VOICE OF THE LEFT
Glenn Swift
March 25, 2006
Unintelligent Design: The Bush Plan for Homeland Security.
President Bush’s close-minded determination to support a deal allowing a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to take over the management of port terminals in New York, Baltimore, Miami and a number of other major American cities is a glaring example of the President’s complete unwillingness to engage in any kind of serious debate on important issues. Moreover, it is frighteningly reflective of the Administration’s reckless and misguided approach toward Homeland Security.
Let’s look at the facts.
Not only did two of the nineteen hijackers and some of the money for the planning of the attack come from the UAE, the final report of the bipartisan 911 Commission made some other startling discoveries about this bizarre little kingdom. For starters, the report outlined which country in the Middle East served as the major financial conduit for terrorist activities: you guessed it – the UAE. In other words, the government of the UAE can not even control terrorist operatives within its own borders, yet we are supposed to trust them with managing our ports!
There’s more…
Remember that ole’ enlightened regime in Afghanistan known as the Taliban? Well…If I gave you three guesses, could you name a government in the Persian Gulf that supported them at the time of 911?... Come on…that’s right! The UAE!..Back in the days when women were having their fingernails pulled out and hands cut off for the “blasphemy” of wearing nail polish, the fascist-parasites of the government of the UAE were running in line to support them. Whatever happened to “You’re either with us or against us.” I suppose that’s been cast aside along with “We’re going to get Bin Laden..Dead or Alive.”
There’s more…
Something else in the 911 Commission’s Final Report. Ever hear of Abdul Qadeer Khan? Just in case you’re on a game show anytime soon, he was the Pakastani nuclear engineer who ran the world’s largest nuclear proliferation ring in the years prior to 911. When he wasn’t busy shipping centrifuge equipment to honeymoon destinations like Iran and Libya, he was meeting with Iranian religious-fascists to jump start their nuclear program. Guess where was his center of operations? Yup…the UAE.
See a pattern here? Apparently George Bush cannot. Maybe those financial ties between the Carlisle Group and the government of the UAE have blurred his vision. Whatever the reason, the Democratic leadership is to be commended for standing up to the president and defeating this decision.
This whole issue is indicative of the president’s lackadaisical policy toward homeland security. For five years the Democrats have fought tenaciously to protect our ports only to be thwarted in every attempt. This past week, yet another Democratic-sponsored (Congressman Martin Sabo from Minnesota) port security bill that would have provided $1.25 billion dollars in desperately needed funding was decisively defeated by the right-wing. The Republicans said we could not afford it. Well, here’s some simple math:
THIS IS WHAT WE SPEND EVERY SIX DAYS IN IRAQ.
Priorities I guess.
Of course, to even discuss homeland security is a complete joke when thousands of undocumented workers are crossing our borders everyday. Incredibly, the president shows little concern over this annoying little matter. Why would he? These folks are providing good ole’ fashioned cheap labor for his cronies and their low-wage corporate plantations.
Now our Republican friends will tell us that because we have not had an attack since 911 is solid evidence that we are “winning the war against terror.” I would like to believe this, but let’s examine this statement a little more closely. An administration that is driving us into more debt than all of its predecessors combined, which failed to act in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and which has completely bungled the war in Iraq has somehow been amazingly efficient in rooting out terrorists? I don’t buy it. Do you?
President Bush’s close-minded determination to support a deal allowing a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to take over the management of port terminals in New York, Baltimore, Miami and a number of other major American cities is a glaring example of the President’s complete unwillingness to engage in any kind of serious debate on important issues. Moreover, it is frighteningly reflective of the Administration’s reckless and misguided approach toward Homeland Security.
Let’s look at the facts.
Not only did two of the nineteen hijackers and some of the money for the planning of the attack come from the UAE, the final report of the bipartisan 911 Commission made some other startling discoveries about this bizarre little kingdom. For starters, the report outlined which country in the Middle East served as the major financial conduit for terrorist activities: you guessed it – the UAE. In other words, the government of the UAE can not even control terrorist operatives within its own borders, yet we are supposed to trust them with managing our ports!
There’s more…
Remember that ole’ enlightened regime in Afghanistan known as the Taliban? Well…If I gave you three guesses, could you name a government in the Persian Gulf that supported them at the time of 911?... Come on…that’s right! The UAE!..Back in the days when women were having their fingernails pulled out and hands cut off for the “blasphemy” of wearing nail polish, the fascist-parasites of the government of the UAE were running in line to support them. Whatever happened to “You’re either with us or against us.” I suppose that’s been cast aside along with “We’re going to get Bin Laden..Dead or Alive.”
There’s more…
Something else in the 911 Commission’s Final Report. Ever hear of Abdul Qadeer Khan? Just in case you’re on a game show anytime soon, he was the Pakastani nuclear engineer who ran the world’s largest nuclear proliferation ring in the years prior to 911. When he wasn’t busy shipping centrifuge equipment to honeymoon destinations like Iran and Libya, he was meeting with Iranian religious-fascists to jump start their nuclear program. Guess where was his center of operations? Yup…the UAE.
See a pattern here? Apparently George Bush cannot. Maybe those financial ties between the Carlisle Group and the government of the UAE have blurred his vision. Whatever the reason, the Democratic leadership is to be commended for standing up to the president and defeating this decision.
This whole issue is indicative of the president’s lackadaisical policy toward homeland security. For five years the Democrats have fought tenaciously to protect our ports only to be thwarted in every attempt. This past week, yet another Democratic-sponsored (Congressman Martin Sabo from Minnesota) port security bill that would have provided $1.25 billion dollars in desperately needed funding was decisively defeated by the right-wing. The Republicans said we could not afford it. Well, here’s some simple math:
THIS IS WHAT WE SPEND EVERY SIX DAYS IN IRAQ.
Priorities I guess.
Of course, to even discuss homeland security is a complete joke when thousands of undocumented workers are crossing our borders everyday. Incredibly, the president shows little concern over this annoying little matter. Why would he? These folks are providing good ole’ fashioned cheap labor for his cronies and their low-wage corporate plantations.
Now our Republican friends will tell us that because we have not had an attack since 911 is solid evidence that we are “winning the war against terror.” I would like to believe this, but let’s examine this statement a little more closely. An administration that is driving us into more debt than all of its predecessors combined, which failed to act in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and which has completely bungled the war in Iraq has somehow been amazingly efficient in rooting out terrorists? I don’t buy it. Do you?
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