Posted on 03/05/2006 9:09:20 PM PST by Isara
Port Deal: America's shabby treatment of imperfect allies has boomeranged in the past. Those who'd kick the UAE out of American ports should ponder what would happen if the U.S. Navy was kicked out of theirs.
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The UAE has put itself on the line in the war on terror, which is more than can be said of some of our European "friends" whom we liberated twice and protected for six decades. When Winston Churchill was asked abut his alliance with Stalin, he famously replied that he would ally himself with Satan, if the devil was fighting Hitler.
U.S. Navy warships dock at its ports, with the UAE being the No. 2 international port for the Navy. Dubai Ports World has provided services for 700 U.S. Navy ships a year at the UAE ports of Jebel Ali and Fujairah.
The U.S. Air Force uses its airbases at Al Dhafra and Abu Dhabi. U-2 spy planes and Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft have been based there along with KC-10 aerial refueling planes.
Dubai Ports World is also the primary support contractor for U.S. Air Force assets at Al Dhafra.
Look at the nearby map. The UAE is the virtual epicenter of a region from Lebanon to India that contains both our greatest hopes and our greatest threats.... no accident.. Secretary.. Rice recently visited Lebanon on her way to the UAE, or that President Bush visited the world's largest democracy, India, to ink a historic strategic partnership. ...
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We have expressed certain reservations about the port deal in the past. But in the war on terror we need all the friends we can get, particularly a nation strategically situated between a struggling Iraqi democracy and a mushrooming Iranian threat. President Bush once said either you are with us or against us. The UAE is with us.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
The INS is a mess and the right hand never seems to know what the left is doing. Also, some INS offices get things done faster than others.
Oooooooooooooooo...this looks VERY promising, indeed! :-)
And look at how deftly the president and his team, are separating so many nations from the thumb of Saudi Arabia! Methinks that they, the Saudis, need to get their heads out of the sand, smell the coffee, and see which way the wind is REALLY blowing! They might soon find themselves to NOT be on the side of the good guys and looking down the barrel of America's Naval cannons.
MEFTA.
Many thanks for the alert! Great finds!
The deal over the ports is more about the process, and what kind of graft is going on. The Treasury secretary and the head of the Maritime division, have made much money in the last year or so from dealings with the UAE. They stand to make much more I am sure, for pushing this through. I am sorry, but if you look into the financial entanglements of this deal, it is as crooked as a dogs leg.
Proof of these accusations? Considering how much of the "facts" being put out by the Port Deal Critics has turned out to be lies (Turning Port over to Arabs, Arabs gaining access to sensative military cargos, turning Port Security over to terrorists etc) this accusation is another Port Deal LIE.
The Treasury Sec would have to have to put his investments in a blind trust when he accepted the position. OPPS, guess they did not look at the facts before the Port Deal Hysterics came up with THAT new PR lie.
As well, the UAE should consider the ramifications of kicking us out of their ports!
Why is the converse utterly dismissed!
No critic could do better to raise support against the deal than your distemperate words could MNJ. Keep up the great work!
And of course you'd be in port alongside Bill Clinton and Jimmie Carter. Hope you are as well-"sugared" as they are in this.
It has taken me over a year to obtain an immigrant visa for my wife, but it took the Bush administration only 25 days to "thoroughly" investigate and approve a deal that would hand over the management of 6 major ports in the US to a country that had two participants in 9-11 attacks.
To top that off, Sen. Lugar's office had the nerve to tell me that my wifes visa had been delayed by the "horrific" events of 9-11 and the security procedures the government was forced to put into place following those events.
Oh..the irony.
You're talking to people that have a short memory insofar as this goes. It's funny, the article points out that "The UAE has put itself on the line in the war on terror, which is more than can be said of some of our European "friends" whom we liberated twice and protected for six decades." Yet, the fact that those countries are really no longer our allies apparently can only apply to them, but no, not the UAE or any other country. LOL I guess they're exempt.
As well, Saudi Arabia we were told what a marvelous friend of ours they were and are. We have airbases there too, yet we know today that they are, with assistance from their government, and having operated behind our backs for years, a hornet's nest of terrorist activity including training from the ground up including hating us.
But no, this can't possibly happen again if you ask the people you're arguing with. No, they know better! They're too intelligent and wise to the world to be fooled doncha know.
After all, it's business above reality. This single deal threatens to derail the world's economies! Yep! If the UAE doesn't get to operate our ports, make your doomsday plans now. Scurry along and run out and buy food and water for years to come! Sell your house, buy a tent, get all your camping gear, your survival gear, books on how to live off of the land, because you're going to need it if this deal doesn't go through soon!
; )
Oh, the irony and the humor is right!
Zenophobia has a long a shameful history in this nation.
It is shocking how little it has changed over the years.
You know what else is hysterical DM, is that we've been treated to notions that the UAE is all about business. But how much do they make off of us in their ports from sailors on shore leave to contracts for work not to mention port lease and docking fees, etc.?
Yet, we're to believe now, that all of a sudden their "shrewdness" for business goes flyin' out the window if this deal is not consummated.
Honestly, how can one not simply laugh at the folly of the arguments here.
It happens from time to time. He did sign the welfare reform bill and I agreed with that.
More hysteria coming from Johnnie. It's RNC hacks like you that are going to cause the GOP to lose Congress. The American people in both parties are overwhelmingly against this deal and your constant insults and haranguing aren't going to bring them to your side. They're a little bit smarter than you apparently give them credit for.
I read somewhere yesterday that the Chinese own the port at Long Beach, CA. The Dems thought it was just fine that we allowed the ChiComs to own one of our ports.
When Jimmah Carter gave the ChiComs the Panama Canal, Hitlery's people said that it was great with them.
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