Posted on 02/22/2006 3:54:45 AM PST by LouAvul
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers determined to capsize the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates said President Bush's surprise veto threat won't deter them.
Bush on Tuesday brushed aside objections by leaders in the Senate and House that the $6.8 billion sale could raise risks of terrorism at American ports. In a forceful defense of his administration's earlier approval of the deal, he pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the agreement.
The sale's harshest critics were not appeased.
"I will fight harder than ever for this legislation, and if it is vetoed I will fight as hard as I can to override it," said Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. King and Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record) of New York said they will introduce emergency legislation to suspend the ports deal.
Another Democrat, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, urged his colleagues to force Bush to wield his veto, which Bush — in his sixth year in office — has never done. "We should really test the resolve of the president on this one because what we're really doing is securing the safety of our people."
The White House and supporters planned a renewed campaign this week to reassure the public the sale was safe. Senior officials were expected to explain at a press conference Wednesday what persuaded them to approve the deal, the first-ever sale involving U.S. port operations to a foreign, state-owned company.
The sale — set to be completed in early March — would put Dubai Ports in charge of major shipping operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. "If there was any chance that this transaction would jeopardize the security of the United States, it would not go forward," Bush said.
Defending his decision, Bush responded to a chorus of objections this week in Congress over potential security concerns in the sale of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.
Bush's veto threat sought to quiet a political storm that has united Republican governors and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee with liberal Democrats, including New York Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Schumer.
To assuage concerns, the administration disclosed some assurances it negotiated with Dubai Ports. It required mandatory participation in U.S. security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials; roughly 33 other port companies participate in these voluntarily. The Coast Guard also said it was nearly finished inspecting Dubai Ports' facilities in the United States.
A senior Homeland Security official, Stewart Baker, said U.S. intelligence agencies were consulted "very early on to actually look at vulnerabilities and threats."
Frist said Tuesday, before Bush's comments, that he would introduce legislation to put the sale on hold if the White House did not delay the takeover. He said the deal raised "serious questions regarding the safety and security of our homeland.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., asked the president for a moratorium on the sale until it could be studied further. "We must not allow the possibility of compromising our national security due to lack of review or oversight by the federal government," Hastert said.
Maryland's Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, during a tour of Baltimore's port, called the deal an "overly secretive process at the federal level."
Bush took the rare step of calling reporters to his conference room on Air Force One after returning from a speech in Colorado. He also stopped to talk before television cameras after he returned to the White House.
"I can understand why some in Congress have raised questions about whether or not our country will be less secure as a result of this transaction," the president said. "But they need to know that our government has looked at this issue and looked at it carefully."
A senior executive from Dubai Ports World pledged the company would agree to whatever security precautions the U.S. government demanded to salvage the deal. Chief operating officer Edward "Ted" H. Bilkey promised Dubai Ports "will fully cooperate in putting into place whatever is necessary to protect the terminals."
Bilkey traveled to Washington in an effort to defuse the growing controversy.
Bush said protesting lawmakers should understand that if "they pass a law, I'll deal with it with a veto."
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.
Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, and Rep. Jane Harman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said they would introduce a "joint resolution of disapproval" when they returned to Washington next week. Collins heads the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Harman is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Bush's veto threat didn't stop local efforts to block the deal. New Jersey's governor, Jon S. Corzine, said the state will file lawsuits in federal and state courts opposing the agreement. Corzine, a Democrat, cited a "deep, deep feeling that this is the wrong direction for our nation to take."
The President is required by law to conduct a mandatory 45-day investigation of the deal once the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States made its initial recommendation to approve the deal.
The mandatory 45-day review did not take place and we are not receiving any explanations why.
The President must comply with the 45-day review law on this deal.
To me it's about where the money generated will ultimately go.
I know - even if there was some grand plan (CIA-ish) in all of this and he asked us to just "trust him" - I just can't get Harriet Miers out of my mind.
He is prone to make HUGE mistakes.
And that whole "I'll veto any attempt to derail" idea is a slap in the face - he wouldn't veto CFR, or ANYTHING else repulsive for that matter - but he'll veto THIS??
What's up with that??
No, I don't think it is acceptable. The UAE should not be placed in such a position of trust.
A promise of cooperation is not adequate. The correct way for a foreign government to come to an understanding with the U.S. government is via normal diplomatic channels, not commercial ones.
Sounds like another Harriet Miers scenario.
THIS is where he'll finally exercise his veto power?
As this progresses I think increasingly it will be the Dems and Repubs from flaming liberal states like King speaking out against this deal.
Of course he cares.
But President Bush will not act only on the wishes of an uninformed public.
And a lot of people are voicing angry opinions based on preliminary stories which were wrong rather than the facts of the matter.
If DPW isn't allowed to do it, who's left? Just that company from Singapore? Are they really a better choice than DPW?
I now think that this deal is a strategic move in the War and has to do with positioning political and military assets for the assault on Iran. My first reaction was hey this makes no sense at all, arabs in control of our ports? Then when I learned more about just what this entailed and was mollified there I still had the objection that this was a government owned company and thus was not right. Bush's seeming foolish intransigence, given his past performance would indicate that this is a strategic move and will in hindsight, which may be long in coming, facilitated the neutralization or even conquest of Iran. My position now is wait and see. Bush has not been wrong-footed yet on things related to national survival.
You're right. This is strange. Bush may veto but I doubt if there are many in Congress who will not override the veto. It smells like someone is getting paid under the table.
And I don't like Bush's, "We've study this matter and it's safe. Trust us." explanation. His administration will be downhill from here on.
Why didn't the President conduct the mandated 45-day review of this acquistion. We're only asking that the President follow the law and comply with the 45-day review law and explain why he didn't comply with the law in the first place.
Harriet Miers was not a "mistake." It got us Alioto in a fairly easy confirmation. His first choice of Miers may have been sincere. Then his "foolish" maintaining that nomination so long as he did after it was obvious that it wouldn't fly built a powerful support base for Alioto that would not have been effective if Miers had not been chosen or if he had not insisted on her for so long.
I will have to hear more about that to know if it was true. After all, it was proclaimed over and over again that Dubai was buying ports and would be in charge of security and that turns out not to be true.
If there is a law, it should be followed. And President Bush would be the first one to say just that. He believes in the rule of law unlike the previous guy.
Think carefully.........the media (MSM) has created all this hype over a non issue ( yes, it is a non issue ). If joe the crane operator goes to work today, unloads ships with carl the truck driver, and fred the guide, and tonite they all go home, and the UAE takes over the ports that nite, the next day joe, carl, and fred go to work and do the same job, the same way, for the same union, for the same pay. Could someone please tell me exactly, what has changed? ( I already have the answer, but I have yet to hear anyone, anywhere, give it )
Our side has joined the irrational emotional side on this issue.
BTW, do you have a link for that?
I am not willing to wait and see what this brings. There is nothing good that can come of this. More goodwill directed at countries that harbor terrorists and contribute to the destruction of our country? I think enough is enough. This policy is not working in Europe. Did the US become part of the EU when I wasn't looking?
This policy of selling off to foreign companies is spreading to the states controlled by Republicans at the moment too. This wrong for so many reasons. Did they all get a phone call that tripped their implants or something?
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