It's almost like a classic football play, where players are piled high on top of another player. The steady drumbeat of......

Bush isn't running for re-election and gets to yet again do the right thing, and all the R leaders get to pander to the average moronic American's fear of "those ragheads". And the port contract meanwhile won't change.

One US company that actually could run ports well--and does it in some places--is Haliburton. Can't you already smell the outrage if Haliburton were to take over P&O?

We've got major issues--theoretical, so far, since there have been no incidents--with port security. But there's little evidence the administrative contractor is the weakest link. Lack of people inspecting containers is a much more obvious hole in the system.

Just because a company is based in an Arab nation does not mean it will hire every stevedore and shipping clerk from that nation. The boots on the ground are going to be mostly Americans, whether the overarching firm is British or Arabian. Look at Duba...

Dubai isn’t al Jazeera. There is no evidence that this firm has anything in mind other than profit.

And how does that firms 'profit' enhance our port security? If you are objective you would acknowledge that the profit motive is not entirely consistent with our security needs. That is why it would be wise to have an American firm running the ports where the profit motive would be tempered by a concern for national security.

This is so self evident I am surprised I have to explain it.

This has nothing to do with Bush. It wasn't his decision, although it's one he's now championing.

Indeed, my initial impulse was to oppose it. But after gathering even a little evidence, my position changed.

Dubai isn't al Jazeera. There is no evidence that this firm has anything in mind other than profit.

My current view is not inalterable. If evidence comes out that this firm should not have this function, then let's suspend the contract. But we already farm these functions out to international concerns.

James, what would you say if it were Al Jezara buying up a bunch of local radio and TV stations?

Would you be against that? Or would you just ignore your previous positions and just bend over for Bush?

Yes, Americans just don't trust Arabs and they make no distinction on where there are from.

Bush succombed to his "secret Cabinet members" and went along with this deal and only time will tell if he made a very big mistake. I think he did.

I don't know if this deal was good or bad, but like millions of others, I just don't trust Arabs.

Ultimately Islamofism is going to have to be solved by Muslims. We need to find a way to embrace our friends and stiffarm the terrorists. So where do we begin?

There's so much ignorance in this statement it's hard to no where to begin. Try to guess the gross tonnage going daily in and out of the 6 ports but that's childs play?