It's a little late, but...

Today I'm gonna write about the Dubai ports deal.

For those of you who haven't heard, a few weeks ago, a deal was brokered that would result in 6 major US ports being run (whatever that means) by a company from the United Arab Emirates called Dubai Ports World, or something like that.

After news of the deal was made public, headlines like "US Ports to be Run by Arab Country" sprang up all over newspapers and television. (Sadly) not surprisingly, there was an immediate public outcry against the deal, on the grounds that it threatened national security. Members of both political parties swore to kill the deal, and President Bush, who supported it, threatened to veto such a measure, the first such threat of his administration. Republicans, eager to separate themselves from the President in an election year because of his dismal approval ratings, united with the Democrats in opposition to the deal, and seemed to have enough support to override the veto, if Bush used it.

He never had to. Dubai Ports World, citing the huge controversy in the United States, backed out of the deal, and promised to help find a new (American) firm to run the ports.

And while all this was going on, I grew angrier, more embarrassed, and even bewildered. Am I the only one that has a huge problem with how this whole thing was handled?

I'm not going to debate whether or not the deal should have been made. I don't believe I, or anyone reading this, is qualified to make that judgment. That will not stop me, however, from taking a deep breath and screaming out: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?!?!?

In the most tactless move in modern history, Americans and America's politicians assaulted a deal based solely on the fact that the firm that would take over 6 of our ports (from, by the way, a British company) is located in the UAE and has ties to the UAE government. I have never seen a more clear case of widespread racism, and, honestly, ignorance. Arab or not, the UAE is one of our greatest allies, made all the more important by it's strategic location. The city of Dubai has become the crossroads of banking, trade, tourism, and, yes, most things illegal. If large amounts of money, weapons, or suspect characters are moving through the Middle East, chances are they will pass through Dubai. This makes Dubai one of the most strategic locations on earth for intel gathering, and the UAE government's cooperation in helping us gather that intel is crucial for our own security. But the UAE government isn't just cooperating: they're actively searching for, expediting, and prosecuting terrorists, usually on our behalf, ultimately making Americans safer.

So how do we thank the UAE for all it's doing for us? SLAP! Right across the face. The outrage over the proposed deal sent one message loud and clear to the government and people of the UAE: You're good enough to help us find terrorists and let us base operations on your soil and over your airspace, but you're not good enough - actually, you're all terrorists yourselves - when it comes to running our ports. And, as an American, I'm embarrassed.

The "reasons" for rejecting this deal are the epitome of ridiculousness. First, people were incensed by the prospect of our ports being run by a foreign country. Then we found out the ports in question were already being run by a British firm. Meanwhile, the ports on the West Coast are run by Asians, and as for the rest, they're all controlled by the mob. (You think I'm kidding?) Furthermore, port security would still be handled by Americans (namely, the Coast Guard). Actually, that makes me feel unsafe. Anyway, the next argument was that some of the terrorists involved in the September 11th attacks had ties to the UAE. Of course they did! As I said before, Dubai has become the center of almost everything in the Middle East. Major activity, legal or not, will pass through this city (which is why it's important for us to strengthen ties with the country). If that's not enough for you, consider that the hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were flight trained in FLORIDA! If we're going to reject the ports deal on the grounds that terrorists had ties to the UAE, then we should say Americans shouldn't control our ports either, since we train terrorists.

And let's see, what was the last argument? Uhhh... oh yeah. They're an Arab country, and so we hate them by default. Umm... I've got nothing.

Honestly, I feel like I'm missing something here. While Democrats have always gotten votes ripping Republicans for racism or whatever, they stood up and attacked this deal, without really knowing much about it, on grounds that can only be traced back to, you guessed it, racism. Meanwhile, Republicans decided to join the Dems in screwing the American people (who maybe deserved it, given they had the same reaction) by creating the worst international relations disaster in my lifetime, and probably earlier than that.

Again, though it seems like I'm saying the deal should have passed, I'm not necessarily. I'm just saying the reasons that it was opposed are all baseless and without merit. Simultaneously, I'm showing once again that Democrats (and now many Republicans) would rather hurt Bush than help America, and it makes me sick. We're destroying our country, one ignorant decision at a time.

Thoughts?