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Posted on 02/22/2006 12:27:00 PM PST by johnmecainrino
To Arabs, port-deal backlash looks like bias
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – To many in this booming financial center, the American backlash over Dubai running U.S. ports boils down to something simple — and ugly: "This is Arab-phobia," says one Arab security analyst. "I can see no other reason behind it."
As the U.S. secretary of state heads here for talks, many Arabs go further, saying the very basis of American policy toward the Middle East may be at stake: If the United States can't work with a moderate, friendly and socially liberal Arab ally like Dubai, it may not be able to work with any Arabs at all.
"If the American politicians were smart, they would hold Dubai up as a role model," said Abdul Khaleq Abdulla, a political scientist at Emirates University. "Punishing us sends the wrong message."
President Bush said basically the same Tuesday, threatening to veto legislation aimed at blocking the port deal.
"This is a company that has played by the rules, that has been cooperative with the United States, a country that's an ally in the war on terror, and it would send a terrible signal to friends and allies not to let this transaction go through," Bush said.
Among other things, the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is one part, allows the United States to base U.S. Air Force spy planes and refueling flights here and allows U.S. warships to visit. It also has handed over to the United States terrorism suspects arrested on its territory, including the alleged mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in Yemen.
Nevertheless, U.S. lawmakers still pledged to try to head off the deal. They allege Dubai has been a financial and operations base for terrorists and say that means state-owned Dubai Ports World should be blocked from its $6.8 million purchase of Britain's Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which now operates six U.S. ports.
Two of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States were from the United Arab Emirates. Eleven of the hijackers — all Saudis — entered the U.S. on flights from Dubai, a common way for a person to travel from Saudi Arabia to the United States. All the Saudis had been issued U.S. visas by American officials.
U.S. government reports also have said that Dubai, a freewheeling banking hub that operates the Mideast's busiest airport, served as a transit and money transfer center for al-Qaida. The city's port also was used by a Pakistani nuclear engineer to ship uranium enrichment equipment to Libya.
Yet people here point out that the country has created a joint task force with the United States that investigates terror funding and nuclear proliferation. Many believe U.S. lawmakers are unfairly tarring the country for the behavior of two citizens, and note that free-market banks and free ports — including those in the United States — are not always successful in preventing rogue transactions.
Above all, many say the tone of U.S. critics has shocked them: Dubai styles itself as a Mideast Switzerland, steering clear of conflict and focusing on business.
"We don't like the tone of this," Abdulla said. "Many of us see a hint of racism there, disguised as security concern."
U.S.-based private intelligence firm Stratfor noted that "the government of the UAE is about as pro-American as you can get" in the region. "If the United States can't do business with the UAE, then the United States cannot do business anywhere in the Islamic world," it said.
Stratfor also said "a British company previously was managing the (American) ports, and there are plenty of jihadists traveling on British passports these days who are at least as dangerous as anyone in the UAE."
The Emirates foreign minister thanked Bush for his support, saying he was relieved the president had spoken out forcefully. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is certain to face tough questions when she arrives for talks Thursday.
Rejecting the deal would not only tarnish relations between the UAE and Washington, but also set the wider Arab world — including other moderate allies like Jordan — on edge, said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst with the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.
He called the opposition to the deal "Arab-phobia, Islamophobia ... I can see no other reason behind it."
Alani and others said the deal makes sense from economic, strategic and security standpoints, and comes with plenty of precedent in the global cargo industry, where major U.S. terminals are already run by companies from Britain, Japan and Denmark. He noted the UAE and United States are also in the midst of negotiating a free trade pact.
Dubai has emerged in recent years as the Perisan Gulf's most glittering city, a cosmopolitan tourist destination for Britons, other Europeans, Asians and Arabs alike. It is best known for building resort islands shaped like palm trees and the construction of what is expected to be the world's tallest skyscraper, but it has also diversified into a major banking center.
Arab investors who pulled their capital out of the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks — fearing asset seizures under the Patriot Act — want to reinvest, Alani said. But anti-Arab sentiment in Congress will push those funds to friendlier markets in Asia and Europe.
"This is a major long-term investment," Alani said. "If it's going to be undermined for unjustified reasons, that will tell Arab investors and governments to keep away from the United States."
