Thursday , March 28 2024
The silver lining to this foolishness should be an increased focus on overall US port security.

Bush: Failure of Dubai Ports Deal Sends “Wrong Message”

President Bush said today he was “concerned” that the collapse of plans for a Dubai-based company to take over operations of six US ports would send the wrong message to the US’s Arab allies. Bush noted that the United Arab Emirates (of which Dubai is a part) “is an ally” and that “in order to win the war on terror, we’ve got to strengthen our relationships and friendships with moderate Arab countries in the Middle East.”

For once, Bush is right. Congress and the general public overreacted to the Dubai deal. There’s no practical reason Dubai Ports World shouldn’t run US ports. But diplomacy and politics are running at cross-purposes here, and the Administration, terrible as usual at the politics of governing, threw its weight behind diplomacy, and seems to have lost the bet.

Like it or not, what once could have been called the US business sector has been thoroughly and irrevocably internationalized. Sure, two of the 9-11 hijackers came from the UAE. And the COO of Dubai Ports World is an American – what’s your point?

The silver lining to this cacophony of nonsense should be an increased focus on overall US port security. Our vulnerability to attack via shipping containers is already egregious; far too little has changed since Senator Joseph Lieberman made a frightening assessment in December 2001, which included the statement, “The ease with which a terrorist might smuggle chemical, biological or, at some point, even nuclear weapons in a container, without detection, is, literally terrifying.”

UAE ownership of a ports management company with operations here won’t increase that threat, but maybe, regardless of how this matter ultimately turns out, it could put us on the path to dealing with this vulnerability that far too few of our politicians seem to want to recognize.

About Jon Sobel

Jon Sobel is Publisher and Executive Editor of Blogcritics as well as lead editor of the Culture & Society section. As a writer he contributes most often to Music, where he covers classical music (old and new) and other genres, and Culture, where he reviews NYC theater. Through Oren Hope Marketing and Copywriting at http://www.orenhope.com/ you can hire him to write or edit whatever marketing or journalistic materials your heart desires. Jon also writes the blog Park Odyssey at http://parkodyssey.blogspot.com/ where he is on a mission to visit every park in New York City. He has also been a part-time working musician, including as lead singer, songwriter, and bass player for Whisperado.

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