Ports in the Storm
I must admit I was taken aback by the news that an Arab country would be taking over six major US port terminals. I guess that makes me a racial profiler if I am to believe my cherished leader and his apologists. Now that I've had some time to think about it and read a few things about it and hear some from the experts on things like the PBS News Hour, I think I'm in a slightly better position to say this makes absolutely no sense at all to me.
Now it's not like I don't know about Globalization. I understand that. And I understand about multinational corporations and how sovereign nations (like the United States) pose a real problem for them in terms of interfering with their acquisition of the world's resources. I've written about those things on multiple occasions. I understand Bush's perspective when I think of this deal as a simple multinational corporate deal. It's all about unrestrained money and power.
But it's so "pre-9/11" to me. Handing over control of major east coast port terminals to the Arabs just has no "post-9/11" flavor to it whatsoever. And I'm pretty sure that's the reason why so many Americans feel so betrayed by Bush. Bush has been using this "You got to think post-9/11" thing for political gain for years and all of a sudden post-9/11 thinking has nothing to do with it? Why? Because this is just a business deal?
What ever became of the War on Terror and national security and Islamic fundamentalism and the threat posed by countries that have ties to the Taliban and al-Qaeda? Not only that, but is the UAE a democracy? I think nearly all of us are all of a sudden wondering these things. In fact, the only ones not wondering are the political apologists for Bush. Most Republicans even get it this time.
I expect that the deal will go through. Congress will blindly accept it just the way they usually do. All the real security concerns will remain classified behind closed doors in the White House and the Pentagon and the CIA and the DHS and a dozen or so think tanks here and around the world.
But the American people won't soon forget the betrayal.
Now it's not like I don't know about Globalization. I understand that. And I understand about multinational corporations and how sovereign nations (like the United States) pose a real problem for them in terms of interfering with their acquisition of the world's resources. I've written about those things on multiple occasions. I understand Bush's perspective when I think of this deal as a simple multinational corporate deal. It's all about unrestrained money and power.
But it's so "pre-9/11" to me. Handing over control of major east coast port terminals to the Arabs just has no "post-9/11" flavor to it whatsoever. And I'm pretty sure that's the reason why so many Americans feel so betrayed by Bush. Bush has been using this "You got to think post-9/11" thing for political gain for years and all of a sudden post-9/11 thinking has nothing to do with it? Why? Because this is just a business deal?
What ever became of the War on Terror and national security and Islamic fundamentalism and the threat posed by countries that have ties to the Taliban and al-Qaeda? Not only that, but is the UAE a democracy? I think nearly all of us are all of a sudden wondering these things. In fact, the only ones not wondering are the political apologists for Bush. Most Republicans even get it this time.
I expect that the deal will go through. Congress will blindly accept it just the way they usually do. All the real security concerns will remain classified behind closed doors in the White House and the Pentagon and the CIA and the DHS and a dozen or so think tanks here and around the world.
But the American people won't soon forget the betrayal.
posted by Bill | 10:10 PM
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