Posted on 02/25/2006 3:00:55 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
February 24, 2006: The recent controversy over the acquisition of the British firm Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, by Dubai Ports World, a state-run company in the United Arab Emirates, has been largely a matter of heat opposed to light. This is largely because of a number of myths that have quickly circulated throughout the blogosphere. These myths have led to a lot of controversy that has cast one of the strongest American allies in the Persian Gulf in a poor light that is undeserved.
First, a look at the United Arab Emirates is in order. This is a country that has been a long-standing ally of the United States since 1971. The UAE was part of the coalition to liberate Kuwait in 1991, and also has supported the United States in the war on terror (including, among other things, providing access to a deep-water berth that can accommodate aircraft carriers, use of a training facility for air-to-air training facility, airfields, and logistics support). It is a country that has proven largely inhospitable to al-Qaeda (instead, the focus is on business), sent forces to Afghanistan to protect the construction of a hospital that they donated and built, and also has sent humanitarian assistance to Iraq while also providing a location for training Iraqi police. In 2002, the UAE also captured a major al-Qaeda figure, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who was involved in the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, and handed him over to the United States despite threats from the terrorist organization. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the UAE donated $100 million for the relief efforts. Both Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Peter Pace have described the relationship the United States has with United Arab Emirates as "very close" and "superb". It would be interesting to know what sort of information Michelle Malkin has that would override the judgment of Rumsfeld and Pace. Her characterization of the United Arab Emirates as "demonstrably unreliable" is not just factually challenged, it is slap in the face to the strongest ally the United States has in the Persian Gulf.
One of the other things that has been ignored in the anti-UAE diatribes from Malkin is the fact that the United Arab Emirates is a Middle Eastern country where religious tolerance is the rule. The UAE's constitution guarantees freedom of religion (albeit it declares Islam as the official religion), and largely permits religious freedom. In 2003, the UAE shut down the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-up, which was publishing material that promoted anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
Second, nothing will really change at the ports, particularly with regards to security. Security will remain the province of the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. In another fact ignored by the scare campaign, the UAE has the only port in the Middle East that is part of the Container Security Initiative. Dubai Ports World has also agreed to mandatory participation in other programs to improve security and to prevent the illegal shipment of nuclear materials, and will also provide documents on internal operations on demand and has agreed to cooperate in future investigations. The deal was also scrutinized by the intelligence community, which found no problems. The only thing that changes hands is who owns the company that will handle the day-to-day operations (often performed by American longshoremen – usually unionized). Dubai Ports World also bought out the port operations of CSX in 2004 – with no real issues.
Third, several claims have been made regarding connections to 9/11, specifically the fact that two of the hijackers were from the UAE. First, none of the critics have any proof that either the government of the UAE or Dubai Ports World was involved in the attack. By the standard of these critics, the United Kingdom would be held responsible for Richard Reid, or Germany would be responsible for the Hamburg cell that planned the attack. Second, the United Arab Emirates have stepped up efforts to make money laundering less easy after Dubai was used as a financial conduit for the attacks (again, there is no proof that the UAE or DPW were active participants in the laundering). It should also be noted that at least two Americans have worked with al-Qaeda (Johnny Walker Lindh and Jose Padilla) as well.
The last thing to consider is that in the day and age of the Internet, this debate is not staying inside the United States. Past irresponsible comments (like those by Senator Richard Durbin concerning Guantanamo Bay) have spread across the world very quickly. The scurrilous comments directed at the United Arab Emirates by Michelle Malkin have the potential to assist al-Qaeda recruiting in that country, and thus do more damage than the port deal would have done.
I hate to burst your bubble, but that's not possible.
When there have been abuses of the Christian faith, it was because people were corrupting the faith to achieve selfish goals.
If you read the Koran, you'll discover the murderous terrorist agenda is consistent with, and supported by Islam.
When was last time you heard of "moderate" Muslims demonstrate or at least speak out against terrorist tactics? Have you ever wondered why they don't?
Let's also remember that this is a country that sees the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and they believe Israel has no right to exist.
The UAE has all of the trappings of a 21st century nation, but obviously it is not the same as the US or Western Europe.
You got that right.
Not necessarily. It had to do more with different interpretations of the Bible and who had the authority to do so than selfish goals. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are not monoliths. There are distinct divisions between fundamentalism/orthodoxy and the more secular.
If you read the Koran, you'll discover the murderous terrorist agenda is consistent with, and supported by Islam.
I read the Koran a long time ago as part of a comparative religions course. The Koran, like the Old Testament, has some strong language and violent prescriptions concerning what to do with non-believers or sinners. Islam is not a monolith either. There are differences between Sh'ia and Sunnis and fundamentalists and the more secular.
When was last time you heard of "moderate" Muslims demonstrate or at least speak out against terrorist tactics? Have you ever wondered why they don't?
There have been plenty examples of Muslim groups and governments decrying the violence and terrorist tactics. After all, they have been most of the victims of such violence.
Let's also remember that this is a country that sees the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and they believe Israel has no right to exist.
Past tense. The UAE stopped recognition of the Taliban immediately after 9/11. The UAE does not recognize Israel, but it is not the only Muslim country that does not. Are you implying that we should cease all diplomatic relations and other dealings with governments that do not recognize Israel? Why is that relevant to us?
