It's not really as bad as it sounds. I understand that they still recognize the Taliban. They also don't recognize Israel. They have, though, worked pretty well with us since 9/11. Still a long way to go...but they are making progress. I am pretty puzzled at why nobody in the administration thought Joe Public would raise an eyebrow when the words "Middle East" and "take over ports" were mentioned in the same sentence. And if the Prez really didn't know about the deal before it was done (like it's claimed in the news), then if I were him heads would roll. Not exactly something that I'd want to be blindsided with. That said, between the Coast Guard, Homeland Security, and others, we do actually control the security at the ports. DPW (UAE) is simply buying out P&O (the Brits) and managing the paperwork. Shouldn't save the US any $$ either way. Most of the contracts with P&O are already in place, and are long-term (20 yr deal signed in 2000 for NY and NJ ports). In addition, it's not like a bunch of Arabs are going to be loading and unloading the ships. The workers will still be citizens / legal residents of the USA. We've also had a "secret" relationship with the UAE for some time. It's one of those things that isn't really secret (like the Delta Force) but we don't know all of the details. I've heard a couple guys from the Navy call in and talk about how many of our ships are already in UAE ports and how much military equipment they load and unload for us over there. President Clinton was also comfortable enough to begin the process of selling them 80 pretty sophisticated F-16s in exchange for us using their bases and ensuring "the free flow of energy sources", among other things. All of this can be found at (
http://www.clw.org/archive/cat/atn1199.html). So...while I'm still puzzled at the thick heads that run our country, I'm a little less concerned than I was at first.
