The Hypocrisy of Washington, D.C.

A company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is purchasing ports in the United States. The Bush administration once again screws it all up by not talking to the right people ahead of time to smooth the waters. The administration is once again seen as being “secretive”. When will those clowns learn? All of sudden everyone is in an uproar. They complain of the security risks involved with selling the ports to an Arab company. A company based in UAE. The UAE happens to have had some shady dealings with terrorists in the past, but has cleaned up its act and is now cooperating with the United States. On the whole from the beginning I thought this was a non-issue. I was wrong. Left and right have united in outrage over this deal; another knee-jerk reaction by ill-informed people using this issue as an opportunity to show boat and claim to be tough on national security. Now they want hearings to show boat some more and position themselves for the next election cycle.

Today I was listening to NPR and they were talking to some Senator (does it really matter which one – they are all worthless) about the sale of the ports to this UAE company. A merchant marine called into the show. He has not agreed with a single position of the Bush administration until now. He has worked on cargo ships that have been into U.S. ports and recently a port in UAE. He claims that the UAE port is one of the most modern and efficient ports he has ever seen. He complained that ports in America were substandard. After seeing what he has seen he stated that he would welcome the UAE company to run ports in the U.S. And to add icing to the cake, he stated that the Senator that was on the show did not have a clue. Here is someone who has real experience in this matter and does not feel threatened by an Arab company taking over operation of these ports. Has anyone mentioned that security will still be controlled by the U.S.?

Why would a company spend billions to buy ports only to smuggle something into the U.S. to blow us up? They are trying to make money - that is called capitalism not terrorism. This is the same country that is investing $15 billion in aerospace. What forward-looking country would risk an investment like that on bombing a has-been, backward-looking country like the U.S.? Am I missing something here? Please let me know where my logic is failing. It would certainly be cheaper to bribe some officials to get the job done or just smuggle the explosives into the country through our porous borders. Which brings me to the hypocrisy of our politicians... Why get your panties in a wad over the purchase of six ports by an Arab country when hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of pounds of contraband are smuggled into our country every year across the U.S.-Mexico border? Because our border security is a politically sensitive issue and these politicians would rather insult the relatively small Arab population than the growing Hispanic population. Border security would require real work, hard decisions, and practical solutions. Our Senators and Representatives are too busy basking in the glow of the media lights than to roll up their sleeves and get real work done. That is the sad truth and that is why more and more people in this country do not have a positive outlook towards the future of the U.S.