In the time since it was announced that a company owned by the United Arab Emirates would be purchasing a British firm that operates U.S. ports, we have watched the competition among elected officials spreading fear messages and rushing onto the "Bigotry" train with statements unsupported by fact.

Outrageous statements have been made by elected officials from both parties. Inaccurate and misleading information has been presented to the American public in the name of national security. Some elected officials have behaved like plain bigots and argued that our ports can be run by foreign companies as long as they are not owned by Arabs.

But so far no one can top New Jersey's two Democratic U.S. senators, Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg. Menendez said the Dubai Ports World offer to delay acquisition was "not worth the paper it was written on"; Lautenberg compared the transaction to dealing with "the devil."

In addition, New Jersey's Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee approved a bill that would bar the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from allowing any marine terminal under its jurisdiction to be leased or operated by an entity under the control of a foreign government. The bill is now before the full Assembly. Don't these people know that many of our ports are already being operated by foreign companies?

And a company controlled by the French government has bought the parent of United Water, also a French company. United Water is North Jersey's biggest water supplier.

Is the security and vulnerability of our drinking water less important to those politicians than the security of our ports? How easy would it be for some terrorists to poison water supplies used by 1.2 million people? How come the media are not bringing this national security issue to the public's attention?

Hesham Mahmoud