A port in any storm

I'm kinda like this guy at the Corner:

I found Rummy's presser yesterday interesting. Apparently our Aircraft Carriers regularly make port call in the UAE and are serviced supplied etc. Apparently we have excellent military to military cooperation with the UAE including selling them US made aircraft etc.

Gen Pace Joint Chiefs said that the UAE lets us use their airspace, bases, helps maintain the bases. Apparently they have done that even during war time when we really need it with no hassles.

It may be that the Administration insiders have long come to terms with the conflict that comes from all the above positive info (there is much more) with the fact they the UAE do not recognize Israel.

It seems that the W team has comprehensively bungled the internal and external sales effort on this. The underlings may have not realized how sensitive the issue would be and did not plan and execute a full sales and communication plans that alerted the top players in all the depts.

Given that actual security is still the responsibility of the US Gov. Agencies, Coast Guard, Customs etc. and that we berth our Carriers in the UAE, fight wars in the Mid east with UAE help, I think it's hard to argue that this port deal is unacceptable.

My mind is still open and ready to absorb more facts. Given what I know so far I think this is a sales and PR disaster but the merits of the matter don't seem nutty.

There's no imaginary-universe in my mind where a President could be as poor a communicator as this one is.

Meanwhile, all kinds of folks have waded into this debate from all sides with all kinds of rhetoric.

Michelle Malkin takes on supporters of the deal.

Mansoor Ijaz at NRO takes on the deal's detractors: Washington's bout with Islamophobia also ignores the reality of Dubai's future direction. A metropolis already, it is rapidly becoming the prototype city-state that could serve as an important example for the future in Muslim societies bedeviled by high unemployment, low literacy rates, bad trade policies, and authoritarian political structures. It is managed and led by a cadre of young, highly educated Arab and Muslim professionals who seek to transform the world's stereotype of Islam by developing and running businesses transparently, with integrity and with an increasingly democratic and accountable corporate culture.

Whatever the UAE's policies in the pre-9/11 world (whether as home to A. Q. Khan's illicit nuclear network, one of three Taliban embassies, questionable banking practices, or as an alleged repository for Iranian-terror funds), Dubai's record under these young leaders in the post 9/11 world reflects serious and structural change in national strategy.

Hugh Hewitt looks at the nuts-and-bolts in an interview with Admiral Craig Bone of USCG, and the Director of Port Security in the Maritime Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection Directorate:

As I expected, Admiral Bone is an impressive expert on port security and confident of the ability of the Coast Guard to maintain port security no matter which company runs the ports. He was a candid and obviously informed expert on the operations that Dubai World Ports will assume if the deal goes through.

But he does not allay my concerns that the overall burden on the security forces has to increase when a foreign company based in an Arab country with a significant history of al Qaeda operations takes over a port. The Admiral correctly points out that American security depends on extending our borders out far beyond our geographical borders in terms of intelligence collection and cooperation with friendly allies like the UAE.

Still confused? Good, I'm not the only one.