It sure as He77 wasn't Irish who bombed the WTC twice, or the USS Cole, etc, etc.
Phobia, maybe, prudence, absolutely!
Time will tell.
The Arabs have to realize that terrorists running amok aren't doing them any favors, either.
And if we're going to hold all white males responsible for slavery that happened centuries ago, maybe all Muslims are accountable for 9/11. (rhetorical sarcasm)
Do they care at all what Americans thought of Arabs when the Towers and the Pentagon and a lonely field in Pennsylvania were ruthlessly and needlessly ruined by hijacked airlines filled with innocent American citizens?
Well, let's see -
Stories of Arab and Moslem violence saturate the airwaves and print media not just since 9/11 but continuously for decades -
The leaders of Iran, Iraq (pre Saddam mostly but a few post Saddam), the Palestinians, Syria and Arab and Moslem clerics worldwide have been calling the U.S. the "Great Satan" and praying for our destruction or actively supporting efforts to kill our people both at home and abroad -
Our current president has said since 9/12/01 that we are at war with a radical terrorist network and the nations who support them and that this threat is so severe it warrants preemptive strikes and other extraordinary measures to protect us -
We have been attacked over and over and over again for decades by islamic fanatics virtually all of whom are Arabs and who are either given silent support (how else to interpret the silence of the Moslem masses?) or open praise by other Arabs for their efforts -
It is now said that to question this sale is an act of racial bias.
I am beginning to think that Mr. Bush and his supporters are either fools or too stupid to be allowed near positions of responsibility. At the very, very least there should be a coherent and believable set of reasons promulgated for this action (is there anyone with an IQ above room temperature who could not foresee that this act in the present circumstances would cause an eruption among the American people and would have prepared to meet this quickly and competently and so quiet the jumpiness?).
I don't know if this is a big deal or not. But I certainly understand why some people would be concerned about it and I certainly understand that it needs more in response than stupid name calling and stories how "offended" Arabs are about the reaction.
This to me is proof positive 9-11 could not be an inside job. No freaking way. It's having precisely the effect OBL wanted - to get our general populace good with the idea of throwing our friends in the ME under the bus. The Congress is showing itself to be a bunch of populist knee jerks.
To Americans, Islamic intolerance, rape, and murder is beginning to look a little "biased" as well.
BELCH!
To: STARWISE; Mo1; onyx
It turns out that an anti-Israeli foundation run by the crown prince of Dubai owns the very deed to CAIR's headquarters located almost in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol. The foundation has held telethons to support families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:BgAAE3vM-q8J:www.discoverthenetwork.org/Articles/Z-CAIR.htm+cair+dubai&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3&client=firefox-a
1,052 posted on 02/21/2006 4:47:58 PM CST by hipaatwo
Relax. Odds are the nuke won't go off near you. Maybe that will wake our leaders up. Then again, maybe not.
Yeah! What you said!
Yes and the DNC is the most against the deal...the big fat racists!
I think I'll sit back and relax with a nice hot cup of Cocoa and watch the show.
I see a major Democratic party meltdown on the way.
In a related story, the lack of Bible printing shops in arab lands is still seen as more than bias!
To me, muslim riots against the West all over the world looks like bias.
Denmark prints a mohammed cartoon, outraged muslims burn down embassies, beat innocent Christians to death in the streets, burn down Christian Churches and destroy Western businesses, that's ok.
The U.S. feels insecure about letting said 'religion of peace' members operate our port terminals, and we are 'biased'.
Saddest of all, many Americans buy into this 'biased' crap. The world really has gone insane, the West as much as the islamofacists. They are homocidal, we are suicidal.
Our "friends in the middle east" are Isreal, not the UAE. The UAE doesn't even recognize Israel as a legitimate State, and until we invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban, the UAE recognized those butchers as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Right now the UAE are our purchased allies, bought for a price just like Pakistan. I don't want to see that price get so high that we give away our ports to our enemies.
If we don't wake up soon, American will be hanging from its own 'multicultural' noose. Islam is no friend of Western man, nor are they the friend of any other 'infidel' for that matter.
Dubai will not be running U.S. ports.
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