Friendly Ports

Fire of Liberty

Will Ball, former Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of State and White House aide in the Reagan Administration, has a good piece over at TCS Daily on how the sailors who man our various warships and ensure our security daily that our allies within the United Arab Emirates don't deserve the scorn and disdain that they have received during the most recent dust-up over the ports. I find it puzzling that the same folks that noted we should apply the policies of "soft-power" to our tool-box of foreign policy and embrace our allies in the Arab world seem to have left the dock now that an Arab ally of ours is thinking about buying out the managerial side of the ports that the British currently control. For me, it would make a heck of a statement and set a great example to the Arab world and the world in general that if you accept moderism and abscond from supporting Islamic extremism (and other types of extremism) then we welcome doing business with you. Better yet it shows our friends that if they team up with us, we're not going to spurn you because some folks feathers are rustled. Luckily, we have the good soldiers of the US Navy who realize how important it is to have the UAE batting for us in the region and we should have the same faith in our ally in this regard as well. Check out what our sailors experience in the UAE:

Perhaps the TR's returning sailors will be permitted to add their voice to the current debate over ports and dockside services. After all, sailors have been keen judges of harbors, their good and bad aspects, for centuries. And American sailors from the days of Decatur to Perry to Nimitz have called on practically every port there is, forming clear opinions as to the characteristics and qualities of each, from the view across the harbor to the view across the waterfront bar.

And on this point, our sailors could speak clearly and emphatically to the flip side of the debate on Capitol Hill. They could observe that after weeks of hard work at sea, the welcome given to them and their shipmates in Port of Dubai is just about as good as it gets. In a region of the world not previously known for "liberty ports" that compete with their Mediterranean and Western Pacific counterparts, the new Dubai is fine, fine indeed, according to the sailors of today. Harbormasters, citizens and yes, even port security officials there afford an especially warm welcome to American warships -- aircraft carriers in particular.

Our sailors today know the meaning of allies in the war on terror, and they know from the reception they receive time and time again when ashore in Dubai that the government and people there are on our side. A keystone of American foreign policy in the Gulf region since 1980 has been to strengthen ties and security relationships with the Gulf emirates, and the fruits of that successful engagement can now be seen readily in Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, and all along the coast of the Gulf. Following a quarter century of effective diplomacy and building on opportunities for strong ties in the region with all components of the U.S. military, Washington has opened doors with its presence for economic growth and development that has benefits extending far from the Gulf's shores.

Little heed has been paid to this dimension of how Dubai not only is an important player in the region strategically, but also how in a more basic way it is important to those who serve in uniform at sea, a long way from home.

Some in Congress who display an eagerness to vote against Dubai Ports World in the pending transaction will choose to ignore the facts that are relevant in an objective security and economic analysis.

Not bad, not bad at all.