by Glynn Wilson
Editor and Publisher
LocustFork.Net

Any day now Americans are going to find out just how unsafe the Bush administration has left the nation’s ports.

If you believe everything President George W. Bush says, maybe because you voted for him and want to believe, and if you support run amok global, corporate capitalism, then you may be shrugging your shoulders at the political brouhaha over the deal to allow Dubai Ports World to take over the management of six major American ports.

If you think it is quite alright for an Arab monarchy called the United Arab Emirates to control the shipping operations in the ports of Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New York, New Orleans and Philadelphia, then you can ignore the news and say its just a bunch of liberal reporters and Democratic Party politicians making noise about it.

If you believe a county that is the money laundering capital of the world for terrorists and drug cartels, with historic ties to al Qaeda and the Talban, should not only be in charge of these ports but have access to all the information on the comings and goings of cargo and every little detail of the security at those ports, then shrug it off and pay no attention.

But if you are worried about radical Muslim extremists sneaking into the United States and attacking our ports with weapons of mass destruction, then you may want to listen up.

While the mainstream press helped to make the Dubai port deal an issue, the backtrack is on all the way up to the New York Times and on the Comedy channel talk shows.

The other night on the Colbert Report, which follows the highly rated Daily Show, Times columnist David Brooks pooh-poohed the entire story, saying the backlash was hurting our reputation in the Muslim world by pissing off the six Arab friends we have left.

The show went to commercial before he could answer the question about whose fault it is that the U.S. only has six friends left in the Arab world. You think the Iraq war has something to do with that? How about those American military basis near just about every holy site in the Middle East, including Mecca in Saudi Arabia?

Oh, but “we don’t negotiate with terrorists,” so talking about withdrawing from Iraq or Saudi Arabia is just off the table. All that black oil is there, which is critical to our national security. So we can’t leave, and according to the official policies of the Bush administration, we are not even going to talk about it.

As you must now already know, Bush has never used his veto power in five years as president. But for some strange reason, he threatened to veto any Congressional action to delay or stop the port deal, even when it came not from Ted Kennedy, but Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.

What is so important about the United Arab Emirates that the prez would threaten to use his veto power to protect their financial interests in this deal? According to Bush, they have cooperated in our “war on terror.” Right.

Not only were two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers from the United Arab Emirates, they recognized the Taliban in Afghanistan and helped fund and hide members of al Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden. There is really no reason to believe those ties are still not in place, in spite of some token help that government has provided in a few recent cases of tracking down some money going to al Qaeda.

The only plausible reasons for why the Bush administration wants to push through this deal is to keep the Sheiks who control the oil happy, and to continue supporting the development of global capitalism, which Bush’s father got into major trouble for in his day by calling it “a new world order.”

You won’t hear Shrub use that term, but that is, without a doubt, what this is all about.

It is also why Bush talks out of both sides of his crooked mouth on the issue of illegal immigration. One one side, he will give lip service to protecting our national security by patrolling the borders, all while behind the scenes promoting porous borders and an amnesty program from illegal immigrants – mainly so Wal-mart and other conglomerates can continue to use them for their menial, cheap labor.

The backlash against the backlash against the Dubai port deal is already being spun as anti-Arab (read racist) and anti-Internationalism (read protectionist). But that is a bunchy of bullshit and Karl Rove knows it.

The only reason Bush won reelection in 2004 (aside from the voting fraud, especially Ohio), was because he was seen as strong on national security and “fighting terrorism.”

The Dubai port deal shows just how wrong the people were to trust Bush to protect them. He doesn’t care about protecting America from terrorism, natural disasters or anything else. Ultimately, he doesn’t even care about his standing with the anti-Arab Christian Right, now that he is a lame duck president and can’t win another election in any event.

What matters now is protecting his reputation in the corporate community, where his future fortune will continue to be made once he leaves office and moves back to Crawford.

Once out of office, he will hook up with the Carlyle Group, based in Alexandria, Virginia, just like his father before him. If the laxity of his administration allows the bombers in this country through the ports, to wipe out Washington, D.C., with a nuclear bomb, it won’t matter to Bush. He will just move into the new secret nation’s capital under construction in Alexandria.

Even the Washington Post has from time to time reported on those plans to move the U.S. federal government’s operations there, although the entire plan is, of course, a massive secret.

While living in Alexandria for a time in 2004 and 2005, I used to ride my mountain bike through the under construction Carlyle Group compound on my way to the Potomic river front. It’s an amazing development, a modern-day castle-fortress designed to withstand the most horrific onslaught of weapons the world has ever produced.

No doubt I show up on many surveillance tapes - as a suspected terrorist. Coser scrutiny, of course, showed that no, I’m just a journalist and now a blogger who tries to tell the truth - in spite of the risks.

Watch for the administration to line up enough members of Congress to ram through the backlash on the Dubai port deal. There’s not enough courage left in the nation’s capital - or the press - to stop it.

But there is still enough courage left in the suicide bomber community to attack us. Those plans are giong forward. The Homeland Security Department and FEMA are not prepared to stop it or deal with the aftermath.

Bush says there is nothing to worry about. He will keep us safe from terrorism.

We say heads up and head for the hills - if you have the wherewithall.

Like the poor people stuck in New Orleans in the aftermath of Huricane Katrina, most people will just ignore the warnings and wait and see what happens.

We are hunkered in the bunker. If the Internet still works, we’ll see you on the other side of Armageddon.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 26th, 2006 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Under the Microscope. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.