We Lost One As House Members Panic and Pander

We are engaged in a war that may eventually challenge the survival of western civilization. We probably cannot win that war without the support and friendship of moderate Muslim states like Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, and the fully half of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims who live under democratically elected governments in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey. Yesterday, bowing to racism, xenophobia and hatred of Muslims, we lost a major battle in that war when a large block of Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee joined with every Democrat to vote 62 to 2 to block the Dubai ports deal, thus robbing the Bush Administration of an important and valuable weapon in this war on Islamic terrorists, and embarrassing themselves and their president at the same time. The Arab company has taken us off the hook by withdrawing from the deal, but the damage has been done.

When I vacationed in Savannah, Georgia a couple of years ago, I was amazed at the commercial activity going on at the port in the mouth of the river. There I saw the largest container ship on the east coast being serviced by special trucks that drove trailers onto the ship and then picked up a different trailer and drove off. The temporary bridge they drove over was a part of the ship, which extended it to the dock when needed. I was further surprised to learn that the company that ran these operations and owned these assets was Saudi-owned. If our Republican Congress-members and also Senator Schumer took a little time and went to Google for five minutes, they would learn that the Saudis also have owned and operated oil terminals and storage tanks in Bridgeport, Connecticut for several years, and that these same United Arab Emirates who wanted to own facilities at some US ports have operated a jet airline service and a terminal at JFK Airport since 1985 that makes daily flights to and from the Middle East carrying both passengers and freight. They also routinely fly in and out of Newark, New Jersey and Houston, Texas.

A little more research would also reveal that not only do the Emirates provide landing rights, port facilities and other support for our military aircraft and warships in Dubai, but that they have made it possible for US operatives to monitor closely the affairs in Iran, which is just across the Persian Gulf from their country. All this information is unclassified and available to anyone with access to the web. What we don’t know are any arrangements in addition to these that the Bush Administration has covertly made with the Emirates, and which it does not wish to make public.

I have not been so disgusted with Republican politicians since the horrible Terry Schiavo controversy.