Editorial:
Dubya on Dubai:
‘I can’t hear you’

A wise fictional journalist once told his just-as-fictionalized colleague that if you’re dumb, you ought to surround yourself with intelligent people; if you’re smart, you surround yourself with intelligent people who disagree with you. Despite belonging to only one of the two factions, President Bush has taken the precautions of both and still can’t seem to figure out what he’s doing wrong. And if that isn’t enough, for a president who both so doggedly advocated the need for Homeland Security and the implementation of the Patriot Act, Bush doesn’t seem to be consistent in his concerns for the safety of both the US soil and its citizens.

The control and protection of American port cities —
such as Baltimore, Miami, and the more local Bayonne, Newark, New York and Philadelphia ­— have become a bit of a heated issue as of late and were the topic oSen. Robert Menendez’s talk at Rider yesterday. The British P&O, one of the foreign-based companies that handle the cargo at our ports, recently has been bought out by a Middle Eastern corporation, the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned Dubai Ports World.

Many Americans’ knee-jerk suspicion is a little disheartening to those who don’t immediately submit to the notion that all Arabs are terrorists. This, however, isn’t even the most disturbing matter at play. What’s truly unsettling is that the president of this country is so willfully ignoring the advice and concerns of the much-smarter people around him. Threatening to veto any legislation that would hinder this deal from being made invokes images of a 5-year-old boy covering his ears and screaming “I can’t hear you!” until he gets his way.

The United Arab Emirates’ government has aligned itself with us, though its population isn’t as friendly. Two of the Sept. 11 hijackers were residents of the country and used Dubai’s banks to launder money. While this offers a smidgen of credibility to the arguments of those who involuntarily flinch whenever they pass an individual of Arab decent, Dubai Ports World would not control the safety issues of many of the port cities in which it’s looking to operate the terminals.

While it is understandable why a post-9/11 America may be nervous in this scenario, it is not condonable for the president who has watched his citizens experience the full scope of horror on behalf of their country to brazenly ignore their worried voices. Instead of forging ahead blindly in his handling of a hugely sensitive issue, President Bush should be listening to the government we elected to represent us, especially when even members of his own party are wary of the decisions he’s making.

Being at a college that is nestled not too far from a number of port cities, as well as being American citizens, we’ve got a lot at stake with the ultimate outcome of this decision. The papers have been signed to hand P&O over to Dubai Ports World, but this passing of the torch will be disputed in Congress once it’s back in session.

Do we trust the president who refused to listen to the people for whom he’s responsible, or do we try to disavow ourselves of this country’s seemingly inherent mistrust of Arabs? Is giving a government we consider an ally a chance to prove itself the first step we need to heal the wounds that terrorist attacks have left upon our collective consciousness?

—This weekly editorial expresses the majority opinion of The Rider News editorial board, and is written by the Opinion Editor.