[TigersEye]

To hell with Dubai...

Yeah, that's the ticket. To hell with Dubai
...and the biggest US Naval port outside the Continental U.S.
...and the only ME Arab country that gives us intelligence and operatives in the ME.
...and our airbases there.
...and the biggest, cleanest and safest R&R base for our troops in the ME.
...and has troops with our special forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
...and has people in Iraq helping train up Iraqi police and military personnel.
...and has 500 American companies doing business on their soil.
...and sells us lots of oil. (We haven't converted to switch grass yet.)

[calex59]

You didn't read my post. You read one line. I said that winning in november trumps all, and to hell with dubai. They will not quit shipping our goods through their ports, civilain or military, if this deal falls through. We will LOSE in november if this deal goes through and that is why I said to hell with Dubai.

Get a grip and read what people post and quit trying to put your own spin on other people's words. Sure, Bush is probably right about this, but as I said being right won't win elections for us in november. What the average person PERCIEVES is what will win elections.

How do you think the dimwits have survived all these years? Through manipulating perception. Bush is killing our chances in november, look for more and more senators and representatives backing the dumping of this deal, because they want to be re-elected!

[AntiGuv]

...and the biggest US Naval port outside the Continental U.S.

Umm.. The Fifth Fleet is HQed in Bahrein, not Dubai..

...and the only ME Arab country that gives us intelligence and operatives in the ME.

Absolutely and totally false!

...and our airbases there.

Umm.. We have no airbases in Dubai. They do let us stop over on one airstrip, if I'm not mistaken. Our main AF installations in the Persian Gulf region are at Al Udeid in Qatar and at Ahmed Al Jaber in Kuwait.

I said this in one thread at the start of all this, but the UAE is rather irrelevant to our strategic interests in the Persian Gulf. I mean, yeah, it's always more convenient to have a nation be friendly, but we can get along perfectly fine without the UAE.