The U.S.S. Cole.
The Riyadh bombings.
The Dharan Marine barracks attack by Hezbollah and Al Qaeda.
Kidnappings and executions in Aden.
Pirates from North Africa and the Mediterranean.
And it goes on and on.
Let me put this another way.
For the sake of argument, let's say that Serbia & Montenegro had a company with the requisite credentials, and as sterling a reputation as DP World allegedly enjoys.
Let's also stipulate that in this scenario that we enjoy cordial diplomatic relations with Serbia, and it is a nation in good standing with the international community.
A country whose government-which is democratically elected, might I add-has no documented ties to Islamic terrorists, is in fact Christian, and which had been a staunch ally of the United States prior to the Clinton administration's about-face in 1998-1999.
However, also a country whose government has members who have been involved with criminal syndicates, and who have been accused of tacit endorsement of smuggling, and allying itself with E. European mafia figures.
Would we trust Serbia under those conditions?
If not, then why on earth would we trust a nation with the same sort of dubious history, re: transnational criminal activity and unsavory political associations, which is also run by people who practice one of the most austere versions of Islam imaginable?
UAE controls air bases near Iran, and guess what, its more important we have access to them, to get near Iran.
I say make it easier on us in the Iran attack scenario.
If some unspecified people somewhere in the govt are rumored to have had ties to crime?
Of *course* we'd still do business with them.
We do business with Communist China, for goodness' sake.
If you don't come up with one single specific accusation against this company, this group of managers, in specific -- you're just not being persuasive.
I find it very revealing that you folks are having such a hard time with that very simple concept. :-)