TOPIC: The US ports buyout...
Michelle Malkin has a great article regarding the financing of Dubai Ports World's purchase of Pennisular & Oriental -- the firm now charged with managing six major US ports. Here are a couple of excerpts:

"The real reason Dubai Ports World is undergoing the transaction is because of an Islamic finance vehicle called the sukuk. The sukuk is essentially a commerical paper type of Islamic financle vehicle--it is essentially a "fake" bond to work around the Muslim prohibition on interest. Now comes the interesting part.
As you might know, Dubai has recently christened (writer's word) its stock exchange. It hasn't been very successful thus far -- so they've been looking to acquire really high profile items to trade on it. (Note: they also tried to buy the Refco assets after Refco collapsed). If the Dubai Ports World sukuk goes through, it becomes the largest publicly traded sukuk in the world. As a result, Dubai instantly becomes the place to go for Islamic finance in the world -- and folks specializing in Islamic finance stand to make a great deal of money."

Alex Alexiev, of the Center for Security Policy, points out:

"Washington claims that the United Arab Emirates is a reliable friend and ally of the United States in the war on terror. To the extent that Dubai Ports World is a UAE state-owned company, this may in fact be the key question to ask. The answer is not hard to find if you start looking at the role played by the UAE as an eager financier of the huge worldwide infrastructure of radical Islam built over the past three decades by Saudi Arabia. An infrastructure that’s the main breeding ground of extremism and terrorism.
From the very beginning in the 1970s, the UAE has been a key source of financial support for Saudi-controlled organizations like the Islamic Solidarity Fund, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), World Council of Mosques, and the Muslim World League (MWL) as documented in The Muslim World League Journal, an English-language monthly. The IDB alone, for instance, spent $10 billion between 1977 and 1990 for 'Islamic activities' and at least $1 billion more recently to support terrorist activities by the Palestinian Al Aqsa and Intifada Funds.
One of the most successful Islamist operations in the U.S. early on involved the Wahhabi ideological takeover of the Nation of Islam after the death of its founder Elijah Muhammad. Of the $4.8 million 'presented' to W. D. Muhammad, Elijah’s son and successor, in 1980 alone, one million came from UAE’s president Sheikh Zayad, according to the August 1980 issue of the MWL Journal. Zayad continued his 'philanthropic' activities by donating $2.5 million for a Zayad Islamic Center at Harvard University’s divinity school of all places. The donation had to be returned after it became known that a similar Zayad Center in the UAE was closed because it had become a hotbed of Islamic extremism. And this is likely just the tip of the iceberg. A reliable friend and ally? Perhaps, but hardly one of ours."

Michelle Malkin's final comments:

"Dubai media outlets are calling critics and skeptics of the port sellout 'Islamophobes.'
If demanding that our government put American security interests above foreign business interests makes me an 'Islamophobe,' and if wanting to know the full details of the who, what, when, where, and why of this UAE government deal, secretly approved by the Treasury Dept.-led Committee on Foreign Investments in the US, makes me an 'Islamophobe,' I plead guilty."

As do I! This is a BAD IDEA! While I agree with a large part of President Bush's decisions, I vehemently disagree with this one. If the buyout and subsequent management is allowed to proceed, the USA will NEVER be safe again. We will be attacked -- at our ports or within the cities that are homes to the ports. Mark my words!

I strongly urge you to visit Mrs. Malkin's blog and read the entire story for yourself!

Here is an insightful excerpt from Debbie Schlussel's blogpost on the UAE:

"Al-Maktoum, Defense Minister of the United Arab Emirates, is also Crown Prince of Dubai - an Arab Muslim country that strongly supported and recognized Afghanistan's Taliban, one of only three countries to do so. According to "From the Desert to the Derby," by Jason Levin, 10 of the 19 September 11th hijackers carried documents and identification from Dubai, a country which also has no laws against money-laundering. Why? Maybe, because money to fund September 11th's terrorism was laundered to ringleader Mohammed Atta, directly from Dubai's banks."