Hoodwinking the right


How the right side of the blogsphere bit on the on a pretext
Jim Geraghty admits it.

My fellow bloggers… we’ve been snookered.

(I apologize in advance for the length of this; it's required to get the facts out and to show how this meme spread like wildfire.)

The controversy over this port sale have been driven by a great deal of vague, ominous and sloppy language thrown around by lawmakers, the media and bloggers. Had this discussion been marked by precision and a focus on just what was at stake, this would not have turned into the brouhaha it did. One almost wonders if the misleading language was deliberate.

It was, but that is beside the point. A little later, he points out how it was done.

If you look carefully, you can see the goalposts shifting here. First it was that we couldn’t trust this state-owned company, then it was that we couldn’t trust the company’s home country to be an ally in the war on terror, and now it’s that the country doesn’t tolerate freedom of religion. The idea that religious plurality is now a prerequisite for working with U.S. businesses will come as surprising news to the Saudis.

As Instapundit’s reader observed, the UAE provided supplies for our troops in Afghanistan. Should we refuse that cooperation? If we don’t trust them to manage the non-security aspects of a port, why should we trust their drinking water? Why do we trust them enough to use Al Dhafra Air Base and other facilities on their soil?

We now know that nothing is set to change on how security at these ports would change under the deal – it would still all be managed by the Coast Guard.

The real point is that it was a "safe way" of showing how the Bush Administration goofed up on national security. You can bet that if it had been a Democrat Administration, the UAE would be defended as "loyal allies."

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - March 6, 2006 at 04:30 AM  Tag


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