“To appreciate how cockeyed America’s Dubai-phobia is, you have to spend a little time here, as I did this week. The truth is, this is one of the few places in the Arab world where things have been going in the right direction — away from terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism and toward an open, modern economy. That’s why congressional opposition came as such a surprise here. People in the UAE think they’re America’s friends. The ports deal was part of the UAE’s embrace of things Western. Wednesday night, I traveled with the minister of higher education, Sheik Nahayan bin Mubarak, to the dusty city of Al Ain to attend a Mozart festival at which the Vienna Chamber Orchestra performed. And I visited the American University of Sharjah, created nine years ago as a beacon of liberal arts education. On a wall next to the chancellor’s office is a photo of the twin towers in New York, taken by one of the students on June 8, 2001. “There are no words strong enough to express how we feel today,” reads a statement signed by UAE students”. –David Ignatius, Washington Post Columnist
That Dubai is not the terror-haven the opponents of the ports deal made it out to be is possible, but, (and stop me if you’ve heard this one before) isn’t the Administration to blame for the American people having that idea to begin with? If the people act out a blind and bigoted xenophobia, it is only because the administration and our culture has sanctioned and fomented this “Arab-bashing”. I’m glad that the port deal was nipped in the bud as unceremoniusly as it was. The unrighteous and the workers of inequity will be exposed.
But has Bush really created or in any way contributed to the ‘blind and bigoted xenophobia’? I don’t think so, and in fact, think that he has bent over backwards in trying to create a culture of acceptance, repeatedly saying that not all Muslims are bad and not all Muslim countries, etc.
You’re right, HP, the president does say that…while simultaneously bombing the hell out of them! What planet do YOU live on, dude?
dude, you got miricaro on your bad side……. good luck with that one.