President Bush yesterday vowed to use his first-ever veto to strike any law that Congress passes to block a deal allowing an Arab state-owned company to operate six major U.S. seaports, amid growing bipartisan efforts to thwart the plan for security reasons.
“If there was any chance that this transaction would jeopardize the security of the United States, it would not go forward,” the president said in a brief but firm statement on the White House South Lawn.
Mr. Bush said questioning the deal because it involves United Arab Emirates company makes no sense, given that a British company now does the job.
“I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company. I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, ‘We’ll treat you fairly,’?”
Whatever your stance on this, I hope that this issue gets everyone talking about how they really feel about the Arab world in general.
Sorry, Dave. Only after I published my article did I see your related one.
As for how I feel about the Arab world in general, I think that most people in the Middle-East are just like most of the people in the Western world. They want to go to a job, raise a family and worship to whatever religion in peace. They want to be left alone so they can just basically live their life with as little hassle as possible.
However, I think a group of power-craved individuals that are bent on controlling the Middle-East for personal gain have hijacked the message of Islam. They abuse the Muslim religion and Islamic law to indoctrinate those that are easily swayed into committing brutal atrocities. Like a modern-day Nazi party, they use misinformation along with fear tactics to manipulate the masses. If it is not stopped, this movement will result in a world war that will result in millions of deaths and decimate the entire region for generations to come.
The only way I can see stopping the violent sect is by exposing it for what it is. The common mistake is that everyone believes that the sect’s motives are religious in nature. Religion is only a control tool for these people. When they want renewed violence, they simply push the people’s buttons by crying out that the Muslim religion is under attack.
For example, the cartoons that were in the Danish newspaper had been out for nearly six months with no reaction. A number of religious leaders from Iran and Syria travelled to the various Muslim countries and whipped up crowds into a riots that caused hundreds of deaths. Does anyone think they really cared about their followers or the actual religious issue? They twisted the news and actually added their own cartoons to create the fervor as a way to force foreigners out of their country.
The violent sects have had decades to build-up this power they have over their people. Only by exposing the people to the other side will they begin to understand that they have been used. Al-Jazeera has been a tool of the extremists for years. I suggest that the United States assist the traditional Muslim religion to set up their own television and radio networks to compete with Al-Jazeera. This is an easy way for the peaceful clerics to get the word out without a violent confrontation. If enough people get the message that the Western world is not interested in destroying their religion, more Muslims might be willing to speak out against the growing violence.
That’s okay, Morg. I’ll comment on this issue later, when I have more time.