I've seen lots of articles from Human Events mocking Bush's attempts to spread democracy. However, if Bush works with a country that isn't a Democracy, he gets slammed for that as well.
People in the UAE have considerably more freedoms than they do in most other Arab countries. They are not a democracy. Their people are not free to express themselves by our standards. However, it's much better than other Arab countries.
So should we work with the UAE to improve on such issues? Should we work with the UAE to combat terrorism? Should we take our common goals and use them to encourage them to change over time? Or should we shun them and forgo any mutually beneficial cooperation that may help us and encourage them to change?
It's easy to criticize. It's hard to make real choices and do what's best.
"any mutually beneficial cooperation" doesn't have to mean the port deal.
I fully support the President's efforts in the WOT following the 9-11 attacks. His leadership in this area has been remarkable. Its also important to keep lines of communications open and diplomatic arrangements in place when it comes to government to government dealings in the ME and when America's best interests are at stake. I advocate keeping US military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq, long term. The US military needs to have short travel distance if a quick response arises to protect and defend US interests. Generally, I support killing as many "jihadists" and "Islamofascists" as possible, before they kill anymore Americans.
However, I have never supported the US govt once again becoming policeman to the world. Not under liberal Democrats and definitely not under a GOP POTUS. I don't support nation building and I definitely don't support any attempts to democratize the Islamic world. No POTUS could accomplish that in 300 years, let alone the less then three years Bush has remaining in his term.