Racism, plane and simple

In the twilight of his career I am, oddly, finding more to agree with President Bush. Especially with what he said on the Dubai Ports World takeover of P&O that would give them control of some major American ports:

'Here we are trying to put a coalition of the willing together to protect America, to win the war on terror, and I would ask the critics and the people who are skeptical, "What kind of signal does it send to our friends in the Arab world, people who are joining us in the war on terror, people who want to fight off the terrorists, to say it's OK for one company from one country to be able to have this management contract but not you?" '

Quite. The issue was never about security. America trusts the safety of its warships in the Arabian Gulf to the very same company and lets the UAE purchase the most sensitive military hardware. The issue is about racism, plane and simple. Some rabid Senators cannot abide the notion that an Arab company can dare own the port of New York. And the Democrat party true to its typical spineless form will jump onto any bandwagon to put Bush down because they are too scared to put together a credible alternative plan for Iraq.

This message is intended for Arabs, Americans and neo-conservatives who still harbor the fantasy that the American government was ever intending to convert Iraq into a shining democracy that would be its best friend in the region. You have your answer now. Even if the Iraqi people had lined the street with flowers before the American tanks, and agreed to the free-trade playground that the neo-cons dreamt up, they would have still been treated like the dirt you would wipe off your shoes. At least now, after three years of war and killing there is some form of grudging respect. And for Iraqis who really need to be clients of a bigger power, then they should look to China for fairer treatment.

America is a no longer the superpower it was. It has reached its military limit in Iraq. It should now concentrate on its true strength, which is its economy. If America lets racism and militarism guide its future then that will be its end. The rest of the world will pass it by and America will go down the way the Soviet Union did.