On the Waterfront redux

The recent uproar in the U.S. about six of that country's sea ports potentially being managed by a Dubai-based company is nothing if not comical. American ports have notoriously been infested by the Mafia for years.

Fears of al Qaeda, or perhaps just of Arabs, drove the Republican Congress into fits of self-righteous rage, even though the company concerned, Dubai Ports World, is eminently respectable and was thoroughly vetted by American security. In the face of this gratuitous hostility, the company has abandoned its plans and will transfer the leases to a U.S. entity. Yet another victim of Bush-induced paranoia.