Portly issue

When the Dubai Port World deal to take control of six U.S. ports became public, the rhetoric was very interesting. It was as if the government of United Arab Emirates was taking over our eastern shore.

One couldn't help but notice that a great deal of value was being placed on the "Arabness" of the deal.

Well, I can give you 3.85 billion reasons why this deal will go through no matter what Congress thinks or the public thinks. There is someone, or a lot of someones, who stand to take part in a $3.85 billion transaction, and people who deal on that level of money know enough movers and shakers to get what they want. In fact the entire transaction of DP World purchasing P&O Steam Navigation Co. is $6.8 billion.

And why not? If the deal has been properly vetted, then why can't a Dubai company conduct business on our shores? I've heard that, "well, they were involved in 9-11." Wow, is there a real-life corollary to Godwin's Law dealing with 9-11 yet? It's a damn shame...soon we'll be using 9-11 as an excuse for everything. The people that died on 9-11 were real, so let's not disgrace their sacrifice. Why don't we really investigate who was involved?

Besides, the previous company to have the contract was based in Great Britain, and their more recent terrorist attacks were carried out by British citizens. Does that mean that the U.K. shouldn't have control either?

How do we get ourselves into these situations? We've got a Southern lady cursing at the president, and proud of it. We have a president who only found out about the entire deal through the news. We've got Treasury Secretary John Snow, who conveniently used to be CEO for CSX (an American transportation company which was subsequently acquired by Dubai Port World), and President Bush's nominee for Maritime Administrator is Dave Sanborn, who leaves his post as a DP World executive to assume his new duties.

The truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

So what does it all mean? Crap, really. Like I said, there's $3.85 billion on the line, so get used to the idea of DP World being in charge at the ports. May be the fact that Dave Sanborn has been tapped by the President means that this company really does have its act together. Take a look at their management team...it's got an international flavor and the bios show nothing but experience.

What really impressed me about the company? If you watch television, you can almost tell the exact moment that the company turned on its public image press. The statement they issued was being referred to as from "DP World." No longer was the company's name being referred to as "Dubai Port World," and United Arab Emirates wasn't being mentioned in the same sentence anymore. Clearly they know what they are doing.