Members of Congress are right to be holding firm on the need for a credible investigation into the plan to turn over significant operations of six major U.S. ports to an Arab nation with a mixed record on terrorism. Revelations Monday that the U.S. Coast Guard had security concerns about the company raise questions anew about why the full 45-day review process was not followed by the interagency panel that approved the deal.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, emerged from a briefing Monday about the Coast Guard questions saying she was “more convinced than ever that the process was truly flawed.”
And it’s amazing that Cabinet officials with relevant oversight authority, including the secretaries of Defense, Treasury and Homeland Security, knew nothing about the sale until it hit the newspapers — nor did President Bush, who nonetheless stuck to his talking point that there is no big difference between a British firm and an Arab firm running our ports.
Wow. Really? Good luck selling that. Most Americans don’t see it that way. In fact, 70 percent of Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, oppose the sale, according to the latest CBS News survey.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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38 Comments
CBS still has a news department? Why?
Once again… the media constantly misconstrues the truth of this deal and then they take a poll.
Go figure, when all the American people hear is about how messed up this deal is every hour on headline news and you take a poll, the poll shows people think this is a messed up deal!
Oh my goodness!
Man, I really want to read what ProudLib has to say about this. Can’t hardly wait for it.
On the Port Sale: Bush has something up his sleeve. He’s too adamant about the sale, and the fact that he’s in bed with the Israelis puts that awful stench in the air.
Hey y’all check this out…Evidently the UAE company involved is part of the Arab boycott of Israel, which is against US law. So is King George breaking the law again?
My country USED to be… sweet land of liberty…
There it is. A back door to break the boycott. And the final owner will be Israel, who will then control world shipping.
We don’t have a country any more, all we are is an Israeli satellite. AIPAC is going to carve us up on March 5-6. { Cheney is the Keynote speaker}.
Back to the thread . . .The real question is how soon will Bush back out of this deal. I am betting he will do so before the end of the 45 day review process. Will he be able to do it quietly, so that no one notices? Wouldn’t go hunting with any of the White House staff.
I don’t think there will be any backing out of this deal, and I think the republicans might pay big for it this year.
Isn’t it 21 ports?
The real reason which will be more evident as time goes on is that the Bush/Cheney faction is making out like fat cats as are their families and friends.
He is just one of several examples of news stories that the Eagle does not publish or if they do it is buried in the “Want Ads”
Feb. 23, 2006, 5:58PM
UAE gave $1 million to Bush library
By WENDY BENJAMINSONAssociated Press
A sheik from the United Arab Emirates contributed at least $1 million to the Bush Library Foundation, which established the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University in College Station.
The UAE owns Dubai Port Co., which is taking operations from London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which operates six U.S. ports. A political uproar has ensued over the deal, which the White House approved without congressional oversight.
The donations were made in the early 1990s for the library, which houses the papers of former President George Bush, the current president’s father.
The list of donors names Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan al Nahyan and the people of the United Arab Emirates as one donor in the $1 million or more category.
The amount of the gift grants them recognition on the engraved donor wall in the library entrance or on the paving bricks that line the library’s walkways, according to library documents.
Roman Popaduik, chairman of the Bush Library Foundation that collects donations, said he could not discuss details of the gifts except to say the amount category and whether it was before or after 1997.
The chief executive of the Dubai company, Ahmed bin Sulayem, did not donate individually.
The hundreds of large donors include longtime Bush associates, including Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials as well as business titans — such as Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay — and big Republican donors.
Other Arab donors include the state of Kuwait, the Bandar bin Sultan family, the Sultanate of Oman, King Hassan II of Morocco and the amir of Qatar. The former Korean prime minister and China also gave tens of thousands of dollars to the library.
That’s a double-negative, Steve.
If you “can’t hardly” wait, that means you CAN wait.
But I couldn’t never care nothing for what you want . . .
It was way back on Jan 25–a month ago–that David Sanborn, a high-ranking DP officer, resigned from DP and was immediately nominated by President Bush as Maritime Administrator–overseeing the ports in question. Bush was cooking up the deal and knew about it long before it hit the newspapers. What really rankles is Bush once again lying and saying he didn’t know anything about when he gets caught in the open.
Good point, Greg.
Let’s hear Sir Hank Falstaff tell us why this latest lie (among a list long enough to fill an encyclopedia) isn’t really a lie.
“But you see, sir, lying is President Bush’s profession, and there’s no sin in laboring in one’s profession . . . “
Newsflash folks. The deal goes down in 2-3 days no matter what happens. We can complain all we want. The deal is done in 2-3 days. So the 45 day investigation is nothing but a sham.
