Dubai & Dubya In Cahoots: Did We Learn Nothing From The Roman Empire?
Rome was great for centuries until it decided to relax its grasp of its own destiny. Centuries of waning and waxing influence had finally taken its toll and the emperors got a great idea: "Instead of spending a fortune on our own security, let us outsource it to those folks that usually come across our borders and raid us... the Barbarians. If we pay them and treat them kindly, we can trust them.
Not too long (relatively speaking) after that policy was implemented Rome was sacked. The Visigoths, Vandals and others began taking liberties with the borders by conducting small, almost unnoticeable raids and infiltrations. Since these raiders and infiltrators had friends watching the gates and the borders, no reports were made to Rome. After all, if reports were made then the profits and bribes that were being passed over to those guarding the gates would be forfeit; then the Barbarians would most certainly be replaced by Roman legions. There would certainly be war if the Romans actually started watching their own borders; no one wanted war... at least not until the Romans were out maneuvered and the element of surprise was on the side of the Barbarians.
Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, has approved the deal that allows a state-owned United Arab Emirates company to provide daily operations of six major US ports. He has assured us that DHS has "done the security checks" and all is hunky-dory.
Forget the issue that the UAE was a base of operations for some of the folks involved in the events of 9-11. In fact, the UAE government is among some of the more friendlier nations in the Persian Gulf (Arabs insist it is the Arabian Gulf). Its leadership is very anti-terrorist because most of those that support terrorism are against the leadership that runs the states that comprise the UAE. But as friendly as the sheiks that run the UAE are toward the US, it is a relative state of friendliness. It is always subject to whim and public opinion. The rule of the leaders in all of the Gulf Arab states is under continuous pressures to conform to more stringent, more fundamentalistic interpretations of Islam. The Wahabbism of Saudi Arabia runs throughout the Arabian Peninsula and spills into the UAE. Additionally, the Shi'ite minorities in many of the Gulf States are often agitated and agitators, being secretly (well, not so secretly) funded by Iran to resist the Sunni and more liberal ruling clans.
Even in the most liberal, most westernized state in the Gulf, Bahrain, there are problems with Shi'ite agitation. Agitators make IEDs out of propane tanks and blow up places where perceived affronts have been offered. Additionally, there are minority populations within many of these Gulf states that are Persian (coming from Iran). Much of the workforce are imports from India and Pakistan, including many of the police in places like Bahrain and the UAE. These states also have regular trade and exchanges with Iran and other states where support for terrorism is rampant. Then there are the states of Yemen and Oman, where turmoil is often the word of the day.
No matter how many assurances the government of the UAE provides, Dubai Ports World cannot provide the security that we need to make sure our nation is safe. As friendly as the UAE may be, it does not hold our security as dear to its heart as we do. It never will. Our resistance to DP World is not prejudice, not fear, but sound principle that history has taught us by example. We cannot guarantee the hearts and minds of those working for DP World. We can barely do that with our own people (note today's news report of two US citizens crossing the border with major stockpiles of weapons). But using our own citizens, who are the most likely to take our security to heart, is only sound judgment.
However, what can we expect from the Bush administration? It has demonstrated its entrenched views, its pre-determined agenda, its willingness to mislead us and its incompetence time and time again.
Not too long (relatively speaking) after that policy was implemented Rome was sacked. The Visigoths, Vandals and others began taking liberties with the borders by conducting small, almost unnoticeable raids and infiltrations. Since these raiders and infiltrators had friends watching the gates and the borders, no reports were made to Rome. After all, if reports were made then the profits and bribes that were being passed over to those guarding the gates would be forfeit; then the Barbarians would most certainly be replaced by Roman legions. There would certainly be war if the Romans actually started watching their own borders; no one wanted war... at least not until the Romans were out maneuvered and the element of surprise was on the side of the Barbarians.
Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, has approved the deal that allows a state-owned United Arab Emirates company to provide daily operations of six major US ports. He has assured us that DHS has "done the security checks" and all is hunky-dory.
Forget the issue that the UAE was a base of operations for some of the folks involved in the events of 9-11. In fact, the UAE government is among some of the more friendlier nations in the Persian Gulf (Arabs insist it is the Arabian Gulf). Its leadership is very anti-terrorist because most of those that support terrorism are against the leadership that runs the states that comprise the UAE. But as friendly as the sheiks that run the UAE are toward the US, it is a relative state of friendliness. It is always subject to whim and public opinion. The rule of the leaders in all of the Gulf Arab states is under continuous pressures to conform to more stringent, more fundamentalistic interpretations of Islam. The Wahabbism of Saudi Arabia runs throughout the Arabian Peninsula and spills into the UAE. Additionally, the Shi'ite minorities in many of the Gulf States are often agitated and agitators, being secretly (well, not so secretly) funded by Iran to resist the Sunni and more liberal ruling clans.
Even in the most liberal, most westernized state in the Gulf, Bahrain, there are problems with Shi'ite agitation. Agitators make IEDs out of propane tanks and blow up places where perceived affronts have been offered. Additionally, there are minority populations within many of these Gulf states that are Persian (coming from Iran). Much of the workforce are imports from India and Pakistan, including many of the police in places like Bahrain and the UAE. These states also have regular trade and exchanges with Iran and other states where support for terrorism is rampant. Then there are the states of Yemen and Oman, where turmoil is often the word of the day.
No matter how many assurances the government of the UAE provides, Dubai Ports World cannot provide the security that we need to make sure our nation is safe. As friendly as the UAE may be, it does not hold our security as dear to its heart as we do. It never will. Our resistance to DP World is not prejudice, not fear, but sound principle that history has taught us by example. We cannot guarantee the hearts and minds of those working for DP World. We can barely do that with our own people (note today's news report of two US citizens crossing the border with major stockpiles of weapons). But using our own citizens, who are the most likely to take our security to heart, is only sound judgment.
However, what can we expect from the Bush administration? It has demonstrated its entrenched views, its pre-determined agenda, its willingness to mislead us and its incompetence time and time again.
posted by Jim Downey at 6:38 AM
1 Comments:
Not only are members of Congress speaking out against this, even Tom Ridge said on CNN this morning that he thought it was unwise.
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