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Welcome to Globalization

Volume VII, No. 7
Posted on Tuesday February 21, 2006

Welcome to Globalization

The recent bipartisan hoopla surrounding the acquisition of London-based P&O Steam Navigation Company by Dubai’s port company DP World should come as no surprise. Because P&O operates six US ports, protesting the merger allows politicians in an election year to kill two political birds with one stone—they can burnish their “national security” credentials and bash an Arab government at the same time. For example, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) referred to the United Arab Emirates as a “rogue government,” —effectively rendering the word meaningless. A committee including Treasury, Defense, Justice, Commerce, State, and Homeland Security have already reviewed the deal, concluding that it would not obstruct the ability of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers to protect our shores. In addition, the UAE has a record of partnership with the United States on the issue of port security. The Emirates was the first Arab country to join CBP’s Container Security Initiative—a program which places CBP officers at UAE ports to identify and pre-screen cargo headed for the US. When the Gulf nation signed the deal in December 2004, US Ambassador to the UAE Michele Sison said, “They are now partnering with the United States and are a leader in protecting the global trading system.” Bottom line: There’s nothing wrong with Congressional oversight. (In fact, it would be nice if Congress took this responsibility as seriously on other important issues.) But the anti-Arab impetus behind these protests is impossible to ignore and certainly don’t make us safer.

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words…

An Australian television program sparked debate last week by airing previously unpublished photographs of torture in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. Although the photos are not new, the prints are far more gruesome than those released in 2004 and raise new questions about the treatment of Iraqi prisoners in US custody. They also serve as a reminder that, nearly three years later, nobody in a position of authority has been held accountable. “This is awful because I always look up to the British and Americans as the best in the world,” Kuwaiti firefighter Khalil al-Amir told Reuters. “They are supposed to be more civilized. But when I see something like this it makes me think twice.”

Thick Skulls…

As if Abu Ghraib weren’t enough, three independent reports examining both the status and treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay has been released, including a United Nations report calling for the US to “refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, discrimination on the basis of religion and violations of the right to health and freedom of religion.” The White House quickly dismissed the UN report as a “baseless assertion.” What will it take to get the message across? Guantanamo Bay is an embarrassment to our country. Detainees need to be formally charged or released and the facility needs to be shut down. This as the New Yorker is set to publish a report revealing the advice of the Navy’s then-General Counsel Alberto Mora. According to the Washington Post, Mora is said to have challenged “legal theories granting the president the right to authorize abuse despite the Geneva Conventions…’I was appalled by the whole thing,’ Mora told the magazine. ‘It was clearly abusive and it was clearly contrary to everything we were ever taught about American values.’”

“Missed Opportunities”

During Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Subcommittee Chair Lincoln Chafee lamented the opportunities the US had missed to play a positive role in the conflict. “…The summer of ‘03, after the fall of Saddam [Hussein]…when Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] was elevated to prime minister, and there was a hudna, a cease-fire, for that whole summer, nothing was done. John Wolf was the envoy, and he said nothing was done to back up our commitments. And then, again, another opportunity—death of Yasser Arafat—again, Abu Mazen elevated to…president and that whole summer, the whole year of 2005, nothing was done. Opportunities missed.” Secretary Rice disagreed, pointing to the Gaza disengagement and Rafah border agreement as “progress.” This isn’t the first time Senator Chafee has had the courage to ask tough questions. Last July, he pressed Assistant Secretary of State David Welch on Israel’s settlement expansion: “Can you point to any concrete efforts made by our government, beyond concern which you have mention several times in my questioning, that would lead me to believe we are doing anything about these settlements, anything more than being concerned?”

A Heart of Gold…

In an otherwise depressing news week, American speed skater Joey Cheek exemplified the generous spirit of the American people. After winning the gold, Cheek announced that he would donate the proceeds to Right to Play, “an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play as a tool for the development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world.” Cheek earmarked his donation to Sudanese refugees in Chad. “In the Darfur region of Sudan, there have been tens of thousands of people killed,” he said. “My government has labeled it a genocide. I will be donating it specifically to a program to help refugees in Chad, where there are over 60,000 children who have been displaced from their homes.” The Detroit Free Press wrote, “It’s strange. We came into these Olympics talking about Bode Miller, who complains that the Games are all about money and medals, instead of the Olympic ideal. Then Joey Cheek comes along and wraps his money, his medal and the Olympic ideal into giant package and hands it to us.”