You're trying to pass off old info as current.
Of course you don't give a damn about General Franks opinion, it's only based on his real knowledge, not your political agenda.
Lou Dobbs: "The UAE stonewalled U.S. efforts to track al Qaeda bank accounts after 9/11. In addition, the Emirates does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state. And the UAE was a transfer point for shipments of nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya."
Here’s a link to the transcript where he said the above:
"So many have no clue how they are making it harder for good guys to accomplish the mission. They are so frightened, and so full of hatred, that they don't care about the thousands of Americans and British and others who are embedded with Arab organizations in Muslim countries and dependent upon those people for their continued survival and the successful prosecution of the war."
We're at a really, really dangerous point here. When Al Quieda lunatics succeed in equating in the general American mind that Radical Islamist and Arab are indistinguishably one and the same thing, they suceed in creating the suspicion and the hatred we see in this saga. I fear we are doing Osama's recruitment for him. Which is especially dangerous at a time when we have just liberated 60 million Arabs who suddenly for the first time in their lives have the freedom to decide where their political sympathies lie.....
I've been reading all the comments and I think you are fighting the good fight. I was in Qatar at As Saliyah for 7 months from Sept 2003-April 2004 (between trips to Iraq) and one of the things I took away from my experience is that if we are going to accomplish our goal of transforming the middle east (thereby greatly reducing the threat of terrorism) we have to encourage people in the region to accept at least some of our values. From my time in Qatar I got the impression that tolerance and Islam were not totally incompatible and that moderate leaders like the Emir could lead their people away from extremism if we provided some encouragement. Qataris were more interested in trade than jihad and wanted an alliance with us to protect them from the Saudis, Iranians and other radicals in the region. In any conflict with Iran the UAE will be of critical importance. I think the President is playing a deeper strategic game than many here are giving him credit for.
A link to a Lou Dobbs screed on CNN...quoting sources that are only repeated the same denbunked BS. No thanks, I don't rely on CNN for facts.
Thank you. I tell my clients to do business with Arabs only on a 100% cash upfront basis. Otherwise, its all practice.
Contracts mean shiite to thes people.
So you can refute it but choose to keep whining about it. Why am I not surprised? Obviously you have an agenda here, and it has nothing to do with the security of the USA.
The hypocrisy of Malkin, who whines about being called a "gook" in her email, and her anti-Arab remarks is astounding.
She and Coulter are the bomb-throwers of the extremist right.
Yeah, convert or kill.
There have been plenty examples of Muslim groups and governments decrying the violence and terrorist tactics.
If there are, they're keeping it a great secret. Give me some examples.
How about the Muslim demonstration in Washington D.C. that drew about 200 demonstrators? WOW! That's really making a bolt nationwide statement!
Are you implying that we should cease all diplomatic relations and other dealings with governments that do not recognize Israel?
No. I'm not implying anything of the sort. But, any government that has the position of wanting Israel eliminated has too much in common with the terrorists. And, we should regard them differently as we regard Norway or Spain and Slovakia.
PSA Corp, Cosco Pacific and Danish shipping giant AP Moller will jointly develop a 6-berth port project in China's Dalian city.The project has an estimated cost of US$600 million, or S$1 billion.
Singapore port operator PSA will take a 25 percent stake in the project, while its Chinese counterpart Cosco Pacific and AP Moller will hold 20 percent each. State-owned Dalian Port Group will have the remaining 35 percent.
The project will more than double the annual container handling capacity of Dalian port to almost 5 million standard container units. -
thanks for the excellent post.
the more i learn about dubai, the less i like having them operate in the US: let's see: they support hamas, they don't like Jews, they supported the taliban, they supported al qaeda during the period when it attacked the Cole and killed American navy personnel, they shipped or tried to ship weapons to Iran, Saddam, and Lybia, and one of their sheiks helped fund the 9-11 attacks! (i hope i got all that right.)
yeah, let's turn ALL the terminals in ALL of the ports over to these guys!
an effective counter-argument!
citing General Franks, who is a hero, over and over, will not win this debate.
many great heroes have been misled by evil characters. if the emir of dubai is such a good guy, why did he support al qaeda prior to 9-11, when it was blowing up American service men? i doubt if his true personality has changed in such a short time.
why does the emir refuse to recognize israel, but allow hamas to operate thru dubai?
it is fine to have evil characters like this as allies during a war, but that doesn't mean we should let them manage any terminals in US ports.
you can keep mentioning Franks over and over, but it won't change this stuff. (afterall, the fact that the waffen ss was eulogized in a speech made by ronald reagan doesn't make the ss good guys.)
the more the American people learn about the emir of dubai, the less they will like this deal. how many Jewish voters are going to vote for repubs who support this policy, when the emir wants to eliminate israel?
if dubai is in the business of trans-shipping weapons to places like lybia, north korea, and iran, why would we want them operating terminals in the US?
both national security concerns and politics argue against this deal.
going on about spamming and General Franks is no answer to legitimate security concerns.
i have been reading criticisms of malkin on these threads. could you please post the anti-arab stuff that you are talking about.
the column that i just read by malkin seemed very reasonable to me, as did coulter's recent column.
please post the comments that you consider "scurrilous" so that we can judge them fairly.
in my book, anybody that supports a group like hamas is a sleazebag. is that "scurrilous"?
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