Posted on 03/10/2006 8:16:05 PM PST by crushelits
President Bush said Friday the collapse of the Dubai ports deal could hurt U.S. efforts to recruit Mideast governments as partners in the worldwide war on terror.
Separately, in what may have been an aftershock to the failed transaction, a new round of trade talks between the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates was postponed.
On Thursday, Dubai-based DP World backed away in the face of unrelenting criticism and announced it would transfer its management of port terminals in major U.S. cities to an American entity.
Bush struck a defiant tone Friday with the Republican-led Congress whose new willingness to buck him has taken its most dramatic form with the ports controversy.
The president said he was open to improving the government's method of reviewing such transactions, but he insisted his administration's approval of the deal had posed no security risk — and that the reversal could have the opposite effect.
"I'm concerned about a broader message this issue could send to our friends and allies around the world, particularly in the Middle East," said Bush during an appearance before a conference of the National Newspaper Association. "In order to win the war on terror, we have got to strengthen our friendships and relationships with moderate Arab countries in the Middle East."
The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, is just such a country, Bush said.
Dubai services more U.S. military ships than any other country, shares useful intelligence about terrorists and helped shut down a global black-market nuclear network run by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, the administration says. This week, though, the State Department's annual human rights report called the UAE's performance "problematic," citing floggings as punishment for adultery or drug abuse.
The president said he would now have to work to shore up the U.S. relationship with the UAE and explain to Congress and the public why it's a valuable one.
"UAE is a committed ally in the war on terror," he said.
En route Friday to a presidential inauguration in Chile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice echoed Bush. The failed ports deal "means that we are going to have to work and double our efforts to send a strong message that we value our allies, our moderate allies, in the Middle East," she said.
Thursday's action spared Bush an embarrassing showdown, which he seemed likely to lose, over the veto he had threatened of any attempt by Congress to block the transaction.
After weeks of questions from lawmakers of both parties about whether giving a state-owned company from an Arab country control of significant port operations could increase terrorist dangers, the silence from Republicans on Friday was telling. The only statements came from Democrats who sought to keep the issue alive.
Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., a chief critic of the Dubai deal, said lawmakers needed more detail on DP World's planned divestiture. It wasn't clear which American business might get the port operations, or how the U.S. entity would be related to the Dubai government.
"Make no mistake, we are going to scrutinize this deal with a fine tooth comb," Schumer said.
And the Democratic Party planned a mobile billboard in Memphis, Tenn., where GOP activists were gathering for a weekend conference, accusing Republicans of standing in the way of providing enough funding for port security. "Republicans owe the American people answers as to where they really stand," said party spokesman Luis Miranda.
Republicans, too, have said the deal's end does nothing to address the nation's continuing vulnerability at its ports, where the vast majority of shipping containers are not inspected. In fact, work continued on Capitol Hill on two fronts: reworking the process under which the government approves foreign investment and boosting port security.
Senate Homeland Security Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, promised a committee vote by the end of April on legislation to strengthen cargo inspections and port security. Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., was readying a nearly identical measure for the House. Both bills have Democratic co-sponsors.
There were some signs the president's worries about the impact abroad were warranted.
Analysts said the developments could make cash-rich investors in the Persian Gulf, where there is the widespread belief that the furor was rooted in anti-Arab bias, wary of high-profile investments in the United States.
And the latest round of negotiations on a new free-trade arrangement between the U.S. and the UAE, scheduled for Monday in the United Arab Emirates, was postponed.
Both sides hastened to dispel speculation that the delay was the result of the ports controversy.
Neena Moorjani, spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record), would not directly address that question, but said it's not unusual for delegations to need more time to prepare. A UAE official said there was no connection, and that working groups would continue discussions by phone.
>>Nice piece of logic. "We won't sell to them because they are not an ally. See? Now they won't buy from us. Some ally."<<
You have very poor comprehension skills. That is not what I said at all.
Are you drinking? Not that that is really any of my business.
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And yet these same idiots can't unite on illegal immigration.
Spoken like a true leftist. Oops..........only you're NOT one.
What does that make YOU then??
The President spoke the truth. I'm wondering why that bothers some of you. The collapse of the Dubai deal was due to the duplicitousness of the U.S. Congress which went back on its word to look at the deal for 45 days.
The Congress messed up. Don't blame it on the President.
How much has congress cut the budget of the Coast Guard this year? How can citizens (or congress or the president) expect them to do the job of checking every container in every port, without increasing their budget, in order to make the ownership of foreign port facilities palatable to the American people?
Too bad some folks around here have selective memories......
---Mideast governments will never be our "partners." Those governments are run by the enemy.---
Maybe now the UAE will start taking such sentiments to heart, now that they are apparently not only being voiced by nutball morons, but by the Congress of the United States.
Maybe they'll decide it's too risky to buy from Boeing, Northrop and Caterpillar. After all Congress may decide it's too risky to sell spare parts to Eh-rab devils.
---Our president is a fool.---
And you're Schumer's butt-boy.
We already wrote our congress. We told them to shut down this dubai deal or prepare to give up their seat to some other candidate willing to protect and defend us from muslim arab terrorists.
They got the message loud and clear. Score one for the citizens of these United States. applause
I'm genuinely curious to know what steps the President took to "sell" this deal to the American people.
Correction..........score one for the uninformed hysteria of the citizens of the United States, and the buckling under pressure of those who are supposed to lead.
Hardly worth applauding. The death of reason is never a praiseworthy thing......
Re #10: sarcasm, and the best kind too (a mere hair "beyond").
Here's a little reality for you takenoprisoners 'cause I know you're always searhin' for it.
Without the MSM on your side in this, those congress critters wouldn't have lifted a finger for you.
No, I am an independent thinker, perhaps you should try it sometime?
Funny thing, they're talking about breaking up the deal so several American companies can take over the contracts, but the only way smaller companies will be able to compete will be if they cut costs (employees) and instead go mechanical. Heavy financial investment, but the only way they would be able to meet the contracted prices.
So, why aren't you president?
The only "Quacks" of quackery I here are coming from Congress.
"Without the MSM on your side in this, those congress critters wouldn't have lifted a finger for you."
You know what they say, sometimes G-d acts in mysterious ways.
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