The Port Deal: Defensible, But Not by A Politically Tone-Deaf White House

I remain mostly agnostic about the UAE port deal, leaning toward accepting it. I admit to being a little confused about it. But the White House is not helping.

One the one hand, the more I learn from other sources, the more comfortable I am with the deal. Power Line posted this information, from an in-depth interview on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," and this post quoting an e-mail from someone who works in international shipping. The C-SPAN interview is especially enlightening as to Homeland Security's efforts to secure shipping points of entry to the USA.

John Hinderaker notes:

We're getting quite a few emails from people who work in international shipping. So far, they are pretty much unanimous in saying that the UAE port terminal purchase is a non-issue.

Read the C-SPAN interview excerpt; you'll learn more than you would from the MSM or from the White House.

Now consider what President Bush has been saying about the deal, according to this CNN transcript:

What I find interesting is that it's OK for a British company to manage some ports, but not OK for a company from a country that is also a valuable ally in the war on terror. The UAE [United Arab Emirates] has been a valuable partner in fighting the war on terror.

The president's point is well-taken, and is quite admirable. Richard Cohen's analysis:

That Bush has done this should come as no surprise. As a bigot he leaves a lot to be desired. He has refused to pander to anti-immigration forces, and shortly
after Sept. 11, if you will remember, he visited Washington's Islamic Center. He
reassured American Muslims and the worldwide Islamic community that neither America nor its government were waging war on an entire people.

True enough. And yet, and yet . . . doesn't it strike you as a little silly to compare the United Arab Emirates to Great Britain? As true as the president's remark is, the American people simply worry more about Arab Muslim countries than they do about any European power. That is not necessarily a sign of racism; it's a reflection of experience that includes watching 3,000 people die in the middle of New York City on live television.

After all is said and done, education is the key here. The 45-day delay in going forward is a great idea. The more people learn about the deal, and the more they learn about what the government is doing to address security issues in all points of entry to the USA, the better off we'll be.