Saturday, February 18, 2006

Letting foxes into henhouses

When I see something that's glaringly obvious (like the nose on Jamie Farr's face), usually it doesn't take much explaining. One would think that letting a country that is known to launder money for terrorist organizations take control of six seaports in the United States would fall under that category.

The United Arab Emirates government owns the company Dubai Ports World, which, due to a merger with a company in London, will take control of ports in New York City, Baltimore, New Jersey, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Miami. The UAE is a well-known refuge for those who wish to fight for the insurgency in Iraq, and money for the attacks on September 11, 2001, came through the UAE's banks.

I mean, as far as I'm concerned, American ports should remain in American hands. Being owned by a London-based company was bad enough, but now we are handing over the security of our eastern ports to the very people who look the other way when known terrorists set up shop within their borders.

Thankfully, there's a bill in the works that would block the sale. In a rare show of sanity, apparently Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) has written to the White House to air his objections.

Unsurprisingly, thus far, the Bush administration is staying its course.

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