Nothing is as straighforward as it seems..

Take national defense. There are plenty of people that have been bashing Bush on the cutting down of the Army Reserve. There is truth in the fact that a bigger Army Reserve, with everything else equal is a bonus to our national defense. However we must realize that sending money to units that are not as useful in the war on terror instead of sending it to say recruit more Active Duty Special Forces is just plain stupid.

Now on to the ports deal. One... we have a choice here as well. We must chose one or the other. We can either honor our friends and allies building that relationship or we can "secure our ports better". Now I am hesitant to agree with many liberals and conservatives on this point because firstly I am not seeing a terrible danger from UAE citizens having a knowledge of our ports. There is deterance. If a UAE citizen screws us we will make the UAE a smoking crater visible from Iraq. Additionally I have this crazy belief that Arabs aren't our enemy.. rather our enemy happens to be Arabs.

To further elaborate on the point of relationships I would like to bring some Cultural Anthropology to bear. Relationships are not nearly as important to us as they are in the Arab world. In the Arab world people will do something for you if they have a good relationship with you. Whether something is good for them or whether its a smart thing to do takes second place to such relational thinking. On the other hand if they hate you.. they will do whatever it takes to screw you over until they die in a tremendous explosion. (example-Al Qaeda)

Next let me reiterate that this Arab company will not be in charge of security or inspections. Further dock workers need Identification and Green Cards. The people on the docks will probably still be mostly American citizens. The only security threat is information on security procedures going to the company.

So the short of this issue in my mind is a near term vs. long term view. If we alienate Arabs by proving that our war really is against Arabs not just Al Qaeda we will be doing more harm to our cause than if we permit this to continue.

-The UAE is a vital ally in the UN,
-the UAE a vital ally in staging troops and aircraft,
-the UAE is vital in denying Al Qaeda a safe harbor,
-the UAE is vital in providing intelligence,
-the UAE is essential in cutting finances to terrorists (they are the banking nexus in the Middle East),
-and the UAE is critical in keeping the oil of the world flowing through their waters.
US carrier in Jebel Ali, UAE.

If the UAE takes insult at this grave sign of distrust and carelessness as to the relationship we will be severely handicapped in our war on terror. Sure offend Saudi Arabia and I will give a "hoorah!" but play with our relations with the UAE as if they are meaningless and you court disaster.

If we hit Iran... where will our refueling tankers fly out of?
If we enact sanctions against Iran.. who will freeze their assets?
If Iran tries to shut down the Straight of Hormuz with destroyers, mines, or shore based missiles... in whose waterways will our oil tankers use? And in whose waters will we float our destroyers?

Yes! The good old United Arab Emirates!!

Lets not piss them off so they end up saying "you don't trust us with your ports... we don't trust your refueling units in our country". Remember what they did during the Iran/Iraq war.

"Fujairah's prominence as a convenient 'bunker stop' was born out of the Iran/Iraq war in the mid 1980's. The only ship's entrance to the Gulf, through the Straits of Hormuz, was mined and tankers were also targeted by Iranian fire. Passage became restricted to US and Royal Navy protected convoys. Fujairah is in the outer Gulf, and as vessels queued up waiting to go through the strait in convoys." (Global security)
The above is what Iran is proported to have deployed near the Straight of Hormuz.

History has a way of repeating itself.. what if the UAE sided with Iran? How would we be able to support our troops in Iraq logistically? Currently the plan if the straight is shut down would be to portage the supplies over the UAE.

Long term vs. the Short Term (hard choice but I have set forth my opinion.)