Day: February 21, 2006
Ports Controversy Coverage Trumps Ohio Terror Arrests
The political firestorm about the plan to sell U.S. ports to an Arab country shoved this story off the list of top headlines:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says an alleged plot uncovered in Ohio is “a reminder of the need for continued vigilance in the war on terrorism.”
A federal indictment charges three men who lived in Toledo in a plot to kill Americans and allies in Iraq.
One of the men, who carries joint U-S and Jordanian citizenship, has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges. He also pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Cleveland Tuesday to charges of threatening President Bush.
The other two men are being arraigned in Toledo. The five-count indictment says the suspects recruited people as early as November 2004 to train to wage a holy war against the U-S and its allies in Iraq.
Bush Compares UAE to ‘Great British’
“I want those who are questioning [the president’s plan to allow the sale of major U.S. ports to the government of the United Arab Emerits] to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company. I’m trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to people of the world, we’ll treat you fairly. And after careful scrutiny, we believe this deal is a legitimate deal that will not jeopardize the security of the country, and at the same time, send that signal that we’re willing to treat people fairly.”
— President George W. Bush
Bush’s Fear-Mongering Comes Home to Roost on Ports Deal
Be afraid: Over the past five years and five months, President Bush and the Republican Party have become experts at using fear of Islamic terrorists to manipulate the public will. Simply by muttering code words like “9/11” and “dirty bomb,” He and his grim-faced marauders have tilted elections in their favor, trashed the Constitution, handed our resources over to their corporate betters and plundered an oil rich nation — all with the blind obedience of millions of American sheepul.
The Republican base is as unhappy about the ports sale as it was when the president nominated his secretary to the Supreme Court.
After spending years convincing the populace that Muslims are terrorists, Republicans are experiencing blowback, perhaps for the first time. Their plan to allow the sale of major East Coast ports by the current owners, a British company, to Thunder FZE, a subsidiary of Dubai Ports World in the United Arab Emertis may be scuttled because the citizenry — especially Republicans — are afraid of the ports’ new owners are terrorist sympathizers.
Whether or not the sale of the ports to a conglomerate owned by the Arab royals would impact our national security, the issue has become another major public relations snafu for Team Bush, who seem to be bungling something new just about every week.
Bush’s poll numbers have been bumping around 39 percent for several months, and this weakness has emboldened Republican politicians to come out against the sale. Just to name a few, Gov. George Pataki of New York, Gov. Bob Erlich of Maryland, former homeland security czar Tom Ridge have gone on record opposing the deal, as have GOP members of congress who have been getting hot calls from their Red state constituents: “Why is the preznint selling our ports to Ay-rabs?!”
Judging by the response from rank and file Republicans calling in on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, I would say the base is as unhappy now as it was when the president nominated his secretary to the Supreme Court. This issue, along with their concerns about Dead-Eye Dick, may erode the president’s approval rating even more, inching him down into Nixon territory.
But let’s savor the moment. President Bush and the GOP spent five years successfully packaging Islam as a 1.5 billion member terrorist organization, and now their terrified chickens are coming home to roost.
