Gulfnews (UAE):

[Security isn’t the issue. Instead] it is a number of factors, with politicians and public joining the opposition for any or all of them. First, it must be realised that Americans, in general, are protectionist by nature. They abhor the idea of their “cherished institutions” being in the hands of “foreigners” of any persuasion . . . there is also a domestic issue at stake. With impending elections later this year, both Democrats and Republicans are trying to take the high ground on the issue of homeland security . . . So an ignorant mix of anti-Arab sentiment, anti any foreigner feeling, terrorist panic and domestic point scoring are creating some very misguided objections.

Al-Ittihad (UAE):

. . . since Islamophobia became the active currency in the hands of US rightists, who invent a new bogus enemy every new day, the symptoms of such a syndrome (Islamophobia) have begun appearing in various segments in the West, whether open-minded or narrow-minded, liberal or fanatic . . . [The New York Times] said the UAE banking system was used in preparing for the attacks. The newspaper has not been satisfied with this baseless allegation . . .

The Gulf Today (UAE):

Obviously kicking up the row over the port acquisition is not due to national security concerns. Politicians, eyeing mid-term elections, want to be in the limelight, and there is no better way than to create scare among the paranoid Americans by reminding them of 9/11 terror attacks. As Arab-Americans said, citing extraneous reasons to oppose Dubai’s shareholding control of the six ports actually shows racial bias, not security concerns.

Arab News (Saudi Arabia):

The attempt by a group of US Congressman to block the takeover of six US ports by an Arab company is wrong . . . this is bigoted nonsense that once again raises the deeply objectionable notion that all Muslims are terrorists . . . President Bush is right to say that if this deal is blocked, it will send entirely the wrong signal to the rest of the world about the even-handedness of US foreign policy. The suspicion must be that these US legislators are playing to the electoral gallery in advance of the November elections.