The Breakaway Republicans

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There is also a legitimate strategic concern about alienating the United Arab Emirates (Dubai is one of the seven emirates), given that it has been a recent but important convert to the Administration's campaign against terrorism. "Totally in bed" is how a senior intelligence official characterized the U.A.E.'s relationship with the U.S.; Senator John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, says, "The U.A.E. is a vital, I repeat, a vital ally."

Whatever the merits of the President's decision to allow the port deal to go through, what rattled Republicans most was that Bush and his entire team seemed oblivious to the political problems it created. How could Bush have failed to foresee the potential public relations consequences of an agreement to hand over terminals to a company owned by a country that had been home to two of the 9/11 hijackers, both of whom laundered their money in its banks? A distraught Republican summed up the party's problem: the episode was "caviar for Democrats." And it was a role reversal that must have been most satisfying for them too, since it put Bush in the position of arguing nuances of international diplomacy that got lost in the alarmist din over security.

There was visible relief at the White House when, after Bush's top strategist, Karl Rove, dropped some hints to Fox Radio's Tony Snow that Bush might look favorably on a slowdown of the deal, Dubai Ports World announced it would delay taking over the port operations. That announcement gave the Administration, should it need one, a face-saving way to send the deal back to an interagency group for a 45-day review, buying more time to sell it to Congress. Said White House press secretary Scott McClellan: "We believe that once Congress has a better understanding of the facts and the safeguards that are in place, they will be more comfortable with the transaction's moving forward."

Perhaps, but it wasn't just the unthinkable possibility of appearing weak on national security next to Hillary Clinton and Edward Kennedy that drove Hill Republicans to take on the President. It was a feeling that he was treating them with contempt. Even as McClellan spoke about appeasement, there was grumbling that the White House still hadn't contacted Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert directly to talk matters through, and a House leadership aide noted that "with the veto threat and then the accusation that members were being xenophobic, [the President] alienated them even more."