Posted on 02/24/2006 10:18:56 PM PST by Reagan Man
This Dubai port deal has unleashed a kind of collective mania we havent seen in decades ... a xenophobic tsunami, wails a keening David Brooks, a nativist, isolationist mass hysteria is ... here.
The New York Times columnist obviously regards the nations splenetic response to news that control of our East Coast ports had been sold to Arab sheiks as wildly irrational. In witness whereof he quotes Philip Damas of Drewry Shipping Consultants, The location of a company in the age of globalism is irrelevant.
But irrelevant to whom?
Why is it irrelevant, in a war against Arab and Islamic terrorists, to question the transfer of control of our East Coast ports from Britain to the United Arab Emirates?
Our cosmopolitan Mr. Brooks lives in another country. He has left the America of blood and soil, shaken the dust from his sandals, to enter the Davos world of the Global Economy where nationality does not matter and where fundamentalists and flag-wavers of all faiths are the real enemies of progress toward the wonderful future these globalists have in store for us.
God must love Hamas and Moktada Al-Sadr, snorts Brooks, He has given them the America First brigades of Capitol Hill.
To Brooks there is little distinction between Islamic mobs burning Danish consulates and America First patriots protesting some insiders deal to surrender control of American ports to Arab sheiks.
But the reflexive recoil to this transaction between transnationals is a manifestation of national mental health. The American people have not yet been over-educated into the higher stupidity. Common sense still trumps ideology here. Globalism has not yet triumphed over patriotism. Rather than take risks with national security, Americans will accept a pinch of racial profiling.
Yep, the old America lives.
Like alley cats, Americans yet retain an IFF, Identify-Friend-or-Foe radar that instinctively alerts them to keep a warier eye on some folks than on others.
But in rejecting a deal transferring control of our ports to Arabs, are Americans not engaging in discrimination? Are they not engaging in ethnic prejudice?
Of course they are. But not all discrimination is irrational, nor is all prejudice wrong. To discriminate is but to choose. We all discriminate in our choice of friends and associates. Prejudice means prejudgment. And a prejudgment in favor of Brits in matters touching on national security is rooted in history.
In the 20th century (if not the 19th), the Brits have been with us in almost every fight. It was not Brits who struck us on 9/11, who rejoiced in the death of 3,000 Americans, who daily threaten us from the mosques of East and West, who behead our aid workers, bomb our soldiers and call for Death to America! in a thousand demonstrations across the Middle East. And while not all Muslims are terrorists, almost all terrorists appear to be Muslim.
As Mother Church has a preferential option for the poor, there is nothing wrong with Americas preferential option for the cousins.
Does this mean all Arabs should be considered enemies? Of course not.
The folks from Dubai may detest the 9/11 murderers as much as we do, for those killers shamed their faith, disgraced their people, and bred a distrust and fear of Arabs and Muslims that had never before existed here.
Yet, just as sky marshals seat themselves behind young Arab males, not grannies taking the tots to Disney World, so, Americans, in deciding who operates their ports, naturally prefer ourselves, or old friends.
Why take an unnecessary risk? Just to get an A for global maturity on our next report card from the WTO?
The real question this deal raises is what happened to the political antenna at the White House? Did it fall off the roof about the time President Bush named Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court?
Anyone in touch with Middle America, especially after 9/11 and endless warnings of imminent attacks on U.S. soil, would know this country is acutely sensitive to terror threats. Surely, before approving this deal with Dubai Ports World, someone should have asked:
How do you think Bubba will react when hes told sheiks will take over the port of Baltimore where, in Tom Clancys Sum of All Fears, Arab terrorists smuggle in an a-bomb and detonate it?
Apparently, no one bothered to ask, or the question was brushed off in the interests of hastily greasing the deal.
Now this episode is going to end badly. Bush, who has denied advance knowledge of the deal, is being ripped by liberals for living in a pre-9/11 world and being out of touch with his government.
As for our remaining friends in the Middle East, they have been given another reason to regard Americans as fickle friends who, down deep. Dont like Arabs.
Unquestionably, this will result in a victory for those who wish to sever Americas friendships in the Arab world. But it is Bush and his unthinking globalists, not the American Firsters whom Brooks cannot abide who engineered this latest debacle.
lol. Sorry. Has it really been a year?
" The deal was was allowed to go though"
It wouldn't have if FR had been able to make the decision... And I'm not convinced it was the right thing. I still think Clinton was in bed with China. And (I'm only guessing) you probably do too.
well, this is hardly a sweetheart deal because thats the way things get done and is the structure that your congress has setup, can you show preferential treatment because thats usually what a sweetheart deal means.
D-Day is tonight, execute missions as ordered
Sweetjustusnow
Since Dec 24, 2004
Here's a tip; instead of trying to copy and paste it with SOURCE, just copy and paste it just like you would in MS Word -- with NO FORMATTING CODES......not a one.
If you do it that way, just copy, paste, and preview, you'll see that it works just like word processing.
Just remember, NO CODES........nothing ....not one. If you have ONE in there, it makes the whole thing looks like......well, your post......LOL.
Buchanan readers! The revolution will begin in three minutes. Woof!
Thanks. I'll try to remember that. Every now and then I actually get it right. ;)
Clinton was in bed with China, not sure it was really all that bad of a deal though letting them operate some terminals. From what I hear those guys in Hong Hong are prtty good at what they do on the docks & stuff.
And how do we win that war without friends and allies?
If there are NO html codes in a post, and there is at least one spelling error, running spell check will automatically add all the paragraph codes to preserve vertical spacing (line breaks and paragraph breaks).
After that, one can go in and add italics or whatever.
Bug or feature, I don't know, but it works great!
Many of us don't want to just savor our hatred of our enemies, real or imagined. We want to win this war and that takes intelligence as well as determination.
Since I'm not a WashDC insider, or a beltway bureaucrat with access to classified information, I guess I can't show preferential treatment. If I could, however, it wouldn't be called a sweetheart deal anylonger. It would a violation of US law. Now, if you just want to sit back and accept the status quo, fine. I'd rather exercise my right to free speech and engage in some political dissent. One of the main reasons I come to FR is to speak out and dissent on issues where I disagree with my government.
Do you use IE? Do you have that VIEW PARTIAL SOURCE on your right clicker? I love that thing.
"Who are these people we elect?"
Blue blooded elites, that's who.
You're welcome, Petronski.
Thank you and Peyton Randolph for making note. It was interesting finding the references.
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