Bushness As Usual

With the Dubai Ports deal, we see a typical Bush response. It's all about who he feels he can do business with. The Bushes have always had ties with Arabs in the Middle East. Bush senior has used his relationships with them to build a nice portfolio through the Carlyle Group--likely to the tune of $100 million. It's hard not to feel comfortable when that kind of money is on the line.

The way the Bushes do business is not with due diligence. It's with a handshake, a wink, and the willingness to exact precise, forceful revenge on anyone who isn't loyal to them. If the Dubai sheiks tell the Bushes they don't support terrorist regimes, that's all that matters. If the facts are different, they assume that the sheiks will value the business relationship over the politics in the future, and they're OK with that.

The reason we attacked Iraq was clearly not because of a threat to the U.S. Saddam was in no position to do that. The reason we attacked them was because the Bushes could no longer do business with Saddam. (They had been able to in the 80s.) Something about an assassination attempt on Bush I seems to have been the breaking point.

And the Bushes want to do business everywhere they can. By getting rid of Saddam, they will feel comfortable doing business again in a place with vast proven oil reserves. And oil reserves eventually translate into business dollars, even if it takes a couple of decades to get them going. They take the long view on these matters.