Best of the Web Today (3/11/06)

We'll be appearing this weekend on Fox News Channel's "The Journal Editorial Report." Topics are the Saddam documents and South Dakota's new abortion law. Paul Gigot interviews The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes, who broke the Saddam story. Tune in tomorrow night at 11 EST or Sunday at 6 a.m. (For a complete list of airtimes in the contiguous U.S., click the link atop this item.)

If you live in the Washington area and think we have a face for radio, you can hear us on "The Julian Tepper Show" Saturday at 8:30 p.m. on WTNT, AM 570.

"The decision by the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to order state-controlled Dubai Ports World to end its control over US port facilities marks the lowest point yet in the relationship between President George W. Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress," reports the Financial Times from Washington:

With [the president's] public approval ratings at record lows and his Republican party abandoning him, one of the US's closest allies in the Arab world concluded that he was no longer in control in Washington.

The decision by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, is likely to avert the political backlash that hit Washington last month and may prevent any further damage to diplomatic and security relations between the countries. But it underscored that Mr Bush, who still has nearly three years to go in his second term, has become perilously weak.

This Dubai deal had to go down. The Dems would've demagogued it to no end. With the possibility of more Muslim attacks in America (the Chapel Hill attack may not be the last), the American public win link the Muslim attacks with Dubai owning our ports or whatever the situation might've been. This would've hurt Republican chances more in 2006.

Let's try this one more time: DPW was not going to OWN PORTS. They were set to operate several container terminals, and THAT IS ALL.

I see no difference between DPW operating container terminals and COSCO (Chinese government/ARMY owned) operating container terminals.

COSCO is a much greater threat to our national security than DPW, but the Dems called us racist when we opposed the Long Beach deal.

This is Dem politics from the word go, and the squawking and hopping up and down by Republicans did nothing but help the Dems and weaken the President. It did nothing to improve our national security or to win the War on Terror.

The Dems win again, this time with a MAJOR assist from ignorant conservatives.

The Dems would've demagogued it to no end.

Because their hypocrisy has not end.

I find it interesting that

the Liberals make sure our enemies, the terrorists, get their day in court,
but wouldn't let our ally, Dubai, get its "day in court" (the 45-day investigation)

the squawking and hopping up and down by Republicans did nothing but help the Dems and weaken the President. It did nothing to improve our national security or to win the War on Terror.

I agree.

If the Dems are so very, very concerned about security, they need to demand a 45-day investigation into any company running our terminal, American or foreign. They especially need to investigate the Red Chinese government's company, COSCO, which Beijing itself considers an arm of its military.

COSCO - RED CHINESE COMPANY - got perks from Clinton

Links to a few Clinton, COSCO, Chinese shipping articles These are merely leads for anyone who cares to ask out why the UAE is maligned, when the Chinese were given such preferential treatment.

China Ocean Shipping Company Allegedly Running Guns to Cuba (and transported sophisticated weaponry components to Pakistan in 1998. )

Beijing may manage our ports*
After smuggling LARGE arms** of all sorts.
(Not paltry Smith-Wessons).
Have we learned any lessons?
No, we punish the Arab "good sports."

* I know they only manage terminals, but I like to word things in a way Libs can understand. Besides, it's easier to find a rhyme for "port," than for "terminal"
**On March 18, 1996, Federal agents surreptitiously seized a Poly shipment of 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles in Oakland, California. These weapons had left China on February 18 aboard a vessel belonging to ... state-owned company, the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company (`COSCO').

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