Bush sells-out US Ports..

[Caldera Boats]

United Arab Emirates firm to operate six major U.S. ports

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Monday, February 13, 2006

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has approved a deal in which a United Arab Emirates company would operate six major ports in the United States.

A U.S. government panel has determined that the UAE firm, DP World, would not endanger national security.

DP World, based in Dubai, has offered $6.8 billion for the purchase of a British firm that operates the ports of Baltimore, Miami, New York, New Jersey, New Orleans and Philadelphia, Middle East Newsline reported.

DP World intends to acquire the London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation [P&O] Co. The sale was expected to be approved on Monday.

"The P&O directors have withdrawn their recommendation of the offer by PSA, which was announced on Jan. 26, 2006, and unanimously recommend that P&O Stockholders vote in favor of the revised proposals at the meetings, which are now scheduled to take place on Feb. 13," DP World said in a statement.

The company said the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States "thoroughly reviewed the potential transaction and concluded they had no objection." The committee includes representatives from the departments of Treasury, Defense, Justice, Commerce, State and Homeland Security.

The United Arab Emirates has been described as a leading military ally of the United States. In 2005, the UAE acquired the first 10 of 80 F-16E/F Block 60 multi-role fighters in a $6.4 billion purchase.

But officials said the UAE has not fully responded to repeated appeals from the Treasury Department to halt money-laundering activities exploited by Al Qaida and aligned groups. They said that for years Dubai served as a base for Al Qaida operatives, including those who destroyed the World Trade Center and a Pentagon wing in 2001.

"America's busiest ports are vital to our economy and to the international economy, and that is why they remain top terrorist targets," Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. "Just as we would not outsource military operations or law enforcement duties, we should be very careful before we outsource such sensitive homeland security duties."

Source: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtri...986111113.html

[kach22i]

The company said the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States "thoroughly reviewed the potential transaction and concluded they had no objection." The committee includes representatives from the departments of Treasury, Defense, Justice, Commerce, State and Homeland Security.

The same people who have recieved failing grades from Congressional review boards (on Homeland Security) say it's an okay deal?

I want a second opinion.

[safewalrus]

That is frightening Gentlemen! One of the oldest (and proudest) British Shipping companies bought out by a bunch of ra*****ds! Years ago we wouldn't have employed 'em as dohby wallahs! Too unreliable, and the Trucial Oman arab was one of the better ones!

The good thing is they won't actually be doing any work (the arab has this allergy see), but they will own it (so you ensure that the loyalties of the port workers are in the right place!)

[Thunderhead19]

Originally Posted by safewalrus

That is frightening Gentlemen! One of the oldest (and proudest) British Shipping companies bought out by a bunch of ra*****ds! Years ago we wouldn't have employed 'em as dohby wallahs! Too unreliable, and the Trucial Oman arab was one of the better ones!

The good thing is they won't actually be doing any work (the arab has this allergy see), but they will own it (so you ensure that the loyalties of the port workers are in the right place!)

I'm not an arab. But if I was, I'd be in your living room by now.

As for the turning over of US port infrastructure to Arab interests, it doesn't surprise me. Arab interests own about 15% of the entire US debt. This is a serious bit of leverage. They basically get what they want, when they want. The US COULD just offhandedly tell them that they'll never see their money again (like they did to low profile, unobtrusive Canada..they owe us billions $#*@!!! ), but who would dare lend them money ever again (other than Canada). And if you think that the Arabs are anti-american now......oooooowwweee!!

[kach22i]

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108074.html

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., the UAE was identified as a major financial center used by al-Qaeda in transferring money to the hijackers.

http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-c..._Arab_Emirates

# We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in the United Arab Emirates because of the high threat of terrorist attack.
# We continue to receive reports that terrorists are planning attacks against Western interests in the United Arab Emirates. Commercial and public areas frequented by foreigners are possible terrorist targets.

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/e...1521846767-531
[quote]1995-2001: Persian Gulf Elite Go Hunting with bin Laden in Afghanistan Complete 911 Timeline
After the Taliban takes control of the area around Kandahar, Afghanistan, in September 1994, prominent Persian Gulf state officials and businessmen, including high-ranking United Arab Emirates and Saudi government ministers, such as Saudi intelligence minister Prince Turki al-Faisal, frequently secretly fly into Kandahar on state and private jets for hunting expeditions. [Los Angeles Times, 11/18/01] General Wayne Downing, Bush's former national director for combating terrorism, says:

[kach22i]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nypost/20060...portinsecurity

Tue Feb 14, 6:00 AM ET

Do the feds really want to place the ports of New York and New Jersey in the hands of a Middle East country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers? As The Post reported on Sunday, that's what's about to happen, now that Dubai Ports World has won control - for $6.8 billion - of British-owned Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

The purchase gives Dubai Ports control of six U.S. ports - including, in addition to New York-New Jersey, Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans.

