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Guest
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{OT} insanity
Border control is my biggest beef with the current administration.
Giving control of our ports to the UAE or any other foreign outfit is
just plain wrong. Whether you're liberal or conservative there can't
be any justification for this.
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White House Defends Port Sale to Arab Co.
By TED BRIDIS and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers
2 hours, 28 minutes ago
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060216/ap_on_go_pr_wh/port_security_4[/url]
The Bush administration on Thursday rebuffed criticism about potential
security risks of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the
United Arab Emirates control over significant operations at six major
American ports.
Lawmakers asked the White House to reconsider its earlier approval of
the deal.
The sale to state-owned Dubai Ports World was "rigorously reviewed" by
a U.S. committee that considers security threats when foreign companies
seek to buy or invest in American industry, National Security Council
spokesman Frederick Jones said.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, run by the
Treasury Department, reviewed an assessment from U.S. intelligence
agencies. The committee's 12 members agreed unanimously the sale did
not present any problems, the department said.
"We wanted to look at this one quite closely because it relates to
ports," Stewart Baker, an assistant secretary in the Homeland Security
Department, told The Associated Press. "It is important to focus on
this partner as opposed to just what part of the world they come from.
We came to the conclusion that the transaction should not be halted."
The unusual defense of the secretive committee, which reviews hundreds
of such deals each year, came in response to criticism about the
purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.
The world's fourth-largest ports company runs commercial operations at
shipping terminals in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans,
Miami and Philadelphia.
Four senators and three House members asked the administration Thursday
to reconsider its approval. The lawmakers contended the UAE is not
consistent in its support of U.S. terrorism-fighting efforts.
"The potential threat to our country is not imagined, it is real," Rep.
Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., said in a House speech.
The Homeland Security Department said it was legally impossible under
the committee's rules to reconsider its approval without evidence DP
World gave false information or withheld vital details from U.S.
officials. The 30-day window for the committee to voice objections has
ended.
DP World said it had received all regulatory approvals.
"We intend to maintain and, where appropriate, enhance current security
arrangements," the company said in a statement. "It is very much
business as usual for the P&O terminals" in the United States.
In Dubai, the UAE's foreign minister described his country as an
important U.S. ally but declined to respond directly to the concerns
expressed in Washington.
"We have worked very closely with the United States on a number of
issues relating to the combat of terrorism, prior to and post Sept.
11," Sheik Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan told The Associated Press.
U.S. lawmakers said the UAE was an important transfer point for
shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and
Libya by a Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. They also said the
UAE was one of only three countries to recognize the now-toppled
Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government.
The State Department describes the UAE as a vital partner in the fight
against terrorism. Dubai's own ports have participated since last year
in U.S. efforts to detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials.
Rep. Vito Fossella (news, bio, voting record), R-N.Y., urged
congressional hearings on the deal.
"At a time when America is leading the world in the war on terrorism
and spending billions of dollars to secure our homeland, we cannot cede
control of strategic assets to foreign nations with spotty records on
terrorism," Fossella said.
Critics also have cited the UAE's history as an operational and
financial base for the hijackers who carried out the attacks of Sept.
11, 2001.
"Outsourcing the operations of our largest ports to a country with a
dubious record on terrorism is a homeland security and commerce
accident waiting to happen," said Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio,
voting record), D-N.Y. "The administration needs to take another look
at this deal."
Separately, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Thursday
it will conduct its own review of the deal and urged the government to
defend its decision.
In a letter to the Treasury Department, Port Authority chairman Anthony
Coscia said the independent review by his agency was necessary "to
protect its interests."
The lawmakers pressing the White House to reconsider included Sens.
Schumer, Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Chris Dodd,
D-Conn., and Reps. Foley, Fossella and Chris Shays, R-Conn.
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“An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.”
~ Simon Cameron
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