As is so often the case these days, the irony is thick enough to cut. People who denounced the post-9/11 detention of Arabs living in this country illegally, tried to prevent renewal of the Patriot Act, instantly concluded that eavesdropping on al-Qa’eda’s phone calls and e-mail violates the law, and routinely condemn American “Islamophobia” are now in a frenzy about the rather speculative danger that the acquisition of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (the “P&O” of the British Empire’s zenith) by Dubai World Ports poses a threat to national security.
When figures like Hillary Clinton, Jon Corzine and the ultra-leftist mayor of Baltimore profess fear that the Sultan of Dubai, DWP’s owner, will allow terrorists to infiltrate the six U.S. ports that the P&O manages, it’s obvious that they are simply playing the game of reviling every Bush Administration action. If our government had exerted pressure in behalf of the rival bidder, the Singapore-owned PSA International Ptd., the same folks would have screamed about anti-Moslem “profiling” and collaboration with an authoritarian regime.
Yet there are more serious critics: Senator Majority Leader Frist, Governors Pataki and Erlich, a bevy of Republican legislators and, it appears, the great majority of right-of-center commentators. The moment could hardly be less auspicious, coming at what Jim Geraghty calls a “tipping point in the Clash of Civilizations”, when –
More and more, we’re seeing commentators conclude that they’ve had it with Islam. They’re tired of hearing that the violent voices are a marginal minority, that the vast majority of Muslims disagree, that we shouldn’t let the actions and words of the Islamists to define the entire faith and that our differences can be resolved by greater “sensitivity” on the part of the West.
As the OpinionJournal Political Diary (which you can read first hand for only $3.95 a month) observes,
Once again the Bush team is taking heat for a decision that is controversial in part because the administration mishandled the public relations behind it. The decision to allow a Dubai company to acquire a British company that has contracts to manage six U.S. ports has provided politicians of both parties with an opportunity to engage in cheap politicaldemagoguery. . . . .
On first glance, it’s understandable why there would beconcern. . . . But the simple fact is that transferring management of the ports would do little to change their security status. The Coast Guard and U.S. Customs would still be responsible for protecting the facilities. U.S. longshoremen would still make up the workforce unloading container ships. The management of Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co, the acquired British company, would remain what it is now: completely international.
One can argue, indeed, that Dubai’s ownership will improve security. Should discreet pressure on P&O’s owner ever become necessary, it can be exerted readily on a ruler who has supported our side in the War on Terror and is himself a prime target of the Islamofascists. It’s not obvious that the government of Singapore would be easier to handle. Also worth pondering is the fact that –
Had PSA won P&O, it would have created a dominant ports company that on many international trade routes would have controlled both access points – loading and unloading – for container-shipping firms. [Wall Street Journal, 2/11/06, p. 4; sorry, no link]
That kind of quasi-monopoly strikes me as a security risk in and of itself. By contrast, Dubai’s successful takeover “will ensure that the global container-shipping industry remains competitive with four large players controlling ports in different parts of the world.” [ibid.]
It’s surprising that the Administration wasn’t prepared to make the case for Dubai as soon as the P&O deal was announced. I suppose that the President and his aides are so familiar with the day-to-day cooperation that we have received from Dubai and its partners in the United Arab Emirates that they didn’t think about how the transaction looks to outsiders.
The President didn’t help at all by invoking multiculturalist clichés: “I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company.” That’s really, really easy to figure out, as Mr. Bush knows perfectly well. For a starter, two of the 9/11 hijackers came from the UAE, none from Great Britain.
Having been wrong-footed at the start and with little hope that the elite media will offer a balanced picture, the Administration has little realistic prospect of reversing the anti-Dubai momentum. The only practicable exit will, I imagine, be an arrangement that insulates P&O’s owner from involvement in port management. Since the sultan’s only interest lies in the return on his investment, a compromise should be possible. It shouldn’t, however, have been necessary.
Addendum: NeverYetMelted has a great tongue-in-cheek interpretation of the White House’s strategy:
But suppose the administration had played it the other way. Michael Chertoff, head of Homeland Security, holds a press conference denouncing the sale, and calls for Congressional action to overturn the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) rubberstamp approval of the British sale. The next day’s editorials in the Times and Washington Post denounce the anti-Islamic bigotry of the Bush Administration, noting that Dubai is, in fact, a US ally in the War on Terror, that the port terminals were previously foreign-owned, and that the only other bidder was a Singapore company. Democrat leaders in Congress attack the administration in press conferences held at mosques.
By acquiescing compliantly to the deal, Rove has put Crusading fire into the democrat opposition’s belly, and persuaded prominent leaders of the Congressional left to march in Michelle Malkin’s parade.
Any day now, Karl is going to get Bush to announce his intention to outlaw coercive interrogations of Islamic terrorists, and we are going to see Hillary Clinton acting like Jack Bauer, promising personally to make every single one of the rascals talk.
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