I'll be the first to admit that the administration isn't handling this very well and there could very well be something fishier in all of this, but some of the posts (not all) frm the blogging community have struck me as downright xenophobic.
Soj has done a decent job explaining why Dubai Ports World (DPW) is not a terrorist operation in disguise and why, rom a strict national security perspective at least, there's no reason to delay or reject this deal. I want to lay out why that shooting this deal down will, in the long run, increase rather than decrease the likelihood of terrorism against American citizens.
Why? Imagine if you're a Muslim Arab in the Middle East right now. The past few weeks have filled with uproar over blasphemous cartoons poking fun at your faith. The West describes this as "free speech." Meanwhile, a
holocaust denier is jailed. Add to that all of your normal complaints about the West (e.g. Iraq, U.S. troops, Gitmo, etc.). Now you have the United States, obstensibly the champion of free trade, blocking the sale of U.S. ports to DPW. Meanwhile, no such objections were raised when similar deals were made with the
British, the
Singaporeans and the
Chinese. Note that the latter two are also
state-owned. All this despite the fact that the UAE is described as an
ally in the war on terror and even
donated $100 million for Katrina relief. Not exactly a good way to win allies, is it?
Given that, the burden of proof is on the critics of the deal to show why DPW shouldn't be allowed to go ahead with this. And by burden of proof, I mean a doomsday scenario on how this will enable a terrorist attack. Some possible objections? (see Soj's post first for some other ones)
By purchasing these ports, Dubai could gain knowledge of our port system and use that knowledge to launch a terrorist attack
Or they could just ask any of hundreds of ship captains. Or get a job at a port. This stuff isn't classified you know. If you were really interested in finding holes in the port security system, all you have to do is visit the Progress Report.
Dubai will be in charge of handling US military equipment
Honestly, what do you expect them to do? Stuff a rocket in their pants while they're unloading it and hope no one is counting? Likewise, if they chose to shut down a U.S. port during a national security crisis, does anyone doubt that the U.S. government would force it back open? "Emergency powers" exist for a reason. Besides, If the UAE wanted to disrupt the flow of military equipment, they could've done so a long time ago. Dubai serves as a staging ground for American forces and a transit point for forces entering Iraq. Regardless of whether DPW owns those ports or not, our national security is dependent on UAE cooperation.
The UAE let nuclear materials pass through Dubai to places like Libya, Iran, and North Korea
This is a reference to the discovery of the A.Q. Khan network. The network operated until about 2001.Following this discovery, the UAE was the first Middle Eastern member of the Container Security Initiative. This places U.S. Customs Agents in Dubai to make sure that unwanted goods don't even get on U.S. bound ships in the first place. So if there are problems like this in the future, it's not Dubai's fault. It's ours.
On another note, one consequence of the A.Q. Khan investigation was a thorough examination of possible front companies operating in Dubai. Given the size of DPW, if it was involved in anything sketchy, the Khan investigation would have revealed it already.
Our concerns aren't UAE specific. No foreign company at all should be able to have control of the entry ways in and out of America
Well, no one really controls an entire "port." They simply operate a terminal, like the United or Delta or Lufthansa terminal in an airport. Things going in and out of those terminals are still subject to port authorities (think metal detectors at airports). The worst DPW could do is shut down the terminals they operate. That would suck, but not that bad since other terminals would still remain open. And financially, there's no point.
There are a lot of irregularities in this deal
I'll grant you that. I am curious why certain normal safeguards for this sort of thing (e.g. requiring business records be kept in the US for subpoena purposes, designating an American citizen as a contact for legal concerns) were not followed. Yet I can't see how any of these pose national security concerns. At worst, they might be hiding some Enron-style hijinks. More likely, given that they're willing to revise those safeguards, I think the process was simply rushed. Another possibility is some confusion from the British side of the deal since technically, DPW is buying a British company and the American port terminals are only an added bonus. In any case, the issue is easily remedied and certainly not cause for an uproar abut American safety.
Other Thoughts
If anything, allowing this deal through will ultimately encourage the UAE to help fight terrorism. The UAE is a mostly secular state. DPW is a corporation out to make a profit. Collectively, neither of them have an interest in allowing terrorism to flourish and certinaly neither of them want to see international trade slowed down because of a terrorist attack. By increasing Dubai's interest in America, it spreads the cost of collective security across more players. That's what globalization means for security. You can say what you want about globalization and everything else, but in the long run, a globalized world is more secure. As the world becomes more interconnected, security becomes less about states vs. states and more about how states can cooperate together to reduce mutual security threats. Ultimately, these global trends do more to increase international security than some unlikely doomsday scenario (I still haven't heard a realistic possibility) wuld do to decrease it. On a related note, I recommend reading Faiz's take on this.
[Cross-posted at DemApples]
EDIT: I removed some of the stuff duplicated from Soj's post. This post does a much better job answering some things than I can.