True, the deal reportedly was approved by the top-secret U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which decided there was no security risk.

But at a time when security in the ports remains unacceptably lax, we wonder whether this is a wise move.

Dubai Ports, after all, is owned by the United Arab Emirates, whose banking system - considered the commercial center of the Arab world - provided most of the cash for the 9/11 hijackers. Indeed, much of the operational planning for the World Trade Center attacks took place inside the UAE.

And while the Bush folks now consider the UAE a major ally in the war against terror, the
Treasury Department has been stonewalled by the emirates, and other Arab countries, in trying to track
Osama bin Laden's bank accounts.

The new leader of Dubai, one of the seven small countries that make up the UAE, has said all the right things about fighting radical Islam since 9/11.

But this remains very much an Islamist nation, where preaching any religion other than Islam is prohibited.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), for one, thinks this is a case where it's better to be safe than sorry.

Noting that the nation's ports "remain top terrorist targets," Schumer rightly argues that "we would not outsource military operations or law-enforcement duties."

Likewise, he says, "we should be very careful before we outsource such sensitive homeland security duties."

The fact is, control of America's ports increasingly is being placed in private - and foreign - hands. And there's no guarantee that today's ally in the War on Terror will remain such tomorrow.

There already is reason enough for concern about security in the ports:
Homeland Security officials concede that it is impossible for them to fully inspect all but a tiny percentage of the containers that enter from abroad.

Though no one likes to discuss it publicly, smuggling in weapons of mass destruction likely can most easily be done through the ports.

Supporters of the deal insist that it doesn't give al Qaeda opportunities it doesn't already enjoy. That's no comfort.

[Sander Rave]

I don't understand the disturbed calls here, the US governement makes huge debts and these should be financed one way or the other... If they keep spendin' in the Greenspans way, sooner or later the US wil be owned by the highest bidder.
I don't like to make jokes of it, but this could be ANYone.

[safewalrus]

Thunderhead, your right your not, and you wouldn't be!

You are, by your own admittance, a Canadian, and contary to my knowledge would appear not to be much use for anything - including getting into peoples living rooms - in fact you probably wouldn't be able to find it! I'm surprised you canfind your own under all that snow 9of course you ain't got much snow at the moment have you/ ostensibly due top global warming but probably due to the fact some Yank has pinched it!

[longliner45]

It takes a while, either for the news to spread or for the masses to get to the deal making polititions ,,,, but according to the news ,,,,,the **** has HIT THE FAN!!!!!!

[safewalrus]

Oh! why does this not surprise me? unfortunately shrub abd his boys will bribe a few more and dump on America in general and slide away quietly (make aphone call to his mate sammy about how much he's made on the deal - no doubt as it was a Brit Firm good old Poodle Tony will be there smiling sweetly and counting his backhander to keep quiet)

[kach22i]

On this topic, in another board far far away.

Cookie12 said:
http://boards.charlierose.com/board/topic.asp?ti=16314

On Lou Dobbs' news program tonight, he spent considerable time on this story. It is out in the news now, with Senators and Congressmen speaking out in outrage.

Apparently, the Committee on Foreign Investment which okayed this deal, is highly secret and is accountable to NO ONE in government. It is headed by the Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow. Its other members are unknown, held secret!

And this is the same Committee that okayed the sale of Unical to China! Do you kind of get the picture that we have major traitors running this country????

Interestingly, Mayor Bloomberg of NYC has said he would scrap any deal with the UAE company to run New York's port. Lou Dobbs seemed to think he would not hve the authority to overrule the federal gov't in this matter. Interesting legal debate there...I don't know if the feds have the authority rather than the state or this city to appoint the Port Master.

Btw: in Lou Dobbs' CNN poll asking viewers to pronounce their views on this deal, 98% replied in outrage, saying that Congress should put a stop to it.

This story may have sea legs yet.

[wdnboatbuilder]

What the hell VP gets a $7 fine for shooting someone.

[kach22i]

Update:

W aides' biz ties to Arab firm
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-333478c.html

BY MICHAEL McAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.

One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.

Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.

The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The ties raised more concerns about the decision to give port control to a company owned by a nation linked to the 9/11 hijackers.

