Friends.

Richard Cohen of the New York Dail News puts the Port controversy in perspective:

"To overlook the xenophobic element in this controversy is to overlook the obvious. It is what propelled the squabble and what sustains it. Bush put his finger on it right away. "What I find interesting is that it's okay for a British company to manage some ports, but not okay for a company from a country that is a valuable ally in the war on terror," he said last week. "The UAE has been a valuable partner in fighting the war on terror." It is a long way from a terrorist haven.

Somewhere in the White House, a political operative must have slapped his head in consternation as Bush made that remark. The politic thing for a President with a dismal approval rating (about 40%) would have been to join with the critics, get ahead of the anti-Arab wave and announce that he, too, was concerned about the deal. Instead, the White House stuck to its guns."

Once again Bush goes against what would be a political move to be liked (which would be so easy) and goes with what he knows is right. It's the mark of a great leader in my opinion.

Cohen ends with this:

"Maybe because Bush is a Bush - son of a President who got to know many Arabs - or maybe because he just naturally recoils from prejudice, his initial stance on this controversy has been refreshingly admirable. Whatever the case, the President has done the right thing."

One has to admit that many people in this country don't want to have anything to do with anyone in the Middle East. On the one hand they want democracy to flourish there, but on the other they want it all and everyone who is Middle Eastern to stay there.

This is a global economy. We cannot isolate ourselves as much as we would like to. We have to be able to distinguish between who are our friends and who are our enemies. If you think that every Arab is our enemy, then you are wrong.

Our future will include relations with Arab nations in a way that has not been seen before. The world is changing. We are changing it. We are now a part of the Middle East and they are a part of us.

Bush understands this. It's time we all did.