I'm going to wander off course today and talk about politics and world events; two topics I'm completely unqualified to comment on. That's why blogs were invented, right?
The big story in the news right now is George Bush handing the keys to the country to a bunch of Arab terrorists. The same guy who promised to hunt down Osama Bin Laden is now giving him and his cohorts a free pass to blow up our ports anytime they want. Republicans are outraged, Democrats are ecstatic (about Bush's incredible blunder right before an election), the rest of us are confused. How did Bush go from being the anti-terrorism president to Benedict Arnold in one week? This seems to be a pretty open and shut case of complete insanity. Unless the world isn't as black and white as it sometimes seems.
Last January Sherry and I had the opportunity to go to India to do some teaching for Equip. This was my third trip; previously I had gone through Singapore and Frankfurt, but on this trip a friend found a great deal traveling through London. The good news was that we could spend a couple of days in London; the bad news was to get the good deal we had to fly through Dubai on Emirates Air. Being the cheapskate that I am I went for the cheaper ride on the airline of choice for terrorists.
After purchasing the tickets I realized that taking my children's mother to the heart of the Arab world during the war on terrorism might not have been my best move, so I began doing some research on the United Arab Emirates, Dubai and Emirates Air. I had visions of airline attendants in burkas and pilots wielding machatees. What I found is that the UAE is an extremely prosperous, westernized collection of cities in the Middle East. Dubai has positioned itself as the vacation spot of choice for Europeans and Americans, and there are almost as many Europeans who live and work in Dubai as there are Arabs. Emirates Air was the second nicest airline I've ever flown on (Singapore Airlines is still the gold standard, but Emirates Air was very close) Most of the flight attendants were British as were the pilots; not a burka or machatee in sight. We were blown away (in a good way) by the Dubai airport; it looked more like a very upscale American mall than a third world airport. We felt much more secure there than we did at the airports in Chennai, London, Newark and Houston.
The knock on the UAE that I keep reading in the news is that two of the 911 highjackers were born there. The interesting thing about that is that all of the terrorists who blew up the London subway were born in Great Britain and yet we've decided to keep employing Scottish worship leaders (an inside joke for Seacoasters) All of the men involved in the second largest terrorist attack on American soil, the Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City, were Americans and yet we continue to allow Americans to run our military. Nonetheless two bad apples proves the UAE is a breeding ground for terrorism.
The other knock on this deal is that the UAE will have unfettered control of our ports. The truth is that the Coast Guard, Customs, Homeland Security and local agencies will continue to control the ports just as they do now. Many if not most American ports are run by foreign companies. Security, however, stays in the hands of Americans.
The ironic thing is that by allowing the UAE, a seemingly pro-western Arab country, to operate six ports in America we could send a symbol of reconciliation to a part of the world we have completely alienated by invading their territories. I have been reading for months how the Bush Administration is clueless on international relations and needs to figure out a way to extend an olive branch to the Middle East. Now he has stumbled onto an entire olive tree and no one thinks its a good idea. Politics are an amazing thing.
Please don't think me a Bush apologist because of this rant. There are things President Bush has done that I totally support and there are things that make me ask, "What kind of wine are they serving over there?" The point for me is that it is always easy to make a quick black and white judgement and then defend your position at the top of your lungs. The problem is that life is rarely as black and white as we would like to make it. In the church we tend to take a biblical stance on issues such as homosexuality and abortion and then make snap judgements about issues and people using only the lens of the limited information we have.
Jesus faced this tendency when when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery, a subject about which the Bible is rather unambiguous. Jesus, however, found that the person was bigger than the sin when he took the time to investigate. Without diminishing the sin he forgave the sinner.
On second thought it really takes too much time and effort to think. Let's kill the Arabs, bomb the abortionists, ban the gays and stone the adulterers. Anyone have a rock I could borrow?
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