Just Keep Smiling
After hearing that six major US ports will be overseen by an Arab-owned company, I couldn't get the image out of my head of two Arab men smiling and waving and saying to each other "Just keep smiling" until the Americans who shook on this deal were out of view. Then turned to each other and said "Did this really just happened? Jihad!!"
Even if this company is not shady at all, which is not true by the way, how could anyone with half a brain not think that the mere appearance of shadiness would not cause general uncomfortableness.
It's like asking your local registered sex offender if he's free this weekend to watch your small children. Sure he might be rehabilitated, but most likely, he wants to plow them.
posted by blizzard at 2/20/2006 08:21:00 PM
4 Comments:
i think people are concerned because the company is controlled by the government of United Arab Emirates - and though an ally to the US, it has been a hotbed for terrorists in the past.
i think the other issue is that none of the Gov'ners of any of the states with ports in them were notified prior to this deal being done...something this administration has been prone to do - to be secretive.
in addition, obviously i feel the actions of one person doesnt represent the actions of people with similar skin color or religon or whatever...but i think you can admit that in this day and age, we need to take a closer look at things like this.
come on now...the reason alot of people were not as concerned with this when it was a british company is because they have been our #1 ally against terrorism - i hate to make it so blatant but all of the factors that have been stated about why UAE is so shady makes it perfectly reasonable in my opinion to cause a stink about them taking over these ports.
call it racist if you want, but i call it being at the least overly protective in a post-9/11 setting.
just to clarify one issue...
this is not a british gov't vs UAE gov't debate. it was a private british company and now it is a UAE GOV'T-owned company....i will trust a the private british company any day of the week over a UAE gov't controlled company...
Post a Comment
<< Home