Any Port Is a Storm

There are lots and lots of reasons to protest President Bush's actions. I did so as recently as yesterday. However, I think we need to cut him some slack on this one. The entire country, right and left, seems to be in an uproar about the decision to allow a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates to operate several of our major ports.

This seems a classic case of guilt by association. Just because this company is from a certain part of the world does not make them less trustworthy than any other company. Imagine that the ports were being controlled by Halliburton. How many people would feel any safer?

This reminds me of Michael Moore condemning all Saudis, as he did in Fahrenheit 9/11. People hear "... Arab ... Muslim ... terrorist ... 9/11 ..." and don't care about the words in between.

Now, I have to assume that this company was properly vetted for all security concerns. And, I think it was incompetent of the Bush administration to be blindsided by the controversy. But, to block this action just because the company involved is Arab is baseless fear mongering.