Foreign control of America.

Some observations and thoughts on the U.S. port management by a Middle Eastern firm ("Sink the Dubai Ports Deal!" March 20) came to mind as I listened to the spinmeisters defending the Bush administration's handling of the contract issue.

It is adding insult to injury when you have young hired guns of the administration lecturing the public in order to quell the tremendous grass-roots outpouring of objections and the raising of legitimate questions we want answers to. One such man warned us, "We can't have the country run by mob rule."

A young woman on the panel with him kept lamenting the image we were conveying to the world: discrimination against the people of the Middle East, Arabs, Muslims, whatever. Good heavens, what would the world think of us!

I hoped they would remember the thousands of Americans who died fighting wars on their behalf, not to mention the tens of thousands who did not come home all in one piece, and the many billions of dollars spent for war, which we gave unselfishly. And how about the trillions of dollars in foreign aid and charity that we have contributed to the world? Our scientific genius has raised the life expectancy and quality of life worldwide. Frankly, I don't care what the world thinks of us. My family has paid its dues.

Also, the last people who should be lecturing us are disgraced public officials. Gary Hart, who appeared on TV supporting the sale of the ports, had this to say when discussing globalization: "It is here to stay and we had just better get used to it." I interpret that to mean that we get used to low wages, get used to unemployment, and get used to foreign officials, foreign companies, foreign markets, and foreign currency controlling the U.S.A. And get prepared for a nonunion country.

JOAN SOLMS

Aurora, Illinois