The $6.8 Billion Swindle

All right, my thoughts on the non-Olympic story of the week:

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, a British shipping firm that has run six major ports at on the eastern and gulf coasts of the United States, is to be taken over by a state-owned company in the Arab state of Dubai in a deal worth $6.8 billion. George W. Bush, who only became aware of the sale a few days ago (!), has defended the transaction, insisting that putting the ports of New York, Newark and Elizabeth, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, and New Orleans in the hands of an state-owned Arab company is good for international trade and does not pose a risk to the ports being infiltrated by terrorist elements.

Oh, really? Here's some back ground on the country of which Dubai is a part. The United Arab Emirates, a small country on the Arabian Peninsula, is a federation of seven sheikdoms; though technically a republic, the seven states that comprise it are each in the control of their repsective emirs, who elect the president of the U.A.E. and establish government policy and sanction federal legislation. Dubai is perhaps the wealthiest of the seven emirates, but it is also a source of terrorist sponsorship. In fact, at least two of the 9/11 hijackers used the U.A.E. as a base of operations, several Emirati citizens have helped fund al-Qaeda, and one 9/11 hijacker was an Emirati national - Marwan al-Shehhi, who slammed the South Tower of the World Trade Center with greater force than Mohammed Atta exerted flying into the North Tower. (Oh yeah, the U.A.E. was one of three nations that recognized the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan in the late nineties.) The state-owned company that proposes to take over American ports would be in charge in security and safety at facilities where cargo comes from all over the world - most of it at present inspected poorly as it is.

And Bush wants us to believe that this is merely another business transaction?

Bush promised to be a uniter, not a divider. He's fulfilled his promise; he's unted the country and Congress against him! The mere fact that he was unaware of the Dubai connection until just a few days ago proves he is completely incompetent. January 20, 2009 can't come fast enough!

Fortunately, Congress plans to pass a bill blocking the transaction by veto-proof majorities.