So I understand why Democrats were eager to turn the soft-on-terrorism card back on President Bush when it was revealed that P & O , the navigation company based in London -- which has been managing the ports of New York , New Jersey , Baltimore , New Orleans , Miami and Philadelphia -- had been bought by Dubai Ports World , a company owned by the Dubai monarchy in the United Arab Emirates , an Arab Gulf state , and that the Bush team had approved the Dubai takeover of the U.S. port operations .