The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had direct links to al-Queda and bin-Laden.So did we.
The 9/11 Commission told of a 1999 incident in which bin-Laden was in CIA sights and the attack was called off because he was with UAE Royal family members while hunting in Afghanistan. I am doing more research on this one... (see the next item)
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of only three countries that recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government in Afghanistan while the Taliban shielded al-Queda as they planned the 9/11 attack.Zogby, on Hardball yesterday, claimed the UAE did so at the request of the United States, which, recognizing that it had little chance of getting our people into a Taliban-run Afganistan, wanted to use the UAE as a window into what was going on there. (I can't help but wonder if there might have been something similar going on with that hunting party everyone keeps bringing up.)
This article presents yet another view:
One Persian Gulf political analyst says the U-A-E did so because of a request from Pakistan, which was the main sponsor of the Taliban. The Emirates also wanted to see a stable Sunni Muslim government there, to balance the mostly-Shiite one in Iran.
The analyst in Dubai also says the recognition was aimed at putting an end to the civil war in Afghanistan. He says the Emirates had no idea "the regime would turn out the way it did."
The other two countries to recognize the Taliban were Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. But all three cut ties with the Taliban after the Afghan leaders gave shelter to Osama bin Laden following Nine-Eleven.
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=4549602Two hijackers on 9/11 were UAE citizens, with one being the pilot who flew into one of the WTC towers. And this is significant because? Terry Nichols, after all, was a citizen of the US.
It should be noted that becoming a citizen in that country is nearly impossible if you are not born there of UAE parents. It's impossible for immigrants to become citizens there.Again, significant why, in terms of this deal?
11 of the 19 hijackers' last stop before coming here was the UAE. Money for the 9/11 attack was laundered and funneled through the UAE. The UAE is a transportation hub and banking center for that entire region. These guys also came through New York, and had bank accounts there. So what? Further, they've instituted tough new anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws.
Afghanistan drug lords did and continue to launder heroin profits through the UAE. Link? I'm not certain that's true. And even if it were true, how does that differ from New York, another regional center, that also has drug money coming through it?
The UAE is committed to the destruction of our ally, Israel. Wrong! It's true that the UAE has not recognized Israel. That is because Israel continues an illegal occupation of Palestinian land (and it's not just me saying that, it's the United Nations and Human Rights Watch). That's a very different thing. It's not an unreasonable position for the UAE to take.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=536929&mesg_id=538916Finally, it has been proved that Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan smuggled nuclear parts to North Korea, Iran and Libya through the Port of Dubai (UAE) which is under the watch, then and now, of Dubai Ports' World, the company owned by the UAE in the ports deal here.This has not been substantiated, has it? Further, Dubai and DPW has instituted further policies to cut down on the likelihood of these sorts of problems.
There certainly may be reasons for the US to do some serious overall upgrading of security policies and requirements, to apply to all port operators, rather than disallowing this deal.
This article, from the LA times, suggests it's the UAE's geographical location, rather than any complicity on the part of the UAE, that has created some of these problems.
A recent CIA assessment says that Dubai, like other emirates, "is a drug trans-shipment point for traffickers given its proximity to Asian drug-producing countries; the UAE's position as a major financial center makes it vulnerable to money laundering."
The agency noted that the country's anti-money-laundering controls were improving. Businesspeople and government officials say that financial regulators are quicker now to act against suspicious bank accounts or wire transfers. ID cards are required for many transactions, and the UAE has been cooperating with the United States on tracking terrorists' financial networks.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-dubai27feb27,1,5504187.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=trueAs I've been saying, there may be reasons to oppose this deal; let's discuss them, let's investigate them. Let's not let anyone rush us into decisions based on insufficient or inaccurate information. That's not "framing the debate," that's spin.