Patriot games

MOHAMMED SHARAF, chief executive of Dubai Ports World, says that the virulent reaction to DP World's takeover of a previously British-owned service contract came as "a real shock." It shouldn't have. Like the Bush Administration that had approved the deal, Sharaf was completely out of touch with American reality.

There was a clear sign of trouble in reports from the respected and nonpartisan Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) Operations Risk Index. On a six-point scale, for its rating on "Attitudes Toward Foreign Investors and Profits," the U.S. has declined from a reasonably high 5.0 (Belgium was the highest at 5.25) during the last year of the Clinton Administration to 4.5 at the end of 2005, just before the Dubai Ports World deal was proposed.

Over that same time period, overall Operations Risk with 14 other factors declined for the U.S. from 76 (scale of 100) to 70--now behind Taiwan, Switzerland, Singapore, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The picture given to potential foreign investors of the U.S. environment remains relatively solid, but it has slid precipitously since 9/11. The collapse of the Dubai Ports deal, based on a popular response in the U.S. rather than on the merits of the contract or any real issues of national security, is an indication that an American domestic threat to international business is real.

The public's reaction was a sociological phenomenon. Some have argued that it is patriotism. The public saw a threat to national security and the flag and passed their fears directly on to their political leaders, who turned it into legislation. On a more academic level, the response could be the more widely understood sense of nationalism. Less politically directed than patriotism, nationalism is a drawing together of people with a common background and ethnicity. Nationalism is a closing in of the circle: we vs. them.

New York Times columnist David Brooks estimated on National Public Radio that the response to the deal was "80% xenophobic." He is close to the mark. The facts were little considered here. Xenophobia is a fear or hatred of foreigners, which is directed primarily at Arabs in this instance. Xenophobia is irrational, part of a belief system that thrives on lack of knowledge and reactions to limited information about dramatic events.

The concept of homeland security arose in the patriotic wake of 9/11. Another example of Republican framing, the notion of a nationalistic land and territory that had been invaded by enemies became the basis of identity. It has morphed into the central and authoritarian controls of the Department of Homeland Security, much like ill-fated feelings of Motherland and Fatherland in the mid 20th century.

In the hostile Congressional reaction to the proposal that DP World would take over management of six U.S. port facilities, the Bush Administration reaped what it had sown. The President's effort to frighten the American population with the war on terrorism created a grave confusion about who the enemy is--everyone but us and the British. We somehow have translated standing up against "those foreigners" after 9/11 into nationalist sentiment and patriotism of the basest sort.

In American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips argues that the U.S. is facing three major perils: reckless dependency on shrinking oil supplies; a reliance on borrowed money; and "a milieu of radicalized (and much too influential) religion." It is this latter threat that we find feeding anti-Muslim, -Arab and, ultimately, -Dubai Ports World sentiment. Phillips puts the blame for the exaggerated power of a fundamentalist Christian minority squarely on the back of George Bush.

In the wake of 9/11, flag waving and crusading calls to God were overwhelmingly common and difficult to criticize. Patriotism was linked specifically to a response to Arab and Muslim terrorist attackers. Christian religion, patriotism, sense of American nationality, fighting back with military force, and denigration of Islam all were linked in the horror of the World Trade Center towers falling. The synergy of these forces has remained intact--and even reinforced--during the ensuing four-plus years.

The rejection of the DP World deal was not a politician problem; this was something much deeper in the American psyche. Anti-foreigner sentiment has been spread widely in the last five years, especially among the religious right that is George Bush's base. Objects of their venom have included the Canadians, French, Mexicans (and anyone who looks like them), Muslims, and Arabs (and anyone who looks like them). The Arabs are a special target and problem for the Administration.

Because of the mixed messages being sent, it still is not clear who the real enemy is. "The use of armed forces against Iraq is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or person[s] who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001," Pres. Bush declared in a letter to Congress in March 2003. Of course, no evidence ever has linked Iraq or Saddam Hussein to 9/11, but the constancy of the Administration's effort has linked all Arabs (or Muslims) to terrorism.