Sen. Schumer, The Left, & UAE's Dubai Ports World

According to Senator Charles Schumer, 'the devil is in the details.' In his mind, there is always a devil in the details, and, if there isn't one, he'll make one up. That this business transaction has risen to the level it has is totally and only about partisan politics. It is normal that foreign companies, and countries, invest and do business in this country. The British owned P&O shipping company, that DPW purchased, went through the same vetting process that DPW went through, and then some. Currently, 80% of U.S. ports are 'under control' of foreign companies, including Communist China. And it has been that way for years.

For weeks now, the MSM has piqued the attention of the country with falsehoods about what has become known as the port deal. If the administration is guilty of anything, it is in not preparing us for the political fallout that this transaction would create. Consequently, public opinion polls are overwhelmingly against the deal. They're against the deal that they know nothing about and Charles Schumer won't admit, and is hiding behind his constituent's dress to make his case.

In an effort to assuage any doubts, the UAE offered to put everything on hold (at the advice of Bill Clinton btw) for 45 days. Quite fair enough to give the doubters enough time to look into the deal, then either accept it or not. That, although a stinging insult to the UAE, was the best attempt to bring the deal to light and then maybe proceed. Well, that lasted about a day before Schumer and the left, and also republicans rush to introduce legislation to prohibit that transaction, period. Nevermind that 80% of our ports are already under similar circumstance. They don't care to see whether there is a devil in the details.

In response, the UAE has said that they will sell their US interest in the P&O purchase to an American company, after learning that legislation is flying around capital hill to stop the deal. What has happened here is simple. The left, and any politician worried about re-election, has no interest in finding out about the deal, their minds are already made up and they too are hiding behind their constituents' dress. They don't want to know that our security capabilities would actually have been better with the deal than without. They don't want to know that our navy uses their ports and airfields to wage the war on terror, they are on our side. They live in the minute, not long range. Iran comes to mind. They don't want the deliberative and investigative process that capital hill thrives on to continue for 45 days. That's why this whole thing is politically motivated, spurred by mis-information, front-page ignorance of the media, and followed up by polls to support it.

Why has it come down this way? Schumer and company probably feel that after actually looking into the details of the deal, that they might not find a devil and would (argh!) have to give it a pass as being a sound deal for the US and our ally, the UAE. Now that DPW has decided to divest itself of the US ports, one would think that well, it's over. Not so fast. The dems have not played this 'scandal' to its fullest yet. They want to investigate the administration, not the deal, they want to make it a national security issue, an area the Dems are known to be weak. They need something to crow about as being tough on national security and they have chosen this.

Not surprisingly, the UAE is ticked off at the reaction from politicians jumping in front of the cameras. The left is not seeing beyond their nose. Their shortsightedness is the worst for our national security. This isn't the way to treat our best ally in the Middle East when we are in the conflict that we are in. And oh yeah, did I mention Iran? Sadly, all of that becomes secondary to getting re-elected. What negative consequences their knee-jerk reaction will bring upon us are yet to be learned. I don't see anything good coming out of it.

CNN today is portraying the White House as 'White House Inc.', portraying the President's confidence in the port deal as being in bed with big business at the expense of national security. That's the story line, don't let the facts get in the way.

© Copyright 2006 Ross Calloway. Last update: 8/30/2006; 1:05:39 AM.