Bush will veto any bill to stop port deal

AP ALERT

[Brian Mosely]

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Bush says the deal allowing an Arab company to take over six major U.S. seaports should go forward and he will veto any bill that would stop it.

[Mo1]

What I would like to see in my crystal ball is how much harm shutting out this UAE company from this deal will do on lots of levels, because there will surely be harm.

After the crap Gore and Clinton have been spewing over there .. it will hurt us

[antaresequity]

Right...

So your premise is that this deal has something to do with the war on terror vis-a-vie UAE as a forward staging area for an attack on Iran because the UAE represents a geo-proximate advantage over seaborne and land based assets already in theater...sure thing...

What this is about is a British conglomerate selling its port operations to a conglomerate in the UAE. That same British conglomerate already had the sub-contract for these services...and by proxy...the UAE company picks up those contracts...DB Ports would become the third largest port operator in the world should the deal go through, AND the subcontracts are transfered.

The 'super secret' council in the trade department that approved the 'sale'...in reality approved not standing in the way of an overseas transaction that had local consequences...

Politically its idiotic...as has been proved by the mounting tide of bipartisan opposition and public outcry against the 'approval'.

The security and operation of American ports should rest with Americans. Thats just my opinion.

There is one benefit however:

For once the American people are openly expressing downright bias and contempt for Arabs if only in a tangential way.

Now isn't that refreshing?

[cripplecreek]

"You elect a president to lead, not to follow the polls."

So I've elected a king?

[RichRepublican]

Remind me why I voted for Bush:

John Kerry and Al Gore.

[meandog]

If we work at it, we could turn UAE into another Iran...

What is that? Some sort of blackmail? You let UAE run our ports or it becomes another volunteer for the Islamic death squad?

Well, EXCUSE ME, but I'm for having ONLY Americans who can successfully go through thorough background checks and drug-tested scrutiny run our ports! I'm not for Shrub out-sourcing this critical security issue to another country, even if it is the most ardent American friend we ever had!

[stopsign]

He's just funnin'. He doesn't have a veto pen!

Hahahaha, man you got him pegged!... : ) <<< me

[Alberta's Child]

Go visit a U.S. port one of these days. One thing that really stood out for me when I was visiting a client in Port Newark last year was that his facility was basically owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

When the DHS staff told him to do something, he got up and did it.

He didn't quite say, "Yes, master!" while doing it, but he may as well have. If they told him to go out into onto the pier and stick a Yang Ming container up his @ss, he would have done it. Sideways.

[CharlesWayneCT]

The DP WOrld company already works directly with our government on security -- they inspect the containers in foreign ports before they come here.

The management of the ports will still be done by the same US subsidiaries that do so now, with the same people in charge, so the contacts they have with the Coast Guard will not change.

The same contacts already exist with MANY foreign companies, some owned by foreign governments, that operate various terminals at ports throughout the country.

We can't have a rational discussion until everybody has the actual facts.

[Tribune7]

Maybe he figures he's right.

[prairiebreeze]

he acts like he cares about American security but does nothing to show it.

I'm behind on the port story and I'm catching up now, but I hardly think your comment is accurate. We've not been attacked by terrorists since 9-11, despite likely attempts and certainly an overabundance of desire to attack us.

[epow]

Why would a Republican veto his own Party's spending bills?

Maybe because his own party's legislators are spending money as though it falls down out of the sky on demand? Whatever else the current crop of GOP Congresspersons and Senators may be, the one thing they are NOT is fiscal conservatives.

[onyx]

whip it, whip it good

You have that right. Why bother with a full airing? Minds are set in stone. I want to hear from President Bush and have a full airing. More factual information is required.

[RichRepublican]

Remind me why I voted for Bush:

John Kerry and Al Gore.

[smith288]

UAE runs their stuff so much like the palestinians its insane...

Just look at this travesty in port management...

[vrwc0915]

You really don't get it do you?

I have never said anything about terrorism, I simply pointed out how our sovereignty is being pissed away.

No I didn't like NAFTA

[Pukin Dog]

Oh, this is so nice.....

Now we have FReepers using terms like 'shrub', and talking impeachment.

I'm so proud.

[chris1]

FACT:

From a PR point of view, this deal is a disaster for GWB.

He has already lost a large amount of Americans from even respecting him, did he think this was going to any way impact on this???

If he did not realize this, he is as stupid as the RATS say he is.

As far as your own remarks, I don't want Arabs from the middle east running anything of any importance in this country. If that makes me a bigot, fine.

[Howlin]

Well, you've sure convinced me. DUH.

[jimbo123]

So the Dubai company will not be informed of terror threats made on the ports? They won't tell their employees to be on the lookout for suspicious muslims?

[kaktuskid]

Remind me why I voted for Bush: he has favored 'affirmative action', racial preferences, unrestrained and illegal immigration, out-of-control spending, all during the time when he has sent US troops to die in a country that hates us and to kill people who hate us to impose democracy on a people that love fanatical religious dictatorship.

1. Crazy Al Gore

2. Crazy John Kerry

End of discussion.