A reader of this blog (thanks, for reading) writes:

“Reading Philologous' latest on Dubai I thought I would mention an interesting tidbit I heard yesterday. Do you know that Democratic (former) Senator Daschle represents Dubai in some way? Pres Clinton was advising them for a $fee & there was another Democrat named but can't remember right now. You don't think the Bush Administration was "set up" by these guys do you? They might have guessed what the reaction of Republicans would be. The fact that Hillary says she didn't know Bill was involved, makes a person really skeptical as she isn't that stupid, or is she? Just some facts I heard & know that Philologous knows how to dig further into it.

Also there are two companies looking into buying the ports deal now but don't know if they have the capital to do it. But there is one that does that someone mentioned & that would be the former company of VP Cheney. Wouldn't that be a "hoot" if that came about? How could Congress veto that American company that came to the rescue?”

I’ve done a bit of searching and what I have found is that, in fact, Daschle does not represent Dubai Ports World.  The Daschle connection is this: he works for the  Alston & Bird lobbying and law firm in Washington, D.C., which he joined in 2005 at  Bob Dole's inviation.  It is, in fact, Bob Dole, who represents DPW.  (For more on this read this article, "White House hastens to brief lawmakers on ports deal," by Keith Koffler.)

I too have read and heard that President Clinton has received money from Dubai.  However, what I have found is that this may have little or nothing to do with the ports deal.  First, the money has come from the UAE’s leaders, not from the executives at Dubai Ports World.  (Yes, DPW is a government-owned entity.  But look, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a government-owned entity; that doesn’t mean that President Bush, or even Karl Rove, approves the programming.)  Second, the money was given as a function of a relationship which has existed between the former President and the UAE and which may have nothing to do with any ports anywhere in the world.  It seems to have more to do with the American Universtity in Dubai.  (For more on this, read this article.)

So, no, I don’t think that the Administration was set up.  It is not as if any and every sale of any and every bit of property (and a port terminal is property) goes across the President’s desk and awaits his personal approval and, on at least this occasion, he got caught.  What I do think happened is that opportunists of both Democratic and Republican stripe took advantage of an opportunity to prey upon people’s fears, and, when accused of this, to blame the President for creating those fears in the first place, as if he has always encouraged us to fear every Muslim nation, never asserting that there are actually peace-loving Muslims in the world.  Hasn’t he been chided for his oft-repeated assertion that Islam is a religion of peace?  Indeed, my friends, The Red Sky Brothers, are constant in mocking this assertion.  I’m sure that we may color them sceptical of the President’s assertions.  BUT…the fact that he has made these assertions goes, I think, a long way toward demonstrating that the President has not, in fact, been urging in us a fear of every Muslim nation.

Don’t get me wrong: I wish there was a way to implicate the Clintons (and Daschle) in all this.  But it just doesn’t seem to be true.

Finally, I for one would not mind seeing a US company owning these port terminals, even if it’s Halliburton.  Operating port terminals is not a business engaged in by everyone.  Besides even Charles Shumer has indicated that he has no objections to the port terminals being owned by Halliburton.  That’s generous of him, isn’t it,  that he has no objection to a company owning something?