It's enough to make you nostalgic for those gnarly union stevedores in On the Waterfront, the ones who hung up rats on hooks and took away Marlon Brando's chance to be a contend-ah.
Maybe it's corporate racial profiling, but I don't want foreign companies, particularly ones with links to Sept. 11, running American ports.
What kind of empire are we if we have to outsource our coastline to a group of sheiks who don't recognize Israel, in a country where money was laundered for the Sept. 11 attacks? And that let A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist, smuggle nuclear components through its port to Libya, North Korea and Iran?
It's mind-boggling that President Bush ever agreed to let an alliance of seven emirs be in charge of six of our ports. Although, as usual, Incurious George didn't even know about it until after the fact. (Neither did Rummy, even though he heads one of the agencies that green-lighted the deal.)
Same old pattern: A stupid and counterproductive national security decision is made in secret, blowing off checks and balances, and the president's out of the loop.
Was W. too busy not calling Dick Cheney to find out why he shot a guy to not be involved in a critical decision about U.S. security? What is he waiting for -- a presidential daily brief warning, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack U.S. Ports"?
Read the rest at the link at the top of the page.
--------------------------------------David Letterman had something to say about Bush's declaration that the port agreement would not endanger our security. Letterman said, "This is from the same man who told us mission accomplished."
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The people of New York City endured so much on 9/11. They should let their elected officials and the White House know how they feel about this UAE port agreement that the Bush administration has approved.
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Have you noticed that the Pentagon and the White House refuse to use the words "civil war" to refer to the recent mosque-burnings, random killings, and roadside attacks that are sweeping across Iraq???? Guess what--it is now a civil war and Rep. Murtha predicted it in January. Now our military is caught in the middle of a civil war. Is this part of Bush's plan for victory in Iraq?
