I know that I made the right choice in voting for Bush instead of Kerry last year. John Kerry is a creepy man who reminds me entirely too much of Lurch. Hell, even his teeth scare me. I think the main issue, other than his affiliation with the Democratic Party, was his 'plan for everything.' Whenever questioned about something, he always 'had a plan.' It's a pretty simple way of dodging questions requiring a commital, and to a certain degree, actual thought or planning. Bush, on the other hand, though taking an inordinate amount of bashing and criticism, actually takes action and stands by his word. This made him the better choice to me. Admittedly, this is a far simplified explanation, but it brings me to the subject of this post.
With the war in Iraq, I've slowly come to the belief that although I support our troops fully, and even agree with the mission, I think there has been serious mismanagement and lack of planning. This responsibility falls directly on the President. Strike one against him in my book. This should have been planned in much greater detail, and truly executed as all out war with total victory as the only outcome. This is the way all wars should be fought.
Today brings the news that the President fully endorses the transfer of operations of six major US shipping ports to Dubai based Dubai Ports World. Somehow, amidst all the talk of anti-terror initiatives and national security, Bush feels that putting an Arab company in charge of our major ports is not a substantial security risk. He even had the audacity to imply that those not in favor of this idea were basing their decision on racism, commenting that people didn't have these reservations when the ports were run by a British firm. Obviously, there must be anti-arab sentiment there.
Genius, Mr. President. The last time I checked, the Brits haven't launched an attack on the United States in quite a long time. The Arabs seem to have a much more recent hostile streak towards us. Of course there's an anti-arab sentiment; more specifically an anti-terrorist sentiment. Imagine if you will the US turning over control of our major ports to a country sympathetic with Nazi Germany in the 1940s.
Of course, we're all supposed to have the warm and fuzzy happy feeling about this because the CIA and our intelligence apparatus have assured our leaders that there are no significant threats from this deal. This of course is the same apparatus who told us Saddam had WMDs. Reassuring eh?
According to the AP, "Lawmakers from both parties have noted that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers used the United Arab Emirates as an operational and financial base. In addition, critics contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.
They say a port operator complicit in smuggling or terrorism could manipulate manifests and other records to frustrate Homeland Security's already limited scrutiny of shipping containers and slip contraband past U.S. Customs inspectors."
I'm not implying that Bush wants to see another terrorist attack, or that he's deliberately making their job easier. The simple fact remains however, that this is an unacceptable risk, and any American concerned with their security would be well served to think so as well. Strike two, Mr. President. Please, dear God, please swing true from here on out.
