There's an Arab in My Port, OMG!
Dick Meyer has an insiteful commentary about the Dubai World Ports silliness over at CBS News:

Never have I seen a bogus story explode so fast and so far. I thought I was a connoisseur of demagoguery and cheap shots, but the Dubai Ports World saga proves me a piker. With a stunning kinship of cravenness, politicians of all flavors risk trampling each other as they rush to the cameras and microphones to condemn the handover of massive U.S. strategic assets to an Islamic, Arab terrorist-loving enemy.

The only problem -- and I admit it's only a teeny-weeny problem -- is that 90 percent of that story is false.

John Zogby weighs in as well over at the Arab American Institute:

"Of course my community supports any measure that makes our country more secure, including an honest debate about port security," said AAI President James Zogby. "However, this campaign is nothing more than a self-serving use of anti-Arab sentiment callously playing off of post-9/11 fear and insecurity. The rhetorical excesses on the part of those politicians who are most outspoken on this issue has been shameful, irresponsible, and uninformed. Port security will remain the sole responsibility of the US government, but it's an election year, national security remains a legitimate concern, and the UAE is an Arab country, and for some politicians, this represents an opportunity ripe for exploitation.

"The anti-Arab impetus behind these protests is impossible to ignore, certainly doesn't make us safer, and trumps any positive message our public diplomacy efforts seek to portray. The concern we have is that if an ally of the United States like the UAE can be smeared in this manner, simply because it's an Arab country, then our relations with the broader Arab world may be irreparably damaged. It is not just wrong, it is unconscionable for the UAE to be described using language such as a "rogue" government with "ties to Islamic Fascism." Because the challenges we face are global in nature, our national security is served by building strong alliances, not alienating ourselves unwisely."

Do Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer seriously think that the United States should not do business with a staunch ally merely because it happens to be an Arab country? I realize that this thing is making a lot of people uncomfortable, but please--al Qaeda is not taking over the ports! Similarly, if the government can deny contracts to parties solely on the basis of race, I suppose that Senators Clinton and Schumer are now for doing the very same type of racial profiling to individuals at airports. Michelle Malkin thinks so, but she favors it.
- posted by Base10 @ 11:26 AM