How friends of Osama Bin Laden are buying up the U.S. ports

Today's news on the U.S. port story just keeps getting more alarming by the minute.

We have George W. Bush calling everyone who disagrees with the sale of our ports to the United Arab Emirates "racist" -- this after spending four years whipping Americans into a frenzy of hatred for Arabs and playing on that fear and loathing to paint an alliance between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden which never existed.

A connection between Osama Bin Laden and the United Arab Emirates DOES exist, however -- and these are the people to whom Bush is giving the keys to the ports:

The ties with bin Laden and the Taliban reach far back into the '90s. Prominent Persian Gulf officials, including members of the UAE royal family, and businessmen would fly to Kandahar on UAE and private jets for hunting expeditions, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2001. In addition to ranking UAE ministers, these parties included Saudi big wigs like Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence minister who now is ambassador to the U.S.

General Wayne Downing, Bush's former national director for combating terrorism, was quoted on MSNBC in September, 2003 saying, "They would go out and see Osama, spend some time with him, talk with him, you know, live out in the tents, eat the simple food, engage in falconing, some other pursuits, ride horses. One noted visitor is Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktum, United Arab Emirates Defense Minister and Crown Prince for the emirate of Dubai.''

Bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar joined the hunting parties, and there are suspicions Al Qaeda and Taliban personnel are smuggled out on returning flights.

Here is one report, sourced to the 9-11 Commission, appearing in Paul Thompson's 9-11 timeline:

"February 1999: Bin Laden Missile Strike Called Off for Fear of Hitting Persian Gulf Royalty. Intelligence reports foresee the presence of bin Laden at a desert hunting camp in Afghanistan for about a week. Information on his presence appears reliable, so preparations are made to target his location with cruise missiles. However, intelligence also puts an official aircraft of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and members of the royal family from that country in the same location. Bin Laden is hunting with the Emirati royals, as he did with leaders from the UAE and Saudi Arabia on other occasions (see 1995-2001). Policy makers are concerned that a strike might kill a prince or other senior officials, so the strike never happens. A top UAE official at the time denies that high-level officials are there, but evidence subsequently confirms their presence. (9-11 Commission Report, 3/24/04 (B))"

It remains a key center of operations for Victor Bout, the notorious arms dealer, with ties to Taliban and Al Qaeda. There were also ties to the infamous BCCI.

As the Financial Times put it, in the UAE, "Western fraud investigators may find a link here or a connection there, with a person suspected of breaking western laws. But in Dubai, and its neighbor Sharjah, trails tend to vanish like wind-blown tracks in desert sands . . . Secrecy keeps everyone guessing—and speculating . . . 'Medieval feudalism' is how one senior western banker described Dubai's style of government, 'with a veneer of 21st century regulations.' "

If Bush allows this sale, I don't want to hear about Bill Clinton and the aspirin factory, or about how he missed hitting Bin Laden, ever again.

My tinfoil hat would say that this is laying the groundwork for another 9/11-style attack, under the assumption that since it worked for Bush last time, it would work for him again -- especially with his approval ratings hovering around the 39% mark and an increasing majority regarding his pride and joy -- the war in Iraq -- as a mistake.

But especially with the hue and cry coming from BOTH parties in Washington, and upon closer examination of the financial considerations in the deal affecting those making the decision (John Snow, I'm talking to you), I'm thinking more that this is a bribe to the OAE emirs to keep them investing in U.S. dollars by selling off American assets to them. Because if they dump dollars and start buying in Euros instead, this country is going to be like Germany after WWII and we'll be insulating our walls with dollars because that's all they'll be good for.

Bushie's done a heck of a job, hasn't he?