We Are Sorry Dubai

In the middle of all the rhetoric, accusations, and blame surrounding the Dubai ports controversy, the undersigned wish to express their honest opinions as a small attempt to show the world that the images shown of histrionic Senators and Congressmen, misleading polls of underinformed public opinion, and hateful Internet sites are not representative of the opinions of all Americans. We whole-heartedly apologize to the people of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates over the actions of our leaders, pollsters, and chattering classes, who have not presented one shred of evidence that Dubai ownership of ports would have affected national security one iota. Such knee-jerk protectionism with respect to American ports is disgraceful, and we completely condemn all forms of prejudice and vilification against those in the Arab and Muslim world. We hope that this sad episode will not tarnish the great friendship that our countries have fostered over decades.

The actions of terrorists, their funders, and their apologists are diabolical and unforgivable. Yet, it would be wrong to take away one country's freedom to trade for the actions of a few of its citizens or the actions of its neighbors. We should not condemn a company or its home country based on the crimes of two of its citizens in helping to perpetrate the worst terrorist attack on American soil in modern history. If we did, we would also have to condemn all American entities based on the actions of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for the second worst terrorist attack on American soil in modern history. Such broad condemnations clearly fly in the face of rationality.

We apologize whole-heartedly to the people of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and the wider Arab and Muslim world for any offense this sorry episode may have caused. We believe above all in freedom and we hope that this incident has not caused you to question our commitment to this vital principle.