I agree with you DtC and to the best of my knowledge, the UAE has been a good ally through “The Long War”.
I think congress is acting stupid and as usual, McCain is cutting through the Bullshit. He is not perfect but he is better than most.
Jim
There’s a wide range of Bush veto threats on just the first few pages of Google “Bush veto” - homeland security earmarking, scaling back the Patriot Act, highway funding, Medicare reductions, stem cell research, increasing taxes on oil companies, restoring restrictions on broadcast media ownership … Hasn’t done it, not once.
By tacking this rider on a defence apropriations bill, he really can’t veto it. But the way things are going, I think Congress could override a veto if it came to that. This deal is sooooo unpopular its crazy. And the way the Pubs and Dems are tripping over each other to sound tough, I don’t think Congress will be affected one way or another if Dubai does pull completely out of the deal. They’ll still push some legislation thru.
Simply because if he doesn’t agree with the bill, he invokes the right to simply ignore it (see, e.g., the McCain anti-torture bill).
By the way, FTR, I disagree with Diogenes, but appreciate his principles. I would rather that we keep everything in-house, and particularly in the hands of our government, when security matters are involved.
That’s fair but it is a British company that was selling to a UAE company.
So these ports were already out of house.
Jim
You want a cite? That an english-speaking American middle manager will be less likely to pass shipping manifests on to a terrorist than an arabic-speaking UAE middle manager?
WMD is scare mongering. Sadaam loves Bin Laden is scare mongering. Using the phrase 9/11 in every speech is scare mongering. Coming to an obvious conclusion? Maybe not so much…
Could it happen with an American company? Sure could. Is it more, or less likely – that’s the question. We have to accept some risk. Let’s at least consider minimizing our exposure.
Were you looking for a cite that the cargo’s themselves are dangerous? I’m not going to go into it, but trust me – taking out the right ship could have far more potential for loss of life and damage than 9/11. Here’s a cite: Dow Chemical has 15 million gallons of storage capacity at Long Beach harbor.
Here’s a cite about UAE’s fitness for the job.
The UAE’s policy on Israel.
More security concerns.
Plus, they’d know our counter-terrorism plans.
Here’s a description of the Bush’s involvement with the UAE.
I told you that voting for Bush would lead to the Apocalypse! :eek: 
DtC, as another habitual Bush basher hailing him for being sensible this time, all I can say is nya nya nya, beat you by two weeks:
Your cites seem to counter your points. They were associating with Bin Laden in 99 but have worked closely with us since 2001 from one and the other shows them to be guilty of having an open society.
Jim
Holy shit, I’ve now agreed with DtC in two threads today. What’s more, one was about politics and one was about religion.
I’m feeling a little dizzy.
Chalk me up as another leftist who thinks Bush is doing the right thing here and who thinks that the Democratic leadership is behaving contemptibly.
Daniel
Danalan, you’re aware that the September 11 hijackers lived in the U.S. for some time and got their pilot training here, right? Does that make the U.S. a backer of terrorism, such that every middle manager at every American multinational is plotting perfidy in whatever country they live?
Your claim that “an english-speaking American middle manager will be less likely to pass shipping manifests on to a terrorist than an arabic-speaking UAE middle manager” illustrates the degree of hysteria around this whole issue. Even if I were to accept this absurd claim, I can’t even begin to imagine what use shipping manifests would be to the terrorists.
The weak point that the xenophobes are seeking to exploit is that there may indeed be some individuals in Dubai who are - or work on behalf of - Terrorist organizations. But this is a far cry from Dubai being complicit in the actions of these groups/individuals.
Danalan - thank you for showing the good form to provide cites. I think that the cites everyone wants are the ones that show that the UAE "has unabashed ties to international terrorism, at the highest levels. ". Assuming that this can be proved, the rest of your assertion seems to logically follow, but this premise needs to be supported.
Your United Press International link merely mentions that according to the 9/11 Commission, there seemed to be ties between UAE and Terrorist Organizations (no elaboration on what those ties were), and that this finding of the 9/11 Commission was pivotal to the debate. It merely restates your case; it doesn’t support it. And just like your later cites (which What Exit commented on), the UPI cite goes on to say in the very next paragraph:
.
Do you have anything else to support your premise?
My point is not that Israel doesn’t care, but that it may be illegal under federal law to do business with a company that doesn’t recognize Israel. I was looking for clarification on that, on if such a federal law actually exists.
In the book “Ghost Wars” by Steve Coll (?sp?), there are relatively detailed accounts of the CIA tracking Bin Laden and their various attempts on his life. In one case in the mid-90’s Clinton would not authorize the missile attack on a hunting party in the desert because Bin Laden was hanging out with a number of members of the UAE royalty.
Do you think that those friends of UBL simply dropped him? Do you not think that at the same time some people in the UAE are working with us there can be others in powerful positions that are not?
Given the past history, I think it’s wise not to take the chance.
Chalk another one up from the center-left contingent who agrees with Diogenes on this issue and has since it first came up. Xenophobic, racist scaremongering all the way.
It also ignores the fact that these American-run ports would still be accepting cargo from points abroad, where we’d have no control or assurance over who has access to the ship and its containers whatsoever.
As well as the fact that the day-to-day business of running the port, in both blue and white-collar jobs, would still fall upon local American labor.
It’s simply bizarre that the issue that’s finally turning Congress and the American people against Bush is one I actually support him on. It’s just amazing that after all the shit he’s pulled this, this is what we’re actually going to get him on. People actually want the guy to spy on other Americans without a warrant, and Congress is happy to comply, but God forbid he allow a private business deal, with very little actual repercussions on port security, to come through.
Sigh.
More and more, I just don’t get this country, you know?
Unlikely. If it were so, we probaby couldn’t buy any oil!