Now entering the ring in the ports controversy: Hillary Clinton ... she says she's gonna stop that Dubai deal, with the help of fellow Senate Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey:
Mrs Clinton's legislation would prevent US ports from being owned by any foreign government, but much of the concern in this case arises because DP World is owned by the government of the UAE. The country was used to wire money to the September 11 hijackers, say US officials, though it has been a staunch ally of President Bush in his war on terror. DP World said yesterday that it had exactly the same security certifications as P&O.
The "any" foreign government part is important, because it gives the president a way out of this mess, essentially letting him say, "it's not YOU, United Arab Emirates -- it's not because you're an Arab government -- not at all! It's us. It's that we don't want ANY foreign government or entity controlling our ports..."
BTW this puts Mrs. Clinton on the opposite side of the issue as former President Jimmy Carter, (not a bad place to be if you're a would-be Democratic candidate for president trying to escape the label of liberal sorceress...) Carter surprised many by defending the president yesterday (although Carter is pretty much an Arabist, of the State Department variety, as I am, and so people shouldn't have been surprised. However, I'm with Hillary on this one...)
Carter didn't say it, but other people are already tying opposition to this deal to the "R" word (that's "racism" to you...):
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington group that seeks to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims, said some of the reaction smacks of prejudice.
''No one seems to be criticizing the company itself, but they're most concerned with the religion and ethnicity of its owners,'' said spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. ``It's what we have to deal with in the post-9/11 era.''
In fact, Glenn Beck this morning proferred the typical tortured white guy defense against that charge -- he and his compadre Stu said "it's not that we're afraid of Arabs, we're afraid of the people in the Arab and Muslim world who want to do us harm, which lately is most of them..." Okay. Look. I think we need to get real, here. It IS because it's an Arab firm. No doubt. Otherwise why did no one scream when these same ports were controlled by a British firm, which is now poised to be taken over by the Dubai company?
But atmospherics matter in public policy. And the atmospherics here are these: this isn't a private, Arab-owned firm taking over operation of six major U.S. ports (plus a huge chunk of the stevedoring of armaments to our Army.) This is the government of an Arab country with ties to questionable aspects of the "war on terror." When Michael Eric Dyson today asked why people don't demand that we stop doing business with white guys from Oklahoma City after Tim McVeigh committed a terrorist act there, he missed the point, I think (and I rarely have the temerity to disagree with Dr. Dyson.) Timothy McVeigh was an American citizen, terrorist though he was. Had he been, say, Peruvian, it would have looked terrible for the U.S. government to turn the operation of federal buildings throughout the U.S. to the government of Peru.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
