Rather than a modern-day Paul Revere, Lou Dobbs sounded more like a
black helicopter conspiracy theorist as he warned viewers of his
March 7 program about the British owning American airports. But weeks earlier, the CNN anchor seemed to accept a
private British company lease of six American port terminals as
preferable to a lease from any Middle Eastern country.
President Bush has put forth a challenge tonight that I simply
can't ignore, the Harvard business alumnus thundered on his
February 22 program, referring to the presidents question about why
the Dubai-based company was held by its critics to a different
standard on port maintenance than the British one already
maintaining U.S. ports.
Well, first of all, Mr. President, to equate any country to your
principal partner in the coalition ignores that special relationship
this country's enjoyed with the United Kingdom for decades and
decades, argued Dobbs. The Harvard alumnus then added that the
company presently running terminals at six U.S. seaports, is a
British privately owned company while Dubai Ports World is a UAE
government-controlled and owned company. You see the difference, of
course.
But on his March 7 program, Dobbs cited national security as a
concern with British company BAA, which manages the facilities at
Indianapolis International Airport. According to the
companys Web site, BAA was privatized in 1986 by act of
Parliament, and a year later became a publicly traded company in the
United Kingdom.
Dobbs also misled viewers, ominously warning them in his
introduction for Christine Romanss March 7 report that foreign
companies are looking to buy up as much of this country as they
possibly can.
In point of fact, while BAA has managed the Indianapolis airport
since 1995, the state-chartered Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA)
is responsible for owning, developing and operating Indianapolis
International Airport, according to the airport
Web site.
In addition to the BAA lease of the Indianapolis airport, reporter
Christine Romans informed viewers that the eight-mile long Chicago
Skyway belongs to an Australian-Spanish consortium under a 99-year
lease and that the same company, Skyway Concession, LLC, plans to
pay Indiana $4 billion to control 157 miles of the Indiana toll
road.
Implying that foreign contractors could impede national defense,
Romans saw Ikes interstates becoming the Queens highway. It
appears inevitable there will be foreign control of swaths of the
interstate highway system, conceived by President Eisenhower to move
our military from coast to coast, Romans warned Dobbs.
Following Romanss story, Dobbs denounced critics who chalk up his
fear that in the time of war our airlines would not be available,
the aircraft would not be available to move troops, to his being
anti-Arab, racist or xenophobic.
Dobbs is none of those things. He is certainly patriotic with a
decidedly protectionist economic viewpoint. But Dobbs is also a
journalist, not a tinfoil-hat wearing, black helicopter-conspiracy
believing pundit. This isnt about national security, its about
politics and Dobbs knows it.
Or he should.
One if by Land, Two If by Air?
March 8th, 2006 2:00 PM
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