[ QUOTE ]
The UAE was one of three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.


The UAE has been a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia.

According to the FBI, money was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers through the UAE banking system.

After 9/11, the Treasury Department reported that the UAE was not cooperating in efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden's bank accounts.

[/ QUOTE ]


Finally, something I agree with canis582 on.

The port deal is astounding and irresponsible, and a vivid example of selling out our security in the name of "good relations" or "political correctness."

Bush is a bit too much of a politician and something of a softie, let's face it everyone. He let bin-Laden and a bunch of al-Qaeda leaders and goons escape from Tora Bora when we had them surrounded--he did this by outsourcing the other end of the military trap to Afghani warlords. Naturally, over those three days of "negotiations" when al-Qaeda was trapped in the Tora Bora valley, the chickens flew the coop over the mountains on the Pakistani border (the sensible thing of course would have been to bomb Tora Bora until it was certain that not one al-Qaeda or Taliban in that entire cave area was left alive).

After 911, Bush made a big deal about how Islam is a "religion of peace." Well, sadly, wishing doesn't make it so. And saying nice things doesn't do much to make moderate Muslims more moderate, or radical Muslims any less radical.

Bush is looking for too much cooperation in the war on terror, which is really the war against offensively-oriented radical Islam. Granted, we do need some cooperation, but we don't need UAE managing our port security.

Now Bush thinks a Middle Eastern company should be treated the same as a British company when it comes to our vital security. Besides canis582's specific points above--which are very important--the fact that UAE is both Arab and Muslim means that it is inherently more of a potential security threat to the USA than is Great Britain, with whom we share a close common heritage and Western world view.

Hillary Clinton actually has the right idea here: introduce a bill prohibiting the outsourcing of our port operations to ANY foreign company. It just isn't necessary, and it could potentially lead to the "American Hiroshima" of multiple cities that bin-Laden has been planning for years.