The DP World port takeover controversy is intellectually disappointing, and more importantly will not help Dems win in 06.
First, security is run by the Coast Guard and Customs. Not by the port operator. But even to the extent that shipping operator is responsible for security, the argument that we will expose state secrets to terrorists is pretty flimsy. The people who are working for DP World North America are not terrorists, or at least are no more likely to be terrorists than the people working for any shipping company. When the ownership changes from a British company to a UAE state-run company, it is not as if the people actually doing the jobs in the ports will change. They will just work for a new boss. Somehow I doubt Joe-longshoreman from Newark will suddenly decide to aid terrorist smuggling now that his boss lives in Dubai.
Second, once a container arrives in our ports, it is far too late to prevent illicit material from being smuggled into our country. Screening every container may be nice to talk about but it is completely impractical. Even if we were to double the amount of screening, we would still only be able to screen a small fraction of the containers that come in. Serious port security must occur abroad, when the containers are loaded and sent on their way to America. It is much easier to verify shipments at this stage. How do we do this? With the cooperation of other countries and companies like UAE and Dubai Ports World.
This will not help Dems win because they have been flanked by the Republicans. So even if voters can be convinced that sale was a horrible idea, Republican candidates will be able to say "Yes, it was, that is why we stopped it." And, as the majority party and authors of the legislation that made it clear to DP World that its 45-day review would be a waste of time, they will be right. If anything, this whole controversy could strengthen Republican candidates who have been looking for a politically easy way to distance themselves from the President's many other missteps.
While this DP World sideshow is going on, we are ignoring real issues like: a potential UN Operation in the Sudan, Iranian nuclear ambitions, what to do about an increasingly unstable Iraq, how to help the displaced people of the Gulf Coast and the badly-bungled perscription drug plan.
Just because the President is on the wrong side of a complicated issue that is easy to condense into one-sentence hysteria (for once!) does not mean that we should sacrifice our own standards of intelligent debate and critical thinking.
