Do you think this is fair?

We put nearly 200,000 soldiers, airmen and sailors in the Middle East, we put bases there, and we don't want them to manage the security at our harbors?

Even though the nations I'm talking about (such as UAE and Bahrain and yes even Saudi Arabia) have been very helpful in the War on Terror?

So...what gives? Double standard? We can put enough fire-power there to commit genocide on them and they just want to do business with us...

Originally posted by Stratrf_Rus
We put nearly 200,000 soldiers, airmen and sailors in the Middle East, we put bases there, and we don't want them to manage the security at our harbors?

Even though the nations I'm talking about (such as UAE and Bahrain and yes even Saudi Arabia) have been very helpful in the War on Terror?

So...what gives? Double standard? We can put enough fire-power there to commit genocide on them and they just want to do business with us...

i would give you a ATS award for this post becuase i think its spot on. the double standards are amazing people in america have no problem cutting deals with dictatorships in the middle east to put there millitry bases in countries which the local population are completly against forign millitry bases in there countries yet americans have a problem with people running there ports. what a joke.

Logically, you're both right and I can't disagree. However, something about this deal just doesn't "feel" right. It's like when you're broke down and a stranger offers a ride to get help. Yeah, they may really want to help and rationally that may be the best way to get it. But that feeling that says "Don't go" may save your life.
I bring this viewpoint up because I noticed a lot of others in editorials and the like, take this viewpoint. They can't justify it, they just don't like it. Maybe it's just xenophobia and such, which again is a rational explanation.
Can we base a national policy on such a "feeling", can we not?

Passenger, I think a larger point is sometimes enemies are made.

Now in part the US is a victim but in part the US's stupidity has caused its own victimization.

Going back to your analogy to the guy giving you a ride...America in a lot of ways is like some rude fat man in the passenger seat who eats in your truck and gets crumbs everywhere. Then he throws-up between your seats and pulls out a bottle of beer (when you believe drinking is a sin) and starts pounding that. Then you the driver can do nothing more but hope to get rid of this bloated fat beast and finally you take him to where he can get some help and you look over to see him with a gun to your face saying:

"This is where you get off".

How did Nazi Germany become the Germany we know today?

Because the US was able in that brief moment of wisdom; set aside their fears of Germans and embrace them as if they were Americans themselves...mostly to use against the Russians (both of which feared greatly).

It'd help the US cause in the middle east better if they'd start letting more of their wealth flow to the people by giving them more business than just the oil business, dominated by the Emirs and other Royalty (I refuse to call the Saud's princes and Kings they simply aren't).

Originally posted by Stratrf_Rus
Because the US was able in that brief moment of wisdom; set aside their fears of Germans and embrace them...

Again, I agree with everything you said from a rational viepoint. But, sometimes those fears are justified.

This will wander off point a bit, but hopefully will explain my view a little better. If you yourself, or someone you know, has been in the military, police, or the like, you know that sometimes you just get a feeling that something isn't right: "Man, I just knew there was a sniper up there...why didn't I drop first?" It's something you can't control, can't rationalize and can't even explain. It just is. Sometimes it saves your life and many who have ignored it wound up with the scars, or worse, as a reminder.

As I said before, most of the oppostion to this deal seems based on that kind of feeling. To tie it in with the OP: Is that a way to base national policy? Logically, no. But should we disregard it totally? Will we as a nation end up with a Purple Heart for disregarding it? I hope not.

Labelling someone a "bad-guy" when they've done nothing wrong usually is a good way to make a kid a bully.

Why would national politics be any different?

The Soviet Union ran blindly into conflict with the world...trying to take over Greece and etc.

But the UAE? Their master plan? To...rule 6 American ports with an Iron fist?

The public is over-reacting and it's all the Media's fault once again.

If this deal is the ONLY compelling reason for the UAE to remain our ally, then I think it answers the question why their FOREIGN GOVERNMENT should not be trusted with our port operations.


[edit on 26-2-2006 by loam]