Ports

2/24/06 I can’t believe that I am going to say this but I agree with Jimmy Carter. I actually think the management of the 6 ports in the United States by the United Arab Emirates company is not necessarily a bad idea. I have heard many Democrats arguing that they will stop the deal (Hillary) or talking about how concerned about Homeland Security they are (Charles Schumer and Pete King). Many Republicans are upset and are arguing that the deal is bad for security because putting an Arab company in charge of the ports operations is like putting a fox in charge of a hen house. This is a much more realistic argument from those that actually have real concerns about national security. I have heard so many distortions of the deal that I am getting confused. As I understand the deal, these 6 ports were being managed by a private company in Great Britain. That company has been purchased by a company in the UAE. That company is mostly or wholly owned by the UAE government. The management of the ports will continue to be handled by a company in a foreign country. It changes from Great Britain to UAE. It also changes from a private company to a public company. I have seen hysterical articles about the 6 ports being sold to the UAE Company but that is not the case. The management of the ports will change from one set of foreigners to another. The security at the port is still going to be handled in the same, inefficient way by Homeland Security and the US Coast Guard. NO changes in security are expected. The only way the management team can impact the current security processes is by changing the manifests issued stating the contents of the containers. (As if that couldn’t happen now!!). I have heard many complaints about the UAE prior to 9/11. They did banking for al-Qaeda they were friendly with Osama, etc. Since 9/11, all I hear about is what a good job they are doing for us. The port in Dubai is the busiest port for the US Navy outside of the continental US. The air base there is essential to our operations in the middle east. I have heard from many places of the cooperation of the government there in the war on terror. I have also heard that the reliance of UAE on US tourists is amazing. They couldn’t afford to damage the US economy. All in all, I think that this is probably an neutral impact on our security. I do, however, think that all this said, it is a good idea to review the issue with public comments. I usually nut not always agree with George W. Bush but in this case it galls me to not only agree with him but with Jimmy Carter (President Peanut) as well.