XXX,I, obvioulsy, am not up on the details of this story, but I thought that there was a delay in effect (Bush’s compromise) while the 45 day review period transpired.
Should have known better. Bush doesn’t compromise very often.
So, is it true also that Congress can’t do anything, either?
If I understant it correctly, the deal is done Thursday no matter what (according to info on Lou Dobbs). I can’t imagine what congress could accomplish in 2 days. The only thing I ever heard of that they got done quickly was Shaivo’s Law.
Just another example of Bush hubris.
Dear Leader knows best.
From Reuters:”Facing a bipartisan uproar over the agreement to have Dubai Ports World manage terminals at ports such as New York and New Jersey, the White House agreed on Sunday to a new 45-day security review. The inquiry is in addition to an initial government probe that approved the deal last month.
“After the new review, Bush will have to authorize or reject the deal. But speaking even before it began, he insisted the deal should go through.”
The whole story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060228/pl_nm/security_ports_dc
I am still not sure I understand what is going on. But I recall thinking that the 45 day review put a hold on things. I thought when I first heard about it, that Bush was hoping it would be out of the news by then and he could sneak it through with no one the wiser.
Will look into this more.
Thanks, XXX.
This from the Chicago Tribune:”With Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike threatening to scuttle the deal, Dubai Ports World asked the administration to conduct a more intensive review of whether the takeover would compromise national security. An interagency task force will have 45 days for the new study, and then President Bush will get another 15 days to mull over the findings and decide whether the deal should still go ahead. Critics in Congress appear willing to let that play out.”
The rest of the story here:http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0602280182feb28,0,2959226.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed
It looks like the Dubai company asked for the 45 day review that should have happened in the first place, but did not. Then Bush has 15 to decide if the deal goes thru. 60 days is a long time for the short American attention span. I am guessing the company thinks they can withstand the scrutiny of a review, otherwise they would not have been so gracious as to offer that one take place. I also have read elsewhere that this company really needs the money this deal would mean.
We frisk little old ladies at the airport, but no one’s supposed to think anything about letting the Arabs take over shipping to many of our ports? If this deal does go through, then I give up all hope that ANYONE in power has our best interest in mind. How many Islamic extremists are lining up right now to work for this company? Anyone care to guess? Hell, we trained the guys that smashed into the twin towers, so why wouldn’t it make sense to let the fox guard the chicken coop? Saying there is nothing to worry about because the US is in charge of security at the seaports is a big fat joke. The stupidity of this administration is totally beyond belief and Bush doesn’t have the balls to stand up against the fat cats that brokered this deal. I’m sure it will be a done deal on Thursday.
Even after all this, there’s this paranoid side of me that wonders if this whole thing isn’t a smokescreen for something even more dangerous on the West coast…Wal-Mart, Target and the largest Chinese shipping company building a deep-water port in Mexico with a rail line straight to Kansas City… and if it’s true that ports like Long Beach and Seattle do more freight than the East Coast (and supposedly, the unions are more ornery out there), the real hit to American sovereignty and security could be there.
One way or the other, we’ll know Thursday.
Dear mrcontroversy,
I really think you have a right to be paranoid. A big percentage of our imports come through the West Coast. Many reasons, the main being that every year we shift more and more of our balance of payments deficit to the Orient.
In the second half of the 21st century the maritime unions basically destroyed our merchant marine. The amount of sea freight that is carried by our merchant marine is next to nil. We don’t man merchant ships, we don’t build merchant ships, we don’t own merchant ships and we basically have no sasay on how they are managed and operated. Now the unions are in the process of killing our ports.
This Dubai deal stinks, but its because government regulations and insane laws have basically made it impossible for a US owned company to administer our ports.
Now Dubai, like any country has a duty to look after its national interests first. The Emirates in Dubai are in charge of very diverse and global interprises. They are good business men and they hire the best people to run their businesses no matter what their nationality. A very large percentage of the ports of origin for our imports are leaving ports that are run by DPW. By allowing them to administer our ports it gives us more control over security in ports of origin. Which, by the way is a lot more important than our own port security.
Since 9-11 Dubai has been one of our greatest allies in the war on terror. The port of Dubai is the most secure port in the Mideast. It is the largest US Naval base in THe Mideast. It is directly accross from Iran. One of the main reasons that they cooperate is because of the policies and the resolve of president Bush.
The liberals say we can’t make friends of the Arabs by bombing them, then they say we can’t do business peacefully with them. The Democarats and a few liberal repulicans think they are on the right side of this by apposing the deal. Sorry, wrong again.
