HAPPY PURIM
In the aftermath of the Dubai port contoversy it was irritating to me to listen to the talking heads on TV belittle the sophistication and knowledge of the American public.
The public it seems was carried away with the false slogan of "security" when in fact security was provided for by the Coast Guard.In addition,Dubai is our closest ally and defeating this deal would be a mortal blow against investments in the US etc.In a condescending manner the pundits who normally bash Bush,now turned on public opinion.
While Americans can invest in Dubai,outside of the free-trade zone all businesses must be majority owned be Arab Emirate citizens.
Dubai did recognize the Taliban,and had the distinct honor of hosting 2 of the 9/11 terrorists.To my knowledge they still maintain the official boycott against Israel.
The Congress a number of years ago prevented a Chinese company from taking over a west coast port,so that preventing Dubai from the ports is not unprecedented.
There are adequate investment opportunities in the US for foreign companies, outside of those that deal with our strategic infrastrucure.
I find it incredulous that we do not have the technology to inspect each of the millions of containers that enter our ports annually.
In fact with the report coming out that less than 5% of containers are examined , it is time to insist that at a time certain point 100% will be examined.
The authors of the report emphasize that we should not confuse "vulnerability " with threat.True enough- however if on 9/10 we had a report on commercial aircraft safety and security ,and proclaimed vulnerability is only theoretical, would that have helped us,or prevented anything on 9/11.
We are on a war footing and its time we acted thusly in regard to port security.
It is crazy not to place our ports under the same security precations that we use at airports.That includes a total American ownership of these facilities.I have no fear that foreign companies will run away from the US.We are still the economic capitol of the world with the greatest financial and political stability.
Of course without us ,who will protect Dubai? Kuwait? THE SAUDIS?
IF WE SIMPLY TOOK AWAY ALL THE FUNDING FROM "EARMARKINGS" AND SHIFTED IT TO PORT SECURITY WE COULD DO THE JOB.
One last thought-if G-d forbid a nuclear weapon delivered by container exploded in one of our cities,how many hundreds of millions or billions of dollars would we have to spend for the cleanup etc.Why not spend a fraction of that for prevention?
