Kathleen Parker writes for Townhall.com:

Other justifications for the sale appear to be reasonable — not least that Dubai Ports World is reputedly competent at managing ports — and might be convincing if only someone bearing the title President of the United States would articulate those reasons in a spirit of respect rather than as a dismissive parent managing an impudent child. We're at war, remember? We're fighting terror. We're staying the course and holding fast. You're either with us or against us. Americans got all that and the part about taking down Saddam Hussein in case he had weapons of mass destruction. They also got the part about planting seeds of democracy in hopes of changing hearts and minds that are stalled in the 12th century. Check.

At the same time, Americans have gamely tolerated interminable airport lines as old ladies got frisked and terrorist look-alikes strolled through magnetometers. They're mostly cool, in other words. But they're also watching the news and seeing a world gone mad over a few political cartoons and wondering whether it's such a good idea to increase even administrative traffic between "over there" and here.

These are not the xenophobic ravings of a fevered populace. Rather, they are a few reasonable questions, to which President George W. Bush replied: "I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British (sic) company."

Not to be a smart aleck or anything, but does "Duh" work for anyone?

Duh, indeed. Though MustControlFistOfDeath has weighed in on the ports deal, I have not. (Although, as an aside, I did receive a fake email asking me my opinion from someone in the Middle East trying to get me to respond for my IP address. Nice try, but I got yours first.)

For the record, I think it's a bad idea. Perhaps if we weren't in the amorphous "War on Terror" that has no clear opponent, it wouldn't be so bad. For now, we are in this war, and the opponent is only defined as the "Islamic Threat". Put it this way, if we were directly involved in that sectarian mess in Northern Ireland, instead of just reading about it on the International pages, then perhaps the United States wouldn't have been so willing to have P&O there, either, because it was just too easy for the gun runners. If another country - one not involved in the WoT - wants to use Dubai Ports World, they are welcome to do so. But right now, at this time in history, it just doesn't make sense for America.