Views in the News

For anyone who reads the news, you can hardly read two lines, or listen to 2 seconds of the news before hearing about the controversial Dubai-Ports deal. It strikes me as very interesting. First of all, I do NOT claim to be an expert on all things UAE, however, I have done some (limited) research on Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, and I thought I'd use this forum to throw out some ideas.

The UAE HAVE indeed been allies to the US and Britain in the "war on terror". There is also evidence to show that the 9/11 terrorists used UAE transportation (airplanes, boats, etc) prior to the attack. I believe it's also been suggested that one or two of the terrorists were from the UAE. (I'm not sure about that one though.)

However, the UAE has been making dramatic strides in promoting freedom, peace, capitalism and democracy for the past 50 years. While the so-called "terrorist connection" may look bad, I'd like to remind you that the terrorists got flight training IN the US, I believe, because we're a free country...we don't like to question or stifle people's freedom's. (In the UAE, they're trying for the same idea--freedom).

The whole "port-authority" issue has been blown a little out of proportion. Some may not understand exactly what the deal entails. First of all, the US did NOT sell to the UAE. The ports in question (six of them in all) were ALREADY owned by Britain. So, in fact, Britain (one of our strongest allies) sold the ports to Dubai. Second, security would NOT be under UAE jurisdiction. That would still fall to the US. WE would be in charge of that. Furthermore, historically speaking, when ports ARE owned by other countries, the employees of said port are generally speaking natives of the host country. (Americans would still be the main source of labor at the ports.) So, it's not like the sale will mean an influx of "scary and questionable people of Arab descent." And, this brings me to my final point...

I decided to see what the UAE perspective was on all of this. I quote from the Dubai.com website (yeah, yeah, no accounting for bias, but that's another issue all together!!!):
If the United States can't work with a moderate, friendly and socially liberal Arab ally like Dubai, it may not be able to work with any Arabs at all.

It's important to remember that Islam is not the cause of terror. It's important to remember that Arabs are not Terrorists. It's important to remember that one major goal in the "war on terror" that has been overlooked for the most part is fostering positive relationships with other countries around the world. Arabs DO NOT hate the US. The UAE, specifically wants to work with us. (Of course, this deal will be beneficial to Dubai, and all UAE citizens, but we can't fault them for wanting to grow as a country.) We should NOT close ourselves off to friendly countries because of a specious argument. To other countries, our reticence looks like Arabphobia, and that we can't afford.

Thanks for reading...

Tommy