...it's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there...
. . . does not recognize "U.S. economic sanctions on Iran and other Middle Eastern countries," according to the Wall Street Journal. Since WSJ is a subscription site, I will quote the article at length, which I found at Michelle Malkin's blog.
Dubai is believed to have been one of the most important conduits for Iran's nuclear technology acquisition program, according to U.S. court cases and interviews with experts in the field. The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a nongovernment advocacy group, last year published a list of 38 weapons-related smuggling cases since 1982 in which the goods moved through Dubai and the other islands that constitute the United Arab Emirates. Most of the illicit goods crossing Dubai go through its ports.So what. Trust the President. Don't worry. Be happy. Right?More generally, according to sanctions experts and numerous U.S. court and regulatory cases, Iran uses Dubai to evade U.S. economic sanctions on Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. The UAE doesn't recognize those sanctions.
Iranian front companies in Dubai routinely obtain prohibited U.S. goods, federal court records show. In one undercover investigation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that resulted in a November 2005 guilty plea in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the representative of an Iranian front company was caught on tape assuring an undercover agent posing as a businessman not to worry about sanctions regulations.
'You are going to export to Dubai, which does not have any regulations. It's a free, uh, country for importing, exporting,' said Khalid Mahmood, according to his guilty plea. Asked if the equipment would then be shipped to Iran, Mr. Mahmood replied, 'Once it comes here, we'll ship it anywhere in the world, no problem.'
Similarly, in 2003, UAE officials refused a U.S. request to intercept a shipment of nuclear technology bound for South Africa by a smuggler named Asher Karni, according to University of Georgia sanctions expert Scott Jones, who works with U.S. agencies on proliferation issues. Mr. Karni was convicted of violating sanctions against weapons of mass destruction last year in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The UAE also was believed to be a nexus for Pakistan's nuclear program and hosted at least two front companies that forwarded material to Islamabad. [emphasis added]
Good snag. Look's like the prez has finally started thinking outside the bubble from the SOTU on.
Posted by: will on Feb. 24, 2006Annika,
I'd be very careful about critisizing this president on Al Gore's Internet. You know he's listening, right? Probably tapping your phone, too.
As a foreigner, I have to be even more concerned, as I have no rights under the Constitution. That's why I've had to resort to renting all my sex toys. And you know what sex toys are made of? Plastic is what. Know what the base of plastic is? Oil. Oil from the UAE. I checked.
I'm trying really hard to be a good patriot of a country I'm not even a citizen of, but it's getting harder every day. If I give up my "lifestyle," the terrorists win. But my "lifestyle" involves ever so many pteroleum based products.
What's a lonely boy to do?
Posted by: skipptstalin on Feb. 24, 2006I'm just inclined to give my guy the benefit of the doubt. I heard Chris Wallace on Fox this morning say, "turn over the ports." Well, fuck, nobody is turning over any ports. They're managing an operation that has a lease interest in some ports.
And heh, if someone lights off a nuke in one of these places, then we won't have to dredge this year.
Posted by: Casca on Feb. 24, 2006The whole UAE port thing and the war are too complicated for me. I think that we just have to have faith in our pres. Everybody can make wrong decisions but overall, he is doing ok. The deal proves that a LOT of us are wide awake to our enemy. I'd rather keep my lifestyle than change to one from a thousand years ago. So far so good.
Posted by: Southern(USA)whiteboy on Feb. 25, 2006"What's a lonely boy to do?"
Well, give up vaseline, to start with. Find a willing female instead.
Posted by: shelly on Feb. 25, 2006Nice arguments. I thnk the whole thing highlights the danger of the Iranians having an improvised nuclear explosive device. I doubt that a firm from Londonistan that wants to schuck itself of the job is going to be better than an owner from Dubai that seems to want a continuing business.
Posted by: michael on Feb. 28, 2006"The whole UAE port thing and the war are too complicated for me."
"I'm just inclined to give my guy the benefit of the doubt."
bunch of stupid f*cks... you'll be working at Burger King in Mexico in ten years
Posted by: Tired on Mar. 3, 2006