximate advantage over seaborne and land based assets already in theater...sure thing...

What this is about is a British conglomerate selling its port operations to a conglomerate in the UAE. That same British conglomerate already had the sub-contract for these services...and by proxy...the UAE company picks up those contracts...DB Ports would become the third largest port operator in the world should the deal go through, AND the subcontracts are transfered.

The 'super secret' council in the trade department that approved the 'sale'...in reality approved not standing in the way of an overseas transaction that had local consequences...

Politically its idiotic...as has been proved by the mounting tide of bipartisan opposition and public outcry against the 'approval'.

The security and operation of American ports should rest with Americans. Thats just my opinion.

There is one benefit however:

For once the American people are openly expressing downright bias and contempt for Arabs if only in a tangential way.

Now isn't that refreshing?

[Diddle E. Squat]

Perhaps not so much for staging facilities as for other types of cooperation in the WOT and as some type of negotiated 'compensation' for the likely damage Dubai will recieve if Iran does suicide-esque missile and terror attacks against our allies adjacent to them. Extremely likely that in talks with them in preparation for going after Iran they brought this deal up as being very important to them and important to insure their continued and future support in the WOT. This deal didn't occur in a vacuum.

[isrul]

I don't find contempt for Arabs refreshing. Now if the word was changed to islam, specifically mainstream islam, that would be fine with me.