On Second Thought...

I formally retract the statements I made in my previous blog entry. Having fallen into the trap of mass hysteria and fear monograms by the media, I failed to give this story time to breathe, and therefore posted my opinion in ignorance. The ports deal is simply a business transaction that is becoming commonplace in today's global economy. The fact is most of our ports are at least partly managed by foreign companies, including China. The case against this ports deal has turned into little more than ethnic bigotry and pure ignorance of seaport security and management. There will be no changes to security procedures at the six ports that DPW is buying from P&O. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will still be screening what goes in and out of the country. There will be no terrorists being hired or sneaking into our country through these ports as a result of this transaction. One legitimate argument is that DPW is a government controlled entity and not publicly traded, but that has little affect on how the business will operate.

Sorry folks but President Bush is right about this one. Unless a legitimate security concern surfaces during a Congressional investigation into this deal, there is no reason to believe that this Administration is jeopardizing our national security in allowing this deal to happen. The president may have been out of the loop on this, since he only found out about this deal a few days ago, but it appears the necessary steps have been taken to ensure that there were no national security issues with this deal. Nonetheless, Congress is doing its job by calling for greater transparency and further scrutiny of this transaction. It is a global economy; multinational corporations and foreign investment are necessary components of globalization and inter-dependence. Outsourcing is also a major characteristic, and continues to be a concern. However, Americans must learn to adapt to the realities of the global economy no matter how painful the transition because nothing can stop it. This controversy over ports management should shift to a discussion on how to deal with globalization effectively without sacrificing our ideals or national identity while maintaining our security. In other words, a concern about seaport security is an issue separate from a simple business transaction, although greater transparency is necessary.