This article shows well the cronyism connections But it is also about terrorism, and our govenments are playing a different toon -they are now terrorizing US...

The fact is, that the royal family of Dubai was hunting with Osama prior to 9/11, and Clinton-when he had a chance - didn't bomb Osamma's camp because according to George Tenet at the 9/11 hearings, "we might have wiped out half the Royal Family of the UAE" or something to that effect, (quoting from memory). This is enough in itself to nix the story. I"ll find the link in the morning.

THe current Emir has a history of consulting (and partying!) with the member of Al Qaeda (I'm not going to call them the enemy becuase I don't believe the official story of 9/11/) Dubai also is the major port for money laundering, etc, ad nauseum. The current Emir hunted with Osaama!!

Conason writes:"two of the 20 hijackers in the 9/11 plot were UAE nationals who used safe houses and banks in Dubai". Well, that's if you believe the official story, which I don't. It would be worth a serious investigative reporter's time to try to peer occasionally behind the curtain to ask some of the more nagging questions about what really happened on 9/11, and who was most likely responsible. Maybe there's a reason Bush can say with such assurance that there's not a ports security problem. But there remains a significant, and unparalleled threat to our national security as long as Bush remains in the White House. How about it Joe? Why the reluctance of the progressive movement, including journalists who write for The Nation or Mother Jones, to studiously steer away from issues raised by people like David Ray Griffin, for example?

A Note to criers of "Racism" surrounding this Dubai Ports World deal:

From one American's perspective...

First of all, please understand that I still remain puzzled to this day as to how the 9/11 attacks by citizens of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, (at least by official reports), have lead us into this "War on Terrorism" in IRAQ of all places.

I also have a hard time believing that the US invasion of Iraq would have been justifiable to the american people had it not been for the sad fact that for many americans: "Arabs is Arabs." In fact, when the same administration defending the Dubai Ports World deal failed - after tremendous effort - to prove a connection between Sadaam and 9/11, very few americans seemed to care. You might be shocked at how many arguments, from supporters of the war in Iraq, still begin with: "After what they did to us on 9/11..." If you have the stomach for it, you can even hear this phrase uttered by many popular american mainstream media hosts: like Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and Rush Limbaugh for example.

NOW, in a case where a SPECIFIC country with DIRECT ties to the attacks of 9/11: (Citizen involvement, transfer of terrorist funding, etc. etc...) Bush decides to play the racism card to paint critics of the deal as "Anti-Arab" and you suckers are buying it???

Wouldn't it be racist if we DIDN'T hold special reservations for the two countries most responsible for the WTC attacks??? And isn't it odd that the two countries that had the most to do with the events surrounding 9/11 remain in the best standing with the United States???

I say YES and YES!

-Atom Ellis

This seems so obvious that I can't believe this discussion is not happening in mainstream news circles. ok, I do believe it, But talk about a 400,000 pound white elephant in the room. How can this discussion be ignored???

When the story broke, out of curiosity I checked out Halliburton's site and found no fewer than 13 office locations in Dubai, and then tracked down the CSX/John Snow connection and found out that Dubai Ports World had purchased CSX as well. Feels kinda crazy to live in a society with a half a dozen 24 hour news networks but where tracing Wikipedia articles and searching company websites for information is the only way to find anything out.

And then there's YOU GUYS!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I feel 85% more sane now.

-Atom Ellis

Dear Salon,

Just a few quick comments on the ports controversy. The questions that people are raising about Bush family connections to Dubai are legitimate. Even so, it strikes me that most of the opposition to this deal is, indeed, racially motivated, at least among the general public. The word "Arab" has been demonized by the American right and in the mind of the American public, and now the Democrats seem to be capitalizing on this for political advantage. Let me be clear here: I'm Canadian, I despise the Bush Administration, I'm hardly right-wing. But I also think that the element of ethnic discrimination that is driving the political agenda here is impossible to ignore. The left - or what passes for the left, since the Democratic Party is pretty right wing - in the US is walking a dangerous line here: capitalizing on the racism that it has, supposedly, condemned in the past, or being much more careful in how it questions the ports deal. Either way, the taint of bigotry won't go away.

Sincerely,

Shaun Narine

For five years now I've listened to a steady stream of right-wing racist crap about how all Arabs/Muslims are potential terrorists, we should keep them all out of our country, they're subhuman, they're all out to get us, etc. etc. It's been the LEFT fighting against this kind of ethnic profiling that has seen countless Arabs and Arab-Americans and anyone who even LOOKS like they might be an Arab get detained, assaulted or killed. All that unforgivable evil is on the conscience of the right, for helping to fuel the hatred.

Now suddenly WE'RE the bigots for questioning this deal? You know what, you moronic, corrupt, pseudo-cowboy puppet? I'm not so much questioning the deal as the MOTIVES behind this abrupt about-face... not to mention the careful avoidance of the customary due diligence. It's just a little odd to me that the two countries who boasted 17 of the 19 9/11 hijackers are the two countries treated with the most delicate of kid gloves by this administration, while a country that had nothing whatsover to do with anything has been cruelly and senselessly devastated by this administration. Things that make you go "WTF?!"

I wouldn't care WHO the deal was with. I'd still expect to see reviews, investigations and TRANSPARENCY where this sort of thing is concerned. This deal is just more corrupt cronyism at work, and the swiftness with which it went through is more than a bit suspicious. I don't distrust the UAE any more than I distrust anyone else. But I DO distrust this administration and its motives.