Ron Brinson [former CEO and president of the Port of New Orleans] writes in a Sunday Post and Courier commentary: 'We Americans can be confident that these people (Dubai) couldn't control security at any U.S. seaport even if they were inclined to try.' Wrong and Ron Brinson knows better.

The Coast Guard is charged with overall security; Customs with cargo; Immigration with passengers and crew; and 52 other entities are tied to the security of the Port of Charleston in Project Seahawk. But the port operator is in charge of general security - personnel and access to the port. Call Chief Lindi Rinaldi of the State Ports Authority and ask her what her job is. It's security.

The port operator in this case would be Dubai. It, like all Arab countries, are switch hitters - sometimes pro-America and, when convenient, anti-American. While they run schools to teach that Americans are 'infidels,' the next thing you know, the Abdulah of the country is walking hand in hand with the president of the United States, all covered with smiles.

G.I.s are being killed daily for democracy in Iraq. But Dubai doesn't countenance democracy. The State Department reports: 'There are no democratic elections or institutions, and citizens do not have the right to form political parties.' In some Arab countries, women are forbidden to vote. In Dubai, both men and women are forbidden to vote. This means that the seven-man conspiracy in charge of Dubai can guarantee all of the security demands of the United States one day and the next day can decide, for the good of the kingdom, not to be too alert. Ronald Reagan said, 'trust but verify.' The financing of the hijackers who flew into the Pentagon and World Trade Towers came through Dubai. The 9/11 Commission reported that Dubai was not cooperative about this financing.

Dubai recognized the Taliban. The CIA reports: 'The UAE is a drug transshipment point for traffickers given its proximity to the southwest Asian drug producing countries. The UAE's position as a major financial center makes it vulnerable to money laundering.'

While we are opposing the outcome of the election in Palestine because Hamas does not recognize Israel, neither does Dubai. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hails Dubai as a partner of the U.S. against terrorism. But the online travel advisory on Dubai by the Department of State warns: 'Americans in the United Arab Emirates should exercise a high level of security awareness. The Department of State remains concerned about the possibility of terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens .' The New Zealand travel advisory reads: 'We reiterate to New Zealanders traveling to United Arab Emirates . that the risk of terrorism continues.'

Lloyd's of London reported that Osama bin Laden owns 10 vessels and has an interest in 10 more. It was on bin Laden's ship that the terrorists docked at Mombasa, Kenya, blowing up the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The danger is real. Bin Laden would not have to send terrorists to Arizona to learn to fly. He has them shipboard now. Easily coming up the Delaware River, his terrorists could commandeer a tanker and blow up the tank yard at Philadelphia. Booze Allen Hamilton has made a study of this threat, concluding it would close down the eastern seaboard economically for one year.

Peter Bergen, the best authority on Osama bin Laden, admonishes that bin Laden is a man of his word, but we refuse to listen. He warned us before blowing up the barracks in Saudi Arabia, before hitting the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, before blowing up the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, and before blowing up the Pentagon and World Trade Towers.

The week before the Dubai contract was revealed, bin Laden again was on international TV warning that he was going to hit the United States.

With these warnings, you can bet your boots that I'm looking out for Arabs. It's not racism. It's common sense.

Finally, the public facilities of the United States like airports, seaports and communications never should be leased to a foreign company or foreign country.

I opposed for a year the Deutsche Telecom takeover of VoiceStream. We can't ask people to be serious about security while contracting out security of our facilities to Dubai.

Ernest F. Hollings is a former U.S. senator from South Carolina.