Bay Area Cat wrote:

ALPHAGRIZ1 wrote:

MrTitleist wrote:Why does no one seem to understand that the United Arab Emirates is not a terrorist state.. and it's actually the richest country in the world, if memory serves correct. I did some research a few years ago and it turns out that they don't really let anyone into the country because they have no taxes.. so they keep their population managed. This is if memory serves correct. And on top of this, the UAE is in Africa, and not really anywhere near the Middle East.. so I don't see where all the hate is coming from.

Good post Titleist. They are most definitely not a terrorist state, and they have proven this before and after 9-11.

They are "LEASING" the ports not buying them. The Port Authority and the coast guard will still control the security of the ports, last time I checked those are american owned and operated.

Many of you think this is a secret deal and that it just happened overnight and you couldn't be more wrong. The first story I can find online broke about 9 days before the Cheney quail hunting incident. You can blame nobody but the media for keeping this stoy on the back burner while their agenda rang true and the lynch mob attacked the administration. Real news vital to this country was set aside for political reasons and we are all worse off becasue of it.

I also heard that 1 out of every 3 people that live in the UAE are millionaires. They are definitely the richest country in the world per capita.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-02-22-bush-ports_x.htm

Ummm, yeah. Apparently Bush didn't know about it, either.

And you've really got to get over the whole conspiracy theory media bashing over the V.P. making the news for shooting a guy in the face. The assertion that it wasn't newsworthy is absurd.

Ok. Your rules.

Correction on the location of the U.A.E.----it's on small peninsula on the southeast corner of the Arabian peninsula.

BAC,,

Whether they disclose it or not, I am willing to bet that the powers that be already know their identities.

Bay Area Cat wrote:Another interesting nugget that only tax geeks likely know: corporate tax filers are required to diclose ANY contact they have with persons in a list of countries that the State Department maintains who participate in a boycott against Israel. In other words, if you are doing business with a country hostile to Israel, our government wants to know about it on a special tax form. That list:

Bahrain
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
United Arab Emirates
Republic of Yemen

So if this deal goes through, does that mean that essentially every company in America will have to disclose that it is doing business with a person from UAE -- a country hostile to Israel?


http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i5713/ch01.html#d0e248

I mention this primarily because I think the tax form and the threatened loss of tax benefits for going along with the boycott is stupid and should be done away with, but it shows an interesting insight into what we really feel about some of our supposed allies.

Wow. How complete. Seems Iran is missing. Didn't their president advocate blowing Israel off the map?
But I understand, it is the State Dept.

let's see:
1.) two of the hijackers were from the u.a.e;
2.) they refused to co-operate with us after 9/11 when we sought banking records on the bin laden financial network;
3.) they're not a DEMOCRACY, which is the post-invasion justification for all the blood we're spilling in iraq;
4.) they're an "ally" in money only since most of their citizens detest us as much as the rest of the arab world;
5.) they were one of three governments to officially recognize the taliban;
6.) the fear that they will feel "discriminated against" pales next to the pure acid resentment arabs already feel toward us for little things like invading a country that had nothing with 9/11, or abu ghraib, or threatening war on a muslim country for nukes when israel is the possessor of weapons of that very description.

i suspect those of you favoring bush in this deal might have a very different opinion if you'd lost family or friends in the twin trade towers. but if you're suddenly willing to forgive the u.a.e. their involvement in 9/11, then the least you can do is also pardon the kid from marin county who made the mistake of joining the taliban before 9/11, before any of us had ever heard of the taliban, but who is now serving 20 years in prison for his youthful indiscretion.

you can't spend four solid years scaring us about terrorism and then allow a deal like this without coming off as a monstrous hypocrite. bush is caught in a web of his own making.

You're right, Squeeky Fromme got hosed too.