Ports Whine
Under other circumstances the takeover of port operations in some US cities by a UAE corporation would not be something to be upset about. By many accounts the UAE is an ally in the current war on Global Jihad and would have much to lose were our port security found wanting on their watch. But this 'war' is ultimately about propaganda and disinformation, and we're losing it.
The second term of any two-term administration usually has its share of PR disasters, this administration not excepted. The inimitable Karen Hughes has shown her feet of clay losing sight of the forest in response to the Muslim cartoon riots. The White House behaves as if advised by a cigarette company attorney, apologizing for the offending cartoon smoke, and suggesting a program of animation cessation instead.
My first response on learning of the ports deal was of the "what the hell are they thinking?" variety. Here we are searching Grandma at the airport and we're going to give over to the Arabs transportation hubs that are most attractive to bring in a nuclear or other device? Not my first choice. The response from the president was then the threat of an unprecedented veto were congress to try to block the deal. What?
How many Republican congressmen are going to sell out their stocking-footed and much searched constituents? Were my dear Grandmother alive she'd boil in oil her congresscritter if he did. If she had to get her ninety-two-year-old-Irish-ass up out of her wheelchair at the hands of the TSA she'd certainly make the effort to stoke the fire under the pot.
The enemy has plans. They pretty much shout it from the rooftops five times a day about what they're after. Most of us get the message. Perhaps the reason many Democrats think we're re-fighting the Vietnam War is because the enemy is re-fighting it. Why not? It worked the last time around. In fact, the military was, and still is, despised by those who helped us lose.
As it was then, the war isn't just between the enemy and us: it's between us and us. The left was able to take the war child of two Democratic Presidents, have it forcefully adopted by a Republican one, and then hound him out of office after he emancipated it. Those are results you can't fault.
The same clever people who were student organizers, now as faculty, run respectable academics out of Harvard on a rail for kicks. As Larry Summers exits, a former 'ambassador' for the Taliban enters Yale. With the administration's latest misstep they now get to label as racist those of us who want reassurance about our port security.
By missing the propaganda ball the administration blew an opportunity to build up an Arab ally and show the Muslim world that we welcome them as partners beyond the oil. Instead we appear to insult them by insinuating their lack of security or their terrorist ties. We can't afford many more strikes like this.
