There are a few Ports associated with Dubai. Jebel Ali and Mina Rashid are the
two major ones. The picture is that of Port Rashid I had been in this port two
times and since this is the one near downtown Dubai we have come to call it
Dubai Port. The first time I arrived was during the first Gulf War aboard the
USNS WALTER S DIEHL. The one thing that stands out in my first experience was
the presence of a converted container ship that was hauling sheep for the local
live stock markets. The sheep were boarded live at ports in Australia and New
Zealand. This would later be a big controversy in Australia over the loss of
sheep en-route to the gulf. Just like here in the US where live chickens are
trucked to the processor and some are thrown off the truck on the way and die,
so it was for live sheep on their way to the gulf some would die and be thrown
overboard along the way. One year when transiting the Indian Ocean on the way to
the gulf one of the ships I was on was 3 miles off the stern of one of the sheep
haulers and we did see a trail of dead sheep in the calm waters. Dubai is more
tolerant of westerners than other Arabian states. . It really was quite a scene,
there were some Ro-Ro's in port with Army gear aboard. Under orders of Central
Command and Comfithfleet no enlisted personal were allowed outside
of the port. Technically it applied to us but not effectively since we
had Merchant Mariner Documents and the restriction did not apply to
Merchant Mariners. The restriction was in place due to the fear of
troops being attacked by Iraqi sympathizers . In that day Al Qaida
was not part of the vernacular. The other reason according to cab
drivers was that an Italian sailor had become obnoxious with one of the
locals and he was killed because of the provocation.
