Posted on 02/25/2006 3:00:55 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
your insults are almost as weak as your posts!
people are claiming there is no danger in turning our ports over to allies.
that is the issue i am responding to.
my point is that there can easily be danger in turning over the ports to an ally, not that stalin and dubai are the same. (for one thing, stalin was a ruler, and dubai is am emirate).
So you are calling GEN Franks a traitor?
Such bravery!
thank you for that post. i am beginning to suspect that some of the people on this thread who think dubai and the uae are allies in the same mold as britain have some undeclared agenda.
it is interesting to note the recency (2005-6) of the source discussing the the friendly help given by dubai to HAMAS!!!!!
some allies!
My only connection with the business community is as a consumer of beverages proscribed under General Order No. 1 and of the services of the hospitality industry.
What exactly is your relatiionship with the Democratic Party?
As if to heighten anxiety, it has been reported in several al-Qaeda manifestoes calling down destruction on America and includes a lengthy treatise on the devastation an atom bomb would wreak on lower Manhattan through a port.
"So you are calling GEN Franks a traitor? "
I believe that he is at the least a traitor to his own conscience and his own common sense. I am sure he must have a motive.
And everybody who follows bin Laden's instructions and heightens their anxiety are doing exactly what he wants while claiming to have only the best interests of America at heart. That kind of patriotism didn't work for Charles Lindbergh, or America.
i think only US owned and US based companies should run US ports. i don't think countries that support Hamas should be allowed to run anything in the US. i don't think the chinese govt should run US ports.
i would only make an exception for the brits, who have been long-term allies.
my relationship with the democratic party is that i vote against them.
what do you think about dubai hosting the web site for Hamas?
pretty reliable ally!
Maybe only US owned and US based ships should be allowed in US ports.
no, i just don't believe in handing over security-related areas to foreign countries who recently supported terrorists.
has dubai denounced Hamas yet?
Dubai hosts HAMAS' website or an ISP in Dubai hosts it? If what you say is true, that is regrettable. There are some pretty disgusting web sites hosted by ISP's in America, too. What do you think about that?
You're the expert on HAMAS on this thread. You tell me.
"Are we a friend of Israel or not? Does the UAE trade with Israel? If no, why not? The answer of course is no. The why is because they hate Israel and seek it's destruction. So exactly how can the UAE be our ally in the war on terror while privately seeking and promoting the destruction of Israel? That's some "ally."
Ding!
I have yet to see a sufficient response to that.
And as long as you get to decide what is sufficient, you never will.
I don't disagree. It seems as Bush thinks he can get anything he wants by claiming it's a national security issue. He may be right but it's getting tiring.
Look at his lack of concern over our own borders. He's been woeful about enforcement.
I'm not sure how old you are, but I work with teenagers, and have for some time...
Interesting. What's their take on this? Do they perceive any threat at all?
The WOT is to the coming generations what Pearl Harbor was to an earlier one. It's not about having a larger historical perspective vs. a personal one (in which history doesn't matter, just what *I* know from my life)--it's more about an emotional impact that's just never going to go away. And that's going to steer politics for the rest of my life, at least (I'm 40).
You are right about the historical perspective thing. Bush's legacy will be about battling terrorists. I shudder to think what would have happen if Algore had been pres. on 9-11. We would still be negotiating.
I wish Bush would also turn his focus to domestic issue. His father was just like this. "Desert Storm" was his only issue. He seemed to ignore all else.
Bush is really pushing his globalist mentality lately. This bothers me. I don't think globally. I think about my children's future. I don't see a very bright one. I am 45 and can remember when being American was something to be proud of (I still am) but I don't see being American being touted anymore. Now we are supposed to consider ourselves just another part of the world.
Consider these statements by Bush in a campaign speech:
We are now one of the largest Spanish-speaking nations in the world. We're a major source of Latin music, journalism and culture.
Just go to Miami, or San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago or West New York, New Jersey ... and close your eyes and listen. You could just as easily be in Santo Domingo or Santiago, or San Miguel de Allende.
For years our nation has debated this change -- some have praised it and others have resented it. By nominating me, my party has made a choice to welcome the new America.
Does your chest swell with pride as you read those words? Do you feel like an "old American" that nominated him to bring on the "new America"?
I did not see or hear anything about this speech till about six months ago. His attitude is clear: He believes in a globalist society. I don't.
Silly semantics, and still no valid response.
Establishing diplomatic relations (an objective measure) would be a fair start.
Curious, isn't it, how Dubai and the UAE have suddenly become a country full of boy scouts. And how even the connection with 9/11 has now been reduced to a couple of the hijackers buying snack crackers at the Dubai airport. Sheesh.
Following is an excerpt from an interesting February 18, 2002, Washington Post article:
"The interviews offered a tantalizing glimpse into the critical yet mysterious role played by gold in the finances of Al Qaeda, both before and after the Sept. 11 attacks. Gold has allowed the Taliban and bin Laden largely to preserve their financial resources, despite the military attack that battered their forces in Afghanistan, investigators and intelligence sources said."
"Al Qaeda also used diamonds purchased in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, tanzanite from Tanzania and other commodities to make money and hide assets. But gold played a uniquely important role in the group's financial structure, investigators and intelligence sources said, because it is a global currency."
"'Gold is a huge factor in the moving of terrorist money because you can melt it, smelt it or deposit it on account with no questions asked,' said a senior U.S. law enforcement official investigating gold transactions. 'Why move it through Dubai? Because there is a willful blindness there.'"
"Since it is exempt from international reporting requirements for financial transactions, gold is a favored commodity in laundering money from drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorist activities, U.S. officials said. In addition, Dubai, one of seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, has one of the world's largest and least regulated gold markets, making it an ideal place to hide."
"Dubai is also one of the region's most open banking centers and is the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, one of three countries that maintained diplomatic relations with the Taliban until shortly after Sept. 11. Sitting at a strategic crossroad of the Gulf, South Asia and Africa, Dubai has long been a financial hub for Islamic militant groups. Much of the $500,000 used to fund the Sept. 11 attacks came through Dubai, investigators believe."
"'All roads lead to Dubai when it comes to money,' said Patrick Jost, who until last year was a senior financial enforcement officer in the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. 'Everyone did business there.' When the U.S. bombs began pounding Taliban and Al Qaeda targets last autumn, the rush of gold and money out of Afghanistan intensified."
"The Pakistani financial authorities said that $2 million to $3 million a day is usually hand-carried by couriers from Karachi to Dubai, mostly to buy gold. Late last year that amount increased significantly as money was moved out of Afghanistan, they said."
"Pakistani and U.S. officials estimate that $10 million from Afghanistan was taken out by courier over three weeks in late November and early December. The Taliban's fighters fled Kabul on Nov. 12 and abandoned Kandahar on Dec. 7."
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/opdat/selected/CTU/ctu.html
In addition, the US State Department Human Rights reports on the UAE have some, well, interesting disagreements with the spin in the article that leads off this thread.
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