The Dubai ports controversy ended, with the United Arab Emirates-owned company succumbing to congressional browbeating and agreeing to sell its U.S. operations to an American entity.(Brief article)

* The Dubai ports controversy ended, with the United Arab Emirates-owned company succumbing to congressional browbeating and agreeing to sell its U.S. operations to an American entity. Politically, this issue was unrecoverable for Bush once stupendously ill-informed congressmen took to the airwaves claiming that the UAE would "own" our ports and "run port security." Actually, the company would have only managed a few terminals at U.S. ports (operated the cranes, for example), and security would have been handled by the same U.S. government agencies in charge of it now. During the weeks-long brouhaha, no one could come up with any convincing explanation why the UAE company represented a security risk. But facts didn't matter, since congressional Republicans were determined not to be out-demagogued by Democrats ...