Hank
The deal is done, move on people; there is nothing to see here.
Hank
Oh I do not think this deal is moving forward anytime soon.
Now make no mistake. Bush will try to force it or sneak it in.
Ahh but there are lots of eyes on this deal now and from both sides.
I gotta stop here and define sides. See sides is when folks of different bent argue. But with this deal the “sides” are NOT arguing.
No the only folks that are for this deal are the lackeys, the phonys and the disreputable. Yeah Hankathan I am talking about you and Rush.
An aside here….. I hold bush, rush, hankathan, and those of that ilk somewhat below what I would find on my shoe after a walk through a pig farm.
Oh but hey I say let the little empereor sneak or push this idea! I am all for it!
Truckers will not move the goods, governors in the affected states will revoke the port authority and support for bush and company will fall below that for hemmoroids!
Stay the COURSE!
Well, the deals over with so there’s no point in ranting about it anymore…
Assume XXX is correct and the deal goes through. What are the consequences? Probably none. Security is handled by the coast guard and the port authority, which is solely in the hands of the United States Government.
The fact that only 10% of all cargo is inspected now probably wont change. If the UAE deal goes through, does anyone think it will? The fact that two of the hijackers came from the UAE is a non-issue (Timothy McVeigh came from this country. Does that make the US a renagade country?)
If the deal is done right, the UAE may even be a benefit in having an inside tracy on terrorist movements, and in reporting such to port authorities. The UAE is in this for the money, not the destruction of the source of their profits.
Bottom line: Bush and company really blew the whole thing with their usual aplumb. It shouldn’t have happened. But if it does, it wont have any effect whatsoever on national security.
Stay the Course? To where?
Hank and JR, I have some ocean front property in Western Kansas I’d like to sell ya!
Damoon,If you have some ocean front property in Western Kansas, I’ve got a bridge I’ll sell you so you can cross it.
Bill Clinton thinks it’s a GREAT idea.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/60414c4c-a95e-11da-a64b-0000779e2340.html
Bush thinks it’s a great idea to sell Dubai a critical weapons component manufacturing business. Guess the could ship the components out of their ports!http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060302/pl_nm/security_cfius_probes_dc
Dubia goes in the front door while Israel sneaks around back.
The secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is reviewing Dubai International Capital’s acquisition of London-based Doncasters Group Ltd., which operates in nine U.S. locations and makes precision parts for U.S. defense contractors, the newspaper reported.
The administration notified Congress this week that it was investigating a proposed deal by Dubai International as well as another by an Israeli firm and has been privately briefing some House and Senate committee leaders on both transactions, the newspaper said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060302/pl_nm/security_cfius_probes_dc
The House just defeated a bill requiring congressional approval of the ports sale, they voted along party lines. If Bush goes forward with the deal, Repubs. are going to pay dearly in the next election!
I doubt it steve. Remember, IOKIYAR
I wonder if shrub will throw a tantrum over this. I guess he can now devote his energy to his treasonous beaner amnesty.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Dubai Ports World has decided to sell operations at some U.S. ports to a domestic entity in a bid to end a political firestorm, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner said on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon.Republican leaders reportedly told Bush earlier Thursday that the deal would be blocked by Congress despite the president’s veto threat.The move comes with House Republicans in legislative revolt and the Senate tied in procedural knots over DPW’s acquisition of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (UK:PO: news, chart, profile) .”DP World has decided to transfer fully U.S. operation of P&O Ports North America to a United States entity,” Warner, R-Va., said, reading from a statement provided by DP World.Details regarding the entity that would be taking over the operations weren’t immediately available.Depending on the details, the decision by DPW could be a face-saver for President Bush. Republican leaders reportedly told Bush earlier Thursday that the deal would be blocked by Congress despite the president’s veto threat.Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a critic of DPW, said that the offer was a “promising development” but that he wanted to closely examine the decision.The House Appropriations Committee voted 62 to 2 on Wednesday to amend an emergency-spending measure with language that would effectively bar Dubai Ports World from taking over terminal operations from London-based P&O (UK:PO: news, chart, profile) .The vote marks an uprising among House Republicans….”http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B62CA6424%2D66E9%2D445C%2D9280%2DEB355BBFAA04%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=bnb
V.L.R.B!!
Karl Rove had to know this “Port Deal” wasn’t going to fly, but it did serve as a distraction for a Bill which seemed to knock it down yet dealt with the subject failing to draw real scrutiny.
Karl is very slick. Slick enough to throw a “change-up.” And we know the White House is giving Israel everything full-throttle.
Non-White latino porn??? Yuck!!!!
hit the bricks, choto!!