Wednesday, February 22, 2006

JUST THE FACTS

The Facts on United Arab Emirates port contracts.

2 comments:

Mediaskeptic said...

Two things about UAE loyalty. First, they are one of the few muslim countries where you can get alcohol. This, by way, of point out their modernity. They are very very modern by muslim standards, more so than any Middle Eastern country. And very moderate in their religion.

Because of this, like Kuwait, they greatly fear radicalism. During the Iran embargo in the 80s, Kuwait allowed their ships to be flagged with U.S. flags and escorted by the U.S. Coast Guard. UAE sent their oil through Kuwait to our markets. I know that because I worked for an oil firm at the time.

But the second point is that the extremists are not so much religious as anarchists. This is why they kill fellow muslims by the hundreds of thousands without a qualm. Because of that, many muslim countries are willing to help us. They do so at great risk. Egypt has had decades of experience with muslim anarchists and some of our best intelligence has come from countries like Egypt and Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, and to a lesser extent, Saudi Arabia.

There are a lot of moderate muslims but they have no moderate mosques. Many mosques in the Middle East and in Europe, the U.K. (and fewer in U.S.) have been funded and taken over by extreme religious sects. (Not unlike our own mainstream churches and the liberal secularists who are more P.C. than the outright socialists.)

This puts moderate muslims in a bind. The liberation of Iraq, the success of moderating the middle east, the containment of Iran by being a military presence at her border and shielding the middle east from armed incursions is something we have to do.

As for the ports, there are no American companies that do the job of managing ports. Sorry, there just isn't. So it is either British, Danish, Hong Kong, or one other country.

I just do not think we ought to be at war with every muslim. Some really are our friends. UAE is one of them.

Mediaskeptic said...

I agree totally. And I, too, am glad of the public discussion. Public discussion leads to a consensus of sorts, which is a good thing. (In theory.)

On the other hand James Hoffa of the Teamster Union was on KABC (Los Angeles) radio this morning and the disinformation was incredible. In service to the Democrat party, he and the talk show host sounded like DNC talking points.

Example: Bush had a chance to kill Osama bin Ladin but they decided not to launch a missle strike because the royal family of Dubai was having a picnic with bin Ladin.

I kid you not.