Furriners Running Ports

A conservative friend had this reaction:

Hey Marc: I just read this excellent parody in the ONION! It said how President Bush wants to turn over cargo unloading responsibilities at 6 US ports to a group of Arabs. Furthermore, if the deal somehow fails to go through, that would send a "terrible message" to the world that we don't trust Arabs. According to the ONION, Bush says that there is no reason to treat an Arab importation company any differently than, say, a British company. Then, the article goes on to say that Bush later revealed he didn't actually know about the approval beforehand, but found out about it after the fact. But he still wants to let Arabs run the ports. After all, what could happen?

What a hoot!

It's a hoot! Too bad the ONION doesn't seem to have anything to do with it! (Just checking, today's ONION has an article entitled: "White House Had Prior Knowledge of Cheney Threat: August 2005 Briefing Warned 'Cheney Determined to Shoot Old Man in Face'" They're a couple of days behind....)

What's interesting is that the Chinese already run the Port of LA, and Singapore runs the Port of Oakland, so it's not like there aren't precedents. That's probably why Bush thinks it's a small shift.....

Nevertheless, an Arab state-owned company sets off alarm bells. After Sept. 11th, I'm with the alarmists.