I'm as anti-Islamist as anyone.
But, hell, we need allies to win this war. The UAE has been solid for us all along. There's no reason to piss on them. This is simply a cynical Democratic game that a bunch of Republicans have fallen for for racialist reasons.
If we're going to wage all-out war on Islam, fine. Let's do it. The draft and nukes and all. But if we're not going to, then we need to make compromises and so forth.
More to the point, we're at war. Our President needs our support, not our whining. If you've nothing useful to say, I suggest, you can best serve the nation by keeping your damned mouth shut.
The UAE is not a solid ally. They require our presence to protect them from Iran. They have taken some positive steps but we would be fools to treat them any differently than any other Muslims, who can reasonably be presumed enemies unless proven otherwise. The UAE is an autocracy and one coup could turn it into a Taliban-like enemy overnight. The people of the UAE by and large hate us, and not one would be convinced of our good will by permitting their autocratic government to conduct this business.
The UAE has sent troops to Afghanistan.
The UAE invited the US Treasury, FBI, and military et al departments to examine their banking system and records in the weeks after 9-11 to help them shore up their financial sieve. No other ME country invited our people, even though we sent out feelers to all of them. They tightened up their banking, and have used their records and contacts to arrest those we were hunting, or give us intel where they are.
Everyone has to hang their hat on someone. IMO they have chosen us. They didn't have to. You can't tell me they aren't under threats and pressure from the jihadists and mullahs for aligning with us.
I don't think we need to give them national security secrets or anything like that, but let them run a business? Sure.
Look, unless you're willing to kill them all, and we aren't at that point yet (and if we get there, its going to messy what with the women and children) we are going to have to deal with them, and the best way to win "hearts and minds" is to export capitalism and liberalism.
It's amusing to read this from a conservative. Pulling out the "race card" ploy used to be a strictly liberal democrat tactic that conservatives would scorn them for. But since the President has insinuated that everyone who opposes this deal is a racist, it's unfortunately become a conservative tactic too.
This business about the UAE having been our good ally "all along" is totally wrong. Aren't you aware that the 9/11 attackers based their operation in the UAE, where they were provided with fake passports and laundered money? Don't you know that the FBI discovered ties between UAE banks and al Qaeda and had these accounts frozen in the aftermath of 9/11? Then there is still the very much unresolved issue of the UAE allowing their ports and waterways to be used to ship contraband nuclear materials to Iran. And what about the UAE's staunchly anti-Israel policies? They refuse to even recognize Israel as a legitimate state, and Israel is our best ally in the region.
The UAE may be our "allies" in some remote sense of the word because they cooperate with us to a degree, but to say they are "fighting" terrorism with us just isn't true. Where in Iraq or Afghanistan can their troops, airforce or navy be found fighting anybody? All they're doing is cooperating with us because the Royal Families and Sheiks in the UAE fear having their own economy attacked by al Qaeda lunatics.
So while our government and these Sheiks may have a few things in common, it's dangerously wrong to think of them as "friends and allies" in the same sense as Britain, Italy, Australia, etc, are.
Besides, it's not the Sheiks that worry me, it is the people of the UAE that worry me. They are islamists with a completely different world view than the U.S. We believe that democracy is the answer to peace and prosperity in the world, they believe islam is. The UAE is an islamic monarchy, where the Sheiks have total control of the people's affairs, and the people have no voice whatsover; and this is just fine with them because it is "allah's" way. So while the UAE may appear to be cooperating with us, who really knows what lurks inside their islamic minds in the bigger picture and for the long run?
So I submit that they are not our trusted and true friends in any way, shape, form or manner as are our Western friends and allies who have the exact same world view as us. In the end, the UAE want 'allah' to reign over the earth, and their government is based on this reality. You can't even get a bank loan there unless you prove it's in 'allah's best interests.