Yes and that is the sticky part. We are advocating one ally over another and granted GB has been a trusted ally longer. But we trust but verify our navy in UAE and we need to have allies in the Mid East unless of course we kill every man, woman and child in the Mid East, which I doubt even the purest of the pure would honestly advocate.
That's fine and I have no problem treating the UAE well if they treat us well. However, when we are in a war against Islamic fanaticism, and our ports (and our borders more generally) are already known to be vulnerable, it is really not a sensible move to put a country with a lot of Islamic fanatics in charge of any aspect of port operations.