DUBAI, United Arab Emirates U.S. lawmakers' objections to a Dubai company's takeover of U.S. port operations amounted to a backlash from the Sept. 11 attacks, not an expression of wider anti- Arab sentiment among American politicians, the top U.S. envoy for public diplomacy said here Monday.
In a discussion with reporters, Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes said she did not believe the gathering objections represented a general Islamophobia among American lawmakers, as a Dubai newspaper's opinion article alleged Monday.
"I would hope that is not the case," Hughes said. "I hope the people of the United Arab Emirates and the government will understand that in a democracy, there is a process of debate."
Hughes defended the Bush administration's security review of the $6.8 billion purchase by the Dubai government-held Dubai Ports World of the London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation.
P&O operates commercial shipping terminals in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
Newspaper opinion articles in Dubai have blamed the U.S. backlash on political grandstanding ahead of this year's congressional elections and a general American sense of "Islamophobia."
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