"The more you look at this deal, the more the deal is called into question," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who said the deal was rubber-stamped in advance - even before DP World formally agreed to buy London's P&O port company.

Besides operations in New York and Jersey, Dubai would also run port facilities in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Baltimore and Miami.

The political fallout over the deal only grows.

"It's particularly troubling that the United States would turn over its port security not only to a foreign company, but a state-owned one," said western New York's Rep. Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee. Reynolds is responsible for helping Republicans keep their majority in the House.

Snow's Treasury Department runs the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which includes 11 other agencies.

"It always raises flags" when administration officials have ties to a firm, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I.) said, but insisted that stopping the deal was more important.

The Daily News has learned that lawmakers also want to know if a detailed 45-day probe should have been conducted instead of one that lasted no more than 25 days.

According to a 1993 congressional measure, the longer review is mandated when the company is owned by a foreign government and the purchase "could result in control of a person engaged in interstate commerce in the U.S. that could affect the national security of the U.S."

Congressional sources said the President has until March 2 to trigger that harder look.

"The most important thing is for someone to explain how this is consistent with our national security," Fossella said.

Originally published on February 21, 2006

...........and 27 minutes ago.

GOP Governors, Lawmakers Oppose Port Deal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060221/...BhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Two Republican governors are threatening legal action to block an Arab company from taking over operations in major U.S. ports and some GOP lawmakers say the deal should be closely examined.
ADVERTISEMENT

In the uneasy climate after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration decision to allow the transaction is threatening to develop a major political headache for the White House.

New York Gov. George Pataki and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich on Monday voiced doubts about the acquisition of a British company that has been running six U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates.

The British company, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., runs major commercial operations at ports in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia.

Both governors indicated they may try to cancel lease arrangements at ports in their states because of the DP World takeover.

"Ensuring the security of New York's port operations is paramount and I am very concerned with the purchase of Peninsular & Oriental Steam by Dubai Ports World," Pataki said in a news release. "I have directed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to explore all legal options that may be available to them."

Ehrlich, concerned about security at the Port of Baltimore, said Monday he was "very troubled" that Maryland officials got no advance notice before the Bush administration approved the Arab company's takeover of the operations at the six ports.

"We needed to know before this was a done deal, given the state of where we are concerning security," Ehrlich told reporters in the State House rotunda in Annapolis.

The arrangement brought protests from both political parties in Congress and a lawsuit in Florida from a company affected by the takeover.

Public fears that the nation's ports are not properly protected, combined with the news of an Arab country's takeover of six major ports, proved a combustible mix.

Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said on Fox News Sunday that the administration approval was "unbelievably tone deaf politically." GOP Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia said on ABC's "This Week," "It's a tough one to explain, but we're in a global economy. ... I think we need to take a very close look at it."

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey said Monday that he and Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., will introduce legislation prohibiting the sale of port operations to foreign governments.

At least one Senate oversight hearing was planned for later this month.

Critics have noted that some of the 9/11 hijackers used the UAE as an operational and financial base. In addition, they contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to
Iran,
North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.

The Bush administration got support Monday from former President Carter, a Democrat and frequent critic of the administration.

"My presumption is, and my belief is, that the president and his secretary of state and the Defense Department and others have adequately cleared the Dubai government organization to manage these ports," Carter told CNN. "I don't think there's any particular threat to our security."

Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff made the rounds on the talk shows Sunday, asserting that the administration made certain the company agreed to certain conditions to ensure national security. H said details of those agreements were secret.

During a stop Monday in Birmingham, Ala., Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the administration had a "very extensive process" for reviewing such transactions that "takes into account matters of national security, takes into account concerns about port security.

[kach22i]

Update:

Bush Shrugs Off Objections to Port Deal
By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060222.../ports_security

:Lawmakers from both parties have noted that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers used the United Arab Emirates as an operational and financial base. In addition, critics contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to
Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.

They say a port operator complicit in smuggling or terrorism could manipulate manifests and other records to frustrate Homeland Security's already limited scrutiny of shipping containers and slip contraband past U.S. Customs inspectors..................................Associated Press writers Ben Feller, Will Lester, Terence Hunt, and Devlin Barrett in Washington, Matthew Verrinder in Newark, N.J., and Tom Stuckey in Annapolis, Md., contributed to this report.

..................................UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to
Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.

Sleep on that America.

[longliner45]

well, well, well,aparantly some folks in the house of reprsentatives have grown some nads, maybe we are seeing the light!maybe ,just maybe we are getting back on track. kinda gives me some hope ,,,,,,,,the tide is starting to turnnnnnnnnnnn