There was a thread yesterday and a FReeper wanted to take out an ad in a UAE paper w as many signatures as possible, apologizing for our congress - - can't find it right now, but will link it when I do.
From gulf news and a UAE blogger directly below that:
We heard you loud and clear(UAE poll of business its not pretty)
03/12/2006 12:00 AM (UAE) ^ | 03/12/2006 12:00 AM (UAE) | Gulfnews
Posted on 03/11/2006 10:56:30 PM PST by bayourant
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/nation/10024757.html According to a Gulf News poll, 64 per cent of readers say the DP World affair "changed their opinion for the worst" about investing in the United States. A number of businessmen told the newspaper yesterday that Arab investors would think about other destinations. The majority agreed that DP World has been forced out of the US port operations due to "racism".
President George W. Bush admitted Congress has sent the "wrong message" to the rest of the world.
We don't feel that DP World lost. It in fact won the respect of the international business community when it won the bid to acquire the British P&O Company. It gained the admiration of the political community when it showed the maturity to bow out with grace.
Nevertheless, the whole affair served as a lesson for other Arab companies who may have thought of investing in what has proved to be a hostile US atmosphere. All the free trade talk proved to be just empty rhetoric. Another irony is that the Democrats, the supporters of globalisation, were the key opponents of the deal. There must have been something else behind the sudden change of heart.
It was definitely not the concern for national security, as they fully know the Bush administration had run a meticulous review of the deal, which established it was not a threat. Was it the "Israeli element" as some have suggested? Maybe. Otherwise, why would some Congress members bombard the
DP World executive, during last week's hearing, with questions about the Arab boycott of Israel? Did they want to force the UAE to end the pan-Arab boycott of Israel in order approve the deal?
These questions need to be investigated. But the fact remains it was an ugly scene in Washington. Other foreign-owned companies run US ports but they were not Arab. That is the message.
And we got it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1594847/posts
To: bayourant
And a Letter to the American People from a big UAE blogger
Letter to the American People
Congratulations. For today is the day of victory for the communists who adore state control, terrorists who snicker when America casts away its allies, and opportunist senators who manipulate the US populace to serve their own needs.
Today, both the Emirati people and the American people have lost. Today for one of the first times in my life, I feel that America has begun a spiral of racism and overprotectiveness that will affect it greatly in the future. They could have placed any restriction or rule on this deal, but the choice was to ban the sale, instead of being proactive creative and intelligent, and actually controlling it to serve your interests. You could have forced DP to make your ports 10 times secure than they once were. But you didnt. People will think twice before doing buisness with America. They will think twice the next time an American says "We believe in freedom of trade". They will be weary of opportunist senators and overpatriotic uneducated people screaming on the radio how much they dont want the deal to commence because of the race of the people involved. But this does not concern your Senators, when asked about the Implications of it, as Gulf Airlines buy Boeing Planes in the Hundreds, one went to the length of saying
"Boeing will continue to operate with or without Gulf orders"
But what does that mean to him ? To him it means that when he retires, Boeing will still be there. But to you Americans, it means that people will lose jobs. This is very much like the swindling and career opportunism that went on in the Roman Senate, the last International Empire.
Please enlighten me. Do the American people think that they can win the war on terror by themselves ? Did such an insane over-estimate ever exist in the heads of those who have no idea about strategy ? If America is to win this war, it needs every single ally that makes himself available.
What would happen to the American war effort, if one day the UAE ceased to exist ? We help and stand by the US, and this is what we get ? You attempt to embarass this country in front of the world, because all it ever wanted to do is to become great not by killing, but by trading ?
And what is your argument ? 2 UAE passport holders that participated in the 9/11 attacks? Do you think we ordered them to do that, or wanted them to ? Then why are we responsible for it?
And then what is your other argument ? That George tenet of the CIA said that the UAE government was meeting with Bin Laden ? Remember Operation Infinite Reach, the Bombing of the Al Shifa Factory, 5 years of not finding bin laden, 3 years of not finding Zarqawi, 9 months of not Finding Saddam Hussein and you have the Audacity to say that 'we think that bin laden was with the UAE government' and to say that your Identification capabilities are proper?. I could say "Oh, Hillary Clinton met with Bin Laden in Dearborn Michigan" It would be a lie, but if my name was George Tenet, the media would pick up on it immediately.
Whats your other Argument ? That we are Muslim or Arab ? There are 300 Million Arabs. There are 1.2 Billion Muslims. If we were such a terroristic race, then why isnt there a world war ? How many of these people do you think are terrorists ? Of the 300 Million ? I will allow you to over estimate 300,000. Even that number is ridiculously enormous, probably a 10 fold estimate. Meaning that in every one thousand Arabs and Muslims, there would be one of them which has had connections with terrorism. And if your definition of a terrorist race is like that, then I would seriously ask you to reconsider your international alliances.
The Final argument is that we would endanger your country. We my friends have a history of cooperating with the Israelis in our ports. We do not even officially recognize the Israelis. The Israelis who are not only 10 times better than you in HUMINT, but that have one of the best Intelligence agencies in the world, pound for pound far better than the CIA which has gotten outsmarted by the Soviets, the Israelis, and even Bin Laden.
Today Bin Laden snickers at us all, Americans and Emiratis
http://aethoughts.blogspot.com/
2 posted on 03/11/2006 10:58:13 PM PST by bayourant
Indeed.
Super post here.