RealCurrents

Over the weekend, I was disturbed by a report from AgapePress that the Bush administration had somehow, incredibly, approved a deal allowing the UAE company Dubai Ports World to acquire six eastern U.S. ports (New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Miami, Baltimore, and New Orleans).

My main concern was that this was going to be another one of those outrageous stories that only the conservative press picks up, but this time I needn’t have worried. Despite the federal holiday Monday, Republicans and Democrats alike were quick to condemn the deal. Thankfully, I don’t need to check that “Press Coverage Holes” category this time.

Nevertheless, as RealCurrents is all about trying to highlight what isn’t already being said somewhere else, but that needs to be part of the discussion, there are several points deserving consideration:

First and most mystifying to me (and I’m a conservative Republican, by the way), this ports deal is just one more instance of the Bush administration refusing to demand, or even suggest, some sort of wartime economic/business sacrifice. First it was the insistence that Americans go on spending like crazy in the wake of 9/11, buying more and more gas-guzzling SUVs even as we went to war in Afghanistan, and as the neo-cons in Washington maneuvered to start another war in Iraq.

The inability of the administration to formulate an effective energy conservation strategy to go along with a protracted war in the Middle East is not merely irresponsible, it is strategically stupid. While the U.S. borrows hundreds of billions of dollars to fight the war, Americans are borrowing hundreds of billions more to pay to oil-producing countries that in many cases have been documented sources of terrorists. This is worse than what we did in the Cold War, spending huge amounts on defense procurement while propping up the economies of the Eastern Bloc.

If things get bad enough, will Washington demand a draft, with a lot of hoop-la about how wartime sacrifices must be made? Though relatively small by historical comparison, the casualties already being suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan are substantial and seemingly ongoing.

The administration likes to pull out the “we’re at war” card every time it’s convenient (e.g. reauthorizing the Patriot Act), yet quickly tuck it away when other interests come into play. I think most Americans would agree that if we’re really at war, then there are going to be some strategic assets that are not to be dealt away.

This is the patently obvious second point: most every homeland security study has shown that our ports are some of our most vulnerable infrastructure. That the administration could even consider turning these over to a Mid-East country shows exactly why this must not be allowed, even if the country is our “ally” (whatever that means with Muslim countries) and, oh by the way, extravagantly wealthy.

Whoever analyzed this deal is confident that safeguards will be in place. This is the problem with any bureaucratic organization - it begins to think it’s infallible, and before long will let anything get by it as long as it’s got all the right rubber stamps on it. In other words, bureaucracies excel at straining out gnats but sometimes miss the glaringly obvious. The FBI’s failure, despite repeated requests, to investigate a suspicious student who only wanted to learn to fly 747s, straight and level, is not only now a classic in the annals of bureaucracy, but also a painful warning of what can happen if we place too much confidence in government.

Of course, the Katrina disaster in New Orleans has provided fresh evidence that bureacracies at all levels can fail to handle the obvious, even when it was expected ahead of time. The simple solution is simply not to let this deal happen in the first place, even if global trade suffers a little bit.

Third, as Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham noted, the adminstration’s stance is “unbelievably tone deaf politically at this point in our history”. As such, it provides ample evidence (as if any more was needed) that the White House is just not being well-managed. Either the administration doesn’t have a coherent message in many cases, and/or it’s failing dismally to communicate that message. Even as I write this, Don Wildmon of the conservative AFA has sent out an email alert opposing the deal, noting that “Normally we don’t ask you to participate in issues such as this, but we feel that this one justifies your involvement.”

I used to be impressed with George W. Bush’s ability to be in touch with public sentiment, but there’s a clear disconnect that seems to have worsened ever since the neo-cons gained ascendancy. Bush clearly needs help, and he should start by restoring Karen Hughes to a top White House role. Then he should demand that the neo-cons play by the same rules as everyone else, i.e. they have to actually justify their points of view rather than just use a knee-jerk accusation of the other side.

Anyone who’s been on the net for long knows there are millions of thinking Americans who are totally outraged at the lack of a real debate on the war in Iraq and other key issues, such as federal spending. Most of these are Democrats, but the number of conservative Republicans among these is growing rapidly. Maybe this ports deal will finally get the real debate about the war on terror started.