Referendum
And so, despite the fact that the management of a handful American ports accounted for less than 10% of the actual price of the worldwide deal, despite the fact that the United Arab Emirates is probably the most moderate of Arab Muslim nations, even despite the fact that Dubai is known as the "Sin City" of the Arabian Peninsula, the deal is quashed:
DP World, the United Arab Emirates state-owned company that had agreed to buy several port terminals in the United States, said today that it will transfer those properties to an American-owned company, bowing to a political groundswell against the acquisition.The decision came just hours after a delegation of Republican leaders in Congress told President Bush in an Oval Office meeting that Congress would act within days to block the company's acquisition of the United States port terminals in the name of national security, lawmakers present said.
This was not a national security question. This was a referendum on how the public really feels about the whole “not all Muslims are terrorists” idea that the administration has been at great pains to emphasize since 9/11, and rightly so.
Bottom line? “We don’t trust Muslims. At all.”
The common statement from the congresscritters of both parties was that this imbroglio was a response to conspicuous constituent involvement. If that's true, I can’t help but think that this means that the American people won’t need much of a nudge if it becomes necessary to declare war on Arabs or Persians instead of an abstraction. One more stateside attack would do it.
Frankly, it’s their own damn fault. The house of Islam is in disarray, and too many of its residents remain silent in the face of their brothers’ murderous rampages.
