but not dangerous---and I think that the blanket punishment or imposition of sanctions because someone in the country did something is a very dangerous thing and, actual, an impossible one to enforce.
First There is no indication that UAE as a state supports terrorists or funded any operations--and in fact they have been as helpful as anyone--as a country. There are obviously individauls that are supportive to AQ in the country--the problem is that when you start basing policy on extremists in the population then you have necessarily begun to deal with them---and that is a losing proposition. And I think that there is a very important policy implication--at what point does the federal government control private enterprise?
I would offer that this is not about supporting one company over another or one country. The current operations are run by a British Company--it is already outsourced. For whatever reason, United States companies have not seen the profit potential that foreign conglomerates have in port operations---oddly, most likily due to increased security, compliance and regulatory overhead--so it isn't the United States that is making this decision--it is industry.