Posted on 03/01/2006 7:05:07 PM PST by Cornpone
The demonising of Arabs that accompanied the near hysterical American reactions, whether coming from the mighty or the lowly, to a contractual agreement between Dubai Ports World and a British firm whereby the former would manage the latter's cargo terminals at six key American seaports, including New York City, underlined once again the shameless, if not embarrassing, racism that runs deep in American society.
The anti-Arab bashing was touched off by a belated news agency report that went overboard in describing the straightforward business transaction, concluded late last year, giving the mistaken impression that these ports were turned over to an Arab firm.
Subsequently, the media in the US was caught in a frenzy of wild and often erroneous reporting, describing the action as "controlling" or "running" key harbours on the east and south coasts of the United States.
Of all people, and to his credit, it was President George W. Bush himself who came out admirably in defence of his new Arab partners. "I want those who are questioning [the deal] to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern [Arab] company is held to a different standard than a Great British company," declared the president.
"I'm trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, we'll treat your fairly." (This was in sharp contrast with his emotional statement after the horrific 9/11 terrorist attack when he declared, "You are either with us, or against us.")
Dubai Ports World also regrettably missed its chance to immediately explain the straightforward transaction which really is not very much unlike what foreign airlines do at American airports, according to Samir M. Haddad, who until recently was airport manager for Jordanian Airlines and Trans-Mediterranean Airlines at Kennedy International Airport in New York.
"All the luggage and cargo that our planes brought to the US were stored in our terminals until US Customs and security checked them out," much like what happens at US seaports at present.
Wrongly assumed
Jack Shaheen, author of Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies A People, explained that when one uses the word "Arab" in the US "it's like using the word fire in a crowded movie theatre". There is, he went on, "a knee-jerk, members of Congress and most of the press, all of a sudden, immediately and wrongly, assumed that the Arabs were controlling the ports".
The blatant racism emanates, in Shaheen's opinion, from the persistent American failure, politicians and the media alike, "to make any distinction between Saddam Hussain or Osama Bin Laden and the images [of an Arab] that come to mind, of screaming fanatics burning an American flag".
He also faulted Dubai Ports World for taking too long to expose the myths that were circulating. "They share some of the blame for not speaking out."
What most people in Washington missed in this tempest in a teacup was that the security of American seaports remain under the control of the Coast Guard and US Customs and Border Protection.
In fact, all cargo shipped to the United States is actually scanned at the ports of embarkation, oceans away. Equally, this particular deal was examined by a 12-agency unit called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which is the government body that clears all foreign investments.
Unaware
Bush jumped the gun when he declared that he would veto any attempt by Congress to derail the agreement since it turned out that he, too, was unaware of the agreement and its potential for trouble-making.
The agreement also comes at a time when the president's approval rating stood at 34 per cent, an all-time low, a factor that invites ambitious politicians from either party and especially presidential hopefuls to discredit his actions come what may.
More to the point, the quagmire that the US finds itself in Iraq, where a sectarian war appears imminent, and in Afghanistan where Osama Bin Laden and his Taliban supporters remain at large, contribute to the state of uneasiness and dissatisfaction with the course that the Bush administration has been pursuing.
The United States, according to C. Fred Bergsten, a former assistant secretary of the Treasury and director of the Institute for International Economics, warns that the ongoing debate over the significant Dubai investment, valued at $6.8 billion, "could result in real damage to US economic and security interests".
He reminds readers of The Washington Post in a column published on February 21 that the United States needs to attract "almost $1 trillion of foreign financing annually to fund our huge and growing trade and current account deficits".
The Bush administration, if not the American public, is undoubtedly aware of the significance of the United Arab Emirates since it is considered "one of the world's most prolific arms buyers and a multi-billion-dollar military market both for the United States and Western Europe."
Moreover, the country has the world's third largest oil reserves and the fifth largest gas reserves, a point that must have been well noted during last week's visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Abu Dhabi and her meeting with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Over and above, the UAE continues to serve as a safe haven to the American armada that is engaged in the "global war on terror".
I must confess that I am extremely prejudiced against attempting to grab hot or sharp objects with my bare hands.
And that has exactly what to do with the UAE port deal?
Yep, I'm not getting in this pissing contest again. What ever our president does will be wrong, the MSM will paint it the way they always do anti America anti Bush.
Time for Bush to lay it on the line, develop a REAL energy program, and push it through congress. If the Democrats obstruct, they must be steamrollered.
I remember the days when it was thought important to America's national security that we should have sufficient supplies of all natural resources, in case of war, and that we should manufacture in this country all our weapons systems and essential goods, so we could not have the legs cut out from under us by any external enemy.
Now we are even beginning to import more food than we export. This is madness.
Hishmeh is a jackass. I am not against the deal, I have recently had a twinge of doubt because of the need for the UAE and DPW to explain exactly their positions on Israel and trade with Israel. I am not for America letting entities operate in our ports under some type of "Gentleman's Agreement" where Israeli ships and products do not have equal access to port assets.
We need not be lectured to by some Arab weenie about how deep racism runs in my nation. On thing I do know for sure the UAE is far from being a bastion of religious, cultural and racial diversity and inclusion.
A flashback to reality.
As a whole, Arabs have a WELL documented and ongoing history of murder, religious fanaticism, slavery, oppression of women, economic blackmail, and intolerance.
Let them reform their own societies instead of expecting the rest of the world to conform to their barbaric expectations, then we'll talk.
Until then, stay the hell away from us.
I second your position.
Now I understand. Everything is my fault.
It literally makes me sick that you would use that photo to justify your position on the port issue. I think words would have been enough. I'm really upset that so many people are using these pictures as a tool to make a point.
I think we need to continue to see the pictures of the terrorist attack on the WTO so that we never forget, but I don't think we have this man's permission to use his death to justify our own positions on a single issue like the port deal.
Burning down embassies over cartoons is hysterical asshat, talking about arabs operating US ports is called freedom of speech......try to get it right, that is if your little country allows you discuss it at all.
Let's see very checkered support for the war on terror, in fact some UAE prince types may have met with Binny sometime in 2002.
They refuse to recognize and boycott Israel. This firm is owned by this same government. I don't really care about a foreign company handling business at our ports, but something smells bad about this deal.
He didn’t say that. What he said has much different implications.
It doesn't matter what any President says, what any cleric says, what any human being on the face of the earth says- I will NEVER trust any Arab or be willing to give them the time of day, much less any American property.
Arab Muslims- ANY Muslims- I will eternally and unashamedly despise. I regret that they live, that they use valuable oxygen, that they befoul the planet.
I go out of my way to avoid dealing with any Muslims at all. Nothing anyone can say or do will ever change my loathing for these death-cultists. History, and 9-11, have earned them all indiscriminate hatred. I consider- and will consider- every Arab suspect, and every Muslim my enemy. Nothing can change that.
And I am not ashamed.
This piece reads like anti-American propaganda and this jackass is right here in the USA! WTF?
Let's play "pretend". Pretend I am a moron; or an arab, but I repeat myself.
What is more shameful? to be the mass-murderer of 3000 human beings or to resent exposing my country to the influx of cockroaches as a result of a deal between two other countries?
Let me think... This is a toughie...
Is arab a race? News to me. A neurotic mental condition? Perhaps. Sometimes being called a racist is an honor; a synonym for knowing the difference between good and horrible. OK I'm racist.
So Achmed, what's your point?
What is it with you people to refuse to accept that you're not wanted? You like to whine? Being inferior troubles you?
Too bad!
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